Breakdown Characteristics of Solid Insulating Materials for High Voltage Applications

Abstract

Electrical power systems are experiencing significant changes worldwide both in size and in complexities. Rapid growth of the power sector in the nation provides the opportunity to power engineer to design the power equipment which can with stand the high voltage and also provide reliability during their operating life. As the generating capacity of power plants have increased in recent time, application of high voltage has also intensively increased due to their inherent advantages, such as; greater efficiency and cost effectiveness. To overcome the modern energy demand, it's required to develop highly complex and reliable power system from transmission to distribution unit and for that it's very much essential to develop the better quality insulating material. In this work, the breakdown strength of solid insulating materials are obtained with the help of electrode assembly according to IS 2584-1963 and ASTM D149-97a. In this paper simulation of various insulating material are performed by using finite element method and simulation results obtained are compared with the experimental results. Experimental results are also analyzed by using weibull statistics. Results obtained with weibull statistics helps to identify the best insulating material which is efficient and reliable for high voltage applications.