IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 5; October 2014

2283

Understanding the Discharge Activity across GFRP

Material Due to Salt Deposit under Transient Voltages
by Adopting OES and LIBS Technique
V. Sathiesh Kumar, Nilesh J. Vasa
Department of Engineering Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai- 600036, India

R. Sarathi
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai- 600036, India

Daisuke Nakamura and Tatsuo Okada

Graduate school on Information Science and Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University
Fukuoka 819-0395, Japan
ABSTRACT
In the present study, breakdown characteristics of a glass fiber reinforced plastic
(GFRP) with different salt deposit densities (SDD) under standard lightning impulse
(LI)/ switching impulse (SI) voltages are studied. Optical emission during discharge
process and the discharge current are measured simultaneously. It is observed that
flashover voltage (FOV) reduces with increase in salt deposit density on GFRP material
under LI/SI (irrespective of the polarity of applied voltage) voltages. It is also observed
that irrespective of level of SDD, the FOV is less with SIV compared with LIV. FOV
under negative SIV is less compared with positive SIV. Optical emission corresponding
to Na I emission at 589 nm in discharge plasma follows the discharge current profile
and also the lifetime of Na I emission is high under switching impulse compared with
lightning impulse voltages. Na I emission in the discharge plasma sustains for a longer
period in case of negative switching impulse voltages. Plasma temperature is estimated
using emission lines and it is observed that the local temperature during discharge
process is high under negative switching impulse voltage. With increase in salt deposit
density, the optical emission spectrum of GFRP material in addition of Na I line at 589
nm is observed. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique is proposed
and demonstrated for the detection of a salt deposit on a GFRP material from a standoff distance of 1 m. In addition, temporal and spatial profile of laser induced plasma on
the polluted GFRP material is used to quantify the salt deposit. Laser fluence less than
5 J/cm2 is ideally suited to rank the severity of a salt deposit on GFRP material at an
incident laser wavelength of 1064 nm.
Index Terms - Wind blade, pollution measurement, flashover voltage, lightning
impulse, switching impulse, temporal and spatial measurements.
1

1 INTRODUCTION
WIND power is one of important renewable energy
sources. Its use in an off-shore power generation
application is increasing considering the energy crisis and
global warming problem. Wind turbines power handling
capacity varies from 30 kW to 7 MW. A typical 7 MW
Manuscript received on 20 May 2013, in final form 26 April 2014,
accepted 26 April 2014.

wind turbine has a tower height of 160 m and a rotor

diameter of 164 m (i.e., Length of blades= 80 m) [1]. Wind
turbines are open air structures often placed in isolated
areas such as offshore and mountain regions where the
wind condition is expected to be good and they are more
prone to be affected by lightning strikes [2-5]. Particularly
lightning damage to a wind turbine blade are quite serious
since the cost for replacements are remarkably high,
laborious and time consuming.

DOI 10.1109/TDEI.2014.004120

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V. S. Kumar et al.: Understanding the Discharge Activity across GFRP Material Due to Salt Deposit under Transient Voltages

Lightning can be classified into upward and downward

initiated with respect to tall structures and also classified
based on its polarity (Positive/Negative), being that of
charge transferred from cloud to ground. Wind turbines are
more prone to be affected by upward initiated lightning, if
its height exceeds above 100 meters [6]. In order to prevent
wind turbine blades from lightning damage, lightning
protection systems, such as point receptors and metallic cap
receptors are placed on blades to minimize the number of
lightning strikes [7, 8]. Even though with this type of
preventive measure in place to protect the blades from
lightning damage, numerous lightning strikes to the wind
turbine blades have been reported [9-12]. That to the cost
of wind turbine blade is about 15-20 % of the total wind
turbine system [13].
Glass fiber reinforced plastics (GFRP) are used in the
manufacturing of wind turbine blades due to its high
mechanical strength, stiffness, surface roughness and light
weight. In addition the material is highly hydrophobic in
nature. In an offshore environment, wind turbine blades are
subjected to sustain moisture. Soluble and non-soluble
contaminants such as dust, sand and salt gets deposited on the
blade surface and enhances the surface discharge activity on
the blade [14]. Admittedly no actual data is available on level
of salt density deposit on wind turbine blades and for
understanding the fundamental aspect of salt density deposit
on flashover voltage, a methodical experimental studies need
to be carried out. Various research groups have studied
extensively on an influence of pollution on an insulator
model under non-uniform pollution conditions [15]. Based on
the study, it was found that pollution deposit on the surface of
insulator reduces the flashover voltage, irrespective of the
polarity of applied voltage [15]. Since no standards were
formulated for testing the pollution performance of wind
blade structures, in the present work, based on duration of
lightning activity, the standard lightning and switching
impulse voltages were adopted (which simulates the summer
and winter lightning activity respectively based on duration
of the activity) to test the pollution performance of the wind
blade structure. Thus it has become important to have an
online condition monitoring technique to understand the level
of pollution deposit in order to prevent the blade from
lightning damage.
Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique is a nonintrusive technique to gather physical information during
discharge process such as elemental analysis, plasma
temperatures and density. OES technique have been used
to study the plasma created during electrical discharge
machining process [16] and also used in measuring the
characteristics of plasma generated during the wire
explosion process [17]. OES technique can be used to study
electrical discharge characteristics on material surface. On
the other hand, Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy
(LIBS) is an analytical tool to find the elemental
composition of samples irrespective of their states (Solid,
liquid or Gas) [18, 19]. It has several advantages like multielement detection, in-Situ analysis, minimal sample
preparation, nearly non destructive, high detection

sensitivity and remote detection capability. Forensic

elemental analysis, environmental analysis and real time
radioactive material monitoring are some of the
applications of LIBS. LIBS technique can be utilized for
detecting the contaminant layer on wind turbine blades
using a remote sensing approach.
In the present work, the breakdown characteristics of
GFRP material with different level of pollutant (NaCl) under
lightning impulse voltage of 1.2/50 s and switching impulse
voltage of 250/2500 s for both polarities are studied. The
optical emission obtained during surface discharge process is
analyzed using OES technique to understand the level of
degradation of GFRP material for different level of salt
deposit densities (SDD). In addition, laser induced
breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique combined with
temporal and spatial studies is demonstrated for detection and
quantification of a salt deposit on a GFRP material.

2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
2.1 OPTICAL EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY (OES)
TECHNIQUE
Commercially available woven fabric glass fiber
reinforced plastics (GFRP) sample with a surface area of 36
cm2 is selected for carrying out the experimental study.
Surface roughness of the virgin GFRP is measured using a
contact type surface profilometer (Marsurf GD25) and the
average surface roughness (Ra) value was found to be about
0.6 m. GFRP is a polymer composite with major
ingredients of silica sand (SiO2), lime stone (CaCO3) and
soda ash (Na2CO3). Slurry is prepared with kaolin (2100
mg) and NaCl (40, 110, 180, 250, 320 and 400 mg) by
mixing it with demineralised water and sprayed over the
surface of GFRP material to form a thin layer. Equivalent
salt deposit density (ESDD) of different contaminated
GFRP samples are calculated as per IEC 60507 standards
and it is shown in Figure 1 [20, 21]. Kaolin clay is used as a
binding medium and it consists of 40-50% of SiO2, 30-40%
of Al2O3, 0-3.2% of Fe2O3 and 7-14% of H2O.

Figure 1. Determination of ESDD and 20 as per IEC 60507 standard.

Lightning impulse voltage (1.2/50 s)/switching impulse

voltage (250/2500 s) of positive/negative polarity are
generated using a single stage impulse voltage generator by
appropriately varying the values of the source capacitance,
front resistance and the tail resistance. LIV and SIV

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 5; October 2014

correspond to that of summer and winter lightning [9-11,

21-25]. To understand the surface discharge activity in
GFRP material, the quasi-uniform electric field gap consists
of two angular electrode tip cut for 45 (with edges smooth)
placed on 3 mm thick GFRP material, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Experimental Setup: Optical emission spectroscopy (OES)

technique.

The electrode configuration used in the present study

is as per standard IEC-60112 [26, 27]. The electrodes
used are of stainless steel material, and are separated by a
gap distance of 10 mm. The electrode gap is so chosen
such a way that emission lines generated during flashover
be confined and the external factors influence are
minimum in order to use optical emission spectroscopy
technique. One electrode is connected to the high voltage
source and the other electrode connected to ground. The
applied voltage magnitude, wave shape, surface
conductivity of the insulating material decides the
flashover voltage (FOV) of the electrode gap. Hence the
FOV was obtained for the range of ESDD (similar to that
of outdoor insulators) under standard LI and SI voltages,
by adopting step stress method [28] as shown in Figure 3.

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The test voltage applied at predetermined voltage

magnitude. In the present study, flashover voltages
obtained by carrying out the test 15 times at different
locations on the surface of the GFRP test specimen [25].
Applied voltage and discharge current are measured using a
voltage probe (EP-50k, PEEC.A, Lecroy, 1000:1) and a
current probe (94111-1, ETS Lindgren), respectively.
Integration of power over the time which gives deposited
energy on the sample surface.
Optical emission during discharge on GFRP material
with different SDD is collected using a fiber lens with a
focal length of 4.34 mm and it is coupled to a spectrometer
(190 to 1035 nm, Tec 5) with an NMOS linear image
sensor (S3901, Hamamatsu) using a multimode optical
fiber with a core diameter of 600 m, 0.39 NA. To perform
emission lifetime studies, neutral sodium atom (Na I, Dline, 588.99 nm) emission lines are used. Na I emission line
is filtered using a sodium filter (589 nm) and focused on to
a multimode optical fiber and photomultiplier tube (R562,
Hamamatsu).
2.2 LASER INDUCED BREAKDOWN
SPECTROSCOPY (LIBS) TECHNIQUE

Figure 4. Experimental Setup- Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

(LIBS) combined with temporal and spatial measurements.

Figure 3. Flowchart to determine flashover voltage

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

technique is proposed and used for the detection of a salt
deposit on a GFRP material from a stand-off distance of 1
m. Nd3+: YAG laser (LAB-150-10-S2K, Quanta-Ray LAB
series, Spectra Physics) beam with pulse duration of 10
ns is focused on to the sample using a lens of 150 mm focal
length to create plasma on the target surface as shown in
Figure 4. Laser induced plasma contains excited ions,
electrons, and neutral atoms. After a short relaxation time,
plasma with excited particles cools down and de-excite to
their lower energy levels by releasing equivalent energy in
the form of electromagnetic radiation termed as plasma or
plume. Optical radiation emitted from plasma is collected
using lens with a focal length of 200 mm and guided to the

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V. S. Kumar et al.: Understanding the Discharge Activity across GFRP Material Due to Salt Deposit under Transient Voltages

spectrometer (LVC-3011-S1, LVM-200-KS, Lambda

Vision) using a multimode optical fiber with a core
diameter of 400 m, 0.22 NA. To perform emission
lifetime studies, neutral sodium atom (D-line, 588.99 nm)
emission lines are used. Na I emission line is filtered using
a sodium filter (589 nm) and focused on to a multimode
optical fiber and photomultiplier tube (R562, Hamamatsu).
ICCD camera (PI-MAX 1kB UNIGEN II, Princeton
Instruments) is used for studying the spatial profile of laser
induced plasma on the target surface.

the electrodes under the application of LIV and SIV of 18

kV, respectively. It is observed that the amount of energy
deposited is high under SIV (irrespective of level of SDD
and polarity of applied voltage) compared with LIV.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 BREAKDOWN CHARACTERISTICS OF
POLLUTED GFRP MATERIAL UNDER LIV/SIV

Figure 6. Energy deposit on samples with different SDD: (a) Lightning

impulse voltage, (b) Switching impulse voltage.

3.2 ANALYSIS OF SURFACE DEGRADATION

ADOPTING OPTICAL EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY

Figure 5. Flashover voltage for GFRP samples with different SDD: (a)
Lightning impulse voltage, (b) Switching impulse voltage.

Figure 5 shows variation in flashover voltage (FOV) of

GFRP samples with different salt deposit densities under
standard LI/SI voltage of both polarities. It is observed that
FOV reduces with increase in salt density on GFRP
material under LIV/SIV (irrespective of the polarity of
applied voltage). On application of voltage, the discharge
incepts from the high voltage electrode and under SIV, due
to long wave front, time duration of corona streamer phase
is considerable and hence the surface charging occurs and
the electrons and ions formed in the medium with the
applied voltage magnitude are sufficient to cause
breakdown of electrode gap at lower voltages compared
with lightning impulse voltage with short front time. FOV
under negative SIV is less compared with positive SIV.
Similar characteristics were observed by Quisman et al
[29]. In General, from Fig. 5, it is observed that FOV of the
electrode gap under LIV/SIV, the SDD and FOV show
inverse relationship.
On application of transient voltage to the electrode gap,
the discharge incepts at the tip of high voltage electrode
and depending on level of SDD the discharge path alters. If
the level of salt deposit is less the incepted discharge at the
high voltage electrode propagates causing aerial discharge
and gets terminated to the ground electrode. At the same
time, if the SDD is high, discharge incepted at the high
voltage electrode propagates at the interface of the salt
deposit and the GFRP material thereby the level of damage
to the GFRP material is high. This is also confirmed by
optical emission spectroscopy (OES) technique.
Figures 6a and 6b show a variation in energy deposited
during surface discharge process leading to FOV between

Figures 7a-7d show typical optical emission spectra of

virgin and polluted GFRP samples obtained during surface
discharge under positive LIV. The optical emission spectra
observed during discharge between the electrode gaps
under LIV/SIV, irrespective of polarity, are the same. This
indicates that the current is not that important in
identification of species produced during breakdown. Once
the breakdown occurs, which is being initiated along the
surface, it survives mostly in air abutting the surface and
hence the duration of the current is not that influential
thereby justifying that testing with LIV/SIV be sufficient
than by testing with standard lightning impulse current of
4/10 or 8/20 s, (which are not the current wave shape of
natural lightning [30, 31]).

Figure 7. OES spectra (positive LIV): (a) GFRP, (b) Kaolin deposited on
GFRP, (c) SDD= 3 mg/cm2, (d) SDD= 11 mg/cm2.

The characteristic peak of emission lines observed in

OES spectra of GFRP (Figure 7a), kaolin clay deposited on
GFRP material (Figure 7b) relates to its elemental
composition [32]. Figures 7c and 7d show emission spectra
of salt deposited samples with SDD of 3 and 11 mg/cm2,

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 5; October 2014

respectively.
As observed in Figures 7c and 7d,
characteristic peak at 588.99 nm relates to a neutral sodium
atom (Na I). With increase in SDD, the characteristic peaks
of GFRP material along with Na I emission line are
observed. This clearly indicates with increase in SDD the
discharge propagates at the interface of GFRP material and
that of the pollutant layer. It is difficult to arrive at a
relationship between the peak of Na I emission line and
SDD for the application of different voltage profiles
(LIV/SIV). The intensity depends on density of the salt
deposit and when discharge is of fibrillar in nature
proportionately the emission intensity alters. Also multiple
factors which influences the sensitivity of the measurement
which includes variation in discharge magnitude, the
streamer path formed, discharge plasma emission
magnitude, variation in optical coupling of plasma emission
to optical fiber etc. It is also essential to estimate the local
temperature based on the plasma emission intensity during
discharge propagation to correlate the damage induced on
the GFRP material.
Two prominent emission lines of same atomic species
in the spectra are necessary to determine the approximate
plasma temperature during the discharge by using a linepair method [16]. Plasma temperature estimation using
emission line intensity is applicable only under a
thermodynamic equilibrium. In practice, thermodynamic
equilibrium is difficult to achieve. Hence an
approximation of Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium
(LTE) is adopted to estimate plasma temperature from the
measured spectroscopic data using Boltzmann-Saha
equations [16]. Discharge plasma temperature on a GFRP
sample under LIV/SIV is estimated using a line pair
method (a special case of Boltzmann's method) in which
the relative intensities of emission lines are used and it is
expressed as,
T 1.44

E2 - E1

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Table 2. Plasma Temperature and Na I emission lifetime variation under

LIV/SIV.
Voltages

Temperature (K)

+ LI

5330

Average Na I lifetime
(s)/Standard deviation ()
4.12/2.88

- LI

5370

3.32/2.48

+ SI

4400

11/7

- SI

6740

60/36

Table 2 shows variation in discharge plasma temperature

under LIV and SIV with both polarities for an applied
voltage of 23 kV. Based on estimated plasma temperature
using line pair method, deterioration of GFRP sample will
be severe in case of negative SIV and in general the
deviation in estimated plasma temperature is less than 50 K.
Further Na I emission lifetime measurements at 589 nm are
carried out. The Na I emission line profile at 589 nm in
discharge plasma measured along with discharge current
(using resistive short) shows a correlation with discharge
current profile as shown in Figure 8. The lifetime was
estimated at 20 % of the maximum emission intensity.
Table 2 shows variation in lifetime of Na I emission at 589
nm under LI/SI voltages. Even though the discharge current
dies down quickly, Na I emission in discharge plasma
sustains for longer period in case of negative switching
impulse voltage and enhances the level of degradation of
GFRP material. Results based on electrical discharge
measurements combined with OES technique clearly shows
that switching impulse voltage induces a significant
damage to GFRP material irrespective of the polarity.

(1)

I A g
ln 1 1 2 2
I 22 A1g1

where E1 and E2 are excited energy levels, g1 and g2 are

statistical weight of excited energy levels 1 and 2,
respectively, A1 and A2 are transition probabilities of states,
I1 and I2 are intensity of particular atomic species at 1 and
2 wavelength, respectively and T is the plasma temperature
under the condition of LTE. In order to estimate discharge
plasma temperature on a GFRP sample, atomic emission
intensity of Ca I (445.47 nm, 487.81 nm) are used.
Spectroscopic parameters used in estimating plasma
temperature are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. Plasma Temperature estimation parameters
Line

(nm)

Ek (cm-1)

gk

Ak (s-1)

Ca I

445.47
487.81

37757.44
42343.59

7
7

8.7 x 107
1.88 x 107

Figure 8. Correlation between discharge current profile and Na I emission

at 589 nm lifetime (Positive Lightning impulse voltage): (a) Discharge
current, (b) Na I-589 nm Intensity.

3.3 DETECTING AND QUANTIFYING THE SALT

DEPOSIT ON A GFRP MATERIAL ADOPTING LIBS
Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)
technique is adapted in the present study to identify and
quantify the adhesion of salt deposit on a GFRP material
from a stand-off distance of 1 m. Figure 9 show laser
induced breakdown spectra of GFRP material with an
incident laser wavelength of 1064 nm represents the
characteristic peaks related to its elemental composition
[32]. GFRP is a polymer composite with major ingredients
of silica sand (SiO2), lime stone (CaCO3) and soda ash
(Na2CO3) and the plume formed at the surface of GFRP

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V. S. Kumar et al.: Understanding the Discharge Activity across GFRP Material Due to Salt Deposit under Transient Voltages

have composition of Na, Ca, Si etc resulting in multiple

peaks (Figure 9). Figures 10a and 10b show emission
spectra of kaolin clay deposited on GFRP sample and salt
deposited (SDD= 11 mg/cm2) on GFRP sample,
respectively, corresponding to the laser fluence of 3.2 J/cm2
with incident laser wavelength of 1064 nm. As observed in
Figure 10b, the presence of Na I emission at 588.9 and
589.5 nm represents the indication of a salt deposit on the
surface of GFRP. Hence, LIBS can be used to identify the
presence of salt deposit on wind blades.

continuum dominates the spectrum due to high absorption

coefficient of sample in that wavelength region. When the
laser irradiation wavelength of 532 nm (Figures 11i-11b) is
selected, the scattering of the laser beam interferes with the
emission spectrum. Particularly, the irradiation laser
wavelength at wavelength of 532 nm interferes with many
elemental emission lines. Nevertheless, when the laser
irradiation wavelength of 1064 nm (Figures 11i-11c) is
used, it is possible to observe emission lines of various
elemental species clearly. Based on Figure 11i it is
observed that the irradiation laser wavelength of 1064 nm is
appropriate for understanding the composition of GFRP
material or any unknown contaminants. Figure 11ii show
influence of incident laser wavelength in detecting Na I
emission line (589 nm) for sample with a salt deposit of 11
mg/cm2. Na I emission at 589 nm could be detected by
using different laser irradiation wavelengths (1064, 532,
and 355 nm). The emission intensity of Na I line was
significantly larger than that of the scattering intensity of
the laser wavelength of 532 nm.

Figure 9. LIBS spectra of GFRP Material (laser wavelength=1064 nm)

with fluence of 3.2 J/cm2. Wavelength Range: (a) 300 to 650 nm, (b) 620
to 950 nm.

Figure 10. LIBS spectra obtained with fluence of 3.2 J/cm2: (a) Kaolin
clay deposited on GFRP Material, (b) SDD- 11 mg/cm2.

Figure 11. Influence of incident laser wavelength ((a) 355 nm, (b) 532 nm,
(c) 1064 nm) in obtaining the LIBS spectra with fluence of 3.2 J/cm2: (i)
GFRP Material, (ii) SDD= 11 mg/cm2.

Figure 11 shows influence of laser irradiation

wavelength on emission spectra from GFRP material
without salt deposition (i) and with salt deposition
(SDD=11 mg/cm2) (ii). As shown in Figure 11i, with the
laser wavelength of 355 nm (Figures 11i-11a), a broadband

Figures 12a and 12b show plots for variation in emission

intensity ratio (Na I at 589 nm / Si I at 570 nm)
corresponding to the laser fluence and salt deposition
density (SDD), respectively. As shown in Figure 12a, with
increase in laser fluence from 2 to 4 J/cm2, a small variation

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 5; October 2014

in intensity ratio is observed for a GFRP sample with SDD

= 9 mg/cm2. For larger laser fluence (> 5 J/cm2), intensity
ratio is found to be randomly varying due to the removal of
salt layer by laser impact on the target surface. Emission
intensity ratio of Na I to Si I emission does not have any
direct correlation with the increase in SDD of samples due
to jitters in laser pulse energy and hence limiting its use to
quantify the concentration of salt deposit on a GFRP
material as shown in Figure 12b.

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excitation of Na I ions in samples with higher salt deposit

density.
Figure 14 shows emission lifetime of Na I emission at
589 nm of salt deposit GFRP material with different laser
fluence (2.6 J/cm2, 5.7 J/cm2) for a laser irradiation
wavelength of 1064 nm. It is observed that a sample with
higher SDD values has a significant increase in emission
lifetime of Na I when the incident laser fluence on the
sample is below 5.5 J/cm2 at a laser repetition rate of 10 Hz.
For larger laser fluence (> 5.5 J/cm2), laser pulse impact
force on the sample is very large and hence it removes the
salt deposit. Hence the Na I lifetime measured for large
laser fluence (> 5.5 J/cm2) is the combination of Na I
lifetime of GFRP (beneath layer of salt deposit) and of salt
deposit region. This problem could be minimized by the
reducing the repetition rate of laser thereby successive laser
pulse hits a new distant location on the sample.

Figure 12. (a) Influence of laser fluence in detecting the salt deposit, (b)
Variation in relative emission intensity (Na I at 589 nm/Si I at 570 nm)
with salt deposit density.

Figure 14. Influence of laser fluence on ranking the severity of salt

deposit: (a) Fluence= 2.6 J/cm2, (b) Fluence= 5.7 J/cm2.

Figure 13. Temporal studies at 589 nm (Na I) with increase in SDD for a
laser fluence of 3.2 J/cm2.

Figure 13 shows Na I emission lifetime measurements at

589 nm for a laser fluence of 3.2 J/cm2. Based on Figure
13, intensity profile shows a rapid increase and a slow
decay for samples with higher SDD. The lifetime is
estimated at 1/e of the maximum emission intensity. It is
observed that with increase in SDD, Na I emission lifetime
at 589 nm increased. Lifetime increase is due to the
increase in the probability of ionic collisions and re-

3.4 PLUME SPATIAL ANALYSIS USING ICCD

Spatial information of laser induced plasma on GFRP
and salt deposit samples is studied using an ICCD camera.
Figures 15a and 15b shows the spatial variation of laser
induced plasma on GFRP and salt deposited GFRP (SDD=
11 mg/cm2) with respect to different time scales. After the
initiation of plasma on the target surface, plasma starts
expanding to about approximately 5-8 mm in the direction
perpendicular to the target surface until it gets cools down.
Spatial confinement of plasma generated in a salt deposit
samples is higher when compared to lower SDD samples.
Hence plasma in higher SDD sample sustains for a longer
period as shown in Figure 15. Increase in Na I emission
lifetime is observed with increase in SDD and which is in
agreement with lifetime measurement using the
photomultiplier tube (PMT).

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V. S. Kumar et al.: Understanding the Discharge Activity across GFRP Material Due to Salt Deposit under Transient Voltages

Temporal profile of laser induced plasma obtained using

an ICCD camera for an incident wavelength of 1064 nm is
shown in Figure 16a. Temporal profile of laser induced
plasma shows a rapid increase and a slow decay for
samples with higher SDD and which is in agreement with
the profile obtained using life time measurement by
photomultiplier tube. Na I emission intensity does not have
a direct correlation with increase in SDD. With increase in
laser fluence, plasma intensity increases but not the
intensity of Na I at 589 nm as shown in Figure 16b.
Because with increase in laser fluence on the target surface,
partly the pollutant layer gets removed (visual observation)
hence the Na I emission might/might not get increased.

Figure 16. (a) Temporal information at 589 nm emission wavelength for

samples with different SDD using ICCD camera image, (b) Influence of
laser fluence in plasma emission: (i) Plasma intensity, (ii) Na I-589 nm
intensity.

Figure 15. Laser induced plasma- Spatial information: (a) GFRP Material,
(b) SDD= 11 mg/cm2.

Figure 17 shows an influence of incident laser

wavelength on Na I emission lifetime. Na I emission
intensity peak is observed at 25 ns for an incident laser
wavelength of 532 nm and 355 nm due to enhancement in
continuum radiation. For 1064 nm incident laser
wavelength, Na I emission intensity peak is observed at 100
ns as shown in Figure 17. Results based on LIBS studies
clearly show that the spectral measurements can be used to
detect the presence of contaminants through elemental
analysis. LIBS technique is extended for lifetime and
spatial measurements, to rank the severity of contamination
and for determining the pollutant accumulated on a GFRP
material. With increase in laser fluence on the target
surface, partly the pollutant layer gets removed hence the
Na I emission intensity alters. So proper choice of laser
fluence is important in order to quantify the amount of salt
deposit on GFRP.

Figure 17. Influence of incident laser wavelength in determining Na I

emission lifetime.

CONCLUSION
Electrical discharge measurements combined with optical
emission spectroscopy (OES) technique is used to study the
influence of salt deposit on the industrial GFRP material
under lightning impulse (LI)/switching impulse (SI) voltages
of both polarities. Flashover voltage (FOV) of GFRP material
decreases with increase in salt deposit density under
LIV/SIV, irrespective of its polarity. It is observed that the
FOV is less under negative SIV compared with positive SIV
and LIV. The characteristic peaks observed using optical
emission spectroscopy (OES) technique is in correlation with
the elemental composition of pollutant deposited on a GFRP
material. Na I emission line at 589 nm could be identified for
samples with different contamination level. With increase in
SDD, the optical emission spectra of GFRP (underneath
substrate) material is observed. Results based on optical
emission spectroscopy studies qualitatively are in agreement
with the electrical discharge measurements.

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 5; October 2014

Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) combined

with temporal and spatial studies is proposed and
demonstrated for detection and quantification of a salt deposit
on a GFRP material from a stand-off distance of 1 m. LIBS
measurements clearly shows that Na I line at 589 nm could
be detected using a spectrometer and its quantification was
possible by temporal and spatial measurements of plasma.
Influence of incident laser wavelength and laser fluence to
induce plasma plays a vital role in quantification of a salt
deposit on a GFRP material. With increase in laser fluence on
the target surface, partly the pollutant layer gets removed
hence the Na I emission intensity alters. Hence an appropriate
choice of laser fluence is important in order to quantify the
amount of salt deposit on GFRP. As a typical value, laser
fluence less than 5 J/cm2 is ideally suited to quantify the salt
deposit on a GFRP material for a laser irradiation wavelength
of 1064 nm.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is supported by the grant-in aid from the
Department of Science and Technology (DST), India
(SR/S3/EECE/0115/2010). Sathiesh Kumar is grateful to
Kyushu University, Japan for providing an opportunity to
do a part of a research work at the Graduate school of
Information Science and Electrical Engineering.

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Ramanujam Sarathi is currently a Professor and

Head of High Voltage Laboratory, Department of
Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology Madras, Chennai, India. He obtained
his Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore, India in 1994. His research
area includes Condition monitoring of power
apparatus and nano materials.

V. Sathiesh Kumar is currently pursuing

Doctoral Studies in the Department of Engineering
Design, Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
India. He received his Master in engineering
(applied electronics) from Thanthai Periyar
Government Institute of Technology, Vellore in
2007. His area of research includes Laser
Technology and its Applications, OptoMechatronics and in Embedded Systems.

Daisuke Nakamura received a Doctor of

Engineering degree in information science and
electrical engineering from Kyushu University,
Japan in March 2009. He has been an Associate
Professor in the Department of Electrical
Engineering, Kyushu University since 2010. His
research interest includes Applications of Laser
Ablation and Laser Spectroscopy. He is a member
of SPIE, the Japanese Society of Applied Physics,
and the Laser society of Japan.

Nilesh J. Vasa received his B.E. degree in

production engineering (1988), Master of
Technology in mechanical engineering (1990) and
Doctor of Engineering in electronic device
engineering (1997) from Mumbai University, Indian
Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), India,
and Kyushu University, Japan, respectively.
Currently he is a faculty member at IIT Madras. His
area of research includes Laser technology, Remote
sensing, Opto-Mechatronics, Optoelectronic Devices, Precision Engineering
and Instrumentation, MEMS Devices. He is a member of Optical Society of
America, SPIE, Laser Society of Japan, Laser Society of India.

Tatsuo Okada is a Professor at the Department of

Electrical Engineering, Kyushu University, Japan.
He received the Ph.D. degree of Engineering from
Kyushu University, Japan in 1981. His research
interest includes development of tunable lasers,
short wavelength light sources, laser processing,
and spectroscopic imaging.