cheng Li

Comparison of pollution flashover performance of porcelain long rod, disc type, and composite UHVDC insulators at high altitudes

Aiming at porcelain long rod, disc type and composite long rod UHVDC insulators, this paper presents a comparison of their dc pollution flashover performances and an analysis of arcing behavior at high altitudes (1970m). The solid layer method was used in artificial pollution tests, in which sodium chloride and kaolin powder were used to simulate conductive and inert materials. The insulators were wetted by steam fog in a fog chamber. The 50% flashover voltage (U50%) was measured with the up-and-down method. According to the test results, the three types of insulators are similar in the characteristic exponent which characterizes influence of the salt deposit density on the flashover voltage. Due to lower utilization ratio of leakage distances, pollution flashover voltage gradient for the porcelain long rod insulators is lower than that for the disc type insulators. Whereas covered with Room Temperature Vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber coatings on the trunk surfaces, the porcelain long rod insulator is much superior to the disc type insulators in pollution flashover voltage gradient. The dc pollution flashover performance and the utilization ratio of leakage distances for the composite long rod insulators are much better than those for the other two types of insulators, which are induced by the special configuration of composite long rod insulators.

Ultrasonic phased array detection of internal defects in composite insulators

To reduce the risk imposed by use of defected composite insulators on the operation of power grids, this paper introduces a nondestructive ultrasonic phased array (UPA) technique that allows effectively test such insulators. The method offers a great potential by reducing inspection time as well as allowing for analyzing components characterized by a complex geometry. The UPA inspection system utilizes an open-ended rectangular waveguide sensor, operating at frequency of 2.5 MHz. The system is simple, safe and relatively inexpensive. In this work, samples of silicone rubber composite insulators with various types of detects are studied and the obtained results show that void defects in the bulk of the insulator housing are easiest to be detected. Holes under insulator sheds can also be detected by the edge of scanning range. For the defects near the core-shed interface, the detection becomes possible by comparisons with sample without defects.

Plasmon-enhanced ultraviolet photoluminescence from highly ordered ZnO nanorods/graphene hybrid structure decorated with Au nanospheres

Highly ordered and vertically aligned ZnO nanorods using an inverted self-assembled monolayer (SAM) template was fabricated via the hydrothermal process, and few-layer graphene was transferred on the surface of the ZnO nanorod arrays with 20 nm Au nanospheres coverage on the graphene surface. The band edge emission of the ZnO nanorods/graphene hybrid structures with Au nanospheres was increased by approximately three times and the defect-related emission was significantly reduced compared with the pristine ZnO nanorods arrays. The improved PL intensity can be attributed to the resonant coupling between the exciton emission of ZnO nanorods and plasmonic effects of graphene-Au structures. Our results will be promising for designing and fabricating ordered ZnO nanorod-based optical and optoelectronic devices.

Transition from symmetric discharge to asymmetric discharge in a short gap helium dielectric barrier discharge

The discharge dynamics of a 2.08 mm gap helium dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) are studied with a one-dimensional fluid model. By increasing the amplitude of a sinusoidal voltage source, it is observed that the discharge is symmetric at first and abruptly turns into an asymmetric state after passing a certain critical value. Compared with former publications dealing with relatively larger gap-distance DBD, our simulation results indicate some new discoveries. First, in both the symmetric and asymmetric states, every discharge event is fully developed from Townsend discharge to glow discharge, and the discharge current appears as a steep narrow pulse. Second, the residual positive column is always completely dissipated before the next break down; therefore, its influence on the symmetric-to-asymmetric transition can be eliminated. It is further revealed that the symmetric-to-asymmetric transition in the short-gap DBD is more delicate. A subtle phase shift is observed before the transition process. When ...

Dielectric response characterization of in-service aged sheds of (U) HVDC silicone rubber composite insulators

Investigations of bulk dielectric properties of specimens extracted from in-service aged and aged UHVDC composite insulator sheds are reported in this paper. The program of the study included measurements of DC conductivity and complex permittivity at frequency range 10-4-103 Hz at various temperatures in dry and wet (water immersion) conditions. The obtained results are analyzed by considering a combination of relations describing various dielectric relaxation modes in dielectrics, included three Cole-Cole types of responses and a hopping process. The hopping has the strongest impact on the responses in the whole frequency range. Two of the Cole-Cole responses appearing in the low frequency range are attributed to Maxwell-Wagner-Sillars relaxations at macroscopic and mesoscopic levels; first one representing interfacial polarization at the border between specimen and air gap in the electrode arrangement, while the second one is attributed to the charge relaxation at filler boundaries and internal cavities in the polymeric materials. The third Cole-Cole process, active at higher frequencies, is considered as a sign of polymer degradation, as it shifts with the ageing to higher frequencies. Based on the results of this study, it is claimed that dielectric response measurements on specimens of in-service aged composite insulator sheds can provide useful information on the degree of material degradation. In addition, a water immersion test in combination with such measurements may be a good way to enhancing the observed changes.

Two-dimensional simulation of spatiotemporal generation of dielectric barrier columnar discharges in atmospheric helium

A two-dimensional (2D) fluid model is presented to investigate the spatiotemporal generation and dynamic mechanics of dielectric barrier columnar discharges in atmospheric helium. The model was examined with discharge currents measured in experiments and images taken by an intensified charge couple device camera. Based on the model, a columnar discharge was simulated for several cycles after being ignited. The discharge could be regarded as an initial unstable stage for the first three and a half cycles, then a steady state for the following cycles. In the initial stage, the discharge evolves from a uniform pattern into a columnar one. The calculated equipotential lines, 2D radial electric field, and electron density distributions at the edge of uniform discharges show the radial electric field accounts for the shrinking discharge area and the formation of discharge columns in the end. The columnar glow discharges and the Townsend discharges beyond the columns could coexist in the initial stage, and a Townsend discharge might develop into a new glow column in the next half-cycle. The radial electric field surrounding a glow discharge column has an inhibiting effect on the ionization in the peripheral area.

Artificial pollution flashover performance of porcelain long rod UHVDC insulators at high altitudes

Porcelain long rod insulators are recommended for outdoor insulation of UHV/EHV dc transmission lines because of their excellent service experience obtained in Central Europe. However, very few studies have been conducted on dc pollution flashover performance or the UHVDC insulators at high altitudes. Artificial pollution tests on 300 kN and above porcelain long rod insulators were carried out with dc voltage in natural high altitude areas (about 2000 m), in which the solid layer method was used and the 50% flashover voltage (U50%) was measured with the up-and-down method. Test results show that dc pollution flashover performances of the 300 and 400 kN insulators are similar. The exponents characterizing influence of salt deposit density on the flashover voltage vary from 0.46 to 0.57. A nearly linear relationship between the flashover voltage and the string length of the insulators is presented. Both double suspension strings and tension string patterns have a significant influence on the flashover voltage. The influence of non-uniform pollution distribution between the top and bottom surfaces of the insulator sheds on the flashover voltage is analyzed, and a correction coefficient for the insulators is proposed.

Influence of lightning flashover criterion on the calculated lightning withstand level of ±800 kV UHVDC transmission lines at high altitude

The operation experiences of power transmission lines show the lightning outage is still the main part of the total outage rate. So it is very important to calculate the lightning overvoltage across the insulators precisely and evaluate the lightning outage of the transmission lines correctly. Lightning flashover criterion of the insulator/gap is one of the most important factors that influence the precise calculation results of the lightning withstand level of transmission lines. In China, several ±800 kV ultra high voltage direct current (UHVDC) power transmission projects have been set up in recent years, and the altitude of the regions that the transmission lines across ranges from 0-3650 m. The paper mainly analyzed the influence of the modelling methods of insulator/gap on the lightning withstand level of ±800 kV UHVDC transmission lines by PSCAD/EMTDC program. The compared lightning flashover criteria of insulator/gap include the leader propagation model recommended by CIGRE, the volt/time curve recommended by IEEE and an improved leader propagation model, which is proposed based on the lightning flashover experiments of the ±800 kV UHVDC line insulators carried out at an altitude of 2100 m. Meanwhile, the influences of lightning current waveform and insulator structure were also considered and compared. The simulation results show that the calculated back-flashover lightning withstand level is much lower when using the improved leader propagation than that using other flashover criterions in the paper, it is lower under the 2.6/50 μs double exponential lightning current than that under the 2.0/50 μs Heidler function lightning current, and it is higher when using V-string than that using I-string insulator. Besides, the influences of the lightning current waveform and the insulator structure on the calculation of shielding failure lightning withstand level are little, but the flashover criterion has obvious influences on the shielding failure lightning withstand level.

Combined influence of the impurities and radial electric field on dielectric barrier discharges in atmospheric helium

The combined influence of nitrogen impurities and radial electric field on dielectric barrier discharges in atmospheric helium is investigated using a two-dimensional (2D) fluid simulation. Discharge current waveforms, 2D electron densities, distributions of surface charge, and radial and axial components of the electric field at the electrode edge are calculated for different impurity levels varying from 0 to 30 ppm. It is observed that the discharge presents the characteristic of a column in pure helium, and it gradually becomes a relatively uniform glow discharge as the impurity level is increased to 20 ppm; for the higher impurity level of 30 ppm, the discharge adopts a concentric-ring pattern discharge. Our result shows that the radial electric field at the electrode edge is approximately 0.6–1.2 kV/cm during the discharge. This radial electric field has an effect that leads to a non-uniform discharge. After doping a low level of impurities, the Penning ionizations caused by the impurities can inhibi...

Recognition of natural ice types on in-service glass insulators based on texture feature descriptor

For in-service transmission lines, insulator icing condition depends on analysis of images collected by cameras installed on towers, and ice type analysis is mostly completed by human beings, which is infeasible to monitor a large area. Although image processing is successfully applied to segmentation of insulators from aerial images, there are few literatures on automatically determining ice types on insulators via image processing. In this paper, a recognition method of ice types on in-service glass insulators is established based on a texture feature description operator. Uniform Local Binary Patterns (ULBP) and Improved Uniform Local Binary Patterns (IULBP) were adopted for texture feature extraction of typical images of six ice types including glaze ice, heavy rime, medium rime, light rime, partial rime and snow. The six ice types are concluded based on icing insulator images and corresponding meteorological data from China Southern Power Grid Transmission Line (Icing) Online Monitoring System. Ice types are recognized by correlation coefficient calculation of texture histograms. The experiment results show that IULBP obtains better results for recognition of the six ice types as each ice type has distinguished texture features.