IET Power and Energy Series 7

Insulators for High Voltages

J.S.T. Looms

IET Power and Energy Series 7

Series Editors: Prof. A.T. Johns G. Ratcliff J.R. Platts

Insulators for High Voltages

Other volumes in this series:

Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Volume Power circuit breaker theory and design C.H. Flurscheim (Editor) Industrial microwave heating A.C. Metaxas and R.J. Meredith Insulators for high voltages J.S.T. Looms Variable frequency AC motor drive systems D. Finney SF6 switchgear H.M. Ryan and G.R. Jones Conduction and induction heating E.J. Davies Statistical techniques for high voltage engineering W. Hauschild and W.Mosch 14 Uninterruptable power supplies J. Platts and J.D. St Aubyn (Editors) 15 Digital protection for power systems A.T. Johns and S.K. Salman 16 Electricity economics and planning T.W. Berrie 18 Vacuum switchgear A. Greenwood 19 Electrical safety: a guide to causes and prevention of hazards J.MaxwellAdams 21 Electricity distribution network design, 2nd edition E. Lakervi and E.J.Holmes 22 Artificial intelligence techniques in power systems K. Warwick, A.O. Ekwue and R. Aggarwal (Editors) 24 Power system commissioning and maintenance practice K. Harker 25 Engineers handbook of industrial microwave heating R.J. Meredith 26 Small electric motors H. Moczala et al. 27 AC-DC power system analysis J. Arrill and B.C. Smith 29 High voltage direct current transmission, 2nd edition J. Arrillaga 30 Flexible AC Transmission Systems (FACTS) Y-H. Song (Editor) 31 Embedded generation N. Jenkins et al. 32 High voltage engineering and testing, 2nd edition H.M. Ryan (Editor) 33 Overvoltage protection of low-voltage systems, revised edition P.Hasse 34 The lightning flash V. Cooray 35 Control techniques drives and controls handbook W. Drury (Editor) 36 Voltage quality in electrical power systems J. Schlabbach et al. 37 Electrical steels for rotating machines P. Beckley 38 The electric car: development and future of battery, hybrid and fuel-cell cars M. Westbrook 39 Power systems electromagnetic transients simulation J. Arrillaga and N.Watson 40 Advances in high voltage engineering M. Haddad and D. Warne 41 Electrical operation of electrostatic precipitators K. Parker 43 Thermal power plant simulation and control D. Flynn 44 Economic evaluation of projects in the electricity supply industry H. Khatib 45 Propulsion systems for hybrid vehicles J. Miller 46 Distribution switchgear S. Stewart 47 Protection of electricity distribution networks, 2nd edition J. Gers and E.Holmes 48 Wood pole overhead lines B. Wareing 49 Electric fuses, 3rd edition A. Wright and G. Newbery 51 Short circuit currents J. Schlabbach 905 Power system protection, 4 volumes 1 4 7 8 10 11 13

Insulators for High Voltages

J.S.T. Looms

The Institution of Engineering and Technology

Published by The Institution of Engineering and Technology, London, United Kingdom First edition 1988 Peter Peregrinus Ltd Reprint with new cover 2006 The Institution of Engineering and Technology First published 1988 Reprinted 1990, 2006 This publication is copyright under the Berne Convention and the Universal Copyright Convention. All rights reserved. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address: The Institution of Engineering and Technology Michael Faraday House Six Hills Way, Stevenage Herts, SG1 2AY, United Kingdom www.theiet.org While the author and the publishers believe that the information and guidance given in this work are correct, all parties must rely upon their own skill and judgement when making use of them. Neither the author nor the publishers assume any liability to anyone for any loss or damage caused by any error or omission in the work, whether such error or omission is the result of negligence or any other cause. Any and all such liability is disclaimed. The moral rights of the author to be identified as author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Looms, J.S.T. Insulators for high voltages (IEE power engineering series; 7) 1. Electric insulators and insulation 2. High voltages I. Title II. Institution of Electrical Engineers III. Series 621.31937 TL3401 ISBN (10 digit) 0 86341 116 9 ISBN (13 digit) 978-0-86341-116-8

Printed in the UK by Short Run Press Ltd, Exeter Reprinted in the UK by Lightning Source UK Ltd, Milton Keynes

Contents
Page Foreword Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 1.1 Definitions 1.1.2 Functions of insulators 1.1.3 Classification of insulators 1.2 History of insulators for transmission systems 1.2.1 Transmission lines 1.2.2 Insulator evolution: Materials and shapes 1.3 Critical elements of an insulator 1.3.1 Properties of materials for insulators 1.3.2 Operation in adverse conditions 1.3.3 Costs of insulators Insulating materials 2.1 Basic nature of insulator dielectrics 2.2 Properties of electrical porcelain 2.2.1 The determinants 2.2.2 Mechanical properties 2.2.3 Electrical properties 2.3 Properties of insulator glass 2.3.1 The glassy state 2.3.2 Mechanical properties of insulator glass 2.3.3 Electrical properties of insulator glass 2.4 Properties of resin-bonded glass fibre (RBGF) 2.4.1 Fibrous composites: General 2.4.2 Unidirectional fibre materials 2.4.3 Mechanical properties of RBGF 2.4.4 Electrical properties of RBGF 2.5 Properties of polymers and polymer concretes 2.5.1 Applications and functions 2.5.2 Polymers for housings 2.5.3 Evaluation of polymers as housing materials 2.5.4 Polymer concretes ix xi 1 1 1 2 3 3 4 10 10 13 15 17 17 20 20 23 25 27 27 29 31 32 32 35 36 38 39 39 42 45 50

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Contents
Manufacture of wet process porcelain 3.1 Wet and other processes 3.2 Blending the raw materials 3.3 Dehydration and forming 3.4 Glazing and sanding 3.5 Firing 3.6 Finishing processes 3.7 Other porcelain processes Manufacture of tempered-glass insulators 4.1 Scope of manufacturing processes 4.2 Preparation of glass 4.3 Moulding and toughening Fibrous 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 cores for polymeric insulators General principles Glasses and surface treatments Sealing of core ends Service experience with fibrous cores 53 53 54 57 58 59 64 64 66 66 66 68 70 70 71 72 74 75 75 77 78 78 80 84 88 88 90 90 94 98 102 102 103 104 105 106 108 108 110 111 116 118 118 119 124 126 127

Polymeric housings 6.1 Relationship between shape and material 6.2 Extrusion and bonding 6.3 Casting and moulding 6.4 Other fabrication processes 6.5 Behaviour of polymeric housings: Tests, trials, service 6.6 Profile and performance Terminal fittings for insulators 7.1 Terminal materials 7.2 Mechanical design of fittings 7.2.1 Fittings for porcelain and glass 7.2.2 Fittings for fibrous composite cores 7.3 Effects of transition from metal to insulation Finite insulator life: Limiting processes 8.1 Catastrophic and gradual attack 8.2 Impact testing and vandal resistance 8.3 Damage by cycling 8.4 Cement growth and corrosion 8.5 Loss of electrical performance Aesthetics of insulators 9.1 Acceptability of transmission lines 9.2 The inconspicuous insulator 9.3 Insulators as determinants of tower height: Compaction 9.4 Unorthodox systems Physics 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 of contamination Electrically significant deposits Contaminating processes Purging processes Equilibrium deposit Assessment of required insulation: Severity measurement

10

Contents
11 Physics of pollution flashover 11.1 Flashover paradox 11.2 Stages of the flashover process 11.2.1. Electrolytic layers under electrical stress 11.2.2 Propagation of discharges 11.2.3 Voltage waveshape and propagation 11.3 Models and empirical theories of complete

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132 132 133 134 137 142 143 145 145 145 148 150 152 152 156, 163 163 166 167 170 170 170 171 181 188 188 192 195 195 196 197 199 203 207 209 211 215 216 216 216 219 219 219 221 224 226 226 227 229

flashover

12

Testing of insulators 12.1 Classes of test 12.2 Natural pollution testing: Background 12.2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of outdoor testing 12.2.2 Practice of natural pollution testing 12.3 Artificial pollution testing 12.3.1 Basic philosophies 12.3.2 Principal artificial tests 12.4 Comparison of artificial-pollution tests 12.4.1 Severity parameter and voltage/severity function 12.5 Source impedance: Effect on test results 12.6 Principles of mechanical testing Conclusions from pollution tests on insulators 13.1 Scope of Chapter 13.1.1 Agreement between artificial and natural test results 13.1.2 Laws of behaviour of polluted insulators 13.1.3 Influence of shape on insulator performance 13.2 Deterioration: Test results 13.2.1 Scope of tests 13.3 Is testing of insulators valid and valuable? Remedies for flashover 14.1 When are remedies needed? 14.2 Optimised insulator shapes and creepages 14.3 Insulator washing 14.3.1 Booster shed 14.4 Surface treatments 14.5 Use of solid hydrophobes on surfaces 14.6 Hybrid insulators 14.7 Resistive glazes 14.8 Calculated powers in resistive-glazed insulators Insulators for special applications 15.1 Scope of Chapter 15.2 Railway insulators 15.3 Insulators for electrostatic precipitators 15.4 Insulators for direct voltages 15.4.1 Basic differences from AC condition 15.4.2 Relative flashover liabilities, DC and AC 15.4.3 Relative deterioration rates 15.5 Insulators for live working 15.5.1 Leakage-current limitation 15.5.2 Hand-held tools - Hot sticks - Struts and ties 15.5.3 Tensile supports: Ropes, chains, monofilaments

13

14

15

viii
16

Contents
Interference and noise generated by insulators 16.1 Generating processes 16.2 Effects of capacitance 16.3 Effects of wetting and pollution 16.4 Acoustic noise from insulators Insulator of the future 17.1 Indicators from known facts 17.2 Extrapolation from current practices 231 231 234 237 239 241 241 244 249 259 262 265 267 273

17

References Appendix A: Glossary of insulator names Appendix B: Testing of insulators Appendix C: Selective bibliography on live washing of insulators Subject Index Name Index

Foreword
Although this book is written primarily with the needs of students, practising electrical engineers and researchers in mind, I hope that it will be helpful also to others who seek information about insulators. There is a mass of published work on the subject, disparate and often contradictory, which makes the search for specific answers to questions a frustrating task. The seeker should either find what he needs directly, or at least a reliable reference, in these pages. My text is a distillation of much of a working life's accumulations. Some was acquired when I worked as a researcher for the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB), the UK's national electrical authority and a large user of insulators. The rest has come from my days as consultant to manufacturers concerned with the development and marketing of insulators. Both sides of the coin are presented here. After more than a century's development insulators might be expected to have settled into final forms, but in fact the whole topic continues in a state of flux. Some of what is said here may well be proved wrong, before long. I shall be pleased, however, if I succeed in showing why insulators are made as they are and behave as they do; if my readers acquire a 'feel' for the subject; if I leave with them a flavour of the fun and excitement which have attended my own days as an insulator-man. I have done my best to acknowledge everyone who has helped with my text and apologise for any accidental omissions. I particularly have to thank the CEGB for allowing the inclusion of some of the results obtained in their service, and the International Conference on Large Electrical Networks (CIGRE) for permitting the inclusion of many internationally acquired results of collaboration, under their aegis. IEE publications have been extensively drawn upon. On the personal level, I express my gratitude to Peter Lambeth, my friend for many years, for a great deal of my material. I thank my 'boys' at the Central Electricity Research Laboratories (CERL) for their hard and careful work and happily recall the amicable collaboration of my colleagues in CEGB, in the national power authorities of France and Italy (EdF, ENEL), in the German, Italian and Czechoslovakian Testing Institutes (FGH, CESI, EGU) and among

Foreword

the manufacturers in the UK, Germany, France, Japan and the USA. We have fought technical battles but have enjoyed many good times together. Above all I must thank my Chief, John Samuel Forrest, F.R.S., the father of insulator research. He set my hand upon this particular plough and guided me along the furrow. I dedicate this book to him. East Molesey J.S.T. Looms

Acknowledgments
I thank the following gentlemen for their help, in writing this book and the named bodies for their courtesy in allowing reproduction of photographs or figures: Arthur Barber Ewald Bauer Alan Bradwell Robin Clabburn Paul Claverie Fritz Hirsch Ray Houlgate Tony Howard Alan Ingles Gerard Leroy Ian Maclean Carlo Malaguti Jack Moran Marcel Moreau Stan Morgan Katsuhiko Naito Harry New George Orawski Laurent Pargamin Rene Parraud Dick Penneck Tony Pentelow Yves Porcheron Don Powell Frank Proctor Cliff Ricketts Dominique Riviere Farouk Rizk Bill Robinson Brian Sadler Mario Sforzini Don Swift Derek Taylor Lee Teichthesen Ian Thorpe Prasad Verma

Balfour Beatty Transmission Division Central Electricity Research Laboratories Ceraver Conference Internationale des Grands Reseaux Electriques Doulton Insulators Ltd. Dulmison Pty. Ltd. Electric Power Research Institute Lapp Insulator Co. NGK Insulators Ltd. Raychem UK Ltd. Rosenthal (Hoechst Ceramtec)