.

1
Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator
Design

by DAVID C. JOLLY

Department of Electrical Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

ABSTRACT: The long, unpleasant history of contamination flu-shover is reviewed briefly,

followed by a discussion of some of the physical processes involved. The numerouaJEashover
theories are critically examined, and recent experimental results are presented. Although
there is at present no comprehensive flashover theory, it has nevertheless been possible to
improve insulator design over the years by a judicious combination of intuition, experimelat
and physical insight. Some existing designs as well a.s some proposed mod@cations are
examined in the light of present theoretical understanding, and suggestions are made for
future research in areas where more complete knowledge might lead to better insulation.

I. Nature of the Problem

The steady growth in the demand for electric power requires the construc-
tion of transmission lines of ever increasing capacity. This increased capacity
is most economically obtained by going to higher transmission voltages.
Overhead lines with a phase to phase voltage of 765 kV are now in service,
and higher voltages are contemplated. Underground cables can also be used
to transmit power, but they are not soon likely to compete economically
with overhead lines for long distance transmission.
The exposed nature of overhead lines makes their insulation a troublesome
affair. The insulation must be able to resist the effects of rain, snow, ice,
corrosion, airborne contaminants and gunfire, as well as lightning and
switching overvoltages. To meet these requirements, the four major types of
insulators shown in Fig. 1 have been developed. The first type historically
was the pin insulator [Fig. l(a)], based on the earlier telegraph insulator. It
consists of a porcelain shell structure with a groove on top for the conductor
and a receptacle on the bottom for the mounting pin. As transmission voltages
increased, nested porcelain shells of larger diameter were adopted, but
eventually voltages were reached where size and cost made this type
impractical.
To meet the insulation needs for lines of 100 kV and above in the first
decade of this century, the suspension insulator was developed [Fig. l(b)].
These insulators can be linked in series to give a string of whatever length is
required for adequate insulation. The great advantage of the suspension
type is its flexibility. Any number can be hooked in series for electrical
strength, strings can be paralleled for mechanical strength, and various
mounting arrangements such as vertical, horizontal or vee-string are possible.

483
David C. Jolly

The suspension unit is the insulator most commonly used in this country on
long distance lines.
Another type in use up to 230 kV is the line post [Fig. l(c)]. This is simply a
porcelain column with rain sheds which has sufficient mechanical and
electrical strength for the intended application. Both vertical and horizontal
mounting are possible. The long rod type [Fig. l(d)] is sometimes used for

(a) (b)

Cc) (d)

FIG. 1. The four major types of line insulators in use today. (a) Thirty-five kV pin type
insulator designed around 1900 showing three nested porcelain shells. (b) Modern lo-in.
diameter suspension unit typically stressed at about 10 kV per unit in service.
(c) Modern 66 kV porcelain line post insulator. (d) Modern long rod insulator for use
at 110 kV.

high voltage insulation, and seems to be particularly favored by the Germans.

Although various mounting arrangements are possible, it is usually used to
suspend the conductor below the tower cross arm, and like the suspension
type can be linked in series for higher voltages. They are not popular in this
country partly because they tend to drop the conductor when struck by
gunfire.
At the higher transmission voltages a problem known as contamination
flashover becomes increasingly important relative to other insulation troubles.
This type of flashover usually occurs after insulators have become coated
with airborne particles containing conducting salts. if the insulator surface is
then moistened, say by fog or dew, the surface becomes conducting. The
power dissipation in the wet film causes dry bands to form, choking off the

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 Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator Design

current. The voltage stress is then concentrated at these narrow dry bands
which often break down, causing visible scintillations on the insulator surface.
If the contamination is severe enough, these scintillations can eventually
bridge the insulator, triggering a power arc and interrupting service.
There are many contamination sources, including sea salt, road salt,
cement dust, fly ash, bird droppings, fertilizer and many types of industrial
emissions. Occasionally trouble may arise from entirely unexpected sources
as in one case of a 30 kV line passing through a Far East sugar plantation.
The plantation had become infested with a certain type of bug which, after
becoming bloated with sugar, would struggle into the air only to land on the
nearest perch, which frequently turned out to be the insulators provided at
convenient intervals. The insects would then doze off, and while dormant
would secrete a sugary substance, eventually coating the insulator. During
heavy tropical dews, the surface would turn into a sticky mass, and flashover
would occur (1).
The contamination flashover problem can literally be said to be as old as
high voltage transmission itself. The designers of the first high voltage, long
distance transmission line, the 100 mile Lauffen-Frankfort 30 kV line of
189 1, employed insulators specifically designed to prevent surface sparkover
under wet conditions (2). These insulators, shown in Fig. 2, contained a

FIG. 2. Anti-contamination insulator used on the first high voltage transmission line in
1891. The insulator is sectioned through the porcelain to show the location of the
annular oil reservoir which prevented current flow between the line on top and the
iron support pin. There was thus no current available to maintain dangerous surface
discharges, and flashover could not occur. The insulator shown was used on two-thirds
of the line, while the remaining 56 km was insulated with a more complicated insulator
having three oil baths in series.

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David C. Jolly

reservoir of oil to interrupt the flow of surface current. This oil bath concept
has been revived from time to time since then, usually at intervals of about
one generation. Interestingly, the major insulation problem on this pioneer
line turned out to be small boys tossing stones and shattering the fragile
bowl-shaped insulators. Camouflaged insulators were suggested to eliminate
this trouble.
In the United States early troubles were experienced on the Pacific coa,st.
Insulators which had performed successfully in clear air mountain districts
at 60 kV frequently failed at only 11 kV along the coast (3). The only
remedy was to wash the insulators by hand as often as twice yearly. The
engineer involved prophesied that washing would also have to be employed
on future lines in that area and, in fact, 60 years later washing is indeed
being used in the very same area.
As transmission voltages have increased the contamination problem has
become worse, despite intensive research on the problem. In the winter of
1962-63, for example, the British National Grid suffered the most serious
dislocation in its history. An abnormally dry autumn had allowed airborne
deposits to accumulate on insulator surfaces. For several nights in succession
during January there were freezing fogs, and hoarfrost formed on insulator
surfaces. On the evening of January 25, 1963, a thaw set in and the frost
melted, forming a conducting film on the insulator surface. There were 130
flashovers and the normally interconnected grid was split into four separate
sections. Four thousand MW of load was shed out of a total demand of
23,000 MW, a pre-arranged load shedding schedule and unified control
preventing a more serious disaster (4). The largest power failure in the
United States during the critical summer months of 1970 was a load loss of
1200 MW resulting from an unsuccessful contamination washing test on an
insulator at the Sylmar, California converter station of the 750 kV d.c.
Pacific Intertie Line (5). Incidents such as these must be avoided in view of
society’s increasing dependence on electric power. Reliable long distance
transmission is particularly vital to areas suffering local power shortages
due to rapidly increasing demand, plant siting difficulties and other problems.
The first really systematic study of contamination flashover was under-
taken by Anfossi in 1907 (6). In his study, which was triggered by flashovers
on a 25 kV Italian coastal line, he showed that a salt layer on the under-
surface of the insulator caused a substantial insulation reduction, and
recommended a more open insulator design which would allow rainfall to
wash off the deposits. He also showed by comparing insulators on energized
and unenergized lines that electrostatic attraction of particles played no
role in the contamination of these particular insulators.
Since the time of Anfossi, the problem has been tackled by many different
investigators using a variety of techniques. One investigative technique is to
simply observe the behavior of actual lines. A more convenient technique is
to establish an outdoor test site where a large number of energized strings
can be conveniently monitored. To obtain more controlled conditions, many
studies have been carried out in laboratories with deliberately contaminated

486 Journalof The FranklinInstitute

 Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator Design

insulators. People have gone to great lengths to develop methods for applying
a realistic contamination layer. Some of the more original contamination
methods include having a switching locomotive draw alongside strings to
coat them with soot (7), hanging strings over burning garden refuse (8) and
suspending strings from perches in the vulture cage of a zoo (9). Often,
however, realism is entirely sacrificed in order to obtain repeatable results,
as in the German methyl-cellulose coating method (10).
Another approach is to consider the problem from a more theoretical
standpoint in order to develop some sort of understanding of the physical
processes leading to flashover. Despite the great difficulties involved in any
theoretical formulation of flashover, it is likely that a thorough theoretical
understanding is necessary to improve insulation design and understand
operating experience. The next section will consider some of the theoretical
aspects, and later some of the ways of applying theoretical knowledge to
insulator design will be discussed.

II. Physical Basis of Flashover

Although contamination flashover has been studied for over 60 years, the
physical processes by which a discharge is able to bridge a moist conducting
film are not yet understood. Part of this lack of understanding results from
the emphasis most researchers have placed on the more practical aspects of
the problem. There has always been a pressing need for better insulators, and
the approach traditionally taken has been to test insulators of various types
under natural and artificial conditions in order to select the best types.
Accordingly, a great deal of the contamination literature deals with the
development of test methods and the comparison of different designs. The
urgent need for better insulators has to some extent justified this approach,
although it has led to a neglect of some theoretical aspects.
A more fundamental reason for our lack of understanding lies in the
complexity of the flashover process itself. The manner by which a conducting
film can reduce the insulation strength of a typical suspension unit from
80 kV rms dry to less than 6 kV is not even understood qualitatively, let
alone in a quantitative manner suitable for improving insulator design. In
a way this is not too surprising since some aspects of the breakdown of
ordinary air gaps cannot yet be explained qualitatively (ll), and contam-
ination flashover is even more complex than air breakdown because of the
field distortion produced by the film, the introduction of water vapor and
ions into the discharge from the film, and changes of resistance of the film
due to heating and evaporation. To calculate the flashover voltage we must
write the ionization and diffusion equations for the discharge, and the heat
and mass transfer equations to describe heating and evaporation of the film.
The resulting set of coupled nonlinear partial differential equations, even
if we could write them, could not be solved since some of the quantities
needed, such as the amount of water vapor injected into the discharge, are
not yet known.

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David C. Jolly

If we cannot fully explain the breakdown of ordinary air gaps, is there any
point in even trying to theoretically understand contamination flashover Z
The answer appears to be yes, since theories have already been constructed
which give fair agreement with experiment under some conditions. In
addition, some experimental work has been done in recent years which, by
adjusting conditions so that certain of the complicating factors play only a
subordinate role, has already given us a good deal of qualitative insight
into the flashover process.
The first quantitative theory of contamination flashover was proposed in
1958 by Dr. Obenaus who outlined the steps which would be required to
calculate the flashover voltage (12). The actual computation was carried out
a short time later by Dr. Neumarker who derived an expression relating
flashover voltage to surface resistivity (13). The theory models the flashover
process as a discharge in series with a resistance, the discharge representing
the partial flashover of the insulator surface and the resistance representing
the unbridged portion of the insulator. Figure 3 shows the modeling concept.
Obenaus assumes that flashover will occur if the discharge is able to bridge
the insulator without extinguishing.
PARTIAL DISCHARGE
/

bDRY BAND

(al Insulator

RESISTANCE

(b) Obenous’ Model

FIG. 3. The modeling concept of Obenaus which treats the breakdown process as an
arc in series with a variable resistance, the resistance decreasing as the arc lengthens
(see text).

In the current range of interest, about 20-1000 mA, the discharge should
have a falling voltage characteristic. This corresponds to the curve labeled
V,, in Fig. 4. The voltage drop across the resistance, l&, is a linear function
of current. Since these two elements are in series, the characteristic seen at
the insulator terminals is obtained by adding voltages, giving the solid line
of Fig. 4. It can be seen that no current solutions exist below the extinction
voltage, J?&. In practice, the discharge characteristic approaches the origin
at very low currents, and there is always a small but negligible current flow

488 Journal of The Franklin Institute

 Contamination Flaahover Theory and Insulator Design

at voltages below I&__.At voltages above Qt the operating point will be on

the positively sloping portion of the curve since the negative resistance region
is unstable. Thus, at voltage V,, as shown in Fig. 4, a current 1, will flow.
The characteristics shown would apply only for a single value of the discharge
length. As the discharge lengthens, its voltage drop for a given current will
increase, while the resistance in series will decrease.

CURRENT

FIG. 4. Voltage current characteristic of a low current discharge in series with a

resistance as employed in the extinction theory of Obenaus (see text).

The role of the series resistance in preventing flashover is clear. If the

resistance is high the discharge current will be choked off, causing a high
voltage drop across the discharge. If this voltage drop is high enough, the
discharge will be unable to bridge the insulator, and flashover cannot occur.
The actual calculations for the long rod case were first done by Neumarker,
but his graphical method, although correct, is difficult to use. A more con-
venient algebraic derivation for the long rod case is given by Alston and
Zoledziowski (14). It is important to realize that Obenaus’ extinction criterion
is a necessary but not a sufficient criterion for flashover. The criterion
specifies the minimum voltage below which flashover is impossible due to
discharge extinction, but does not say at what voltage flashover will occur.
Neumarker has clearly stated that not only must the applied voltage be
above the extinction voltage, but that the physical conditions necessary for
discharge motion across the wet film must also be present. In practice,
Obenaus and his colleagues have assumed that these physical conditions
are always present whenever his critical voltage is reached, and therefore
that his extinction criterion can be used to predict flashover.
Several alternatives to the extinction model of Obenaus have been
proposed. One approach is that of Hampton who based his theory on an
experiment in which he used a water jet to simulate a contaminated long
rod insulator (15). He concluded that flashover could be treated as a stability

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1972 489
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problem, stating that an unstable situation exists if a current increase occurs

when the discharge root is displaced in the direction of flashover. He reasoned
from this that if the voltage gradient along the discharge ever falls below
the gradient along the resistive column, then flashover will occur. He was
able to obtain good agreement between this model and his own results on
the water column. Hampton’s criterion may have been anticipated by
Shkuropat (16). Hesketh was later able to prove mathematically that
Hampton’s two criteria of voltage gradient and current increase are identical
only in the case of a long rod insulator (17).
Wilkins has proposed that flashover will occur if the current drawn from
the supply increases for an incremental forward displacement of the discharge
tip, and suggests that this may be related to a more general criterion that
the power drawn from the supply tends toward a maximum (l&19). Thus
the discharge will elongate if it knows that by doing so, it will draw more
power from the supply circuit. The physical basis of this criterion is not
clear. It bears some resemblance to the Steenbeck minimum principle which
states that a static arc assumes a configuration whereby it dissipates a
minimum amount of power (20). However, Wilkins himself states this
principle has not been extended to dynamic situations, and may in fact not
apply to a moving discharge.
There are other objections to this viewpoint. For example, it can be
demonstrated theoretically that for a concentric electrode flat plate insulator
the series resistance seen by the discharge will be almost constant until the
discharge approaches within a few root diameters of the outer electrode.*
This implies that as the discharge begins to grow outward from the center
electrode, the current will decrease. Therefore according to the &/ax> 0
criterion flashover should not occur, although in fact it does occur. Even
more damaging to the hypothesis of Wilkins are the experimental observa-
tions of Zoledziowski showing both current and power decreasing during
discharge elongation under certain conditions (21,22).
The theories just discussed avoid consideration of the actual physical
processes occurring during discharge propagation. Several possible physical
mechanisms have already been suggested by various investigators, one of
the most widely accepted mechanisms being that external forces simply pull
the discharge across the surface. Several forces have been suggested, including
electrostatic attraction (23), electromagnetic forces (24), thermal buoyant
forces (24) and steam pressure (24). Order of magnitude calculations have
shown that the electrostatic and buoyant forces are of similar magnitude,
and that electromagnetic forces are negligible by comparison (25). It has
been observed experimentally that both buoyant (26) and electrostatic (23)
forces can affect the motion of discharges moving at low velocities on the
order of centimeters per second.
Tominaga has proposed that discharge movement is caused by the intense
drying at the discharge root (27). This does not account for the flashover of

* A. J. McElroy, private communication.

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 Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator Design

continuous water jets, but may apply in some cases where the contamination
layer is a thin film. Another suggestion is that the nonuniform heating at
the discharge root produces a surface tension gradient which induces
a convective motion of the liquid surface, pulling the discharge root
forward in much the same manner as flame propagates over a liquid fuel
spill. *
The driving mechanisms mentioned above all produce elongation velocities
of tens of meters per second at the most. This is in agreement with velocity
data taken by Nasser which showed propagation velocities up to about
40 meters/set (28). However, far higher velocities have also been observed.
Hesketh has observed velocities up to 600 meters/set on a water jet (29),
Obenaus has reported average velocities up to 4200 meters/set on actual
insulators hooked directly to a 220 kV line (30) and Japanese workers have
observed average velocities of over 50 km/set for discharges propagating
over the surface of a tank of potassium chloride solution (31). The only way
to account for these high velocities is to assume that contamination flashover
is basically an electric breakdown process, modified by the field distorting
effects of the wet layer. The current flow lines in the contaminant layer will
converge at the discharge root, producing a high local electric field. If this
local field is high enough, the air in front of the discharge tip will be ionized,
extending the discharge. Ionization by electron impact may be aided by
thermal and photoelectric ionization processes. An interesting model of this
process has been devised by Wilkins who considers the electrical stability
of a short discharge trying to form ahead of the main discharge tip
(18).Good agreement has been obtained with flashover experiments on a
water channel, and hopefully the model can be extended to cover other
geometries.
A clue to the flashover mechanism may be provided by the observed
polarity dependence of flashover voltage. Wilkins has reported that channels
containing a solution of CuSO, flashover more readily when the electrode
from which the discharge leaves is negative (18). Japanese workers find just
the opposite polarity effect for KC1 (31). Preliminary tests at M.I.T. have
shown that the favored polarity may depend on the experimental geometry,
the nature of the dissolved salt and the conductance of the solution. These
effects are not easily explained by any simple theory, and a great deal of
work still needs to be done.
The polarity also affects the appearance of the discharge root. High speed
motion pictures taken at M.I.T. have shown that when the wet film acts as
the cathode, the discharge root has a pronounced branched structure. When
the root acts as the anode, the root appears more diffuse. (See Figs. 5 and 6.)
This is reminiscent of the pronounced branching noticed in positive streamers
and positive Lichtenberg figures, and is probably due to similar causes, i.e.
electron diffusion (32). The branching of positive discharges propagating
over water surfaces has also been reported by Boylett and Maclean (33).

* D. Q. Anderson, private communication.

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The cathode processes at the wet film still remains something of a mystery.
Wilkins has measured an electrode fall of 950 V, presumably mostly at the
cathode (18).This voltage is somewhat higher than is typical for glow
discharges in air, but the higher voltage may be related to the reluctance
with which water is thought to emit electrons (34). Measuring the secondary
and photo-emission properties of water is incidentally not easy since such
measurements usually require a good vacuum at the surface. A more detailed
understanding of the cathode mechanism might explain some of the observed
polarity effects.
In summary, based on the evidence currently available, the flashover
process may be described as follows. When the voltage across the dry band
is sufficient, a spark occurs, bridging only the dry region. This spark then
undergoes a transition to an arc-like discharge, the current of which is
determined by the applied voltage, the series resistance seen by the arc
and the volt-ampere characteristic of the arc itself. If this current is great
enough, the field intensification produced by the convergent current flow
at the discharge root on the wet film will lead to the creation of new ioniza-
tion, extending the discharge. Ionization by electron impact, photo-
ionization, thermal ionization may all be involved, their relative importance
being determined by current, polarity and other variables.
The slow velocities of tens of meters per second which are frequently
observed may be attributable to resistive heating of the water film. For
voltages near the critical flashover voltage the discharge can reach the
critical current necessary for propagation only if the series resistance seen
by the discharge is reduced through resistive heating of the water film near
the discharge root. The speed of elongation is thus limited by the effective
thermal time constant of the wet film-insulator surface system. At these
slower velocities, buoyant and electrostatic forces become significant, and
cannot be neglected in any realistic theory.
Although the above description is probably valid in a general sort of way,
we are still not in a position to even qualitatively explain polarity effects,
to say nothing of being able to accurately predict insulator behavior in
advance. Nevertheless, it has proven possible to draw certain general con-
clusions which have allowed insulator design to be improved over the years.
Some of the ways of improving insulator performance will be discussed in
the next section.

ZZZ. Methods of Improving Insulator Design

There are so many interesting and unusual physical aspects of contam-

ination flashover that the investigator may occasionally forget that the main
goal of his research is to improve insulator performance. It may thus be
appropriate at this point to discuss some concrete ways that insulator
performance could be improved, particularly in light of recent theoretical
advances.

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 Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator Design

For purposes of discussion the flashover process can be divided into four
distinct stages :
(1) deposition of conducting salts and moisture,
(2) formation of dry band(s),
(3) electrical breakdown of dry band(s),
(4) propagation of the discharge across the moist film, bridging the
insulator.
Each one of these events is a necessary stage in the development of full
flashover, providing us with four separate points of attack, since if any one
of these stages can be prevented, flashover will not occur.

Stage One
The deposition of contaminant has turned out to be the most practical
point of attack, and most successful designs involve inhibiting the formation
of a moist, conducting layer. This can be accomplished in several ways.
Insulators can be designed with convolutions on their undersurface to
provide an area sheltered from atmospheric dirt and moisture. Alternatively
it is possible to design insulators so that the greatest part of the creepage
path is on the exterior of the insulator where it is exposed to the washing
action of rain. Both of these types are currently marketed and when used
properly can give good service. The protected creepage types tend to be
favored in coastal regions where protection from salt spray is important,
while external creepage types are more suited to those industrial districts
where the deposits take longer to reach a dangerous level than the interval
between rainfalls.
Another approach is to coat the insulator with a slightly conducting glaze.
The current flow through this glaze warms the insulator surface several
degrees above ambient, a sufficient rise to prevent deposition of dew or fog
under most conditions. Several uncertainties at present prevent widespread
adoption of resistance glazed insulators. Over long periods of time the glaze
may undergo corrosion or deterioration, although recent progress in ceramic
technology has led to vastly improved glazes, and life tests now in progress
have been promising (35). Certain problems result from the negative
temperature coefficient of resistance of these glazes. As current heats the
glaze, the resistance decrease leads to greater current flow, producing
further heating. Under unfavorable conditions this can lead to thermal
runaway, eventually fracturing the insulator. The problem is most acute on
suspension types where the current concentration near the pin can lead to
local thermal runaway. Insulators with a small diameter variation such as
the post type are ideally suited to uniform resistive glazing, and have per-
formed well in field tests. An interesting side effect of resistance glazing is
that energized resistance glazed insulators have been found to accumulate
cement dust much more slowly than adjacent ordinary insulators during
field trials, apparently due to surface warmth (36).
Another method of attack would be to make the insulator surface water
repellant so that water would bead up and not form a continuous film. It

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David C. Jolly

is difficult to make a surface which will retain its water repellant properties
over long periods of service, but progress in materials technology may
eventually make such a surface possible.

Stage Two
The formation of dry bands is essential to the flashover process since it
produces the field intensification necessary to initiate the flashover discharge.
Unfortunately a heavily contaminated suspension unit completely covered
with a wet film may dissipate up to about 10 kW. At this power level dry
bands will form in short order no matter how the contaminant is distributed.
It appears that complete prevention of dry banding is impossible, although
by means of appropriate design, dry bands might be encouraged to develop
in a favorable manner. For example, proponents of post and long rod
insulators say that the small diameter variation of these types leads to more
efficient evaporation of water than occurs on suspension units which typically
have a ten to one diameter variation. Whether this occurs in practice is
debatable, more research on dry banding being required.

Stage Three
The breakdown of the dry band has received little attention, but if this
breakdown could be prevented the arc which propagates across the insulator
would never form. In some preliminary work by the author it has been found
that dry band breakdown can actually be prevented under certain conditions
(37). On ordinary smooth glazed insulator surfaces, sparking across the dry
band is often triggered by the motion of a fine filament of water which is
pulled from one edge of the dry band by electrostatic forces and creeps slowly
across the dry gap toward the other edge. This eventually shortens the
striking distance enough so that the dry gap sparks over, triggering an arc
which may then propagate over the wet film and cause flashover. If however
a porous coating such as powdered clay is applied over the glaze, these events
can no longer occur since the capillary forces tend to impede the motion of
the filament. This gives time for corona to evaporate any narrow points of
the dry band, and under proper conditions a dry band can be maintained
which is wide enough to withstand the entire applied voltage. Standard
suspension insulators with such a coating have withstood several hours of
severe salt fog and wind in the author’s laboratory without as much as
scintillating once, whereas an ordinary unit would have flashed over in
about 10 min. If such a coating could be developed for service conditions,
insulators might be made more resistant to flashover, or in the case of syn-
thetic insulators, the suppression of discharge activity might lead to longer
service life.

Stage Four
The propagation of the arc over the surface has not been adequately
attacked yet, primarily because so little is known about the physics of this
process. Qualitative photographic studies of insulators flashing over have

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 Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator Design

revealed certain effects which can affect performance. For example, thermal
buoyant forces may cause arcs to drift upward from one insulator to another,
shorting out segments of insulation (26). To avoid this, sufficient vertical
clearance between insulators must be provided.
Some designs try to take advantage of the large electrode fall associated
with discharges on water surfaces. Discharges on post and rod type insulators
tend to take the form of many short discharges in series. Since each short
discharge has an electrode drop of about 1000 volts, the voltage “left over”
for discharge propagation is greatly reduced. Rumeli has questioned the
effectiveness of breaking the arc into many short segments, and more
research is needed to reach any definite conclusions (38).
Another possible way to hinder discharge propagation is by controlling
the field on the insulator surface by means of metal inserts or auxiliary
electrodes. Rumeli has shown experimentally that this technique is effective
for some simple geometries, but more work is needed before it can be applied
to actual insulators (38).
Development of discharge resistant plastics would provide greater flexi-
bility in hindering arc propagation than exists with porcelain or glass. The
greater strength of a plastic-fiberglass insulator would make possible narrower
bodies a,nd more effective sheds on rod type insulators. The favorable
effects of such modifications have already been demonstrated in the
laboratory (39).
In order to illustrate the large amount of original thinking which has been
devoted to this problem it might be worthwhile at this point to mention
several novel ideas which, for various reasons, have not yet been applied
in practice. One inventor has suggested an insulator consisting of a dielectric
rod with metal caps at the ends (40). Enclosing the insulating rod would be
a sealed cylindrical bellows made of rubber or some other insulating material
as shown in Fig. 7. Variations in the temperature of the atmosphere would
cause the bellows to expand and contract. This breathing action would
allegedly cause any deposit buildup on the exterior of the bellows to crackle
off and drop to the ground, but building a durable bellows would not be easy.
Some years ago a British investigator patented an insulator which literally
cleaned itself by means of small wind-driven brushes which swept away
deposits before they could accumulate (7). The idea never caught on though,
and the patents were allowed to lapse.
Another idea is an insulator constructed of a hollow pipe of some porous
dielectric material with metal caps on the ends and the hollow core filled
with oil. The oil would ooze outward through the pores to the surface where
it would slowly engulf and carry away contamination particles. Tension
strength would be provided by a dielectric rod running through the center
of the porous pipe (41).
Several highly original schemes have been suggested for increasing the
creepage path. One of the most unusual is the suggestion that insulators be
made in the shape of a helix, similar to a giant bedspring as shown in
Fig. 8 (42). This would provide a very large creepage distance to total

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David C. Jolly

FIG. 7. Concept of bellows protected insulator. The central dielectric rod is protected
from the elements by a flexible bellows which expands and contracts in response to
atmospheric temperature variations, causing deposits to crackle off and fall to the
ground.

FIG. 8. “Bedspring” insulator concept. The helical shape gives this insulator an ex-
ceptionally long creepage path relative to its overall height. This increases the series
resistance seen by the arc (see Fig. 3) and also, since the flashover discharge tends to
follow the surface, the total length of the arc must be very long to cause flashover,
enhancing the probability of extinction before it bridges the insulator. The principal
difficulty is finding a suitable insulating material.

496 Journal of The Franklin Institute

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Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator Design
I

iength ratio. Finding a suitable insulating material which is durable and at

the same time stiff enough to support the vertical and transverse stresses
acting at the conductor tie point is no trivial task. It may also be necessary
to provide dampers to prevent large amplitude, low frequency oscillations
of the conductor.
Hopefully advances in the theory of insulator behavior will permit
accurate evaluation of designs such as those mentioned above, and suggest
other modifications likely to improve performance. Some of the research
areas most likely to lead to useful results will be outlined in the next section.

IV. Suggestions for Future Research

There are still many aspects of contamination flashover which are not
even understood qualitatively, let alone on a quantitative basis suitable for
improvements in design or application of insulators. Summarized below are
a few areas where the author feels further work is needed if we hope to be
able to optimize insulator design, predict required insulation levels and
interpret service experience.
As discussed earlier, one of the most puzzling aspects of the problem is
the mechanism by which the discharge moves across the surface. The
ionization processes, the cathode mechanism and the effects of buoyant and
electrostatic forces acting on the arc all need clarification. In addition the
effects of water vapor and contaminant ions on the discharge have not been
fully studied. More accurate modeling of the heating and drying effects
during discharge activity is required. In theory a model of discharge propa-
gation could be combined with a heating and drying model on a computer
to predict the performance of actual insulators.
There has been almost no study on the effects of chemical reactions which
may occur during discharge activity. For example, nitrogen oxides produced
during long periods of scintillation may react with the water film to produce
a highly conducting nitric acid layer on the insulator surface which may
trigger flashover even though the insulator was not dangerously contaminated
to begin with. Chemical analysis of the insulator at some later date would
only reveal the original contaminant, and the flashover would be termed
“mysterious”. Reactions of this type may explain why it is sometimes
difficult to flash over insulators removed from service in a fog chamber at
the same voltage that they had flashed over in service (43).
How insulators get contaminated in the first place is still poorly under-
stood. The importance of particle charging and electrostatic attraction is
still obscure, and the cleaning action of rain and wind is only roughly
understood.
Work needs to continue on conductive glazes to assure their durability
in service, hopefully providing a partial solution to the contamination
problem.

Vol. 294. No. 6, December 1972 497

David C. Jolly

The development of durable synthetic materials able to resist the effect’s’

of discharge activity would make possible strong, lightweight contamination-
resistant line insulation. The erosion mechanism and the behavior of water
films on contaminated plastic surfaces are not well understood. The effect
of beading of the film on flashover performance has not been quantitatively
explained since von Cron 20 years ago observed that flashover can be
triggered when electrostatic forces pull the individual water beads into a
continuous filament bridging the insulator (44). A theoretical study of this
effect might also be useful in understanding the behavior of greased insulators.
The effects of nonuniform evaporation of water due to the capacitive
nonlinearity of voltage distribution along long strips can affect performance.
This effect, first predicted by Boehne using a computer program (45,46)
and later verified experimentally by Kawai at Project UHV (47), causes
insulation at higher voltages to perform worse than a linear extrapolation
of lower voltage experience would indicate. The implications of these
findings need to be carefully studied since these higher voltage lines carry
large blocks of power, and must not be subject to unexpected outages.
Studies at laboratories in Great Britain, Germany, Japan, France, Italy,
the Soviet Union, the United States and many other countries have in the
past few years led to a great increase in our understanding of this vexing
problem, and hopefully the years ahead will see these results tra’nslated into
a workable solution to the contamination problem.

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 Contamination Flashover Theory and Insulator Design

(i4) L. Alston and S. Zoledziowski, “Growth of discharges on polluted insulation”,

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David C. Jolly

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500 Journal of The Franklin Institute