A new monitor for pollution on power line insulators. Part 2: Simulated field tests

Abstract

An apparatus is developed for monitoring the leakage currents drawn by an insulator chain of a power line or a busbar support in a polluted atmosphere. The apparatus monitors the insulator pollution by sensing and analysing the leakage current bursts. If these bursts are judged by the apparatus as corresponding to a potentially dangerous pollution level, the apparatus transmits an alarm signal to the service crew to allow them to clean the insulators of the line or substation in time before a sudden line outage occurs, with the entailed excessive expense, loss of power supply and annoyance to customers. Line insulator cleaning is thus carried out only when necessary, which adds to the economy of the power system operation. The apparatus design and construction were reported in Part 1 of the paper. It has undergone numerous tests with artificially polluted insulators in the high voltage laboratory. These tests are the subject of the present paper. The following Part, to be submitted, will describe field experience.