Analysis of Incipient Behavior of Multiple Distribution Insulators

K. L. Butler S . Khan B. D. Russell

Member, IEEE Member, IEEE Fellow, IEEE

Power System Automation Laboratory

Department of Electrical Engineering
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX 77843-3128

Abstract: This paper presents research characterizing the leakage
(incipient behavior) of single and multiple distribution insulators
through staged experiments. Four sets of field experiments were
conducted over a two year period in which single and multiple
insulators were artificially contaminated and energized on a lateral of
a distribution system. More than 70 recordings were obtained from
monitoring at the site of the insulator(s) under study and at the
substation feeding the lateral. This paper focuses on the
characterization of the site recordings. Individual insulator leakage
currents showed an erratic behavior with bursts lasting from half a
cycle to several seconds. The multiple insulators conveyed a
cumulative behavior caused by individual insulators in various stages
of leakage. The results are characterized graphically in the time and
frequency domains.
Keywords: Insulator, distribution systems, incipient failures.
I. INTRODUCTION
Insulator breakdown is a leading cause of failure in power
distribution systems [l], and is known to seriously affect
power supply reliability and quality, resource utilization, and
customer satisfaction. Insulators normally accumulate
contamination in dry weather from dust or pollution [2].
Failures are normally initiated as leakage currents flowing over
a wet contaminated surface [3]. Owing to partial discharges
and rapid water evaporation, the currents may self-extinguish,
continue sporadically, or increase to become destructive, high-
current flashovers. The arc normally propagates when the field
across the film exceeds the field across the arc.
Presently, utilities replace or wash insulators after an
insulator-related failure occurs. By this time, a service
interruption has already occurred and it may take considerable
time to locate the affected area. Under some circumstances,
utilities wash insulators located in selected areas at regularly
scheduled time intervals. Utilities will, in the future due to
competition for customers, find themselves seeking to operate
in a predictive maintenance mode than a preventive or failure-
based maintenance mode. Predictive maintenance for
distribution insulators, which would be most feasibly
performed at the substation, entails detecting the incipient
behavior conveyed before flashover. We have observed
during field studies that incipient behavior from individual
insulators is not detectable at the substation due to its small
current levels in proportion to the overall feeder load current
levels. However we postulate that incipient behavior from
multiple insulators is detectable at the substation but only
above some minimal level (which is conveyed by a minimum
number of insulators). This research addresses those issues
through the development of a substation-based predictive
maintenance technique which detects the incipient behavior of
failing distribution insulators and forewarns of impending
system outages due to this failure.
The dynamic and complex nature of leakage justified
conducting field experiments to produce data recordings to
assist in characterizing the phenomena. Individual insulator
test results were recorded only at the site of the insulator,
whereas multiple insulator test results were recorded both at
the site and at the substation feeding the lateral. This paper
presents research results characterizing the leakage of single
and multiple distribution insulators during staged field
experiments.

11. METHODOLOGY

There are several established methods for testing insulator

breakdown [4-71. These methods normally expose an insulator
to moisture deposition inside a fog-chamber. Methods of
applying moisture vary from using cold-fog to steam. To
capture the insulator behavior in a field environment, an
experimental method that does not require the usage of a fog

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chamber was developed. During the experiments, controlled
amounts of clay and salt water solution were applied to the
insulators, and then energized on a lateral attached to a feeder
that is monitored at a xtility substation. This new and
simplified method is a deviation from the salt and clean fog
methods conducted in a fog chamber.
All tests were performed at the Texas A&M University
Riverside Campus Downed Conductor Test Facility, which is
serviced by a feeder off the local utility’s 12.5 KV multi-
grounded wye distribution system. The feeder serves
approximately 2 MW of residential, light commercial and oil-
field load. The test facility is approximately 3.2 electrical
kilometers from the substation, and the available bolted single
phase fault current is approximately 2200 A. A single-phase
lateral is attached to the pole where the three phase lines are
available, a pair of transformers were included to create a 120-
V link between the transformers. A low voltage fuse was
placed in that link. A high wattage resistive network labeled
RI, prevented very high currents from occurring at the
recording equipment.
To replicate the large number of insulators on a distribution
lateral, multiple insulators were connected in series for the
third and fourth set of experiments as shown in Fig. 2. Also
simultaneous recordings were made at the site and at the
substation feeding the lateral.
nInsulators

i-,
tapped off the overhead utility distribution system. To stage a
fault, the insulator circuitry was attached to the 7.2 kV lateral 7.2
which was then energized by closing a fused cut-out at the
fault site. Data recordings were captured at the substation
through current and potential transformers. 7206 : 120
The currents and voltages were recorded at the site on a 35 KVA 35 KVA
-
Racal V-Store precision analog recorder (bandwidth of 5
KHz). Data acquisition and analysis were performed at the Fig. 1 General Setup for the experiments
Power System Automation Laboratory (PSAL) at Texas A&M
University. Acquisition of the recorded data was performed
7.2 KV
on a Pentium 90 PC with a National Instruments AT-MIO-
16E-2 data acquisition board and National Instruments Lab
Windows software. The data was acquired at 7680 samples
per second. Time and frequency domain analysis was
implemented using programs written with the Lab Windows
software, Matlab, and C-Programming language.
Fig. 2 Staging of multiple insulator leakage
A. Experiments

Four sets of field experiments consisting of more than 70 TABLE 1 EXPERIMENT COMPONENTS
test cases were performed over a two year period. Beginning
Experiment # 1 2 3 4
with only site measurements for a single contaminated
Short circuit 0.24 0.24 0.72 9.6 - 1 1
insulator, the experiments progressed to 30 contaminated current at the
insulators with simultaneous recordings at the site of the site (amps)
insulators and at the substation feeding the lateral to which the Fuse I OT 1OT 1OT 2T
insulators were connected. The site recordings represented the Pair of Yes Yes Yes No
insulator(s) leakage current whereas the substation recordings Transformers
Reql 30KR 30KR 10- 750R
represented the leakage current plus the load current
Req2 25R 25R 14R None
downstream of the substation. This paper focuses on the
characterization of the leakage current measurements recorded
I I I I I (CTused) I
at the experiment site. The insulators numbering 1-30 were chosen from a
collection of commonly available sizes such as ANSI class 55-
B. Experimental set-up 3, 55-4, 55-5. The insulators were prepared in one of four
ways: wet with pure water, wet with a salt solution,
Fig. 1 shows the general experimental setup used for the contaminated and wet with pure water, and contaminated and
four set of tests at the Downed Conductor Test facility. Table wet with a salt solution. Contamination was produced by
1 shows the specific components used for each of the four coating the insulators with controlled amounts of dry clay.
experiments. Rlq, a resistive network connected to the The clay was applied with a brush on the insulator surface in
grounding pin, is used by the recording equipment to measure the laboratory. The values of non-soluble deposit density
the leakage current across the insulator. Since high voltage (NSDD) for the clay varied between 0.2 to 1.4 mg/cm2.
fuses with the required isolating speed were not readily Immediately before energizing the lateral, the clean or

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contaminated insulator(s) were sprayed with the appropriate resistance. Medium to short bursts were sometimes observed
solution. The salt water solution was composed of for up to one minute after the insulator was energized.
concentrations with salt water saliency of 42-1 10 g d i t e r .
Upon energizing, the insulators went from wet to dry,
conveying data for varying degrees of moisture.

C. Data Analysis

The data were recorded as shown in fig. 1. In addition to

the recordings of the raw data, recordings were made of the
raw data filtered by a 60 Hz notch filter and of the raw data
filtered by a high pass filter (780 Hz cutoff). The recordings
-1 ' time (seconds)
I

were analyzed in both the time and frequency domains.

Patterns in voltage-versus-current plots and the current
Fig. 3. Current (solid line) and voltage (dotted) for a single insulator test case
changes with time were analyzed. In keeping with an earlier conveying a long burst of leakage current
classification for downed conductors [8], bursts were classified
as long (greater than 20 cycles) or shordmedium (less than 20
cycles). Frequency domain analysis focused on the constituent
frequencies and the changes of frequency content over time.
Sections I11 and IV discuss the characterization of the results,
beginning with the single insulator and proceeding to the
multiple insulators.

111. INDIVIDUAL INSULATORS

A. Field Recordings voltage (x20 kV)

The leakage of multiple insulators is best explained through Fig. 4. Voltage-current characteristics for the recording in Fig. 3
an understanding of individual insulators. Individual
insulators in various stages of leakage contribute to the
combined multiple insulator current that is the focus of this
paper. This section discusses the characteristics of individual 0.6
insulators as were recorded in the first and second set of 0.4
experiments. After the insulators were energized, the currents 0.2
were found to be mostly sporadic, ranging in duration from 0
half of a cycle to several seconds. The burst duration changed -0.2
from long to medium, and then to short. Sputtering was -0.4
mostly audible from a distance of about 30 feet and was -0.6
sometimes accompanied by visible scintillation. -0.81 I
In the presence of heavy surface moisture, the bursts lasted time (secs)
for up to several seconds at a time. An example of such a long
burst generated during the insulator experiments is shown in Fig. 5 Current (solid line) and voltage (dotted) for a single insulator test case
figs. 3 and 4. In fig. 3 the current is initiated as a discharge conveying short bursts
after the voltage reaches a certain threshold level. A voltage-
current graph illustrates more clearly the rapid changes
occurring on the insulator's surface. In Fig. 4 the current rises
non-linearly but falls linearly, once the discharge is initiated.
For the majority of the tests that contained little surface
moisture and contamination, the current bursts were of shorter
duration. Figs. 5 and 6 show the results of a test in which short
bursts were conveyed. This behavior is due to the dry bands
widening further, and the arc being re-ignited at close to
maximum voltage. Bursts are interrupted when the leakage
path is broken, to be re-established by the dripping or voltage (x 20 KV)
reconfiguration of the surface fluid. It is noted that the voltage-
current plot shows parallel lines implying constant surface
Fig. 6 Voltage-current characteristic for the recording in Fig 5

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 IV. MULTIPLE INSULATORS

A. Field Recordings

Having discussed individual insulators, this section presents

results of multiple insulator leakage as recorded from site
measurements of the third and fourth set of experiments. It is
postulated that multiple insulators show a cumulative behavior
caused by individual insulators in various stages of leakage. In
-1 ' . I

time (secs)
several of the experimental cases, short periods of multiple
insulator leakage were observed, followed by a flashover on a
single insulator. Fig. 9. Voltage (dotted) and current (solid) for a test case of 9 multiple
insulators
Figs. 7 and 8 show leakage characteristics for nine
insulators from one of the test cases in the third set of
experiments. It is observed from Fig. 8 that the individual
insulator currents are mostly initiated well before the peak 0

voltage. This behavior suggests that although the individual 3

x
v
insulators are undergoing different stages of failure, the CI
c -
resultant cumulative waveform conveys itself as a single E
L
waveform undergoing a long burst. a 1 .
&.-I J
0

voltage (x 20 KV)
1 , 1

Fig. 10. Voltage-current characteristic for data recording in Fig. 13

case

Multiple insulator leakage currents are essentially a

superposition of individual insulator leakage currents. Also
time (secs) the individual leakage is largely independent of each other.
Figs. 11,12,14 show the rms leakage current for various 30
insulators test cases. The pulses occur at random instances and
Fig. 7 Current and voltage for a test case of multiple insulators (current
initiated before peak voltage) have bursts of various duration and magnitudes. This behavior
results from the individual insulators exhibiting different
i
1
stages of leakage. Fig. 11 represents a case where the
I contamination and salt water solution created a band of
z
A

conduction on the insulator. Just as this behavior would reach

0
0
e4 leakage current levels that would lead to a flashover in a real
E - system, the current in the experiment reached a level to blow
CI
E the protective fuse.
2
L Figs. 13 and 15 show a frequency domain representation of
a
0 the recorded leakage currents corresponding to figs. 12 and 14,
I ."
respectively. To compute the frequency components, a Fast
voltage (x 20 KV) Fourier Transform (FFT) was performed at each 2-cycle
interval of the current data generating frequency components
Fig. 8 Voltage-current characteristic for a test case of multiple insulators at a resolution of 30 Hz. The sum of odd harmonics shown in
(currents initiated before peak voltage) figs. 13a and 15a were computed as the RMS cumulative of
the odd harmonics components (i.e. 3rdharmonic -- 180 Hz, 5"
Figs. 9 and 10 show another recording from the third set of harmonic -- 300 Hz, etc.). The sum of even harmonics shown
experiments with 9 insulators. From Fig. 10 it is observed that in figs. 13b and 15b were computed as the RMS cumulative of
for most insulators, breakdown is occurring at close to peak the even harmonics components (i.e. 2"d harmonic -- 120 Hz,
voltage. The individual insulators appear to be progressing to 4'h harmonic -- 240 Hz, etc.). The sum of non-harmonics
a more erratic behavior, typical of medium and short bursts. It shown in figs. 13c and 15c were computed as the RMS
is noted that unlike individual insulators, the voltage-current cumulative of the non-harmonics components (i.e. 30 Hz, 90
plot of a multiple insulators recording shows criss-crossing Hz, 150 Hz. etc.).
lines.

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 140
1
120 4 I
100 --

20 --
0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fig. 11. RMS Leakage Current of a 30 insulator test case 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Tlm. (..el

Fig. 14. RMS Leakage Current of a 30 insulator test case

2500
1

40

Tlm e (sec) 30

Fig. 12. RMS Leakage Current of a 30 insulator test case

A : : : . . ::: :: : .. . ' : : : ' : : : . I

Fig. 13a. Sum of Odd Harmonics for leakage current in fig. 12 0 , , . ; : : : ' ' ' ~ _ e :
I I, I I s, I D 8 , 1 2 9 1 1.
11.'. ,a.. )

Fig. 15b. Sum of Even Harmonics for leakage current in fig. 14

4 . L : ' ' : : . . . : " ' : : . : . " ' . : : : ' * ' . . : : , " . : .J

0 I 2 I I I I 7 I 0 I O ( 1 ? * 11 I.
7,". ,..c,
711,. ,..e,

Fig. 13b. Sum of Even Harmonics for leakage current in fig. 12 Fig. 15c. Sum of Non-Harmonics for leakage current in fig. 14

I,-. ,...,
Fig. 13c. Sum of Non-Harmonics for leakage current in fig. 12

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 V. SUMMARY
There has been much success in detecting high impedance
faults at the substation, sich as those caused by downed
conductors [8]. The research reported in this paper seeks to
characterize insulator incip ,ent behavior for the development
of a method similar to the tigh impedance fault (HIF) method
for detection of incipient insulator arcing. Individual insulator
currents are usually erratic, with bursts lasting from half a
cycle to many seconds. LJnder adverse conditions, such as
early in the morning, incipient discharges can continue for
prolonged periods. Detection of incipient leakage at the
substation is difficult because individual insulators usually
have maximum currents on the order of several hundred milli-
amperes. Also, substation currents are superimposed with load
currents, and are modified by feeder characteristics [9].
[8] B. Don Russell, R. P. Chinchali, C. J. Kim, “Behavior of Low
Further, generally multiple insulators in a geographic area may
contain similar levels of contamination conveying cumulative
incipient activity.
VI. CONCLUSION
This paper discussed the characterization of individual and
multiple insulator leakage from field experiment recordings.
Experiments were staged at the Texas A&M University
Downed Conductor Test Facility, in which individual and
multiple insulators connected to a lateral of a distribution
system were artificially contaminated and energized.
Measurements were recorded at the site and the substation.
This paper focused on the analysis of recordings of leakage
currents made at the site of the insulators. Time and frequency
domain analysis were performed on the data recordings.
Leakage currents for single insulators showed an erratic
behavior ranging from half a cycle to many seconds in
duration. Voltage-current plots showed the insulator surface
discharge, which was very dynamic and non-linear.
The characteristics for multiple insulators followed from
that of single insulators. Multiple insulators showed a small
period of leakage before one of the insulators flashed over.
The field results have been insightful in characterizing
incipient behavior. Future research has focused on refining the
experiment procedure and further characterizing of the
multiple insulators at the site and substation.
VII. REFERENCES
[I] C. Lozano-Sousa, R. Diaz-Costa, G . Ramos-Niembro, “Patterns of
Pollution on Insulators: Clustering by Seasonal Variation and Exposure
Period,” IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Volume 5, No. 1,
January 1990, pp. 324 - 329.
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[2] R. Kulkami et. al., “Sea Salt in Coastal air and its Deposition on
Porcelain Insulators,’’ Journal of Applied Meteorology, vol. 21, March
1982, pp. 350-355.
[3] N.Name, S. Shihab, “ A Model for Calculating the Field Distribution of
Polluted Post Insulators During Flashovers,” Electrical Insulation and
Dielectric Phenomena, 1992.
[4] P. J. Lambeth, H. M. Schneider, Y. Beausejour, “Final Report on the
Clean Fog Test for HVAC Insulators,’’ IEEE Transactions on Power
Delivery, PWRD-2, No. 4, October 1987, pp. 1317-26.
[5] E. A. Chemey et. al., “ The Clean Fog Test for Contaminated
Insulators,” IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and System,” Vol.
PAS - 102, 1972.
[6] A. Chilsolrn, K.G. Ringler, C.C. Ervem, M. A. Green, 0. Melo, et.
al., ” The Cold-Fog Test,” IEEE Trans. On Power Delivery, vol. 11,
October 1996, pp. 1874-80.
[7] T. Zhao, J. Sakich, “Salt Fog Aging Tests o n Non-ceramic
Insulators and Fog Chamber Data Acquisition System, 1996 IEEE
Annual Report, Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric
Phenomena, San Francisco, October 20-23,1996.
Frequency Spectra during Arcing Fault and Switching Events,”
IEEE Trans. O n Power Delivery, vol. 3, no. 4, Oct. 1988, pp. 1485-
1492.
[9] W. Tjokrodiponto, S. A. Sebo, J. D. Sakich, T. Zhao, ”Simultaneous
Electrical and Visual Measurements of Leakage Currents along
Polymer Insulators in Artificial Field Tests,” Sh International
Conference on Properties and Applications on Dielectric Materials,
May 25-30,1997, Seoul, Korea.
VIII. BIOGRAPHIES
Karen L. Butler (M ‘94) received the Ph.D. degree in May 1994 in electrical
engineering from Howard University where she was a NASA fellow. She
received the B.S.E.E. degree in 1985 and M.S.E.E. degree in 1987 from
Southern University in Baton Rouge and University of Texas in Austin,
respectively. She is currently an assistant professor at Texas A&M University
and assistant director of the Power System Automation Laboratory. She is a
recipient of an NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.
Dr. Butler was a member of technical staff at Hughes Aircraft Company from
1988-89. Her research interests are in the areas of power distribution
automation and system protection, intelligent systems, modeling and
simulation. She is a registered professional engineer in the states of Texas,
Louisiana, and Mississippi.
Shahriar Khan (M’ 91) was born in Dinajpur, Bangladesh. He received his
Ph.D. in and M.S. in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University in
1997 and 1992 respectively. His B.Sc. was in electrical engineering from
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
B. Don Russell (F‘ 92) received the BS and MS degrees in Electrical
Engineering from Texas A&M University. He holds a Ph.D. from the
University of Oklahoma in power system engineering. Dr. Russell is
Associate Vice Chancellor and Associate Dean of Engineering, Professor of
Electrical Engineering, and Director of the Power System Automation
Laboratory at Texas A&M. His research centers on the use of advanced
technologies to solve problems in power system control, protection, and
monitoring. He holds several awards and patents for advanced digital
technology applications. Dr. Russell is the President of the IEEE Power
Engineering Society. He chairs the annual Texas A&M Conference for
Protective Relay Engineers and the Conference on Substation Automation.
He is a registered professional engineer and a member of the Texas Society of
Professional Engineers.