TRANSMISSION LINE SYSTEM ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSES TUTORIALS

Most environmental stress is caused by weather and by the surrounding environment, such as industry, sea, or dust in rural areas. The environmental stresses affect both mechanical and electrical performance of the line.

Temperature
The temperature in an outdoor station or line may fluctuate between –50°C and +50°C, depending upon the climate. The temperature change has no effect on the electrical performance of outdoor insulation. It is believed that high temperatures may accelerate aging. Temperature fluctuation causes an increase of mechanical stresses, however it is negligible when well-designed insulators are used.

UV Radiation
UV radiation accelerates the aging of nonceramic composite insulators, but has no effect on porcelain and glass insulators. Manufacturers use fillers and modified chemical structures of the insulating material to minimize the UV sensitivity.

Rain
Rain wets porcelain insulator surfaces and produces a thin conducting layer most of the time. This reduces the flashover voltage of the insulators. As an example, a 230-kV line may use an insulator string with 12 standard ball-and-socket-type insulators.

Dry flashover voltage of this string is 665 kV and the wet flashover voltage is 502 kV. The percentage reduction is about 25%.

Nonceramic polymer insulators have a water-repellent hydrophobic surface that reduces the effects of rain. As an example, with a 230-kV composite insulator, dry flashover voltage is 735 kV and wet flashover voltage is 630 kV.

The percentage reduction is about 15%. The insulator’s wet flashover voltage must be higher than the maximum temporary overvoltage.

Icing
In industrialized areas, conducting water may form ice due to water-dissolved industrial pollution. An example is the ice formed from acid rain water. Ice deposits form bridges across the gaps in an insulator string that result in a solid surface.

When the sun melts the ice, a conducting water layer will bridge the insulator and cause flashover at low voltages. Melting ice-caused flashover has been reported in the Quebec and Montreal areas.

Pollution
Wind drives contaminant particles into insulators. Insulators produce turbulence in airflow, which results in the deposition of particles on their surfaces. The continuous depositing of the particles increases the thickness of these deposits.

However, the natural cleaning effect of wind, which blows loose particles away, limits the growth of deposits. Occasionally, rain washes part of the pollution away. The continuous depositing and cleaning produces a seasonal variation of the pollution on the insulator surfaces.
However, after a long time (months, years), the deposits are stabilized and a thin layer of solid deposit will cover the insulator.

Because of the cleaning effects of rain, deposits are lighter on the top of the insulators and heavier on the bottom. The development of a continuous pollution layer is compounded by chemical changes.

As an example, in the vicinity of a cement factory, the interaction between the cement and water produces a tough, very sticky layer. Around highways, the wear of car tires produces a slick, tar-like carbon deposit on the insulator’s surface.

Moisture, fog, and dew wet the pollution layer, dissolve the salt, and produce a conducting layer, which in turn reduces the flashover voltage. The pollution can reduce the flashover voltage of a standard insulator string by about 20–25%.

Near the ocean, wind drives salt water onto insulator surfaces, forming a conducting salt-water layer which reduces the flashover voltage. The sun dries the pollution during the day and forms a white salt layer. This layer is washed off even by light rain and produces a wide fluctuation in pollution levels.

The Equivalent Salt Deposit Density (ESDD) describes the level of contamination in an area. Equivalent Salt Deposit Density is measured by periodically washing down the pollution from selected insulators using distilled water.

The resistivity of the water is measured and the amount of salt that produces the same resistivity is calculated. The obtained mg value of salt is divided by the surface area of the insulator. This number is the ESDD. The pollution severity of a site is described by the average ESDD value, which is determined by several measurements.

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