Inclined-plane tracking parameters variability in indentifying leakage current and carbon track of polymer nanocomposites

Surface discharge is a phenomenon of insulating surface failure due to intensive leakage current (LC) flow. The existence of LC on the wet contaminated material surfaces causes a permanent conducting path to the insulating material due to surface erosion, which is due to high-voltage stress. Conventionally, the standard experimental test requires the inclined plane tracking (IPT) test hardware arrangement and sample material preparation. This experiment is also time consuming and costly. Hence, this thesis proposes field simulation using finite element analysis software to investigate the LC and electric field during surface discharge activity. Different compounds of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and natural rubber (NR) blended with different percentage of silicone oxide (SiO2) and alumina hydroxide (Al(OH)3) nanofillers were tested using the IPT test and field simulation at 4.5 kV with a contaminant flow rate of 0.60 ml/min. The controlled parameters of applied voltage, conductivity and permittivity of material as well as contaminant solution were also tested in the IPT test and field simulation. Due to the limitation in the field simulation, the LC obtained displays similar impression though not explicit. Thus, correction factors (f) were determined to achieve absolute value of LC. LLDPE-NR/SiO2 at 1wt% (A1) was found to be the lowest LC for both experimental and simulation results. In the experiment, the consequence of LC with the carbon track rate, hydrophobicity loss, and morphological analysis was investigated to obtain the tracking and erosion performance of the insulator materials. The high distribution of LC causes severe carbon track rate and larger hydrophobicity loss on the composition as demonstrated on LLDPE-NR samples. Morphological analysis on the surface also showed greater deterioration of the surface structure. The field simulation approach can be used as another option in investigating surface tracking resistance as the results due to LC could be forecasted

Effect of contaminant flow-rate and applied voltage on the current density and electric field of polymer tracking test

E1ectrical failure due to surface discharge on the insulation material will cause material degradation and eventually leads to system failure. The flow of leakage current (LC) on the insulator surface under wet contamination was used as the technique for determining the materiel degradation level. According to IEC 60587 standard, the LC exceeding 60 mA for more than two seconds is considered as failure. The analysis of electric field and current density distributions on the linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and natural rubber blend material using finite element method (FEM) analysis was conducted. The physical parameters used in FEM simulation were applied voltage and contaminant flow rare which is in term of contaminant conductivity. Tracking test condition of IEC 60587 standard was applied as the reference work in simulation using FEM software of QuickField. The results show that the electric field and current density were critical in higher applied voltage and contaminant flow rate. The highest average and maximum current density and electric field reported in both applied voltage of 6kV and flow rate of 0.90 mlmin-1

Identification of Acoustic Signals of Internal Electric Discharges on Glass Insulator under Variable Applied Voltage

A Partial Discharge (PD) is an unwanted phenomenon in electrical equipment. Therefore it is of great importance to identify different types of PD and assess their severity. This paper investigates the acoustic emissions associated with Internal Discharge (ID) from different types of sources in the time-domain. An experimental setup was arranged in the high voltage laboratory, a chamber with an electrode configuration attached to it was connected to a high voltage transformer for generating various types of PD. A laboratory experiment was done by making the models of these discharges. The test equipment including antennas as a means of detection and digital processing techniques for signal analysis were used. Wavelet signal processing was used to recover the internal discharge acoustic signal by eliminating the noises of many natures

Identification of acoustic signals of internal electric discharges on glass insulator under variable applied voltage

A Partial Discharge (PD) is an unwanted phenomenon in electrical equipment. Therefore it is of great importance to identify different types of PD and assess their severity. This paper investigates the acoustic emissions associated wi1h Internal Discharge (ID) from different types of sources in the time-domain. An experimental setup was arranged in the high voltage laboratory, a chamber with an electrode configuration attached to it was connected to a high voltage transformer for generating various types of PD. A laboratory experiment was done by making the models of these discharges. The test equipment including antennas as a means of detection and digital processing techniques for signal analysis were used. Wavelet signal processing was used to recover the internal discharge acoustic signal by eliminating the noises of many natures

Modelling on Tracking Test Condition of Polymer Nanocomposite using Finite Element Simulation

Electrical tracking is a formation process of a permanent conducting path across the insulating material due to surface erosion under high voltage stress. The existing of leakage current (LC) on the wet contaminated material surface causes the generation of surface discharges that resulted in the material degradation. The effects of electric field distribution and current density on LLDPE-Natural Rubber blends material were investigated using finite element method (FEM) analysis. In this paper, a variety of physical parameters particularly contaminant flow rate, various applied voltages, material properties of permittivity and conductivity were studied when nanofiller is added to LLDPE-Natural rubber blend. The simulation works using FEM software of Quickfield was applied to the tracking test condition of IEC 60587 standard.  The results show that the electric field distributions are critical on the edges of contaminant solution path at higher voltage level. The current density and electric field distribution is increase with higher applied voltage. The polymer nanocomposite with 1-5 % of nanofiller exhibits a good resistance to tracking and erosion test