Abstract
Pollution flashover occurs when soluble and nonsoluble materials cover the surface of an insulator, and this may ultimately cause a reduction in its performance. In this paper, the common type of sodium chloride (NaCl) was used as a soluble pollutant (ESDD) and kaolin as a nonsoluble pollutant (NSDD). Samples of silicone rubber (SiR) insulators were selected for this study and fabricated at the Advanced High Voltage Engineering Research Centre (AHIVEC) at Cardiff University. The samples were preconditioned and polluted according to standard specifications. Additionally, the AC voltage ramp technique was used to achieve flashover (FOV) voltage with different pollution levels. The aim of this work was to investigate the effect of nonsoluble materials on flashover characteristics to understand their interaction with dry-band arcs by using FOV electrical equations and experimental data. The test results show that the FOV voltage of the silicone rubber insulator substantially decreased with the increase in both ESDD and NSDD values. It was also identified from these results that the dry-band arcs were considerably influenced by both ESDD and NSDD levels. This impact can be quantified by determining the variation of discharge parameters (N, n). Based on the FOV equations and experimental data, a mathematical model was suggested, taking into account the effect of both ESDD and NSDD.