Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Genetic Algorithm
Modeling and Identification of arc parameter in Insulators
Flashover Voltage and leakage Current
K.Belhouchet A .Bayadi
Department of Electrical Department of Electrical
Engineering, Setif University Engineering, Setif University
belhouchat_khaled@yahoo.fr a_bayadi@yahoo.fr
Abstract — Flashover phenomenon in polluted insulators has
not yet been described accurately through a mathematical
model. The main difficulty lies in the definition of arc
constants, which is formed in the dry bands when the voltage
exceeds its critical value. We have present an optimization
method based on genetic algorithms and Artificial Neural
Networks (ANN) experimental data from artificially polluted
insulators for the determination of the arc constants and
Dielectric properties in the surface. In this work a pollution
flashover generalized model is used. The obtained results
show that the mathematical model with optimized arc
constants simulates accurately the experimental data and
Corroborate the inverse Relationship between flashover
voltage and pre-flashover leakage current.
For this purpose, an ANN was constructed in MATLAB and
has been trained with several MATLAB training functions,
while tests regarding the number of neurons, the number of
epochs and the value of learning rate have taken place, in
order to find which net architecture and which value of the
other parameters give the best result.
Keywords Insulators, Flashover, Critical Voltage, Genetic
Algorithm, ANN, Leakage Current.
1. INTRODUCTION
T he insulators, like those used for the overhead
transmission lines, constitute one of the most important
components that greatly affect the reliability of the
electric systems. As flashover occurs in insulators, it can cause
the breakdown of a transmission network.
Any failure in the performance of high voltage insulators will
result in considerable loss as there are numerous industries
that depend upon the availability of an uninterrupted power
supply.
978-1-4673-6673-1/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE
M.Elhadi.Bendib
Department of Electrical
Engineering, Setif University
bendibmohamed99@yahoo.com
Outdoor insulators are being subjected to various operating
conditions and environments. The surface of the insulators is
covered by pollutants due to natural or industrial or even
mixed pollution. Contamination on the surface of the
insulators enhances the chances of flashover. Under dry
conditions the contaminated surfaces do not conduct, and thus
contamination is of little importance in dry periods [1]. As the
surface becomes moist because of rain, fog or dew, the
pollution layer becomes conductive because of the presence of
ionic solids.
The leakage current flows through the conducting surface
film, generating heat which tends to increase the film
temperature most rapidly at those points where the current
density is greatest, i.e. at narrow sections of the insulator, such
as the area around the pin. Eventually, the temperature in these
areas approaches boiling point, and rapid evaporation of the
moisture occurs producing dry areas. The development of the
dry areas is independent of the insulator type, something that
has also been verified experimentally, since the insulator’s
body diameter differs very little from one type to another [2].
Pollution flashover, observed on insulators used in high
voltage transmission, is one of the most important problems
for power transmission. Pollution flashover is a very complex
problem due to several reasons such as modeling difficulties
of the insulator complex shape, different pollution density at
different regions, non-homogenous pollution distribution on
the surface of insulator and unknown effect of humidity on the
pollution [3]. ANN algorithm has been tried successfully on a
very wide range of applications including machine vision,
speech processing and radar analysis. In electrical power
systems, ANN have been used for accurate load forecasting
[13], alarm processing, etc. Flashover of polluted insulators is
still a serious threat to the safe operation of a power
transmission system. It is generally considered that pollution
flashover is becoming ever more important in the design of
high voltage transmission lines.
Flashover modeling has been a topic of interest for many
researchers [4]. A major problem in all those investigations is
the estimation of arc constants that affect the flashover
process. Unfortunately the values of these constants
determined from several investigations diverge substantially.
This work attempts to construct a calculation of the arc
parameters, using relevant experimental data, a suitable
mathematical model and some characteristic of insulator as
inputs in order to predict accurately the insulators behavior The critical condition for propagation of the discharge along
under polluted conditions. the surface of the insulator to cause flashover is
dl (6)
>0
2. MATHEMATICAL MODEL dx
Research on insulator pollution is directed primarily to The voltage under this critical condition yields
understanding the physics of the growth of discharge and to U c = X c ⋅ A ⋅ I c − n + ( L − X c )K ⋅ R P ⋅ I C (7)
develop a mathematical model, which can predict accurately Wilkins introduced this coefficient in order to modify the
the critical flashover voltage and critical current. A common resistance Rp of the pollution layer considering the current
feature of all mathematical models proposed by researchers concentration at the arc foot point. A simplified formula for
[4] is a representation of a propagating arc consisting of a the calculation of K for cap-and-pin insulators is
partial arc in series with the polluted layer resistance as shown ⎛ ⎞
⎜ ⎟
in Fig 1, where V is the arcing voltage, Rp the resistance of the ⎜ ⎟
pollution layer and U a stable voltage supply source. The L ⎜ L ⎟ (8)
k = 1+ ln
mathematical model used for the prediction of critical 2 π F ( L − X c ) ⎜⎜ 1 ⎟
⎟
n+1
flashover voltage taking into consideration the effects of ⎜ 2πF ( πD σA ) ⎟
⎜ ⎟
⎝ 1 .45 π ⎠
different physical parameters is developed in the following
sections. Based on Obenhaus work, we can write: At the critical condition [7] the length of the arc takes the
(1) value:
U = V + ( L − X )R p ⋅ I
1 (9)
And Xc = L
n+1
V = X ⋅ A ⋅ I −n (2) And for the critical voltage:
The voltage across the insulator will be: A
−n
−n (3) Uc = ( L + π DFKn )( π D σ A ) n + 1 (10)
U = X ⋅ A⋅I + ( L − X )R p ⋅ I n+1
Where:
D: is the insulator diameter.
L-X
Equation 10 provides the critical value of the voltage at the
X instant of flashover against the dimensions of the insulator D
and L, the arc constants A, n and the pollution conductivityσ,
V RP since F and k are also functions of the insulator’s dimensions.
Obviously, the critical voltage can be calculated after the
determination of the arc constants. These are the unknown
U parameters of the model.
Figure1. Equivalent Circuit of the flashover insulator

3. EXPERIMENTS AND GENETIC ALGORITHM

Where
X ⋅ A⋅ I −n
: is the stress in the arc; A typical simplified circuit of the measurement setup to
measure the flashover voltage of a polluted insulator is shown
( L − X )RP ⋅ I : is the stress in the pollution layer;
in figure 2.
X : is the length of the arc; The response of a model can be correctly predicted if an
L : is the leakage path of the insulator; adequate choice of its parameters x = (x1 , x2 ,… , xn ) is done.
RP : is the resistance per unit length of the pollution layer; These parameters can be determined by minimizing the
I : is the leakage current; following objective function:
A, n: are the arc constants. N

It has been found experimentally that the flashover voltage

ε= ∑ [U
i=1
cmi − U cci ( x )]2 (11)
value of a polluted insulator is not constant even under
identical conditions.
The measurement of the resistance RP of the wet zone is quite
complicated. Therefore it may be substituted by the
conductivity σ of the pollution layer
1 (4)
RP = F
σ
F is the form factor of the insulator given as follows:
l
1 (5)
F = ∫ π D ( l )dl
0
Figure2. Typical measuring setup for flashover voltage of polluted insulator.
Where:
D (l) is the diameter of the insulator that varies across the In this equation xi must be positive and,
leakage path. N: indicates the total number of measured points.
Ucm: measured Choice randomly of the population
Ucc: Calculated flashover voltage.
The goal of the genetic algorithms (GA) is to optimize an
objective function on a research space. For that, a population Stopping
criteria
of individuals evolves according to an artificial Darwinism
(evaluation, selection, reproduction) based on the fitness F of
Solution
each individual [10]. The fitness is directly related to the value optimal of the
problem
of the objective function of this individual. Evolution Selection
Operators applied to the population allow to create new
individuals (crossover and mutation) and to select the Crossing and mutation
individuals of the population who will survive (selection and
replacement). For parameters identification of a model whose Selection finale
structure is known, the individual is the set of the unknown
parameters and consequently each gene coincides with a
New generation
parameter.
The loop of the algorithm follows the following stages:
After a random initialization of the population the algorithm Figure3. Flowchart of genetic algorithm
evaluates the function of adaptation of each individual. This paper uses experimental results on four different types of
insulator table 1. The first two types have been tested by the
⎯ Stop criterion: It is a criterion that allows stopping the
authors of reference [5] and the two last ones by the
process. One of the simple criteria often used is when the
maximum number of generations is reached. investigators of [6]. The technical characteristics of these
insulators are presented in Table 2.
⎯ Selection: This operator selects among the parents those
which will generate children.
⎯ Creation of new individuals: The creation of new Table1. Measured flashover voltages.
individuals is done primarily using the operators of Insulator 01 02 03 04
crossing and mutation. The crossover operator is an
operator who combines parents to create one or more 22.00 28.20 26.85 25.71
16.00 25.91 22.02 23.50
children. The program used (figure 3) is an
in (kV)

13.00 19.04 15.97 19.32

implementation of a genetic algorithm with real coding. 11.00 15.00 13.08 16.99
In this program we use roulette wheel selection. The 10.00 13.09 11.09 15.82
available crossovers are the multipoint and the barycentric 9.10 12.04 10.12 14.31
8.50 10.63 8.50 12.31
crossover. Two mutations types are possible. The first is 7.80 9.86 8.18 13.57
the Gaussian mutation with a constant variance or a
decreasing variance during iterations. The second is a 0.02 0.017 0.010 0.016
0.05 0.021 0.020 0.021
in (mg/cm2)

non-uniform mutation [12] 0.10 0.049 0.049 0.039

The algorithm uses also the depending on the distance 0.16 0.101 0.101 0.051
suggested in [13]. This technique increases the probability of 0.22 0.160 0.160 0.101
mutation of the children when the distance between the 0.28 0.219 0.220 0.121
0.30 0.301 0.300 0.182
parents is small to avoid a premature convergence. 0.37 0.368 0.369 0.200
The population concentrates on a region of the search space.
The elitism was also introduced by the algorithm. It ensures Table2. Dimensions of the investigated insulators
the decrease of the best value found during generations. Insulator profile 01 02 03 04
Another technique, important for the correct operation of the
D (cm) 25 .4 25.4 25.4 22.9
algorithm, is the scaling. Several strategies of the scaling were
tested among which we quote the scaling by the truncated L (cm) 27.9 43.2 30.5 43.2
sigma. F 0.68 0.92 0.70 1.38
All these techniques increase the performances of the
algorithm. The experimental data Uc as a function of the conductivity and
the geometrical characteristics D, L, F, of the insulators of
Table 1 are applied to eq (4), thus resulting in a set of 32
simultaneous equations with two unknowns, the arc constants
A and n:
The research space to get A and n, is:
0 < A < 500 and 0 < n < 1.

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The application of the genetic algorithm starts with a
randomly generated population of 10 chromosomes. It
generates 10 random values for the arc constants. The 30

crossover begins as each chromosome of any parent is divided

Model
Exp

into six parts, and the pair of parents interchanges their genetic 25
Ref [5]
Ref [6]
material. After crossover there is a 0.75 probability of

Flashover voltage[kV]
mutation. The procedure is terminated after 200 generations. 20

15
Table3. Optimum value of the arc constants in each generation
Gene 20 40 60 80 100 120 180 200 10

A 120 123 125 125.5 127 126.2 126.2 126.2

5

n 0.32 0.357 0.359 0.38 0.369 0.362 0.36 0.36

0
0 0.25 0.5 0.75 1 1.25 1.5
Conductivity Ω x 10
-4

The algorithm parameters are summarized in Table 4. Figure 4. σ

Table4. Used parameters.

B. Validity of the arc constants.
The training set with 60 input–output data was used at the
Ps Genmax Pc Pmut Types Typec training process. Each pattern of the training set contains 6
inputs and 1 output which represent the critical flashover
10 200 0.75 0.005 'rs' 'sbx'
voltage. All of the input–output variables in the training
patterns are normalized within its series before the initiation of
A. Comparison with other methods the training and test of the neural network [13].
An initial investigation in the present work is a comparative The comparison of the obtained results using ANN and experimental
study between this method and other methods proposed for the results is given in Fig. 5. It is seen that the ANN results and
same purpose [5, 6]. This comparative study uses experimental results are nearly same.
experimental data from a single profile at a time and available
in the literature. Parameters values (A and n) of the four 1,1
profiles found by different researchers and those obtained by 1,0
Experimentals Results

this investigation are summarized in Table 5. 0,9

Simulation Results

As we can see, a noticeable difference is recorded. To better

Normalized flashover voltage

0,8
see the difference, we have plotted in Figure 4 0,7

σ for the different methods. The experimental 0,6

characteristic is introduced for comparison purposes and 0,5

validation of this approach. Only one profile is used at a time. 0,4

In In considering this figure, we can see that the model with 0,3

the parameters identified by the genetic approach reproduces 0,2

the experimental data in a manner more accurate than other 0,1

approaches, namely the binary-coded genetic approach [5] and 0,0

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
the method of least squares [6]. This can be explained by the Input characteristic vector
fact that the binary encoding introduces more errors in the
steps of encoding and decoding, while in the least square Figure5 .The comparison of the results of ANN model of the insulator and
method there is a problem of local minima that can move experimental results
away the model from experimental data.
The comparison of the results of the ANN model and
Table5. Different values of A and n Sundararajan–Gorur model (Sundararajan & Gorur, 1994) is
[5] [6] Present work given in Fig. 5.
the Correlation between estimated and real values of flashover
Arc voltage is shown by equation 15
A n A n A n
constants
Profile 1 160 0.52 112 0.46 110 0.45
461 0.66 144 0.36 145 0.37
Output ≈=1*Target+0.0037 (12)
Profile 2
Profile 3 270 0.42 229 0.42 132 0.47
Profile 4 124.8 0.40 131.5 0.374 122 0.34 A good agreement was achieved between the results of the
experiments and those obtained using the ANN mode.
 0,7
Experimental Results 140 0.4
A
ANN Results
n

135
0,6
Normalized flashover voltage

130
0,5
125 0.35

A
0,4
120

0,3 115

110 0.3
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
0,2
Number of generation
Nombre de generation

Figure 8.Convergence of the optimum values of the arc constants A and n in

0,1 each generation
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Input vector D Leakage current as a function of conductivity
Figure6. The comparison of ANN model by experimental results
(Sundararajan & Gorur, 1994)
Utilization of the optimum values of the arc constants in
equation (13) allows us to compute of the leakage current:
C. Identification of arc parameters as a function of profile 1
number I = ( π .D .σ . A ) n + 1 (13)
Figure 7. We present the shape of the flashover voltage as a Figure 9 shows the variation of leakage current as a function
function of conductivity of the electrolyte layer covered the of the conductivity of the pollution layer. Again one can easily
surface of the insulator. The analysis of this figure indicates see that the model with identified parameters by this approach
that the model reproduces in an optimal way all the accurately reproduced the experimental results available in the
experimental results of different used profiles. This reflects literature while the methods in references [5, 6] differ more or
that the model is general and can be used for any profile. less from these experimental characteristics.
2.5
Model
30 Exp1
Model
Exp2
Profil 1
2 Ref [5]
Profil 2
25 Ref [6]
Profil 3
profil 4
leakage current[A]

1.5
Flashover voltage[kV]

20

15
1

10
0.5

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Conductivity Ω x 10
-4

Conductivity Ω -4
x 10
Figure 9.Variation of the leakage current
Figure7. σ : Case of four profiles
E. Application to the experimental results achieved in the
Figure 8 shows the variation of the parameters A and n with the
number of generation N-gen. The results show that the parameter has laboratory of Bejaia
converged to its optimum 126.22 starting from 100 generations, In an experimental work carried out at high voltage laboratory
while the parameter n reaches his 0.36 starting from 110 generations. of the University of Bejaia [9], many tests under different
This gives us a global convergence of the two parameters pollution conditions have been achieved. In this part of the
simultaneously for a number of generations equal to 110. This result work, we determine the parameters of the model that can
shows that the maximum number of generation is a very simple simulate the flashover arc and reproduce the obtained
stopping criterion and has the disadvantage of increasing the experimental data.
computation time of the program. For this purpose another stopping
criterion (certain accuracy, for example) is essential to accelerate the
convergence of the algorithm.
 completely different values found in the literature are due to
either the different experimental methodologies or to the
complex mathematical solutions.
which leads to more accurate results compared with those
from conventional mathematical methods. Application of the
model requires only the geometric characteristics of the
insulator, the conductivity of the pollutant and the arc
constants. Therefore, the determination of the arc constants
allows the computation of the critical conditions for flashover.
Experimental tests on several insulators show very good
agreement between the measured values and the computed
ones. This study proposes a complex optimization method
using genetic algorithms and ANN model is capable for
predict the flashover voltages of different type of the string
insulators.
Figure10. Flashover voltage: case real in laboratory
6. REFERENCES
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1.1

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Figure11. Flashover voltage: case of uniform pollution
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7

4
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Conductivity Ω x 10
-6

Figure12. Flashover voltage: case of HV side heavily polluted

5. CONCUSION
One of the most important difficulties that researchers face
nowadays, when using quite reliable mathematical models of
polluted insulators, is the definition of the arc parameters. The