Flashover Phenomena in High Voltage Insulators
Summary
Flashover of high voltage insulators arises when a surface discharge bridges the gap between conductive elements, often triggered by environmental contamination, moisture and localised electric‐field enhancement. Under polluted or humid conditions, deposition of salt, industrial particulates or organic films reduces surface resistance and alters charge distribution. Dry bands, formed by partial drying of the layer under alternating or direct stress, concentrate the electric field and facilitate arc inception. Materials such as glass, porcelain, silicone rubber and composite polymers each exhibit distinct hydrophobicity, ageing and leakage‐current characteristics that dictate flashover voltage and ageing behaviour. Numerical methods—particularly finite‐element modelling—have elucidated the interplay between field distribution, power dissipation and thermal stress in regions prone to arc inception. Practical mitigation includes optimised shed geometry, surface coatings with hydrophobic recovery, corona rings and periodic washing or monitoring via leakage‐current harmonics. Understanding flashover mechanisms is critical for ensuring grid reliability, preventing outages and guiding the design of resilient transmission and distribution infrastructure.
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Flashover Phenomena in High Voltage Insulators publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in flashover phenomena in high voltage insulators across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Flashover: Uncontrolled surface breakdown across an insulator under high electric stress.
Leakage current: The current that flows along the surface of an insulator, influenced by contamination and moisture.
Dry band: A locally dried section of the surface contamination layer, where increased resistance leads to enhanced voltage stress.
Equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD): A standard measure of surface contamination by soluble salts, usually in mg/cm².
Contamination profile: The spatial distribution and thickness of pollutant deposits on the insulator surface.
Hydrophobicity: The ability of a material’s surface to repel water, affecting wetting and surface conductivity.
References
- The Leakage Current Components as a Diagnostic Tool to Estimate Contamination Level on High Voltage Insulators. IEEE Access (2020).
- AC flashover performance of different shed configurations of composite insulators under fan‐shaped non‐uniform pollution. High Voltage (2018).
- Pollution Flashover Under Different Contamination Profiles on High Voltage Insulator: Numerical and Experiment Investigation. IEEE Access (2021).
- Pollution Flashover Characteristics of Coated Insulators under Different Profiles of Coating Damage. Coatings (2021).
- Measurement of surface resistance of silicone rubber sheets under polluted and dry band conditions. Electrical Engineering (2017).
- Multi-Objective Optimization of 400 kV Composite Insulator Corona Ring Design. IEEE Access (2022).
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