IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 8 No.

4, August 2001 705

Frequency Characteristics of Leakage

Current Waveforms of an Artificially Polluted
Suspension Insulator
T. Suda
Electrical Insulation Department
Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry
Tokyo, Japan

ABSTRACT
In order to establish a method for monitoring contamination in insulators based on leakage
current waveforms and their frequency characteristics, the leakage current waveforms and fre-
quency characteristics of an artificially polluted 180 mm diameter cap and pin type insulator
were investigated by the wet contaminant and the clean fog methods at fixed applied voltages.
As a result, it was found that leakage current waveforms become similar to the symmetrical
wave when strong local arcs occur; hence, the intensity of the odd order of harmonic compo-
nents, e.g. 50, 150, and 250 Hz,is high. Furthermore, it was clarified that,the transition of
the leakage current waveforms, until flashover occurs, is classified into six stages and that a
threshold exists by which the occurrence of flashover can be predicted.

1 INTRODUCTION component, 150 Hz, increased when increasing the applied voltage,
because of the wave distortion due to local arcs [U]. It is expected
T HE development of a reliable system for monitoring salt contami-
nation on insulators is strongly desired in order to take precautions
against possible accidents due to salt contamination. The most widely
from these results that a novel monitoring system for salt contamina-
tion could be developed from further investigations about frequency
components of leakage current waveforms as well as the magnitude of
used methods for pollution monitoring are the equivalent salt deposit
leakage currents.
density (ESDD), the surface conductance, the leakage current, air pollu-
tion measurements, optical measurements, and the non-soluble deposit In this work, we investigated the characteristics of leakage current
density [l]. waveforms and their frequency characteristics of an artificially polluted
The leakage current, which is driven by the source voltage and col- 180 mm diameter cap and pin type insulator from the viewpoint of
lected at the grounded end of the insulator, provides much useful infor- pollution severity monitoring, based on the frequency characteristics
mation out of many parameters describing the state of a contaminated of leakage current waveforms. Since power transmission voltages are
insulator. The leakage current surge counting, the highest leakage peak constant, we conducted experiments to examine the characteristics of
current recording, and charge measurements are three main methods leakage current waveforms when constant voltages were applied to an
for pollution monitoring [2,3]. In addition, the characteristics of leak- artificially polluted 180 mm diameter cap and pin type insulator, using
age current waveforms were investigated by applying Fourier series the wet contaminant method (equivalent fog method in [lo]) and the
to clarify their influence on the test voltage in circuits [4] and several clean fog method (fog withstand method in [lo] or solid layer method in
dynamic models have been proposed to investigate ac source-insulator [12]).We describe here the characteristics of leakage current waveforms
interaction during the critical arcing period of polluted insulators [5] and their frequency characteristics to 400 kHz when strong local arcs
and the feasibility of using the dynamic arc modeling of polluted insu- occur, as well as the distinct transition of the leakage current waveforms
lators, in order to characterize approaching flashover [6]. On the other until flashover occurs. From the results, we show the possibility that
hand, the spectral analysis of the leakage current waveforms on con- a threshold exists, because the probability of flashover increases when
taminated insulators under fog conditions was conducted by the auto the magnitudes of leakage currents, prominent harmonic components,
regressive method [7]. The analysis of leakage current waveforms also and their harmonic contents exceed specific levels.
was carried out for field-aged and polymer insulators [8,9].
2 EXPERIMENT
Performing a frequency analysis of leakage current waveforms with
a spectrum analyzer in the wet contaminant flashover tests (equivalent The experimental setup is shown in Figure 1. A cap and pin type
fog method in [lo]), the author found that the third order harmonic insulator of 180 mm diameter, which is also shown, was used to clarify

1070-9878/1/ $3.00 02001 IEEE

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 706 Suda: Frequency Characteristics of Leakage Current Waveforms

the fundamental characteristics of leakage current waveforms of pol- respectively. Figures 2(a), (b), and (c) correspond to the case of no stress,
luted insulators. Leakage current waveforms were detected with a cur- the case when local arcs occur, and the case with no local arc at the same
rent transformer (CT411, Pearson Electronics, Inc.; frequency range of voltage as that of case (b),respectively.
flat response 1 Hz to 20 MHz), amplified by a dc amplifier (frequency First, we examined frequency spectra < 3.125 kHz. In the case of no
range 0 to 5 kHz), and recorded by a data recorder (frequency range 0 stress (Figure 2(a) left), the frequency spectrum has a flat distribution
to 2.5 kHz). Frequency spectrum analysis was performed with a real- with no prominent harmonic component in general. In the absence of
time signal analyzer having a Hanning window. When we examined local arcs as shown in Figure 2(c) middle, the 50 Hz component has
<
frequency characteristics of leakage current waveforms 400 kHz, and the highest intensity because of ohmic leakage current flow. The spec-
the transition of leakage current waveforms until flashover, we con- trum at frequencies >550 Hz has a nearly flat distribution although the
nected the output of the current transformer directly to the real-time intensity of the odd order of harmonic components 6 550 Hz is high
signal analyzer. because of wave distortion. On the other hand, in the presence of lo-
cal arcs as in Figure 2(b) middle, the odd-order harmonic components
<
350 Hz become prominent because leakage current waveforms are
similar to symmetrical waves. However, the distribution is flat at fre-
quencies 2 1kHz.
In a symmetrical wave, we can write
1 8 h $ cap & pin type Insulator f ( t+ T )= -f(t) (1)
_________----- where f ( t ) is a function of time t, representing the symmetrical wave,
and T is one period. The Fourier series of this function has only odd-
order components.
Shield r m
Next, we examined the frequency spectra < 400 kHz. The distribu-
tions for the three cases shown on the right in Figures 2(a), (b), and (c)
Figure 1. Experimental setup.
are almost flat in the level of -100 to -120 dB, except at frequencies
5 4 kHz. Therefore, it is clear that the frequency spectra have distin-
The wet contaminant method and clean fog method were adopted as guishing features at frequencies t l kHz in the presence of local arcs.
artificial contamination methods [lo, 121. The wet contaminant method
is defined here as the method wherein a constant voltage is applied 4 LEAKAGE CURRENT
within 2 to 3 min, immediately after an insulator is polluted with a WAVEFORMS DURING
spray containing contaminated suspension, and the voltage is main- FLASHOVER
tained until a flashover occurs, or local arcs disappear. In the clean fog
method, an insulator is left to dry naturally after it is polluted by spray- 4.1 TRANSITION OF LEAKAGE
ing and by suspending in a vinyl-sheet-covered space of 1 5 0 ~ 5 0 ~ 1 7 0 CURRENT WAVEFORMS UNTIL
cm3 size. A constant ac voltage is applied immediately after the in- FLASHOVER
sulator is exposed to the artificial fog produced by a supersonic-wave Figure 3 presents typical changes in the leakage current waveforms
humidifier and maintained until either a flashover occurs, or for sixty
until flashover in the clean fog method. Flashover occurs through six
minutes. The contaminated suspension was made from NaCl60 g/1 and stages as mentioned below.
Tonoko (Japanese kaolin) 40 g/1(15 g/1 in the wet contaminant method)
to simulate a severe degree of contamination. The ESDD was measured Stage 1: Leakage current waveforms become like sine waves at the
after the experiments. beginning of voltage application because of resistive current flow (com-
pletely wet surface layer, no dry bands, no discharge).
3 FREQUENCY Stage 2: They become triangular or like a sawtooth when faint dis-
CHARACTERISTICS OF charges occur with a subtle audible sound and no visible signal.
LEAKAGE CURRENT Stage 3: The tips of the triangular waveforms from stage 2 become
WAVEFORMS sharper and lengthen when some visible point discharges occur (corona
It is necessary to evaluate the frequency characteristics of back- [13-151, with a continuous sound near the cap on the upper surface (Dry
ground noise in order to clarify the frequency characteristics of leakage band formation occurs during stages 1to 3).
current waveforms < 400 kHz. These were obtained by comparing the Stage 4: The leakage current waveforms become similar to the sym-
following three frequency spectra: frequency spectrum of leakage cur- metrical wave described in Section 3 in the presence of linear filamen-
rent waveforms without an applied voltage (background noise), that tary weak local arcs (streamer or partial discharge 113-151) at the 5 or 6
without local arcs at the same applied voltages as one with local arcs, spots near the cap on the upper surface.
and that with local arcs in the wet contaminant method. Stage 5: Leakage current with a large peak value appear, in addition
Figure 2 showsleakage current waveforms, their frequency spectra to the symmetrical waves at stage 4 in the presence of intermittent,
<
6 3.125 kHz, and those 400 kHz for the three cases mentioned above, strong local arcs on the bottom surface.

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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation vol. 8 No. 4, August 2001 707

-20
0.13

5 5
.I80 -180
0.0 3.125 OD 4m.o

-20 -20

5 5
-180
0.0 kHz 3.125

-20 -20

5 5
-180 .I80
00 w 3.125 0.0 w 4W.0

Figure 2. Comparisonbetween leakage current waveforms and their frequency spectra in the case of no stress (a),in the presence of local arcs (b), and
in the absence of local arcs (c): (left)leakage current waveforms, (middle) frequency spectra < 3.125 khz, and (right)frequency spectra < 400 kHz.

( just before flashover )

Figure 3. Transition of leakage current waveforms until flashover occurs in the clean fog method.

Stage 6: The peak value of leakage current waveforms becomes large 4.2 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
immediately before flashover in the presence of intermittent, strong PROMINENT FREQUENCY
local arcs on both surfaces (arc elongation). COMPONENTS AND
Stage 7 Flashover occurs. FLASHOVER
The odd-order harmonic components from 50 to 350 Hz in the N In this Section is presented the experimental result of the relation-
frequency spectra of leakage current waveforms increase in intensity ship between frequency spectra of leakage current and flashover ob-
from stages 2 to 6 because the peak value of leakage current gradually tained after repeated artificial pollution experiments using the clean fog
becomes large in time. method. We conducted ten experiments as shown in Table 1. Flashover

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 708 Suda: Frequency Characteristics o f Leakage Current Waveforms

Table 1. Applied voltage and ESDD. With/without flashover Figure 4 shows the temporal variation of peak leakage current. (The
(FO/NFO) is also shown in the column. test numbers appearing on Figures 4 to 6 are the same as the numbers
V, FOINFO
ESDD ESDD in Table 1.)The peak values of leakage currents gradually become large
upper bottom with time from the beginning of voltage application when flashover
~ kV mg/cm2 mg/cm2 occurs; for example, they reach 0.25 A immediately before flashover in
10 NFO 0.07 0.26
test 8. On the other hand, when flashover does not occur, most of them
are small values, <20 mA. Moreover, flashover occurs in four (tests 6
to 9) of the six cases (tests 3, 4 and 6 to 9) in which the peak leakage
current exceeds 50 mA. Therefore, this suggests that the possibility of
occurrence of flashover becomes higher when peak values of leakage
7
8 currents exceed 50 mA.
9 -10
10
-
-20
occurred five times. h
a
We measured and calculated the peak values of leakage currents, v
8
-30
the magnitudes of prominent harmonic components such as 50, 150, al

250 Hz,and 350 Hz,and the harmonic contents (ratio of the magni- 0
Q

tude of prominent harmonic components to that of the 50 Hz primary E -40

component, O h ) of 150,250, and 350 Hz. N

X
0
v, -50
The magnitudes of prominent harmonic components and the har- 'c

monic contents were defined as follows: The leakage current I, of har- 0

-0
3 -60
monic component i is .lJ
._
C
I, = 1 0 K X (2) M
Z?-70
where K is the inverse of the dc amplifier magnification and V , is the
output voltage of the current transformer CT411 which has a relation of
0.1 V/lA. The magnitude (dB) of harmonic component i is 0:W 1O:OO 20:W 30:W 40:W 50:OO 60:W
A, =2010gI%= 2 0 ( 1 + 1 0 g K + l o g V , ) ( a ) Time (min : s)

i = 50, 150, 250, 350

(3)
where 20 log V is the reading of the real-time signal analyzer and the
reference level is 1 A.
'4%
:. It = 1020 (4)
The ratio of the magnitude of component i to that of the main 50 Hz
primary component (Yo) is
-I, = 10 AI-20
A50

I50 (5)
i = 150, 250, 350

3w

250

1
2 1w -
m Figure 5. Temporal variation of magnitude of prominent harmonic
I
component: (a) 50 Hz and @) 150 Hz.

Figures 5(a) and (b) show temporal variations of the magnitudes of

the 50 and 150 Hz components of the leakage current waveforms, re-
Figure 4. Temporal variation of peak leakage current. spectively. The magnitude of the 50 Hz component gradually becomes
large with time from the beginning of voltage application when flash-

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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
over occurs and reaches a maximum immediately before flashover. On
the other hand, when flashover does not occur, the magnitude of the
50 Hz component is small, <-50 dB. Moreover, flashover occurs in
four (tests 6 to 9) of the five cases (tests 4 and 6 to 9) whose magnitudes
of the 50 Hz component exceed -45 dB. Therefore, this proves that
the possibility of flashover occurrence becomes higher when the mag-
nitude of the 50 Hz component exceeds -45 dB. The same may be said
of the magnitude of the 150 Hz component, as shown in Figure 5@).We
also observed the existence of such a threshold for the 250 and 350 Hz
components, although the data are not shown in this paper.
v
c t i ena, pp. 715-718, Austin, USA, 1999.
401 I .
Time (min:s)
Figure 6. Temporal variation of the 150 Hz harmonic content.
Figure 6 shows the temporal variation of the harmonic content of
the 150 Hz component. This Figure also indicates that the possibility
of flashover occurrence b e c o m e s higher when t h e h a r m o n i c c o n t e n t of
the 150 Hz component exceeds 50%. We also observed the existence of
such a threshold for 250 and 350 Hz components (data not shown).
5 CONCLUSION
I N order to establish a method for monitoring polluted insulators
based on leakage current waveforms and their frequency characteris-
tics, the leakage current waveforms and their frequency characteristics
of an artificially polluted 180 mm diameter cap and pin type insulator
were investigated by the wet contaminant method and the clean fog
method at fixed applied voltages. The main results are as follows.
Leakage current waveforms become similar to the symmetrical wave
in the presence of strong local arcs on the surface of an insulator that
is heavily contaminated and wetted sufficiently. Hence, the intensity
of the odd order of harmonic components, e.g. 50, 150, and 250 Hz is
high.
In the spectral area 6 400 kHz, distinguishing features are shown only
at frequencies tl kHz in the presence of local arcs.
The transition of the leakage current waveforms until flashover is clas-
sified into six stages.
It is pointed out that a threshold exists; i.e. the possibility of flashover
occurrence becomes higher when the magnitudes and harmonic con-
tents of the prominent components exceed a particular level.
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Vol. 8 No. 4, August 2001 709
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author is grateful to Drs. T. Shindo, Y. Sunaga, and K. Kondo
for providing important suggestions and support. He is also grateful
to Prof. Y. Murooka for his encouragement.
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Manuscript was received on 21 June 1999, in final form 23 April 2001.