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Abstract:- Statnett is considering upgrading existing results to select an adequate insulator is explained. This
300 kV lines to 420 kV. A laboratory test method, was achieved as follows:
which simulates pollution flashover conditions with • Calculating the relationship between the length of the
air-borne salt pollution, has been used to select and insulators and the expected pollution outage rate of
dimension insulators to obtain a required outage the line for the presently used glass disc insulators.
rate. This paper describes the statistical dimension- • Comparing the pollution flashover performance of
ing procedure used as well as the tests performed two lengths of silicone rubber insulator with that of
with the Dry-Salt-Layer pollution test. the existing glass insulator assembly.
1 Introduction
The Norwegian Power Grid Company, Statnett,
owns and operates about 12 000 km of transmission lines
ranging from 132 kV to 420 kV, which constitutes
approx. 95% of Norway’s main grid. Increasing domestic
7m
3,2 m
It has been shown that there are three main factors that 4 The selection of the laboratory test method
needs to be considered objectively to obtain an accepta- The Dry Salt Layer method(DSL) was identified
ble pollution flashover performance. These are: as the laboratory pollution test that would be best suited
1. The shed profile, e.g. aerodynamic, standard or fog for the comparative tests of the silicone rubber and glass
shape. This determines to a great extent the amount of insulators for Norwegian conditions. This is because the
pollution which will collect on the insulator[3], [4]. essential features of the DSL, described below, corre-
2. The insulator housing or body material, e.g. silicone spond well with the environment in Norway as discussed:
rubber or glass, which could influence the surface • The DSL determines the ability of an insulator to
resistance of the insulator[5]. withstand, for a short time, a specific environment at
3. The principal dimensions, e.g. axial length, creepage its operating voltage level, and exactly the same test
distance and diameter, as these can directly be related procedure is used independent of the insulator type or
to the pollution flashover performance[4]. insulating material.
• The insulator is polluted by wind-borne salt particles.
Historically, insulator selection has mostly been based on • The pollution layer has a low non-soluble component.
service experience, complemented in some cases, with
laboratory tests. However, for this upgrading project, The standard DSL withstand test comprises a separate
there has been a greater reliance on the use of laboratory pollution deposit and wetting phase as is shown in fig 3.
tests, as there was not sufficient time or resources availa- For the duration of the test, i.e. during both the deposit
ble to allow for field trials. A three step approach[6] has and wetting phase, the test object is energised with a con-
been followed: stant voltage. The acceptance criteria of the withstand test
are those of IEC 60507[9], i.e. a maximum of one
1. Evaluation of the type of pollution and site severity. flashover is allowed out of four complete tests.
2. Selection of a laboratory test method and its parame-
ters to be representative of the pollution at the site.
Voltage
D eposit phase
W etting phase
3,1 m
object as its purpose is to suspend the salt particles in the
airflow established in the laboratory chamber.
The severity of the DSL test is quantified by the time of Max. system voltage: 420 kV
exposure to the wind-borne salt particles. Salt Deposit Number of discs per string: 18
Creepage distance of string: 6840 mm
Density(SDD) measurements[9] on a reference insulator,
such as a string of standard shape disc insulators, or any
fig 4 A drawing of the reference glass insulator assembly tested.
other type specified by the customer, are used to calibrate
the exposure time to the pollution severity specified. This 5.1.2.The silicone rubber insulator string
is referred to as the “target SDD”.
A 2,8 m and a 2,5 m silicone rubber insulator were
4.2. The wetting phase tested in the same vertical double string arrangement as
was used for the reference glass string. The main details
The wetting phase utilizes a modified steam fog of these insulators are provided in table 1.
that lasts for 100 minutes. More details are provided in
section 5.3. table 1 Details of the two silicone rubber insulators tested
The fan speed settings were selected to obtain a airflow- 5.2.3.Voltage application
speed of between 4-7 m/s with a smooth wind-speed pro-
file at the test position, which is 5 m from the blower out- During the deposit phase the test voltage across
let. Measurements of the salt-in-air density at a coastal the insulator was kept constant at the phase-to-ground
insulator testing station have indicated that at this speed equivalent of the 420 kV maximum system voltage, i.e.
there is a marked increase in the salt-in-air density 243 kVrms.
because the wind is then strong enough to break up waves
5.3. Wetting phase
out at sea, to form the so called “white caps”, which pro-
duces the humid salt particles carried by the wind. Figure 7 shows the positioning of the test object
and associated test equipment during the wetting phase of
An ultrasonic anemometer was used to check the undis- the DSL test. Up to three test objects can be tested simul-
turbed wind profile before the test object was installed. taneously as is indicated in the figure. This is made pos-
Figure 6 shows a contour plot of wind speed measure- sible through the use of spring loaded fuses that
ment results. disconnect insulators that flash over from the testing cir-
Area for optimal placement of test object cuit without interrupting the test for longer than a few
9.5
minutes.
8.5
Test hall
Height above floor (z; m)
250 table 2 Test results for the reference glass insulator string at
the target test severity.
200
150
Test series A Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
Starting voltage SDD [mg/cm2] 0,26 0,26 0,26
100
Flashover voltage [kV] 235 260 260
50
a
50% flashover voltage[U50; kV] 252 ± 15
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 Standard deviation [σ;kV] 14
Time (minutes)
Flashover probability at 243 kV [p.u.] 0,27
fig 8 The applied voltage during the wetting phase of the DSL
test for a progressive stress test. a. 85% confidence interval
An example of the voltage application during a progres-
table 3 Test results for the 2,8 m silicone rubber insulator
sive stress test is presented in fig 8. It shows that the volt- string at the target test severity.
age step amplitude is kept constant throughout the test,
but that the step duration is varied. Initially, steps of short Test series A Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
duration are used to reach the defined starting voltage SDD [mg/cm2] 0,24 0,20 0,25
after about 30 minutes. Subsequently for the main part of Flashover voltage [kV] 485 460 460
the test, i.e. the next 70 minutes, a step duration of 10 50% flashover voltage[U50; kV] 468 ± 15a
minutes is used to cover the range of the expected
Standard deviation [σ;kV] 14
flashover voltage of the insulator. If flashover has not
been reached by the 100th minute, steps of small duration Flashover operability at 243 kV [p.u.] 0,00
are again used to obtain a flashover before the pollution a. 85% confidence interval
layer is completely leached from the insulator surface.
table 4 Test results for the 2,5 m silicone rubber insulator together with the curve fitted through them by selecting
string at the target test severity.
suitable values for the constants, K and α in equation (1).
Test series A Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Similar curves for a flashover probability of 30% and
10% are also shown in the figure.
SDD [mg/cm2] 0,24 0,20 --
140
Flashover voltage [kV] 485 510 --
120
50% flashover voltage[U50; kV] 497 ± 16a 85% confidence interval
a
50% flashover voltage[U50; kV] 235 ± 32a fig 9 The flashover stress of a 3,1 m long insulator assembly as
a function of pollution severity. Curves are shown for a
a flashover probability of 50%, 30% and 10%. The insulator
Standard deviation [σ;kV] 13
assembly is shown in fig 4.
Flashover operability at 243 kV [p.u.] 0,70
0.8
tor strength. In section 3, the pollution severity distribu-
tion is described, and the insulator strength is derived 0.7
500 insulator strings B
form the test results as a function of the pollution severity 0.6
0.4
30 0.6
0 .1
5
0 .0
0 .0 1
2
2% P o llutio n level; E S DD , mg/cm
0.1
Figure 13 shows that in an environment with an ESDD 2
equal to 0,1 mg/cm2, an insulator length of 3,2 m would
0.08 be required to fulfil the performance criterion of
4
0 .0
0 .5
1
0.
5
1
00
01
0.06
0.
5 1
5 0. 00
0.
10
01
0.02
0.
glass insulation, will perform better than the required per-
formance in environments with an ESDD 2 of below
0,08 mg/cm2.
1 0. 1 0. 01 0. 00 1
0 .5
0
1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4
Insulato r length, m
fig 12 The pollution performance of a 50 km, 420 kV line fitted
with 500 glass insulator string assemblies, as a function of
the pollution severity and insulator length. The contour
lines represent the risk of failure per year.
extent determined by the remaining life of the tower
structures that are re-used.
0.12
4
9.2. Accuracy of the results
0 .0
2
0.1
2% Po llutio n level; E SD D , m g/cm
4
0.0
0.06