2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012
Analysis of the Pollution Accumulation and Pollution
Flashover Performance of Outdoor 500kV Insulator
String
Xiaohuan Liu1, Zhijin Zhang1, Kai Zheng2, Wenjiang Li2, Guoqiang Yang2
1.State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology
Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China；
2.Chongqing Electric Power Corporation, Chongqing, 400010, China
Abstract- It is important to study the natural characteristic of
pollution accumulation and flashover performance of insulator
energized the operating voltage. This paper mainly focus on the
insulator strings operating in a 500kV power network in
Chongqing, tests and analyzes the pollution depositing rules and
flashover performance of them. Test results indicate that: the
value of equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) on the top surface
of insulator is lower than that on the bottom, as well as the value
of non-soluble deposit density (NSDD);the accumulation rate of
NSDD is heavier than that of ESDD; electric field distribution
and precipitation exert a strong influence on the insulator
obviously; at the same pollution level, the flashover voltage of
natural contaminated insulator is 2 times as high as that of
artificial polluted insulator, which mainly caused by the
difference of pollution materials and non-uniform pollution
distribution on the insulator surface. The results of this paper
may be the reference for external insulation coordination and
design in the pollution area.
I. INTRODUCTION
Blackouts of power grids caused by pollution flashover of
insulators occur in China and abroad，causing losses a factor
of ten times that of lightning damage [1-3], thus posing a
serious threat to the stable operation of power grids. Not
surprisingly, understanding the mechanisms underlying
natural pollution accumulation rule and pollution flashover
performance of insulators has generated considerable research
interest in China and abroad.
A lot of work has been done to study the natural pollution
accumulating rule and pollution flashover performance of
insulators in China and abroad. References [4,5] suggest that
pollution accumulation of insulators has much to do with type
and the characteristic of the bottom surface of different types
of insulators is different. References [6-9] indicate that the
pollution accumulation of insulator is related to its shape.
Reference [10] found that the insulator which is the most close
to the line accumulates the most pollution.
At Tsinghua University, China Electric Power Research
Institute and Northeast Electric Power Research Institute
[1,2,11], studies found that the pollution of insulators contains
Sodium Chloride, calcium sulfate and other chemical
substances in coastal and inland areas. Similarly, a study on
the chemical composition of pollution in 7 regions of Russian
found by G. Ramos N and other researchers found that the
978-1-4673-4746-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE
chemical composition and proportion of insulators are
different [12].
Some tests were also taken to study the pollution flashover
voltage of insulators with different chemical composition in
[12-16] and results found that the pollution flashover voltage
of insulators is connected with the non-soluble deposit density
(NSDD).
This paper taking RTV coating glass insulator in a 500kV
power network of Chongqing as the research objects, studies
its natural pollution accumulation feature and performance.
The research results will be taken as references for the
external insulation design and selection of UHV AC
transmission project.
II. SAMPLES、TEST FACILITIES AND MEASURE PROCEDURE
2.1 Samples
The two samples had been run for 5 years before tested.
Each insulator string has 29 units and they were both from the
same place, one was used to test its equivalent salt deposit
density (ESDD) and NSDD and the other was used to test its
natural pollution flashover voltage. The structure height,
diameter and creepage distance of the sample is 155mm,
280mm and 380mm respectively and its shape is shown in
Fig.1.
2.2 Measurement of ESDD and NSDD
Insulators were named in order before tested and the one
connected with the wire is No.1 and the one connected with
the ground line is No. 29. The measurement is taken as
follows:
(1) Measurement of ESDD: Firstly, to make sure the surface
of insulator is cleaned thoroughly, a quantity of 300ml of
water was divided into 2-3 parts to clean the top or bottom
surface according to the top and bottom area of insulator.
Secondly, test the electrical conductivity of the filtered fluid.
Thirdly, calculate the mass of insulator by standard [3,17].At
last, calculate the ESDD of insulator on both surfaces.
(2) After filtration using filter paper, the insoluble materials
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 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012
Figure 1.The structure of RTV coating glass insulator
were dried and weighted. At last, calculate the NSDD of top
and bottom surface according to the insulators surface area
statistics. The specific method is detailed in [17].
2.3 Pollution flashover test of insulators
2.3.1 Test Facilities
The tests were performed in the multifunction artificial
climate chamber [18] with a diameter of 7.8 m and a height of
11.6 m. The power is supplied by YDTW-500 kV/2000 kVA
pollution test transformer. The major technical parameters are
as follows: rated capacity 2000 kVA, rated current 4 A, input
voltage 0-10.5 kV, output voltage 0-500 kV, and short-circuit
impedance less than 6 percent under a rated voltage of 500 kV.
The test power supply satisfied the requirements
recommended by earlier studies. The tested circuit and the
principle are detailed in [18].
2.3.2 Test procedure
（1）Samples preparation
The natural pollution insulator strings was divided into 4
groups to test their natural pollution flashover performance
and each group has 7 units. The clean insulators were polluted
by quantitative coating using a pasting method. Sodium
chloride and kieselguhr were used to simulate conductive and
inert materials, respectively. First, the required amount of
sodium chloride and kieselguhr were calculated and weighed
according to the specified salt deposit density (SDD), non-
soluble deposit density and the surface areas of the specimens;
the errors of the weight of sodium chloride and kieselguhr
were less than ±1 and ±10%, respectively.
The ESDD and NSDD of artificial pollution insulators were
acquired according to the mean ESDD and NSDD of natural
insulator string and they are shown in Table 1, here, the
maximum value of ESDD and NSDD of natural was ignored
in calculating the mean values.
(2) Test methods
All test samples were wetted by steam fog, and the steam
fog was generated by a 1.5t/h boiler. More detail can be
obtained in [19]. During the experiment, the temperature of
climate chamber was controlled below 35 ℃ . The wetting
degree of pollution layer is determined by measuring the
conductivity of pollution layer. When the conductivity reaches
the maximum, test voltage should be applied immediately.
After the pollution layer has been wetted fully, even-rising
voltage method was adopted to applied voltage on the samples.
Flashover tests were carried out 4-5 times for per string. The
flashover voltages, whose deviation was less than 10% when
compared with the mean value of those flashover voltages
(Uf), were defined as valid flashover voltages[20,21].
TABLE I.
ESDD AND NSDD OF ARTIFICIAL POLLUTION INSULATORS (mg/cm2)
(ESDD)top (NSDD)top (ESDD)bottom (NSDD)bottom
0.0486 0.4662 0.2535 0.9453
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III. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS OF NATURAL
POLLUTION INSULATORS
3.1 Results and analysis of ESDD
To find out the natural contamination depositing rules of
ESDD of insulators on top and bottom surface
0.9
0.8 top surface
0.7 bottom surface
ESDD(mg/cm²)
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29
Number of insulator
Figure 2. ESDD of insulators
insulators, we measured the ESDD of top and bottom
surface of insulators respectively, the results are shown in
Fig.2.
From Fig.2, such conclusions can be got:
(1) The ESDD of the top surface of insulators are very
similar and they are in the range of 0.0326-0.0752 mg/cm2.
The mean value of them is 0.0499 mg/cm2.
(2) The ESDD of bottom surface of insulators is different
each other and the insulator which is nearest to the conductor
has the highest value, 0.7688 mg/cm2, followed by the value
of 0.4302 mg/cm2 to the insulator which is nearest to the
ground wire. Except these two insulators, the rest 27 shown a
relatively uniformly ESDD distribution, with the average
value of 0.2168 mg/cm2.These differences are related to the
field distribution, according to standard [22],which shows the
typical curve of voltage distribution of the insulators on
500kV AC overhead transmission lines, it is known that, to
the first and last units of the insulator string with 29 units,
their withstand voltage are 21kV and 11kV respectively, while
the middle parts can withstand about 8kV. The voltage ratio of
the first to last is roughly close to the ESDD ratio of the first
to last. To some extent, there maybe exit a relationship
between the ESDD of bottom surface and the voltage exert on
insulators. Further research is needed to get specific results.
(3)The ESDD of bottom surface is more serious than that of
top surface. The reason can be found in references [3，23-26]:
the pollution depositing is not only related to the type and
smooth level of the insulator, but also to the character of
pollutant, the weather condition, field distribution and other
factors; to the bottom surface, the electrical field around the
steel leg of the bottom surface is too strong, when the
pollution is wet, it will be much easier to bond being affected
by leakage current. Especially, the inner ring and area around
the steel leg are the worst parts, causing the contamination
more serious.
(4)The ESDD of top surfaces are more uniform than that of
the bottom. Reference [27] indicates that the ways of pollution
accumulation and cleaning on top and bottom surface are
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 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

different, especially, the rain action is crucial, rainfall of Figure 4. T/B of insulators
10mm will do apparently washing on the top surface, while 3.3.2 Analysis of the ratio of non-soluble depositing to salt
rainfall of 30mm will clean up the top surface. Due to depositing
Chongqing raining frequently, each insulator gets a self- The ratios of non-soluble depositing to salt depositing are
cleaning rate of 100% on the top surface, leading that the shown in Fig.5:
ESDD of the most insulators' top surface distribute similarly. From it, we can see that: the ratios of non-soluble
3.2 Results and analysis of NSDD depositing to salt depositing are similar for bottom surfaces
NSDD is also an important factor which affects pollution and the mean value of them is 3.71. However, the ratios of the
flashover voltage. Therefore we make a detailed measurement top fluctuate a lot and the 2nd unit has the highest ratio of
of NSDD on the top and bottom surface. Results are shown in
Ratio of non-soluble depositing to salt depositing on
Fig.3. top and bottom surface
30

NSDD of insulators on top and bottom surface 25

1.8 20 top surface
1.6 top surface bottom surface

Ratio
15
1.4 bottom surface
NSDD(mg/cm²)

1.2 10
1
5
0.8
0.6 0

0.4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

0.2 Number of insulators

0
Figure 5.Ratio of non-soluble depositing to salt depositing
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

Number of insulators
27.56, the average ratio of the whole string' top surface is
Figure 3. NSDD of insulators
10.23. Reference [28] indicates that two reasons cause the
From it, we can find that:
difference, one is the difference of rain action on ESDD and
(1) The NSDD distribution on the top and bottom are
NSDD and the other is the difference of rain action on top and
largely scattered. To the top, the second unit which close to
bottom surface.
the wire has the highest value of 1.1960 mg/cm2 and the 13th
unit has the smallest value of 0.2726 mg/cm2. The average IV. COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS OF THE TWO POLLUTION
value of the whole string' top surface is 0.4869 mg/cm2.While FLASHOVER TESTS
to the bottom, the 29th has the highest value of 1.6198mg/cm2 The results of natural pollution and artificial pollution
and the 4th has the smallest value of 0.5862 mg/cm2.The flashover tests are shown in Table.2:
average value of the whole string' bottom surface is 0.9629 TABLE 2
mg/cm2, about two times as big as the top. FLASHOVER VOLTAGE OF THE TWO TESTS (kV)
Natural pollution flashover test Artificial pollution flashover test
(2) Among the 29 units under the test, only the 2nd and 4th Insulators’ number Uf Test times Uf
units get higher NSDD values on their top surfaces than on the 2-8 207 1 89.6
bottom, while the rest ones are opposite, reflecting that the 9-15 226 2 92.8
16-22 198 3 87.8
bottom surface is easier in contamination.
23-29 188 4 90.4
3.3 Analysis of the non-uniform distribution of pollution From it, we can see that:
3.3.1 Analysis of T/B (1)Obviously, the natural pollution flashover voltage is
In the practical application, the ratio of ESDD of the top about 29.29 kV per unit, which is higher than the artificial
surface to that of the bottom surface (T/B) affects the pollution pollution flashover voltage, about 12.86 kV per unit. The main
flashover performance of insulators obviously. T/B is taken to two reasons for the difference are that: first, the chemical
express the non-uniformity. The T/B of insulators can be composition in natural and artificial pollution is distinctive,
obtained by Fig.2, which are shown in Fig.4. the flashover voltage changes with the solubility of salt
From it, we can see that: the T/B are almost around 1:3 to depositing and absorbent feature of non-soluble substance;
1:10; the 4th unit get the highest value of 0.35 and the 29th second, the non-uniform pollution distribution may affect the
has the smallest value, about 0.08.The T/B values of the first flashover voltage. Reference [32] indicates that: the more
and last insulators are very small and close, that is because uneven the pollution on the top and bottom surface of
their bottom ESDD are too high. insulators, the smaller the mean pollution surface conductivity
along the whole surface of insulators; under the action of the
Non-uniform level of insulators
0.4 same voltage, the origin and development of local electric arc
0.35
0.3
T/B
is inhibited as the decrease of leakage current along the
0.25 surface of insulator, which makes the pollution flashover
T/B

0.2
0.15 voltage of insulators increase continuously. Fig.1 also shows
0.1
0.05 the pollution distribution of insulators’ bottom surface.
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29

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Number of insualtors 252
 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012
(2) The standard deviation of Uf for natural polluted and
artificial polluted insulators are 16.15 and 2.01, respectively.
This suggests that the dispersion property of natural pollution
flashover voltage is high. The non-uniformity of the natural
pollution insulators and the uniformity of artificial pollution
insulators may have something to do with the difference.
V. CONCLUSION
From the above experiments and analysis, we draw the
following conclusions:
(1)The ESDD of the top and bottom surfaces are different.
The ESDD values of the top are very similar and the mean
value is 0.0499 mg/cm2. The ESDD of bottom surfaces are
higher than the top, the mean value of bottom surface is about
4 times as high as the top.
(2) The NSDD of the top and bottom surface are different.
Except two insulators, the NSDD of the bottom are higher
than the top for the rest. The mean value of NSDD of the top
is 0.4869 mg/cm2，which is half of the NSDD of the bottom.
(3)The accumulating rate of NSDD is faster than ESDD.
The mean ratio of non-soluble deposition to soluble deposition
is 10.23 for top surface while 3.71 for bottom surface.
Furthermore, the ratios of bottom surfaces are very uniform.
The T/B are in the range of 1:3-1:10.
(4)The ESDD, NSDD and the ratio of non-soluble
deposition to soluble deposition of the first and the last
insulators are higher than that of others. The pollution
depositing of insulators is related with electrical filed
distribution and environment.
(5) The flashover voltage of RTV coating glass insulator
string with 7 units is 205 kV for natural pollution, 90 kV for
artificial pollution. The chemical composition and the non-
uniform pollution distribution make the difference in flashover
voltage.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank all members of external insulation
research team in college of electrical engineering, Chongqing
University for their hard work to obtain the experimental data
in this paper.
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