B. X. Du

Frequency Distribution of Leakage Current on Silicone Rubber Insulator in Salt-Fog Environments

This paper presents an analysis result of using the frequency distribution of leakage current to monitor insulator performance in salt-fog environments. Experiments have been carried out on silicone rubber insulator by injecting salt fog into an artificial fog chamber with an ultrasonic vibration salt-fog generator and applying an AC voltage of 30 kVrms at 50 Hz as the test voltage. Based on the frequency distribution extracted by a wavelet transform technique, the measured leakage current is separated into the low-, intermediate-, and high-frequency components. Cumulative charge at each frequency component is obtained by a time-integral method and found to correlate the frequency components and the insulator performance. Obtained results show that high-frequency components are more effective than low-frequency components on monitoring insulator performance in salt-fog environments.

High thermal conductivity transformer oil filled with BN nanoparticles

Transformer oil is widely used in electric transformers serving the dual functions as insulating medium and cooling material. However, safety and stability of power system is interrupted due to the operation failure of electric transformers in certain case. Therefore efforts should be focused on improving the property of transformer oil for the stable operation of insulating system. The purpose of this paper is to obtain a new type of nanomodified transformer oil with improved dielectric and thermal properties. Boron nitride (BN) nanoparticles with high thermal conductivity were dispersed into transformer oil to form the nanooil. Dielectric and thermal properties of the samples before and after modification were measured. Dielectric property experiments were performed in accordance with IEC standard. Discharge phenomenon in breakdown process was captured by a high speed CCD camera. In order to investigate the effect of BN nanoparticles on thermal property, temperature change and heat distribution of the samples in heat transfer process were measured by an infrared thermal imager and a temperature sensor. It is found that the nanooil has higher dielectric breakdown strength and lower dissipation factor which indicate better dielectric property compared with nonmodified oil. Obtained results show significant improvement in heat transfer process with increasing the concentration of BN nanoparticles. It is proposed that the nanoparticles create an interfacial region which contributes to the enhancement of dielectric strength. For thermal property the ballistic phonon transport of the nanoparticles acts as the key factor in the remarkable improvement. Furthermore, the improved thermal property of the nanooil has an inhibitory effect on the breakdown process according to the bubble theory.

Electrical tree characteristics in silicone rubber under repetitive pulse voltage

Electrical tree in silicone rubber (SiR) is a threat to the power system. Bedsides ac and dc voltage, there are pulse voltage in power system and the electrical tree behavior in SiR under pulse voltage has not been reported. In this paper, electrical treeing process in SiR under pulse voltage was investigated and analyzed. The voltage was applied to a needle-plate electrode to initiate electrical trees. The frequency of pulse voltage was 100, 200 and 300 Hz and the amplitude ranges from 8 to 14 kV. Aspects such as the patterns of electrical tree, tree length, accumulated damage, fractal dimension and tree breakdown characteristics were studied. Results indicate that the pulse amplitude plays the leading role in electrical tree initiation, propagation and breakdown processes. With the increase of pulse amplitude, the tree structure changes and the breakdown possibility increases obviously. However, the tree length is not sensitive to pulse frequency and higher pulse frequency promotes the increase of tree density. It also has been found that tree structure is closely related to pulse polarity and the inception voltage is lower with positive pulse than that with negative.

Recurrent Plot Analysis of Leakage Current in Dynamic Drop Test for Hydrophobicity Evaluation of Silicone Rubber Insulator

In order to reduce electrical accidents caused by aging of polymer insulators, hydrophobicity evaluation is one of the essential methods to monitor the practical performance of insulators. This paper presents recurrent plot (RP) analysis of leakage current (LC) to evaluate the hydrophobicity of the silicone rubber insulator. Experiments were carried out according to the dynamic drop test method. Dynamic behaviors of water droplets and the induced discharge phenomena were captured by using a high-speed camera fixed vertically to the specimen surface. LC was measured and extended to m-dimensional phase space by using a phase-space reconstructed method. The RP of LC was obtained to reflect the underlying mechanism of surface discharges in relation to the insulator hydrophobicity. The results indicate that the RP technique can give a visual method for the hydrophobicity evaluation. The increasing tendency in RP indicators can reveal the decrease of hydrophobicity.

Electrical tree characteristics of XLPE under repetitive pulse voltage in low temperature

Cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) may be operated under repetitive pulse voltage and low temperature environment. In recent years, many influencing factors to the treeing process, which is a main reason for the aging of XLPE have been researched. However, the tree behavior under repetitive pulse voltage and low temperature in XLPE is still not clear. In this paper, the tree behavior under repetitive pulse voltage and low temperature was investigated and analyzed. A positive pulse voltage with the amplitude of 12 kV and the frequency of 300 and 400 Hz was applied on the needle-plate electrodes. The experimental temperature was set to 30, -30, -90 and -196 °C. Four typical morphologies of the electrical trees are observed, including bush, branch, branch-pine and stagnated tree. It is revealed that low temperature has an obvious effect on tree structures and it can reduce the tree growth rate and extend the time to breakdown. It is also revealed that the tree inception probability becomes lower with the decrease of temperature. With the increase of pulse frequency, the tree growth rate, the fractal dimension and the number of tree channels increases and the tree inception probability becomes higher, but the morphologies of electrical trees stay the same.

Space charge behaviors of PP/POE/ZnO nanocomposites for HVDC cables

Polypropylene (PP) has been paid much attention due to its high melting point, excellent electrical insulting performance and thermoplastic property, which is potential to replace the XLPE as HVDC cable insulating material. Blending PP with polyolefin elastomer (POE) is an effective way to modify its stiffness and brittleness at room temperature. However, space charge behavior of PP/POE blend, as a great concern under dc stress, is not clear and needs further investigation. To research the space charge behaviors, pure PP, PP/POE blend and its nanocomposites with different contents were prepared. Then, mechanical properties, permittivity constant, breakdown strength, volume resistivity, space charge behaviors and trap level distribution were investigated. The results indicate the addition of POE enhances the mechanical flexibility of PP greatly, and nano-sized ZnO doping has little effect on the mechanical flexibility of PP/POE blend. The nanocomposites show lower permittivity constant, higher breakdown strength and higher volume resistivity than the PP/POE blend. Compared to pure PP, the space charge accumulation and electric field distortion get severe in PP/POE blend. However, by nanoparticles doping, space charges are remarkably suppressed, which is related to the increased trap level density in nanocomposites. It indicates the PP/POE/ZnO nanocomposites have much potential for HVDC cable application, which show high mechanical flexibility as well as excellent electrical performance.

Field-dependent conductivity and space charge behavior of silicone rubber/SiC composites

High temperature vulcanized (HTV) silicone rubber (SiR), due to its excellent electrical insulation, elasticity and temperature resistance, is used in cable accessories for HVDC cables. The space charge, generated under dc stress in SiR, would distort the local electric field, further influencing the characteristics of partial discharge and accelerating the insulation aging. This paper tried to modify the space charge behaviors of HTV SiR composites by incorporating silicon carbide (SiC) particles into the polymer matrix with the filler content of 10, 30, 50, 100 wt%. The effects of the SiC particle content on the field-dependent conductivity and the space charge behaviors of HTV SiR were studied. The conductivities under different electric fields were measured by a three-electrode system at room temperature and the space charge behaviors were observed by the pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) method. The results indicated that the conductivity of SiR/SiC composites was a nonlinear function of electric field when the content exceeds 30 wt%. With the increase of filler content, the threshold field for nonlinear conductivity decreased and the nonlinear coefficient increased. Meanwhile, the amount of space charges was dramatically reduced. It is suggested that the SiR/SiC composites with nonlinear conductivity can improve the dc conductivity under high electric field, thus raising the carrier mobility and suppressing the accumulation of space charge.

Effect of direct fluorination on surface charge of polyimide films using repetitive pulsed power

As one of the basic insulating materials, polyimide films have been widely used in turn to turn insulation and turn to ground insulation in wind turbine generators. However, the pulse voltage from the converter often causes overvoltage and localized high electrical field in the insulation system. Surface charge could affect the dielectric property and cause the breakdown of insulation. Direct fluorination is a method to modify the surface layer of the polymers without changing the bulk properties. As a result of the fluorination, hydrogen atoms are replaced by the fluorine atoms and the component of the polymer surface is changed, which can influence the surface charge accumulation and affect the electrical properties. The experiment in this paper was focused on the effect of direct fluorination on surface charge of polyimide films under pulse voltage. The polyimide films with the fluorination time of 15, 30, 45 and 60 min were prepared, together with the unfluorinated one as a comparison. Surface charging was performed by corona discharging using repetitive pulse power at the temperature of 25 °C with the relative humidity of ~45%. The rising time of the pulse was 25 μs and the frequency was set at 200, 400, 600 and 1000 Hz, respectively. The surface charge decay was measured using a specific probe coupled with an electrostatic voltmeter. The results showed that the surface charge behavior was affected by the fluorination, corona discharging time, pulse voltage amplitude and frequency.

Effects of surface fluorination on dielectric properties and surface charge behavior of water absorbed polyimide film

With the advantages of excellent physical, chemical and thermal properties, polyimide (PI) film has been widely used as insulation material in electrical and mechanical equipment. However, PI presents water absorption capacity because of the existence of carbonyl and amine groups in the molecular chain. When exposed in moisture conditions, PI film will be degraded. Therefore, the dielectric breakdown occurs and irremediable damage will appear in insulation system. The dielectric properties of PI film are largely influenced by the absorbed water and humidity. Direct fluorination is an effective method of surface modification which can improve the properties of original material from many respects, such as the wettability, barrier properties and chemical stability. In this paper, to study effects of fluorination on dielectric properties of moistened PI films, the PI specimens were surface fluorinated for 15, 30, 45 and 60 min respectively. The specimens without fluorination were also prepared for the contrast. Then the specimens were immersed in high purity water for 6, 12 and 24 hours. The water absorption, permittivity and breakdown strength under different fluorination and immersion time were measured. Meanwhile, given that the existence of surface charge had a critical influence on the breakdown characteristics, the corona charging tests were conducted at room temperature and the charge dissipation was investigated. Obtained results show that fluorination can reduce the water intake capacity and enhance the breakdown strength of PI in moisture conditions. The decay process of surface charge and the change of detrapping charges in PI films are affected by both the fluorination and the immersion time.

Tree initiation characteristics of epoxy resin in Ln 2 for superconducting magnet insulation

The superconducting magnet system is the key part of international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) device which ensures the feasibility of fusion energy application. Epoxy resin has been used as the adhesives and electrical insulation in the magnet system. Since ITER device operates in the liquid nitrogen environment and is driven by a pulse power, the insulation made of epoxy resin faces the challenges of extremely low temperature and pulse voltage. This paper investigated the influence of low temperature on the electrical tree characteristics in epoxy resin. Positive pulse voltage with the frequency of 400 Hz was applied on the needle-plate geometry electrodes. The amplitudes of the pulse voltage were 10, 12 and 14 kV. In order to simulate the practical defects, a metal needle was inserted into the samples and the distance between the tip and plane was 2 mm. The experimental temperature ranged from 30 to -196 °C. The experimental results indicate that the low temperature have a significant influence on the electrical tree characteristics. Different tree structures in epoxy resin are observed with the changing temperatures. The density of the tree branches increases as the temperature decreases, while the tree growth rate presents an opposite trend. It is also revealed that the time to breakdown become long under the low temperature. However, once the breakdown occurs, a wide breakdown channels will be left in epoxy resin, which means great destruction to the electrical insulation. In addition, when the samples are under the same ambient temperature, the probability of tree initiation shows a significant increase and electrical trees grow faster in the following period with application of higher pulse voltage. The higher-energy charges may be responsible for the high growth rate.