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2020 Review of External Insulation for EHV & UHV Bushings | INMR
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06.03.2020 Review of External Insulation for EHV & UHV Bushings | INMR
Electrical Performance
In regard to electrical performance, the di erent insulation options
for EHV & UHV bushings can be grouped into two main categories:
Overvoltage Performance
The most critical condition for external bushing insulation from the
overvoltage point of view, although not commonly known, is
represented by tests with Switching Impulses (SI) of positive
polarity under rain. Examples of such test set-ups are shown in Fig.
1.
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Pollution Performance
Performance Under AC Voltage
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Design Indications
The above ndings indicate that, looking only to withstand
requirement under pollution, HTM insulators (and hybrid ones as
well) could potentially be used with USCDs much lower than
normally applied for porcelain, even if the nal USCD selected for
design must take into account the need to comply with long-term
performance requirements (i.e. an ageing limitation). The
advantages of HTM solutions in terms of pollution performance,
especially for large diameter insulators required for the upper
range of EHV and UHV, and the possibility with composite
insulators to use e cient creepage factors higher than for ceramic
equivalents, make the HTM solution (i.e. composite and hybrid
insulators) the best candidate for AC applications in harsh
environments. This also applies in general for DC applications (i.e.
cases where performance under pollution conditions dominates
design. Moreover, in the case of DC, hybrid insulator solutions are
typically not used since the bushings are frequently placed at
angles close to horizontal and a porcelain core is too heavy.
Icing Performance
For some environments, insulator design must comply with
expected performance under icing and sometimes under heavy ice
conditions, i.e. with the insulator practically short-circuited by ice
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(i.e. the most critical case). Tests on HTM and non-HTM insulators
were performed at three laboratories, with set-ups shown in Fig 11.
Performance of HTM and non-HTM insulation was similar in spite of
some possible initial advantage for non-HTM insulators during the
initial phase of ice formation. Once an ice coating has formed,
however, ice dominates insulation performance and fully masks
insulator characteristics. Based on experience, a software tool for
statistical design of insulators under heavy ice conditions has been
developed. As example, Fig. 12 outlines maximum allowable stress
for vertical insulators per m of arcing distance in the withstand
condition versus ice thickness.
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Seismic Performance
Earthquakes can be disastrous to the integrity of electrical grids
and many studies have been carried out and are still in progress to
limit these consequences. Bushings mounted on frames (i.e.
transformers, reactors, GIS, walls) that amplify ground motion and
being thin, high and heavy, are subject to even higher mechanical
stresses than other grid components, especially in the EHV (420-
550 kV) and UHV (≥800 kV) voltage ranges. As such, the critical
components of a bushing are its condenser core and airside
insulator. The rst links mainly to insulation technology. Oil
impregnated paper (OIP) insulation with condenser core made of
paper impregnated with a uid and all the components that
hermetically contain the oil becomes more critical than solid resin
impregnated paper (RIP) or resin impregnated synthetic (RIS)
technologies, where no uid is present. Second, since OIP
technology was the rst to have been developed, it is more
traditionally associated with use of porcelain insulators. By
contrast, the other ‘newer’ technologies are more frequently
connected with use of HTM-composite insulators. Porcelain is
heavy, rigid and fragile – all characteristics that are negative in
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Safety Aspects
From the safety point of view, porcelain insulators, even if still the
main type used worldwide, are critical due to risk of explosion in
the event of internal ashover that comes into contact with the
body. The thermal shock from the arc generates a dangerous
explosion with projection of sharp chunks of porcelain all around
and possible serious injury to persons and damage to nearby
equipment. This is one of the reasons why porcelain insulators are
progressively being substituted with composite insulators that do
not su er this type of violent phenomenon. In case of internal arc,
the composite insulator breaks but does not explode. This is
another positive characteristic for such insulation, in addition to the
pollution and seismic performance advantages outlined above. A
hybrid insulator solution is not used when focused on the safety
aspect since the drawbacks of porcelain in terms of explosion risk
do not change.
the bushing’s airside axis. This test has been carried out with
success for 420 kV class transformer bushings using both insulating
technologies, OIP and RIP (see Fig. 16).
Conclusions
This article analyzed behaviour of non-HTM (porcelain) and HTM
(composite and hybrid) insulators from di erent points of view. In
terms of wet switching impulses performance, there is no
appreciable di erence because the ashover happens mainly in air
following the water ow. IEC Standards specify the same USCD for
HTM and non HTM insulators, cap & pin and station types,
introducing only a correction factor for average diameters larger
than 300 mm. Tests carried out in AC at di erent laboratories using
the solid layer as well as salt fog methods demonstrate to the
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For DC voltages the IEC Standard con rms the same concept.
Again, experimental results using salt fog and solid layer methods
demonstrate that the behaviour of HTM insulators is remarkably
better than non-HTM insulators. This phenomenon becomes more
pronounced with larger diameters and in this case cap & pin types
behave better than station insulators.
Under icing conditions, especially when the ice layer becomes thick,
behaviour in AC and DC of HTM and non-HTM insulators is basically
the same because conduction phenomena are dominated by ice,
thereby completely masking insulator surface.
References
[3] A. Pigini and al., “Disconnector design from the pollution point of
view”, paper submitted for publication.
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[8] CIGRE WG C4303, “Arti cial Pollution Test for Polymer Insulators.
Results of Round Robin Test”, CIGRE Brochure 555-2013, 2013.
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