2006 Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena

Corona Ring Design of 800kV DC Composite Insulator Based on Computer Analysis

Wenxia Sima, Kun Wu, Qing Yang, Caixin Sun
Key Laboratory of High Voltage Engineering and Electrical New Technology, Ministry of Education
College of Electrical Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China

Abstract: This paper presents a 3D electric-field

calculation model of the 800kV DC transmission line
composite insulators based on finite element method.
With this 3D model, this paper introduces the effect of
the tower, transmission lines and the parameters of the
corona rings on the potential and e-field distribution
along the composite insulators, and optimizes the
corona ring design in order to control the maximum efield along the insulator surface and corona ring surface.

Introduction
The e-field distribution around the ultra high voltage
transmission line insulators, under dry conditions is
governed by the geometry and the capacitance
distribution along the insulator. In the case of ceramic
insulators formed by a string of discs, which have a
large capacitance, the voltage has a graded distribution
along the insulator string. This phenomenon helps to
avoid high electric field strength at or near the ends of
the string. However, in the case of non-ceramic outdoor
insulators, the permittivity of the material and the shape
of the insulator result in a non-uniform potential
distribution along the insulator, which produces the high
e-field strength in the vicinity of both line and ground
ends[1]-[2].
Corona rings are used to improve the performance of
the insulator in a multiple of ways. They can reduce
corona and the associated audible noise and radio
interference(RI) and television interference (TVI).
Corona rings can adjust the voltage distribution along
the insulator near the ends of the insulator, thereby
reducing the maximum e-field[3]-[4]. More importantly,
they can eliminate corona degradation of non-ceramic
materials. But there are few standards for corona ring
design up to now. The UHV 800kV transmission line
is to be built in China. The composite insulator is
chosen to be the line insulator of this transmission line.
Therefore, it is necessary to optimize the corona design
of the UHV composite insulator.

Basis of the 3D E-field Calculation Model

1-4244-0547-5/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE

There are many factors that influence the e-field

distribution of the transmission line composite
insulators. The most important factors include:
1. Geometry of composite insulator, both weathershed systems, fiberglass rod and electrodes.
2. Electrical properties of the silicon-rubber and
fiberglass rod material.
3. The dimension and position of the corona rings as
well as the attachment method.
4. The geometry and relative positions of the
attachment hardware, for example, conductor
bundles, tower and shielding lines.
Each of these factors needs to be taken into account
when determining the e-field distribution of composite
insulators. These factors may have more or less effect
on the e-field distribution of composite insulators. Fig.1
gives the section planes of the model used in the
simulation. The factors mentioned above are all taken
into consideration.

Fig. 1 The section planes of the model used in the simulations

With a commercial finite element software, COMSOL

Multiphysics, the calculation of the potential and e-field
distribution along the composite insulator is to solve the
Possions equations in the whole domain as
0 r V =
(1)
The boundary condition between two dielectrics is

457

(2)
The boundary condition of the high voltage end and
ground end is
V = V0
(4)
The ground boundary condition is
V =0
(5)
Because the finite element method is only used in a
bounded domain, the condition of the artificial
boundary, which is far away from the tower, is set to be
the ground condition.

calculation results, all of the four factors must be

considered in the calculation.
800
700
600
Potential [kV]

V1 = V2 , n (D1 D2 ) = 0

500
400

With ground
With tower
With shielding wire
With transmission line

300
200
100

Fig.2 prents the calcultion result of the potential around

the composite insulator in 3D FEM model. The
compiste insulator in this model has a length of 10.8m.

0
0

2
4
6
8
Distance from the energized end fitting [m]

10

Fig.3 Potential distribution of 800kV composed insulator surface with

rings under each single influencing factor. (Coordinate 0 means the
connection point between the high voltage end and the insulator)

The e-field distribution along the different arc

distances of the composite insulator

The Influence of The Transmission Line

Factors On The E-Field Distribution

10

Electric field [kV/cm]

Fig. 2 The 3D FEM model calculation result

As the transmission line and tower is asymmetry to the

composite insulator, the e-field distribution along
different arc distances of the composite insulator may
have some differences. Fig.4 shows the e-field
distribution along the three different arc distances,
which are the arc distance near the tower (inside), the
arc distance far away from the tower (outside), the arc
distance in the middle of the insulator (aside),
respectively. The little difference near the two ends can
be found in Fig.4. The e-field strength along the outside
arc distance is higher near the ends than that along the
other two arc distances. In this paper, the e-field
distribution along the outside arc distance is mainly
concerned when the corona ring of the composite
insulator is optimized.

The influence of the ground, tower, transmission line

and shielding wires on the e-field distribution
Fig.3 shows the potential distribution along the 800kV
composite insulator with each factor considered
respectively. The factors are the ground, the tower, the
shielding wire and the transmission line. From Fig.3, it
can be found that every factor has some influence on the
potential distribution along .the composite insulator.
The effects of the tower, shielding wire and
transmission line are similar, which enable the sheds
near the high voltage end to sustain most of the applied
voltage. The influence of the transmission lines is
different from that of the other three factors, which
make the sheds near the ground end sustain most of the
applied voltage. Therefore, in order to get the accurate

Outside
Inside
Aside

8
6
4
2
0
0

2
4
6
8
Distance from the energized end fitting [m]

10

Fig.4. E-field distribution along three arc distances of the insulator

Corona Ring Optimization

When the corona ring optimization of the composite
insulator is carried out, three principal parameters of the

458

corona ring are considered, which are the R, r and h

shown in Fig.5

The purpose of the corona ring optimization is to reduce

the corona ring size when the maximum e-field on the
insulator surface and the maximum e-field on the corona
ring surface are controlled below 4.5kV/cm (the corona
inception e-field strength of the insulator) and 22kV/cm
sepearately (the corona inception e-field strength of the
corona ring).
Fig.7 shows that there are four peak e-field strengths
along the insulator surface. The e-field strength near
energized end is always larger than that of the ground
end. Therefore, only 3 e-field strengths are considered
in this paper, which are the e-field strength at the joint
of the insulator and the energized electrode, the peak efield strength along the sheds near the energized end and
the maximum e-field strength on the corona ring of the
energized end.

Fig.5 Corona ring parameters in the model

Fig.6 and Fig.7 present the potential and e-field

distribution along the composite insulator with and
without corona rings. It can be seen from Fig.6 and
Fig.7 that the potential and e-field distribution along the
composite insulator is uniform with the corona rings,
and the maximum fields near both ends are reduced
rapidly.
800
With corona rings
Without corona rings

In order to explore the effect of the three different

parameters, the e-field was computed at different values
of R, r, and h, as shown in Figures 6, 7 and 8. Two
parameters were fixed while the other vary in a practical
range. (O stands for the e-field strength at the
connection of the insulator and the energized electrode,

stands for the e-field strength along the sheds near the
energized end and stands for the maximum e-field
strength on the corona ring of the energized end)
6
5

Electric field [kV/cm]

Potential [kV]

600

400

200

0
0

2
4
6
8
Distance from the energized end fitting [m]

10

0.7

0.8
0.9
1
1.1
1.2
The corona ring diameter(R) [m]

Without corona rings

With corona rings

20

Electric field [kV/cm]

15

10

2
4
6
8
Distance from the energized end fitting [m]

1.3

1.4

Fig.8 The three e-field strengths with variation of R (r=0.4m and

h=0.2m.)

25

Electric field [kV/cm]

Fig.6 Potential distribution along the composite insulator with and

without corona rings

0
0

4
3
2
1

10

0
0.2

Fig.7 E-field distribution along the composite insulator with and

without corona rings

459

0.3
0.4
0.5
The semidiameter of the ring tube(r) [m]

Fig.9 The three e-field values with variation of r. (R=1m and h=0.2m)

Fig.11 E-field distribution along the insulator when R=0.4m

r=0.14m and h=0.2m.

Conclusions
1.

2.
Fig.10 The three e-field strengths with variation of h ( r=0.3m and
R=1m)

It can be concluded from Fig.8 to Fig.10 that :

1. the e-field strength at the joint of the insulator and
the energized electrode increases with the increase
of R, decreases with the increase of r, increases at
the beginning and then decreases with the increase
of h.
2. the peak e-field strength along the sheds near the
energized end increases with the increase of R. It
has nothing to do with the other two parameters, r
and h. When R 0.3m, this e-field strength can be
controlled below 4kV/cm.
3. the maximum e-field strength on the corona ring of
the energized end is mainly associated with r. It
increases with the increase of r, and keep at the
same value with the varition of R and h. When r
0.05m, this e-field strength can be controlled below
20kV/cm.
To be uniform with the practical situation, the
parameters R, r and h, utilizing the results above, the
optimal parameters of the corona ring of the 800kV
DC transmission line composite insulators are R=0.3m,
r=0.1m, and h=0.08m. From Fig. 11, it can be found
that the maximum electric field on insulator surface is
4.16kV/cm(Fig.3.7) and that on the surface of the
corona ring is 18.4kV/cm .

3.

A 3D potential and e-field calculation model of

800kV DC transmission line composite insulators
is established in this paper. The calculation results
of the 3D model is more accurcate than that of the
traditional 2D axial symmetry model because there
are many fators affecting the e-field distribtion.
The e-field distribtion of the 800kV DC
transmission line composite insulators is nonuniform. In the energized side, 20% of the arc
distance sustains about 50% of the applied voltage.
The corona rings can help the e-field distribution
of the composite insulator to be uniform,
especially near the ends of the insulator.
The parameters of the corana rings play an
important role in the e-field distribution along the
insulator. With the help of the optimization
calculation in this paper, the optimized corona ring
could ensure the safety requirement of the
electrical performance.

References:
[1]

Chen Shuting, Li Rilong. The application of composite

insulators[J]. Insulators and surge arresters, 2004,199(3):8-10.

[2]

W. Sima, F. P. Espino-Cortes, Edward A. Chemey et al.

Optimization of corona ring design for long-rod insulators using
FEM based computational analysis[C]. Conference Record of
the 2004 IEEE International Symposium on Electrical
Insulation. Indianapolis, IN USA, 2004,9:19-22

[3]

Weiguo Q, Stephen A.S.Electric field and potential distributions

along dry and clean non- ceramic insulators[J]. IEEE CNF,
2001, 10: 437-440

[4]

Mao Fenglin, Wang Xuesong. E-field distribution influence of

corona ring on composite insulator[J]. High voltage technique,
2000, 26(4):29-42

Author address: Wenxia Sima, Key Laboratory of

High Voltage Engineering and Electrical New
Technology, Ministry of Education College of Electrical
Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
Email: cqsmwx@cqu.edu.cn

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