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Silicone Housing for High Voltage Applications

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies
Paper 14

SILICONE HOUSINGS FOR HIGH VOLTAGE APPLICATIONS

K. Sokolija
University of Sarajevo
Faculty of electrical Engineering
Bosnia and Herzegovina
R. Gorur
Arizona State University
USA

ABSTRACT

they can significantly reduce the need for such cleaning.

By the same token, there are users who have installed
CPIs extensively on their network and are spending a lot
of resources (time and personnel) for monitoring the
condition on these insulator in service. Perhaps this also
has not been taken into consideration when calculating
total overall cost !1".
However, it is very important to emphasise that the initial purchase price of a component is only a proportion
of total cost over the lifetime (final lifetime cost) of that
component. Israel Electric !2", for example, has calculated that over the life time of a typical porcelain insulator, the maintenance costs will typically be at least three
times higher then the purchase price. The same might be
said about the cost of nondelivered power due to insulator failures, expect that here the multiple could be
hundreds or even thousands of times insulators purchase price !3". So, the critical problem influencing the
selection of a particular insulator (housing) from the
various alternatives available is life expectancy, but not
under ideal conditions than real life conditions !4".
There exists widespread doubt about the expected lifetime of CPIs due to premature ageing and this is probably the main factor limiting their more extend use.
However premature ageing is not the only factor to the
soonerthanexpected enoflife of a CPI. It could be
also any event which leads to a limitation in expected
service life of conventional insulators, for example: excessive pin corrosion on cap and pin discs, damage due
to vandalism, earthquake causing systemwide blackout, change in environmental conditions requiring replacement existing with another type insulator etc. On
the other hand, light weight of composite polymer insulator (meaning less installation cost) and less purchase
cost, including other cost savings, reduce their lifetime
cost (life cycle cost) in such dramatic way that even

Although today porcelain still holds the majority of material consumption for high voltage apparatus, the obvious importance of composite polymer insulators (CPIs)
with silicone housings is evident from growing number
of different high voltage apparatus equipped with this
kind of insulators. Conservative power industry is being
changed under the pressure of the development of the
market focused more and more on safety and increased
environmental concerns as well as on cost reduction and
shorter delivery times.
In this paper, the well known advantages of CPIs in the
field of high voltage engineering for electrical apparatus
(low weight, non-brittleness, explosion safety, hydrophobicity etc.) as well as also known disadvantages (ageing under the influence of multidimensional stresses)
gained by in-service experiences for breakers, bushings,
measuring transformers, surge arresters and cable terminations are reviewed.
Key words: Silicone housing, Arresters, Bushings, Circuit breakers, Cable Terminations, Measuring transformers
1.

INTRODUCTION

The initial purchase price and the past experience have

been the predominant practice for transmission and distribution insulator, as well as for station and apparatus
(external) insulation selection, until now. Some users,
for example, claim that they have no problems with porcelain insulators in contaminated locations as long as
they are washed on regular basis. These same users are
often reluctant to consider to use of CPIs even though

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

their two times shorter life expectancy in relation to conventional insulators could be accepted !5".
Accordingly, in order to achieve an optimal choice of
insulator/housing type for the specific application an
engineer should take into consideration the following
factors: operating environment (reallife conditions),
performance expectations and total expected costs over
the lifetime (purchase, installation, maintenance, loss of
revenues due to outages).
At the same time suppliers of electrical equipment have
to accept the fact that offering new technology at the
same or higher final lifetime cost and along with some
risk factor gives no motivation for the customer to buy.
After a rather slow start during 1960s, CPIs for overhead lines since the early 1990s can be considered a
mature product !6". The results of a recently published
CIGRE survey !7" show that CPIs are now well accepted substitute for conventional porcelain or glass insulators used in transmission lines all over the world,
showing the failure rate similar to that usually reported
for conventional insulators (0,5 to 1,5 failed insulator
per 10000 installed insulators per year). This result
agree with the findings of a Japanese survey conducted
in 1998 !8".
At the same time, polymeric housing have now found
the virtual replacement of porcelain for manufacturing
distribution arresters and more increasing applications
in cable accessories as well as in hollow core insulators
for station and apparatus insulation.
Although today conventional solutions, primary porcelain, still holds the majority of material consumption for
high voltage insulators, conservative power industry is
being changed under the influence of the following advantages of CPIs technology:

(6) Reduction in the purchase price (increased quantities

of insulators produced and competition on the market), lower transport and installation cost, less maintenance cost etc. !13".
In addition to the above listed advantages specially addressed to line insulators or common to all composite
polymer insulators, hollow core composite insulators or
directly applied polymeric housing used as a housing for
different apparatus offer the following advantages in
comparison with porcelain counterparts:
# greater resistance to seismic forces of earthquakes;
# explosive proof housing in the case of internal arc.
The major disadvantages of CPIs are: the limited long
term experience, uncertain lifetime and difficulties in
detecting faulty insulators as well as in monitoring performance and deterioration of insulators in service. A
unmindful factormanufactures marketed the CPIs as a
product which did not needed to be handled carefully
has led to the insulators being used as tools and, thus,
being destroyed by unnecessary mechanical treatment.
Today proper handling instructions are available !14".
Ageing and the expected life of CPIs depend on numerous factors, many of which are associated with service
environment conditions while others are related to operating conditions. Although natural weathering has been
shown to cause CPIs ageing, there is a great experience
showing that their life has been more related to design
weaknesses and quality control during manufacturing
process. Great efforts have been made in order to obtain
an optimal mix of good properties of materials used
today for production of CPIs, and to resolve different
problems related to insulator design weaknesses. However, and due largely to the lack of standardisation, not
all insulator designs have reached the same level of
quality. Although laboratory accelerated tests were developed to evaluate CPI designs, the only sure method
of distinguishing good designs from poor ones is their
behavior in actual service conditions.

(1) Light weight resulting in more economic design of

the towers or alternatively enabling to upgrade the
voltage of existing system without changing the tower
dimensions. The light weight also permits an increase
in the clearance distance between the conductor to
ground and increase in the phasetophase distance
reducing electric and magnetic fields. The light
weight obviates the need to use heavy cranes for
handling and installation thus saving on labour cost.
(2) Much better performance than conventional insulators in outdoor service in the presence of heavy pollution !911", specially in the case of silicone rubber
which have an intrinsic hydrophobicity that is recovered after being lost and also transferred to pollution
layers.
(3) Higher mechanical strength to weight ratio which
enables the construction of longer spans of towers.
(4) In distinction from conventional line post insulators
where gunshots could cause drop conductor to ground
!12", composite polymer insulators can withstand
severe gunshot damage without immediate electrical
or mechanical failure.
(5) Reduction in the maintenance costs such as of insulator washing which is often required for conventional insulators in heavily polluted conditions.

2. SILICONE RUBBER AS HOUSING MATERIAL

2.1 Silicone rubber formulation
Silicone rubber (SIR) was first produced in 1944 !15"
and in addition to outdoor insulation has been used in
insulation of special purpose cables which operate of
high temperature ($ 150o C). Silicone rubbers used in
the area of high voltage insulation are mainly based on
polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The uncrosslinked polymer is either in a pasta form or in a more liquid state.
The compound contains silane treated fillers of amorphous silica for rheological control and alumina trihydrate (ATH) is added as a flameretardant because
unfilled PDMS is too flammable. ATH also improves
the dielectric strength and the tracking resistance. Typical compounds also contain smaller proportions of silicone oil for process control. Chemicals used for cross

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

linking (vulcanisation) are added also. The PDMS backbone consists of alternating silica and oxygen atoms
with two methyl groups attached to each Si atoms.
It is important to recognise that all silicone rubbers
are not alike. The mechanical and electrical properties
of the basic PDMS could be improved by changing organic groups attached to silica atoms or the type and
concentration of additives and fillers used. Each manufacturer has his own specific formula of SIR, so the
properties may differ widely from one to the next when
subjected to the stresses of service conditions.
In high voltage engineering the SIRs are often classified
according the curing system used:

activity can cause a loss of hydrophobic property and

conversion from hydrophobic to hydrophilic (wettable)
state of all polymeric materials.
As distinguished from all other polymers used, which
becomes hydrophilic after a short period of exposure to
the weather and where this state is definitive, SIRs have
unique ability to recover and remain hydrophobic even
after long term service. This kind of SIRs behaviour is
considered to be one of the main advantage of using
them in high voltage outdoor insulation. The hydrophobic behaviour preventing polluted water films to be
formed on the insulator surface contribute to a suppression of leakage currents which generally leads to surface
discharge activities destroying insulator surface.
The wide differences in the recovery kinetics reported in
many research papers indicate that phenomenon of recovery is complex mixture of several mechanisms.
Owen et al !16" summarised the plausible mechanisms
for hydrophobicity recovery of SIR after exposure to
corona or plasma:

# high temperature vulcanisation (HTV): peroxide

induced free radicals
# room temperature vulcanisation (RTV): condensation reactions
# liquid silicone rubber (LSR): hydrosilylationreaction
The HTV rubber is cured of high temperature (180oC).
This type has the highest thermal stability and better
tear resistance when compared to the other types. It is
used for manufacturing all types of composite polymer
insulator applications (distribution, transmission and station). Since HTV rubber is stiff, there is a need for high
pressure in the mould and therefore more expensive
tooling. The RTV type is cured of room temperature and
is available as a onecomponent and twocomponent
system (RT2). The onecomponent system is used as
sprayable coatings to improve the pollution performance
of conventional ceramic insulators. Curing takes place
on the exposure of coating to air at room temperature.
The twocomponent system, which vulcanises at about
60o C, is used in production of hollow core composite
insulators. The LSR is material with lower pressure requirements in the mould being vulcanised at a temperature of 150o C to 200o C. The thermal stability of the
LSR is almost as good as that of the HTV. A number of
manufacturers of longrod and hollow core composite
polymer insulators choosing this material have found
the best compromise between the performance required
and manufacturing costs.

1. Migration of low molar mass species from the bulk

to the surface.
2. Reorientation of polar groups at the surface into the
bulk.
3. Condensation of silanol groups at the surface.
4. External contamination of the surface.
5. Changes in surface roughness.
6. Loss of volatile oxygenrich species to the atmosphere.
Insulation engineers have several weapons in their armoury, including leakage distance, shed shape, material
periodic maintenance, etc. to make insulators work well.
Hydrophobicity is only one of these but quite a powerful one !17".
As we have just emphasized, although hydrophobicity is
important, it is not the endoflife criterion for SIRs, if
the insulator housings are not designed reducing creepage distance on account of this property. Namely, if a
silicone housing has adequate creepage distance sheds
shape and distance between them arranged in proper
manner, provided with properly designed corona rings
(if necessary) , made from properly formulated silicone
rubber regarding the tracking and erosion resistance, the
longevity and performance should not be limited by loss
of surface hydrophobicity over time.
Naturally, the longterm performance of a SIR insulator
are dependent on the loss and recovery of its surface
properties. The mechanisms involved are complex and
are dependent on material composition, design and environmental service conditions. Hydrophobicity loss
causes permanent material change, but this does not
necessarily means a deterioration in performance !18,
19". An adequate period, during which the cause of hydrophobicity loss is absent or significantly diminished
in intensity, is required to recover lost hydrophobicity.
Empirical studies of recovery time give varying results
shown in Table 1.

2.2 Hydrophobicity
In distinction from glass and porcelain characterised by
high value of surface free energy (determines the strength
of adhesion of their solid surface and water) enabling
for such materials to be easily wettable (water forms a
continuous layer on their surfaces), organic materials
have the lower surface free energy. On such, virgin surfaces, water forms discrete droplets much more easily
than a continuous film. For this property in the insulator
industry today is used term hydrophobicity. The SIRs
represent a family of polymers used for high voltage
outdoor insulation showing the best ability to resist water film formation. However, different environmental
stresses, like the deposition of pollution, the influence of
water, sunlight, corona discharge and surface discharge

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

Table 1. Recovery time according

to different empirical studies
Reference
Recovery
time
Percentage of
recovery (%)

!20"

!21"

!22"

!23"

!24"

90min

2-5h

several
hours

6-15h

24 h

66

90

dew, humidity, rain), ultraviolet radiation, pressure, temperature, chemicals, etc. All above mentioned stresses
have a synergistic effect on an insulator (Fig. 1).

UV

Laboratory studies, many of which are much more severe than operational conditions, have not reached an
irreversible loss of hydrophobicity or endoflife conditions !25". The reservoir of low molar mass species
available for recovery has been found to be very large
!24". In addition, the transfer of hydrophobicity to pollution or to the surface after hydrophobicity loss is known
to use minimal amounts of material !26".
Some of SIR insulators have been in service for 20
years and still have good properties and not show serious tracking !27". Studies have shown that after 8 to 12
years, there is no reduction in quantity of low molar
mass molecules !28, 29".
The other forms of SIR insulator housing ageing like
excessive carbonisation, erosion by acids, destruction of
sheds by arcing etc. can be dealt with through the selection of proven material formulations and good design !30".

Depolimerization (Chain
scission, Oxidation)

Loss of
elasticity

Erosion
Roughness

Localized
sheath
erosion

Sheath
tracking

Loss of hydrophobicity

Decrease of electrical
performance

Fig. 1 Illustration of the processes

of polymeric materials ageing
Since ageing can be best manifest by visual changes occurring on the insulator housing, R. Gorur on the base of
his own experience with composite polymer insulators
has proposed an Ageing Chart !31" provide in Fig. 2.

Unacceptable Ageing

Rod/shed
damage

Wind,
Rain, Salt,
Snow

Loss of low molar

mass species

Chalking
Tracking

Decrease of mechanical strength

In the case of composite polymer insulators the term aging,

which is generally synonym for weakening or gradual
degradation of important properties, is dominantly addressed to the housing material. Ageing is arisen from
the different stresses submitted by an insulator in service:
electrical, mechanical and environmental. Environmental
stresses include such factors as pollution, moisture (fog,

Failure

Surface
discharging,
Corona

Acid

Heat

2.3 Ageing

Flashover (reusable insulator)

Flashover (damaged insulator)
Line drop (damaged rod)
10
8

Electrical
effects

Environmental effects

Acceptable Ageing

Cosmetic changes
Increased losses when wet
6

Sheath erosion
Minor shed
away
erosion,
from terminals
Crazing
Extensive
chalking,
Aligatoring

Hydrophobicity
loss
Light
chalking

New
Discolor,
Loss of
gloss

Fig 2. The Gorur Ageing Chart

ess weaknesses and inadequacies in quality control
(Number 8 in Fig. 2). With todays state-of-art in CPI
technology those problems should not occur except of
locations with very severe environmental conditions
where such events like those quoted as Number 7 and 9
in Fig. 2 can occur.

As it can be seen, the various surface changes are classified as acceptable ageing (not expected to cause failure)
and unacceptable ageing (can cause failure). Service
experience shows that most CPI failures occurred so far
are not related to real ageing but rather to poor material
formulation (Number 6 in Fig. 2), manufacturing proc-

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

1) Porcelain, in spite of its inherent limitations and

weaknesses (high weight, poor performance under
high pollution, seismic forces and internal arc) is a
most universal and economical material which generally has very acceptable mechanical and electrical
performance during its rather long life time.
2) Purchase price has been and chiefly still is the key
problem, especially in today de-regulated and extremely
cost-conscious power supply industry. From the other
hand, composite polymer hollow core insulators are
still high-priced than their porcelain counterpart.
3) The well known conservative attitude of power supply industry (specially in Europe) towards technology innovations make it reluctant to changes even in
case of very obvious advantages which they could
procure.
4) The first IEC standard (IEC 61462) for these insulators was published only in the late 1990s more
than 15 years after their introduction.
5) Neutral instead of promoting attitude of most manufacturers of high voltage substation equipment who
actually purchase most apparatus insulators. The
problem is more acute in developing countries, thanks
to close co-operation between the equipment manufacturers and local low-cost porcelain insulator industry.

3. HOLLOW CORE INSULATORS

Over the last decade the application of hollow core composite polymer insulators in the area of high voltage
electrical apparatus has made a big progress. Today nearly
each type of apparatus equipped with porcelain housing
has its counterpart dressed in polymeric clothing.
The experience on development of hollow core composite polymer insulators fulfilling the dual function of
a supporting structure as well as an insulating housing
for different kind of bushings, instrument transformers,
cable terminations, surge arrester arresters, capacitors,
and station posts or switchgear post insulators represent
an important breakthrough in high voltage equipment
technology. Many utilities which has experienced a
number of explosive failures of porcelainhoused equipment, possibly rather due to failure of the equipment
inside the housing and not to insulator itself, in order to
minimise damage to surrounding equipment has been
commenced to convert from porcelain to polymer
housed apparatus. Another two reasons for changeover
towards polymerhoused equipment is related to improved electrical performance in polluted conditions and
greater resistance to seismic forces of earthquakes.
Overvoltages or internal defects can cause internal arcing in substations equipment leading to an abruptly increase of the pressure and temperature inside the insulator. In the case of porcelain, the insulator can explode
and flying fragments constitute hazard to personnel and
equipment nearby. A composite hollow insulator is
made up of a core tube on which the sheds are directly
moulded on or pushed on. The tube is made from ravings of glass fibres impregnated with epoxy resin (FRP),
wet wound around a mandrel at a predetermination angle for optimum bending, tensile and torsion strength
(technique known as filament winding). After winding,
the tube is cured in an oven after which together with its
flanges is machined for a tight fit and assembled. This
construction of housing precludes the occurrence of such
hazardous conditions.
In the case of the housings made with properly chosen
silicon rubber, thanks to its high level of hydrophobicity
even during severe environmental conditions, a much
lower leakage current level along the insulator, and reduced risk for flashover occurrence will result.
Thanks to the high mechanical strength of FRP tube,
lower weight of housing (4050%) and high damping
factors, the equipment using hollow core composite polymer insulators has an increased ability to withstand earth
quakes in comparison with conventional equipment.
Last but not the least advantage offered by composite
polymer hollow core insulators is a massive potential
for reducing delivery times due to faster production lead
times.
In spite of the fact that this technology is now over
twenty years old, hollow core composite polymer insulators have so far succeeded in capturing less than ten
percent of the total world market for apparatus and
bushing insulators [32]. The main reasons behind their
very slow acceptance are:

A faster acceptance of hollow core composite polymer

insulators can be expected when utilities change their
philosophy and understand that all previously mentioned advantages of new technology cannot be obtained using them only as remedial measures but as integrated part of re-designed electrical equipment (designed purely for composite polymer insulators) and
installations.
3.1 Surge arresters
The housing of the surge arresters traditionally have
been made of porcelain. However, in the 10 years period, between the late 1980s and the late 1990s, the
distribution arresters market converted almost entirely
away from porcelain. Executives in the arrester industry
estimate that possibly more than 90 per cent is now accounted for those units made with polymeric housing
!33". This unprecedented change over to polymers is
really quite remarkable given that the utility industry is
very conservative requiring a lot of inoperation experience before adopting any new technology.
A porcelainhoused arrester should normally be equipped
with a sealing system (Fig. 3) which has three tasks to
fulfil:
# to deter the ingress of moisture;
# to act as a fast operating pressure relief device in the
event of arrester overload (N.B.: There were and still
there are, many designs of distribution arresters with
porcelain housing not provided with a pressure relief
device at all);
# to enable current transfer from the flange to the resistor column.

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

Compression
spring

Top cover plate

Clamping ring
Pressure relief
diaphragm
Sealing
ring
Supporting
ring

Venting
outlet

Fig. 3 Sealing system

of a porcelainhoused MO arrester
The sealing system is one of the most critical components of this type arrester since moisture can penetrate
inside arrester housing through pressure relief device or
through housing flange interface leading to the most
frequently mentioned type of failure in arrester literature
and by users. Studies show that one per cent of the total
installed population of porcelainhoused arresters failed
each year, and that 86 per cent of the failures were due
to moisture ingress !34". If pressure relief device fails to
operate, or not provided at all, arrester might experience
an explosive shattering of the housing. A porcelain
housed arrester, containing an enclosed gas volume between the metaloxide (MO) resistors and housing (Fig.
4), might explode also due to internal pressure increase
in the case of an overload (very infrequent event which
can not in principle be ruled out), if the enclosed gas
volume is not quickly vented.
Compression
spring

High-voltage
terminal
Porcelain
housing

MO resistor stack with

supporting construction

Mounting
bracket
Pressure relief
diaphragm
Sealing
ring
Earth terminal
with
disconnector

Flange with
venting outlet

Fig. 4 Principal designs of porcelainhoused MO arrester

91

Apart from the design utilised first of all for high and
extra high voltage levels, where the porcelain housing
has been replaced with composite polymer hollow core
insulator and where the arrester also should be provided
with a pressure relief device, a number of polymeric
designs offer completely different constructions of a
distribution as well as a HV surge arrester: polymeric
housing applied directly on the MO resistor column. As
a result, the air or gas filled gap between the housing
and MO resistors no longer exists, and with appropriate
constructive realisation of the interface between the
polymeric housing and the end flanges, a sealing system
can be completely omitted. Nevertheless, the unit remains absolutely leaktight and completely insensitive
to moisture, no matter what the weather.
In those designs two general methods are today utilised
to mechanically contain the resistor column: open design and closed design.
In the first case, the mechanical containment of the resistor column may consist of loops of glass fibre, a
cage of glass fibre weave or glass fibre rods around
the resistor column. A body of silicone rubber (SIR) or
ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) is
moulded onto the internal part, and finally a prefabricated polymeric housing is slipped over on the inner
body or the housing is moulded directly onto it. Such a
design lacks an enclosed gas volume. At a possible internal short circuit, material will be evaporated by the
arc and cause a pressure increase. Since the open design
deliberately has been made weak for internal overpressure, the arc will quickly rip the housing open, and with
almost no resistance, find its way outside.
In the case of closed design a fibre glass cloth impregnated with uncured epoxy resin is wrapped over the
blocks in a number of layers under high tension and
than heated in an oven so that resin will cure. The
closed design might also be realised using a separate
tube in which the blocks are mounted. The unit closed
in one or other manner is than prepared for injection
step where polymeric housing is moulded directly on to
it. If there is none direct opening which could enable
pressure relief during an internal short circuit, the gas
generated can not easily escape. The internal overpressure could rise to a high value before cracking the housing resulting in ejection, at high velocity, of pieces from
the blocks which could cause damage to neighbouring
equipment. An alternative is to arrange the windings or
tube in a special manner to obtain weaknesses that provide pressure relief and commutation of the internal arc
to the outside thus preventing an explosion.
Manufacturers who utilise the wrapping design concept
defend it emphasising that wrap is an open weave type
which, even after curing, still allows some venting of
internal gases. Nevertheless, the two alternative designs
different regarding the blocks containment may now be
reviewed in the light of recent changes in the IEC short
circuit test which requires that no internal parts should
be ejected a distance of greater than the height of the
arrester in the event of failure.
In distinction from porcelainhoused arrester where
they found the failure rate of 1 per cent per year !34",

INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

one industry source estimates the failure rate for polymeric arresters to be only around 0,1 per cent !33". It is
obvious that this difference is not only the result of
shifting from porcelain to polymeric housing, and that
all designs utilised, types of materials used for housing
production or manufacturing processes applied can not
achieve this relatively high rating. The failure rate is
determined first of all by isokeraunic level in the region
where the arrester is in service (a factor which is out of
the control of the industry), but also by design and materials used in its construction and manufacturing process itself.
Today, there are four major categories of polymeric
materials used for arresters housing construction:
ethylen propylen dien monomer (EPDM), silicone rubber (SIR), blends comprised of EPDM and SIR and ethylene vinyl accetate (EVA). Statistics as to which
material dominates total sales are almost impossible to
obtain, however, it appears that silicone rubber is
probably the material found on the majority of such
units sold today !33". The main reason for such situation
could be found in the fact that silicone rubber, thanks to
its unique property to maintain its hydrophobicity during the entire life time of the arrester even under polluted conditions, has superior performance in polluted
conditions due to reduced surface leakage currents
which could cause premature ageing. Apart from that,
silicone rubber showing higher bond energy !19" than
other polymers utilised is less vulnerable to the effects
of UV radiation and ozone. The above statements can be
found conformed by numerous reports from service
experience !911, 3545".
Although polymeric HV arrester designs have not already come to dominate the market like in the area of
distribution arresters, the acceptance of polymeric HV
arresters has actually been growing more quickly than
the current statistic might indicate. Namely, industry
sources currently estimate that during the past five years
the proportion of the all HV arresters with polymeric
housing has risen by 10 percentage points, being today
between 25 and 35 per cent !46".
The main reasons which has made many utilities reluctant to change away from traditional porcelain housed
HV arresters is the look at polymeric arresters as a simple oneforone replacement for traditional porcelain
housed units and meeting the same mechanical requirements. Namely, the cantilever strength of most polymeric arrester designs in not able to permit such simple
replacement. However, the lighter weight of polymeric
arresters, enabling them to be used more and more in
protection of overhead lines, should be, and probably
very soon be, the reason to change the philosophy of
their installation at stations, such as being suspended.
As well as in the case of distribution polymeric arresters, a number of alternative designs and manufacturing
processes have been used in the past decade toward employing polymeric housing in HV arresters: tube design,
open design and closed design.
The classical type of tube design which has to be provided with pressure relief device as well as newer one

where there is no more an enclosed amount of air between the tube and MO blocks enable arrester constructions using only one single module up to 220 kV, and
400 kV, respectively. In the case of an open or closed
wraptype design one of the critical question in design
is that the maximum possible length of an individual
unit is limited (cca. 1 m) by mechanical strength of column and by certain performance parameters. The open
design needs fewer units or modules to build up a HV
arrester than a comparable wraptype design, but more
than would be necessary with a tube design. The tube
design principle offers the inner structure which could
be so mechanically strong that can endure the most severe earthquake intact. In the case of an arrester overload with this construction a housing breakage will not
occur and not even any of the inner parts will be ejected.
It is also very important to emphasis upon that with
multiple unit arrester, the pollution performance becomes much more important since it can result in a non
linear voltage distribution across the arrester. With a
pollution layer and greater moisture formation on lower
units, most of the voltage drop is at the top and therefore
overstresses the upper most part of arrester. On the
other hand, the designs which have an enclosed air gap
between the housing and MO blocks are more liable to
pollution, because leakage currents flowing across the
housing will ionise the air within the gas. This, in turn,
can pose a threat to the resistors requiring immediate
remedial action.
Apart from better shortcircuit capability with the increased safety for the other equipment and personnel
nearby there are another reasons for transition away
from porcelain and toward polymeric housing for surge
arresters:
# Better behaviour in polluted conditions
# Low weight
# Non brittle
Better performance in polluted environments compared
to porcelain could be achieved as a result of application
of silicone rubber housing as well as the proper external
housing design.
The possible weight reduction compared to porcelain
housedarresters could be seen from the Table 2.
Table 2. Polymer arresters weight advantage
Type
Distribution*
Substation*
Substation*
Substation**
Transmission**
line

Weight
Voltage
Porcelain Polymer reduction
(kV)
(%)
15
69,0 lbs. 3,8 lbs.
36,7
124,0
28,0
69
77,4
lbs.
lbs.
98,9
138
280 kg
64,7
lbs.
550
450 kg 275 kg
39,0
550

450 kg

150 kg

(*) according to !34"; (**) according to !47"

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

For longer arresters for HV and EHV applications, the

desired increase in the mechanical strength of the housing is obtained by using additional stays of polymer
material (Fig. 5) or by for example a series parallel arrangement utilising a variable number of plates (Fig. 6).

The only alternative technology for OIP bushing design

is resin impregnated paper (RIP) design incorporating
silicone composite polymer insulators. RIP bushings
technology offers a total dry design (free of oil) overcoming all drawbacks of OIP design: oil leak, risk of
explosion due to lighting strikes or other factors, moisture ingress, operating temperature limits, the problems
in case of connection to SF6 due to oil presence etc.
The well known advantages of silicone housing in comparison with porcelain (better pollution performance,
greater resistance to seismic forces and faster manufacturing lead times) are most pronounced and accepted by
customers when on an RIP core. According to executive
at some of the largest suppliers in the industry, RIP designs incorporating silicone housing today represent the
leading edge in bushing technology [48].
In recent years some producers have introduced a new
manufacturing process which eliminates quite expensive
FRP tube. This process consist in moulding the silicone
weather sheds directly on to the core of RIP bushing,
like in case of new arrester and classical cable termination design. According to the producers estimation in
this manner the cost of entire RIP bushing could be reduced as much as between 5 and 10 per cent [48].
Apart from that, this design eliminates various internal
parts in a bushing construction making it less complicated. However, there are some concerns in this design
regarding the issues like: moisture ingress, quality of
bonding between the core and silicone and issue of mechanical strength, especially at higher voltages.
Without regard to the manufacturing process, the application of SIR insulators to the RIP bushings, will grow
significantly, to somewhere between 20 and 25 per cent
within five years, according to executives at some of the
largest suppliers in the industry [48] thanks to:

Fig. 5 Polymerhoused arrester for 550 kV system voltage designed to meet extreme earthquake requirements

# reduced risk for fire, oil leakage from bushing eliminated, no monitoring of pressure and oil level, any
mounting angle possible;
# protection of personnel and equipment, easy handling, high earthquake withstand;
# superior electrical performance washing normally
not requested.
3.3 Circuit breakers
Fig. 6 132 kV arrester with the
series parallel arrangement

Silicone rubber composite bushings for SF6 dead tank

power circuit breaker applications have been introduced
since the early 1990s. Many of such breakers of one of
the manufacturers (145 kV and 245 kV) are in service
for more than 10 years in different locations subjected
to marine pollution, altitude or tropical environment.
According to the inspection reports their external insulation is still hydroscopic, and has no punctures, cracks or
significant erosion !49". An another manufacturer,
started 1990 with 242 kV dead tank breakers, has already in service composite bushings at 72 kV to 800 kV
dead tank breakers. Their field experience has been excellent with some minor problems: shed handling, cleaning questions, mould growth, rodent damage !50".

3.2 Transformer bushings

For power transformer manufacturers as well as for the
final users the oilimpregnated paper (OIP) bushings
with porcelain housing still represent the most attractive
solution. On a world wide basis, at least three out of
every four installations of a bushing on power transformer involve an OIP design. In spite of their short
lead times in comparison with conventional porcelainhoused bushings the application of composite polymer
insulators in place of porcelain in the design of OIP
bushings is only of order of 2 to 3 per cent [48].

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

The application of CPIs in the area of circuit breakers

has started with dead tank design since in that case is
possible to make a relatively simple substitutions of
composite bushings in place of porcelain bushings. However, not all of advantages of CPIs technology could be
expected as long as the composite insulator just replaces
the old porcelain design. So the new designs of this type
of breakers enabling the use of smaller insulators without additional grading shields can be found today on the
world market !51".
Due to the fragility of porcelain insulators significant
care should be used during the handling, transport, installation and maintenance of the live tank circuit where
large insulators are required. With a view to overcome
these problems some circuit breaker manufacturers have
been introduced a new design concept using hollow core
composite polymer insulators designed to withstand
high mechanical leads as well as the heat developed
during current interruption.
As distinction from dead tank breakers, for live tank
breakers, where the interrupters are not housed in a
metal enclosed earthed tank (dead tank) than in insulators mounted at the system potential, oneforone
substitution of composite insulator in place of its porcelain counterpart would be quite impractical for economic reason. In order to integrate composite insulators
in this type of the breaker, a new re-designed apparatus
should be developed (see for example Fig. 7).
Conventional 550 kV breaker
with porcelain insulator

# The need to extinguish the arc inside the composite

tube results in very aggressive decomposition products of SF6. These products do not present harm to
porcelain but could be very dangerous for organic
materials. Therefore, a special protective lining inside
the tube should be applied (it can not be the same liner
used in equipment such as instrument transformer,
terminals or bushings, where any systematic internal
arcing is not expected). There is still the problem regarding the longterm behaviour of this type of liner
which could become another source of leaks.
# The behaviour of composite polymer insulators under
stresses during bending (near the mid point) and pressure (at the bottom) should be checked with special
attention (this issue is now covered by IEC 61462).
In order to be sure of the quality and longterm performance of composite polymer insulators used some of
the above mentioned issues although not yet covered by
the IEC standards should be particularly considered.
Since testing of live tank circuit breakers equipped with
composite polymer insulators under seismic conditions
has shown the security factor twice that of porcelain it
can be expected that high percentage of this breakers
would be intended for service in earthquake-sensitive
areas (by some estimates, about half of all dead tank
breakers delivered with composite insulators have been
specifically destined for such areas !53"). Greater safety
margin, including also other advantages over porcelain
insulators (impact resistance and explosionproof, lightweight), which have to be paid by 1020 per cent higher
price of breakers do not present yet big attraction to the
other still price driven customers. Why? Why to pay
more and have to accept the additional risk (surface
ageing of polymeric housing and problems with permeability and leaks of SF6 gas) would be their laconic
answer. They have taken out of the equation all the
various life cycle costs (other than initial purchase
price) which should in truth be considered when selecting a product, would be the argument of a composite
insulators promoter. He is in the right as well, but the
life is going on.

New 550 kV breaker with

composite insulators

Interrupter head wight

100 %
52%
Support column weight
100 %
23%
Weight of base
100 %
Total weight
100 %

100%

3.4 Cable terminations

62%

Traditional porcelain housed terminations which have

been used successfully for many decades, due to drawbacks of the material itself as well as the designs used,
have some disadvantages:

Fig. 7 Comparison between two different circuit breaker

design concepts !32"
Although live tank breakers with silicone insulators are
today available in the range of 72,5 to 800 kV !52", they
have not yet been found a widespread application, and
are still under tests in some networks. This area is still
seen as more evolving rather than evolved !53". The
main reason for such situation is that there are still performance issues which need to be resolved in order for
composite insulators to be as reliable or, in some cases,
as economical as porcelain:

# heavy, inflexible and large designs;

# shatter under excessive electrical and mechanical loads;
# time consuming installations requiring speciallyskilled staff.
In order to overcome these problems, more than 30
years back, polymeric-housed cable terminations were
introduced, particularly in the range of medium voltage.
Modern cable installations from the lowest to the highest voltage ranges world-wide are equipped with this
type terminations, available in two basic variants:

# Composite polymer insulator may become a source of

leaks, especially under high temperatures (the area
where the flange is bonded to the composite tube).

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

quired ratio of leakage distance to flashover distance

(4 : 1, according to IEC 60815), which naturally can be
easily realized using silicone rubber, porcelain manufacturers introduced the practice of bonding sections of
relatively cheap 145 kV porcelains together to make
units for higher voltage levels. Therefore, in the field of
oil immersed instrument transformers hollow core composite polymer insulators are not to be attractive since
now.
In the field of SF6 insulated instrument transformers
hollow core composite insulators are only solution to be
considered since the internal gas pressure used represents too great a stored energy for a porcelain design.
Today there are many such instrument transformer operating for more than 20 years. The fact that their purchase price is 23 times as much as porcelain oil-filled
transformers makes them too expensive for general applications. The results of the non-destructive tests regarding durability and life time of a current transformer
with silicone housing after 17 years in service did not
show any significant ageing of hollow core insulators as
well as the transformer itself !61".
Many manufacturers have developed electronic measuring transformers where a slim support structure is quite
favorable and composite polymer hollow core insulators
represent the proper choice.

# Flexible: a external tube with built-in sheds is shrunk

over the prepared cable end;
# Rigid: the porcelain insulator used in old termination
design is replaced with self-supporting polymeric
counter part composite hollow core insulator.
Several advantages which offer polymers as the material
of choice over porcelain, such as, light weight (net
weigh reduction in this area is on the order of 50 per
cent), and ready availability (prefabricated and tested
products), enabled the users to be provided with highly
simplified techniques making polymeric-housed terminations more reliable and less expensive than porcelain
terminations !54, 55". Service experience has been
largely successful with only few failures experienced in
extremely harsh locations !54".
Apart from a higher price in comparison with ethylene
propylene or ethylene-vinyl acetate housings many
manufacturers are using silicone rubbers. This decision
is not only based on greater capability of SIRs to withstand the effects of pollution in combination with moisture and ultraviolet radiation, but also on their other
useful properties:
# Silicone rubber shows high gas permeability which
enables gas bubbles enclosed in the interface during
assembling to penetrate into the bulk against radial
pressure of the silicone housing, resulting in a high
electric strength of stressed interfaces !56".
# Siliconesilicone and siliconestresscontrolcompound
interfaces life characteristics show very low decrease
rate at fairly high electric stresses (no electrical ageing of the inner insulation) !57".

4. CONCLUSIONS
1) There are some opinions that the application of the
technology of composite polymer insulators has not
yet reached the level where these products are sufficiently cheap or technically attractive to the customer and that their advantages should be used only
in specialist applications, mainly where seismic considerations make porcelain unsuitable. Cheap or expensive should not be the matter in question since
only total life cycle costs are supposed to be decision-making instruments. Regarding technical issues, the past experience with different polymeric
materials and different designs has made a great influence on the manufacturers to introduce better materials, designs and manufacturing techniques, as
well as on the users to learn more and more about
new technology. Today, failures of composite polymer insulators (excluding those produced when this
technology was still in its infancy) are only isolated
cases which are most likely due to poor quality control resulting in internal defects.
2) Hollow core composite polymer insulators are generally more complex than polymeric long rods which
have no medium inside and no internal gas pressure.
In addition hollow core insulators should be designed for complex type of cantilever loads. In spite
of their relatively slow acceptance the advantages
offered by this type of insulators constrain the research laboratories at large manufacturers of high
voltage substations equipment to start developing new
apparatus designs built completely around composite
polymer hollow core insulators.

The imperfections at the interface of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cable insulation and SIR stress cone
used for stress control in the terminations installed in a
network (Dutch Electricity Network) caused ten 150 kV
terminations broke down (1993) within 1 hour after one
to six years of service !58". Without regard to the fact
that this situation will still require attention in the coming years, the user have not rejected the general concept
of polymer terminations application. It is to emphasize a
reasonable approach of this user, since the failures reported could be associated with poor cable preparation
(cleanliness and contact of surfaces, design issue etc.)
rather to some of the weaknesses in the termination itself. Having many outstanding qualities applicable to
outdoor terminations, composite polymer insulator technology is becoming more and more attractive in this area
also at higher voltages !59".
3.5 Instrument transformers
Since the failure rate of instrument transformers equipped
with conventional porcelain housing has been found
very low (0,3%), and of these only small per cent has
failed explosively, it is conspicuously that safety factor
for composite hollow core insulators as replacements to
porcelain is not as strong as in the case of, for example,
surge arresters. On the other hand, in order to reach re-

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INTERNATIONAL COLLOQUIUM: Asset Management of Switching Equipment and New Trends in Switching Technologies

3) Traditionally, porcelainhoused distribution arresters have tended to fail due to problems with sealing.
The benefits of a leaktight design using polymers
have been generally accepted leading to the almost
wholesale changeover from porcelain to polymers as
the housing material for distribution arresters. Another factor is that at present polymerichoused arresters are cheaper than those made with porcelain
housing, since most customer today focus solely on
price and not on technical benefits. Porcelain still
dominates as the housing material for HV arresters.
Major among the reasons for such situation is the
fact that in the case of HV arresters porcelainhoused
arresters have been always designed to handle internal fault without catastrophic consequences (without
explosive shattering). Another factor which to data
has restricted acceptance of polymerhoused HV arresters is a continued lack of confidence about the
long term behaviour of polymeric materials under
service conditions. The last but not the least factor
influencing greatly the market is that the large segment of market yet consider the price as the only
important issue. The manufacturers response to such
slow acceptance of this promising technology was to
introduce new designs where the original design concept which employs a relatively costly hollow tube
has been replaced by the housing moulded directly
onto the internal parts. One manufacturer , in order
to drive conversion to polymerhoused arresters, offers them today, in spite of their advantages, at prices
somewhat below standard porcelainhoused arresters. Finally, the acceptance of HV polymeric arresters is still relatively slow because users are not yet
aware that with polymeric arresters the whole system performance could be greatly improved (for example by application of transmission line arresters
where porcelainhoused arresters can not be used) or
that they could be, thanks to the relatively light
weight, the answer to the growing requirements for
seismic withstand performance of arresters.
4) The state-of-the-art in new transformer bushing technology represent resin-impregnated paper (RIP) design incorporating silicone composite polymer insulators.
5) In spite of the fact that there are still performance
issues which need to be resolved in order for circuit
breakers with silicone insulators, specially for live
tank breakers, to be as reliable or as economical as
the breakers with porcelain insulators, leading manufacturers have their products on the market being
ready if the market shifts in the directions of composite polymer insulators.
6) Cable terminations were on of the first apparatus
equipped with polymeric housings. Utility service
experience worldwide has been very positive. Only
few termination failures reported by utilities could
be addressed to poor cable preparation rather to any
weakness in the termination itself.
7) Hollow core composite insulators are not used in the
field of oil immersed instrument transformers, but in

the field of SF6 insulated instrument transformers

these insulators are only solution to be considered,
showing very good service experience. They are also
a good solution for new generation of electronic
measuring transformers.

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