CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE SURVEY

2.1. Introduction

Reliable power transmission is a main factor in designing transmission and

distribution lines. Contaminated environments significantly reduce the performance of
outdoor insulators in which the accumulation of contamination eventually leads to a
complete flashover. The main factors that lead to contamination flashover include,
operating voltage, humidity level and temperature. Flashover also occurs when even a
bio-degradable contaminants like Algae gets deposited over the surface of the insulator
and helps to decrease the surface resistance so that the leakage current gets increased.

2.2. Leakage Current Prediction

The leakage current has been used to study the aging state of outdoor insulators.
In particular the leakage current harmonics were found to correlate with dry-band
arcing and hence with erosion and tracking. In addition, the leakage current low
harmonics were found to correlate with some weathering conditions, like humidity
levels, and ultraviolet radiations. The saturation level of leakage current during the early
aging period was predicted for polymer insulators. In this study the experiment was
performed for 100 hours and the saturation level for LC was recorded and predicted
using neural networks. The features used in this study included the initial leakage
current value and the rate of change of leakage current for the first 5 hours of the
experiment. The accuracy for this experiment was 95 % when the training and testing
was done on the same insulator rating. When the training and testing was done on
insulators with different ratings, the accuracy was 81%.

2.3. Thesis Contribution

Previous researches have been conducted to find the effect of algae over the
polymeric insulators. From the previous studies we came to a knowledge that the effect
of Algae over the surface of conductor has no major effect. The Algae (Alga Chlorella
vulgaris) is an algae with unicellular alga with spherical shape and greenish pigment
widely found around the world. This algae gets deposited over the surface of the

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insulator, this fungal virus releases enzymes over the surface of the insulator. This
enzymes effects the surface resistance of the insulator and white scales are formed over
the insulator.

M.N.Dinesh 1, N.Vasudev 2, P.V.Vasudevan Nambudri 2, K.Suryanarayana 2,

K.N.Ravi 3, V.Krishnan 4
1Department of EEE, RVCollege of Engineering, Bangalore, India.
2Central Power Research Institute, Bangalore, India.
3Department of EEE, Sapthagiri College of Engineering, Bangalore, India.
4Department of EEE, M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology, Bangalore India,
Has studied the effect of algae over the 33 kV polymeric insulators for a period
of 13 months and came to a conclusion that the behaviour of insulator with and without
bio contamination is virtually same under salt fog conditions. Thus it can be concluded
that bio contamination does not have significant effect on the performance of polymer
insulator.

Herbert Enrique Rojas Cubides: Electrical Engineer, M.Sc. in Electrical

Engineering and Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering from Universidad
National de Colombia, Colombia. Affiliation: Assistant Professor in Electrical
Engineering Department, Electromagnetic Compatibility and Interference Group
GCEM, Universidad Distrital Francisco Jos de Caldas Colombia
This paper presents a study about electrical performance of ceramic and
polymeric insulators bio contaminated with alga Chlorella vulgaris. The performed
tests involve ANSI 55-2 and ANSI 52-1 ceramic insulators and ANSI DS-15 polymeric
insulators, all of them used in distribution systems of Colombia. Biological
contamination of insulators is realized using a controlled environment chamber that
adjusts the temperature, humidity and light radiation. The laboratory tests include
measurements of flashover voltages and leakage currents and they were performed to
determine how insulators are affected by biological contamination. After a series of
laboratory tests, it was concluded that the presence of Chlorella vulgaris on the
contaminated ceramic insulators reduces the wet flashover voltage up to 12% and
increases their leakage currents up to 80%. On the other hand, for polymeric insulators
the effect of algae growth on flashover voltages was not to strong, although the leakage
currents increase up to 60%.

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F. COOWAR and P. R. P. HOOLE:
In Papua New Guinea, contamination of a portion of the transmission system is
causing concern to the Electricity Commission. The source of contamination is a nearby
forest producing an algal growth on the transmission system hardware, particularly on
the underside of the string insulator units. Samples of some contaminated ceramic string
insulator units were sent to the Papua New Guinea University of Technology where
they were tested in the high voltage laboratory of the Department of Electrical and
Communication Engineering. Dry flashover, wet flashover and withstand tests were
performed on these as well as on new units. The tests revealed that, when dry, the
contaminated units had comparable discharge characteristics to the new ones. However,
when wet, the flashover voltage of the contaminated units fell to below one-third of the
corresponding value obtained for the new units. Thus, algal growth, particularly on the
top surface of the insulator units, significantly reduces the flashover voltage under wet
conditions.

S.M. Gubanski 1, M.A.R.M. Fernando1, S.J. Pietr2, J. Matula2, A. Kyaruzi 3

1 - Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, 2 - Agricultural University of
Wroclaw, Poland 3 - University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Results of investigations on biological growths on different insulators,
especially porcelain and silicone rubber ones, are presented. The insulators have been
exposed to tropical weather under polluted and clean conditions in Sri Lanka and
Tanzania since 1995. Algae contamination was found on the insulators at the clean
locations. The algae were identified as green algae. After performing a series of
laboratory tests, it was concluded that the effect of algae was not too strong on the
contaminated silicone rubber insulators. Suggestions how to control the algae growth
are presented.

This work can help in developing a practical monitoring system for outdoor
polymer insulator which will allow power system operators to schedule maintenance
and cleaning routines based on practically more precise measures.

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 2.4. Objectives of the thesis

The primary objective of this research is to investigate the 66kV polymer

insulators with Bio-Degradable contamination (Green Algae). For the efficient use of
the composite insulators in the power transmission line, in cold countries like Sri Lanka,
Tanzania, USA Germany, Sweden, Japan etc.., the following research objectives are
set:

Investigation of the 66kV polymeric insulator under Green Algae contamination over
the surface.
To conduct the experiment on 66kV polymer insulators with and without Green Algae
contamination
To compare the performance of the 66 kV polymer insulators.
Suggest the insulators for different pollution conditions.

2.5. Organization of thesis

The thesis is organized into 8 chapters and each chapter describes the one specific
objective of the thesis. The following items describe the specific objective of each
chapter.

1. Chapter 1 discuss the introduction of the project which includes the necessity of
leakage current measurement, importance of leakage current on insulators,
diagnosis, limits of leakage current on HV devices etc.
2. Chapter 2 provides the past literature available on this topic. The objective of the
project and organization also provided in end.
3. Chapter 3 presents the different types of insulators and their advantages and
disadvantages.
4. Chapter 4 gives the information regarding the different pollutions available in the
different areas and their limits on the insulators.
5. Chapter 5 Analysis of Electric Field and Experimental Evaluation of 66 kV
Polymer Insulator with Bio-Logical Contamination
6. Chapter 6 Presents the experimental details, results and analysis of the results.

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