2013 International Symposium on Lightning Protection (XII SIPDA), Belo Horizonte, Brazil, October 7-11, 2013
Metal-Oxide Surge Arrester’s Leakage Current
Analysis and Thermography
Wagner A. M. Ursine, José L. Silvino
Graduate Program in Electrical Engineering
Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
wagnerursine@ufmg.br
Abstract—Metal-Oxide arresters are used to protect
substation’s equipment against surges. Because their constructive
properties, a small current, called leakage current, flows through
them in normal operation condition. The resistive part of this
current is a good indicator of the arrester’s degradation state and
is also responsible for its heating. This paper discusses the use of
thermography and some methods that measure the leakage
current for autonomous monitoring of metal-oxide surge
arresters. Environment factors that contribute for its surface
temperature and, therefore, affect thermography results are
evaluated and discussed. In addition, a simple and direct current
measurement method is used to obtain the resistive current and
show its relation with thermography.
Keywords— surge arrester; thermography; leakage current;
I. INTRODUCTION
Reducing operating costs and improving quality of the
provided services, based on better management and consequent
increased availability of assets, are key points for electricity
companies. Investments in research and development in the
field of maintenance, combined with the experience acquired
over the years, enabled to start the creation of a knowledge
database that is a crucial pillar for the asset management.
Surge arrester is used in order to protect substations
equipment against overvoltages coming from the system itself
or lightning strikes. Such protection is very important when
regarding the reliability of these installations, making device
failure during request a critical matter. Its diagnosis can be
done by analyzing the leakage current and also by
thermography.
Thermography is the most widely adopted technique for
monitoring and diagnosis of substation equipment. However,
the transition from a qualitative to a quantitative approach still
requires efforts to determine the factors of influence and the
uncertainty associated with temperature measurements. The
quality of the data and deep knowledge about the equipment
are essential for the correct diagnosis of detected thermal
anomalies and choice of the best time for a replacement or
intervention.
Since the metal oxide surge arrester is usually connected
between one phase and earth, it presents a current flowing
continuously between its terminals, even in normal operating
conditions. This current is called leakage current and its value
can range from a few hundreds microamperes to some
978-1-4799-1344-2/13/$31.00 ©2013 IEEE
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Leonardo G. Fonseca, Roberto M. de Andrade
Graduate Program in Mechanical Engineering
Federal University of Minas Gerais - UFMG
Belo Horizonte, Brazil
miliamperes. The total leakage current ( ) is composed by a
capacitive component ( ) and a resistive component ( ). The
latter, called resistive current, is very small in relation to the
first, so-called capacitive current, causing the total leakage
current to be predominantly capacitive [1].
Automating the inspection and diagnosis of assets has
emerged as a plausible alternative within the context of
substation maintenance. The benefits go from the increase in
inspection frequency, forming an even richer database, to
process standardization and systematic application of
technology. Still, it is possible to unify the tasks of acquisition
and analysis for all equipment, creating an integrated platform
for maintenance management [2].
Given the surge arrester importance, it is essential that the
automatic monitoring systems contemplate its functioning,
properties and possible anomalies, being able to predict failures
and determine the best time to remove device from service.
Therefore, it becomes necessary to develop tools for its
analysis and study the parameters of interest for its diagnosis as
well.
II. DEVELOPMENT
A. Thermography and leakage current
The resistive component of the leakage current is
responsible for the heating of the surge arrester (in the absence
of external factors) and its increase is reflected as an increase in
the temperature of the equipment [3]. If the surge arrester is in
perfect condition, such heating is practically uniform on the
surface and will be within predetermined limits. On the other
hand, the occurrence of degradation may change the
distribution of currents in the arrester blocks. When this occurs,
the ZnO grains could be allowing the passage of an amount of
current higher or lower than normal. In the first case, the grain
behaves like a short circuit, increasing the current passing
through it and, consequently, decreasing the current in its
vicinity. In the second, the grain resembles an open circuit,
preventing the passage of current and generating a current
increase in its vicinity. These types of degradation generate the
appearance of hot spots or hot regions [4]. The leakage current
and thermography therefore display a relationship of
complementarity and can be combined to a more consistent and
detailed analysis.
297
B. Resistive current extraction
For the ideal case, an arrester that has no degradation and
operates with proper voltage, the leakage current can be
considered almost totally capacitive, as shown Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. Voltage and leakage current in a varistor
When the surge arrester undergoes some kind of
degradation, flaws or operates with a voltage above its rated
operating voltage, the resistive component becomes significant
enough to distort the ideal waveform of the leakage current, as
shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. Leakage current of a surge arrester on which the applied voltage is
greater than the rated voltage
In order to obtain only the portion of the resistive leakage
current, it is necessary to eliminate its capacitive part. Although
some methods utilize compensation capacitors and field
antennas, it is desirable that the measurement takes place
directly and with the equipment in full operation.
Whereas the waveform of capacitive current is almost
identical to the one of the voltage applied to the surge arrester,
it is possible to determine the capacitive part of the total
leakage current knowing only the waveform of the applied
voltage. In order to do this, the voltage waveform must be
scaled so that it has the same amplitude as the capacitive
current. Then, the modified voltage waveform is shifted until it
is in phase with the capacitive current. Consequently, one can
determine the resistive portion that flows through the device by
subtracting the capacitive amount of the total current. Fig. 3
shows a typical waveform of the resistive current.
Fig. 3. Voltage and Resistive current of a typical surge arrester
It is important to emphasize, in Fig. 3, that the position of
the resistive current peak value coincides with the peak value
of the applied voltage, as mentioned earlier.
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Other methods for extracting the resistive current can be
found in [1] [3] [5] [6].
C. Influence factors in thermography
The use of thermography for assessing the equipment
condition is well established, even if it is often underutilized or
misused. However, the lack of knowledge about the asset under
analysis is just the beginning of a chain of factors that can
destroy a thermographic inspection. It is not unusual to replace
equipment still in good condition or ignore one that effectively
requires more care. Such situations can occur either by
underestimating or by overestimating the problems (if / when)
detected [7]. The scenario can be even worse if an erroneous
quantitative approach is used to plan asset management. That
said, there is a need for greater reliability of thermographic
inspections so that the frequency at which decisions are made
based on incorrect information and mispriced cost is
minimized.
The reliability of thermographic inspections is subject to
intrinsic and extrinsic factors that affect the temperature
measurement, as well as the critical temperature values from
the detailed study of the relationship between temperature and
the actual condition of the equipment. Intrinsic factors are
related to errors introduced by the internal components of the
acquisition devices. Extrinsic factors are related to errors
introduced by the properties of the object of study and the
conditions to which it is subjected.
To determine the influence of some of intrinsic and
extrinsic factors present in the inspection, a series of
experiments dealing with the solar radiation, wind speed,
ambient temperature and also the parameters required by
infrared cameras for acquisition was performed.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
A. Solar radiation
For checking the influence of solar radiation on the surface
temperature, a surge arrester was placed in sun exposure
(without shade interference), for a period from 8 am to 4 pm.
Two pyranometer type solarimeters were positioned close to
the surge arrester for measuring diffuse and total radiation
received. The diffused radiation is obtained through the use of
a shading ring capable of blocking direct radiation. Thus, the
direct radiation can be determined by the difference between
the total and diffuse.
The environmental conditions were determined through
sensors positioned within a meteorological shelter. Such
conditions include atmospheric pressure, relative humidity and
temperature. The solarimeters and meteorological data were
collected every 15 minutes. Four thermograms spaced of 90°
were obtained hourly. The thermogram positions cover the
entire area of the arrester, with the pairs 1-3 and 2-4 being
diametrically opposed. Note that the wind speed during the
experiment was negligible.
Fig. 4 shows the equipment used. The results are presented
in Table I and Fig. 5.
 unnecessary increase in the inspection frequency of this
equipment.
Fig. 6 presents four thermograms representing the four
positions used in the experiment. Moreover, such thermograms
show the temperature measurements made at 4 pm.

Fig. 4. Solar radiation experiment

TABLE I. MEASURED TEMPERATURES – SOLAR RADIATION

EXPERIMENT

Environment Pos. 1 Pos. 2 Pos. 3 Pos. 4

Time Temp. Temp. Temp. Temp. Temp.
(℃) (℃) (℃) (℃) (℃)
08:00 26,2 28,6 29,2 29,4 28,8
09:00 27,4 31,7 32,3 32,3 31,4
10:00 30,1 34,6 35,8 34,6 34,1
11:00 32,0 35,8 36,3 34,8 35,0
12:00 34,3 38,0 38,8 37,6 37,4 Fig. 6. Thermograms from the four positions at 16 o’clock
13:00 35,0 40,1 39,6 38,5 39,0 Pos1: 35,0°C Pos2: 39,9°C Pos3: 37,5°C Pos4: 36,0°C
14:00 35,2 39,8 40,1 39,5 39,8
15:00 35,2 42,1 41,0 39,9 40,4
B. Wind speed
16:00 35,0 39,9 37,5 35,8 36,0 In this experiment, a surge arrester is energized inside a
wind tunnel. Maintaining a constant voltage, different wind
speeds are used to determine the behavior of the device. The
process is repeated for four voltage values and two types of
surge arrester, a new and a degraded one. Measurements were
carried out after the accommodation of the surge arrester
temperature, a process that takes about one hour. The current is
obtained through the shunt resistors and the temperature
through thermograms. The wind speed is monitored with a hot
wire anemometer.
The equipment used in the experiment can be seen in Fig.
7. The results are shown in Table II and Table III.

Fig. 5. Solar radiation during the day

As expected, the total radiation increases during the

morning until it reaches its maximum near noon. From then it
begins to decrease, reaching its minimum value measured at
the end of the experiment. The temperature values for each
position on the surface of the arrester vary according to the
amount of direct radiation received by it. While one region is at
an elevated temperature, other can be protected from direct
radiation and display temperature significantly lower.
Good examples are the values obtained at 16 o'clock for
positions 1 and 3, which are diametrically opposed. As the first
position receives direct radiation and displays a temperature of Fig. 7. Wind speed experiment
39,9±0,8℃, position 3 is at 35,8±0,6℃. In the worst case, the
temperature difference between these positions can reach
5,5℃, which, in a real situation, would recommend

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 TABLE II. RESULTS FOR NEW SURGE ARRESTER – WIND SPEED The temperature difference between the surge arrester and
EXPERIMENT
the ambient temperature in the absence of external influence
Voltage
Wind Ambient Surge Arrester Leakage Resistive should be a function of the thermal energy generated in the
(
)
Speed Temp. Temp. Current Current device due to the passage of the leakage current. The
(m/s) (℃) (℃) (
) (
) dissipation of this energy is then in charge of the processes of
0 25,9 26,6 0,24 0,06 radiation and convection. Since this temperature difference is
1 26,7 26,6 0,23 0,069 small (reaching a maximum value of 3°C for the new device
8000 3 27 29,5 0,24 0,055 and 6.3°C for the degraded) the convective heat transfer rate is
5 27,8 28,4 0,24 0,047 small. This situation is opposite to what happens with
10 28,5 31,5 0,24 0,037 connections and other equipment that are constantly driven by
0 29,5 32,5 0,25 0,059 high current and present high temperature. Furthermore, the
1 31 32,2 0,25 0,048 thermal conductivity of air is small, making the convective
9000 3 26,6 27,1 0,26 0,073 coefficient small and even more difficult to dissipate the heat
5 24,6 24,9 0,26 0,035 generated.
10 23,9 24,7 0,26 0,06
0 23,5 25,4 0,29 0,121
The increase in wind speed acts to increase the convective
1 23 24 0,29 0,112
coefficient, allowing greater heat exchange between the object
10000 3 23,3 24,1 0,29 0,094
and the fluid (air). However, this increase is not sufficient to
5 23,5 24 0,29 0,075
cause significant decrease in the temperature of the arrester. It
10 22,8 22,4 0,29 0,099
can be seen therefore that the energy balance resulting in the
0 23,6 25,4 0,33 0,188
final temperature of the surge arrester is very complex. This
temperature is not determinable only by knowing its resistive
1 24,5 26,1 0,33 0,175
current.
11000 3 25,7 26,9 0,32 0,16
5 25,5 26 0,32 0,154 C. Room temperature
10 26,7 27,6 0,33 0,159
The two surge arresters were energized with two different
voltage levels in a temperature-controlled room. The room
temperature was varied within the range allowed by the
TABLE III. RESULTS FOR DEGRADED SURGE ARRESTER – WIND SPEED refrigeration equipment and relevant data collected after the
EXPERIMENT
stabilization of the surface temperature. The data of interest in
Wind Ambient Surge Arrester Leakage Resistive this experiment are the temperature and leakage current of the
Voltage
Speed Temp. Temp. Current Current
(
) devices. The weather conditions were monitored by a digital
(m/s) (℃) (℃) (
) (
)
hygrometer and wind circulation was null.
0 28,2 30,3 0,29 0,079
1 28,9 30,6 0,28 0,075 Fig. 8 shows the equipment used in this experiment. The
8000 3 28,1 28,7 0,29 0,082 results are shown in Table IV and Table V.
5 27,1 28,2 0,29 0,078
10 26,4 26,3 0,29 0,069
0 24 26,4 0,32 0,091
1 24,8 26,7 0,33 0,093
9000 3 25,5 26,6 0,34 0,115
5 27 28,6 0,34 0,109
10 27,1 28,6 0,35 0,113
0 27,7 32,1 0,38 0,120
1 28 30,9 0,39 0,143
10000 3 28,3 30,5 0,4 0,156
5 28,2 30,1 0,41 0,134
10 27,7 29,6 0,4 0,169
0 27,3 33,6 0,48 0,220
1 26,5 30,7 0,48 0,173
11000 3 26,2 28,9 0,47 0,221
5 26,2 28,7 0,48 0,198 Fig. 8. Room temperature experiment
10 26 27,5 0,47 0,200

The resistive current does not appear to have a significant

relationship with wind speed in any of the tested devices. Its
small variation is attributed to the fluctuation of the voltage
applied, which contributes greatly to the value of the resistive
current. It is worth mentioning that the higher the applied
voltage, the greater the contribution of this current to the value
of the total leakage current.

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TABLE IV. RESULTS FOR NEW SURGE ARRESTER – ROOM TEMPERATURE surface temperature of a surge arrester was measured by
EXPERIMENT
thermocouples and compared to the values measured in a
Voltage Room Surge Arrester Resistive thermogram. Fig. 9 shows the equipment used for this
(
) Temp. Temp. Current experiment.
(℃) (℃) (
)
17,60 20,30 0,037
18,80 21,10 0,027
20,60 21,90 0,023
21,10 22,80 0,036
21,80 23,30 0,030
8000
22,80 24,10 0,021
23,10 24,80 0,032
24,00 26,30 0,072
25,00 27,40 0,059
26,00 28,40 0,074
18,90 22,40 0,110
21,40 25,70 0,124
22,00 26,60 0,134
11000
23,00 27,40 0,121
24,00 28,3 0,159 Fig. 9. Thermal camera parameters experiment
25,00 28,9 0,157
Initially, the measured values are arranged in Table VI.
TABLE V. DEGRADED SURGE ARRESTER RESULTS – ROOM
TEMPERATURE EXPERIMENT
TABLE VI. MEASURED VALUES – THERMAL CAMERA PARAMETERS
Room Surge Arrester Resistive Reflected Room Surge Arrester Thermocouple
Voltage Emissivity
Temp. Temp. Current Temp. Temp. Temp Temp.
(
) (℃)
(℃) (℃) (
) (℃) (℃) (℃) (℃)
18,90 21,80 0,062 27,4 0,92 17,6 20,1 19,2
20,30 22,60 0,057
20,90 23,70 0,070
8000 The variation of each parameter, while the others are held
21,80 24,90 0,065
23,10 26,80 0,088 constant and its influence on the temperature measured by the
24,50 27,90 0,078 thermogram are shown in Fig. 10, Fig. 11 and Fig. 12.
19,10 27,20 0,198
20,30 27,80 0,188
21,00 28,20 0,185
11000
21,90 27,20 0,129
23,00 28,10 0,146
23,60 30,20 0,183

Room temperature is a very important factor when the

power generation term (Ri^2) is small, as in the case of the
surge arrester. Considering the minimal influence of other
factors, it was expected that the difference between the surface
temperature and the room temperature remained constant for Fig. 10. Variation of surface temperature with average reflected temperature
all situations, a fact that was not observed. The rise in room
temperature appears to contribute slightly to the increase in
resistive current, however, it is not possible to assert that this
increase is primarily due to this factor in the room temperature
range tested.
D. Infrared camera parameters
Upon acquisition of a thermogram, some parameters of
thermal camera should be adjusted according to the object
properties and environmental conditions. Three of these
parameters stand out because they are considered important
sources of error in measuring temperature: emissivity, room
temperature and average reflected temperature. In order to
assess the consequences of the misuse of these variables, the

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Fig. 11. Variation of surface temperature with emissivity
Fig. 12. Variation of surface temperature with room temperature
The average reflected temperature was significant for
measuring the surface temperature of the surge arrester.
Considering it above its real value will result in an
underestimation of the surface temperature of the device. The
opposite case is also true. The situation is worse when
equipment’s emissivity is low, leading to high reflectivity. To
consider very low emissivity leads to absurd temperature
measurements. Values within a 5% range of the actual
emissivity value provided in the worst case, a difference of
0,3℃. In the experiment, the surface temperature showed a
close to logarithmic relationship with emissivity. The influence
of the emissivity can be even more drastic in cases where the
average reflected temperature is considered equal to the room
temperature. In this case, the variation of emissivity values
generates measurements completely different from the
expected, noting that such consideration can be quite harmful
to the inspections results.
Finally, it can be said that the room temperature value
inserted into the thermal camera is little influence on the
measurement result. In cases where the difference between the
considered temperature and the measured room temperature
was greater than 15℃, the surface temperature showed less
than 0,3℃ of variation. Therefore, even if the room
temperature measurement during inspection is rude, it does not
compromise the outcome of the equipment analysis. This
conclusion is also valid for low emissivity devices.
IV. CONCLUSION
This paper described a methodology for determining the
resistive current of metal-oxide surge arrester based on
measuring the total leakage and sampling a waveform
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representing the voltage applied. This methodology was
developed to be incorporated into a power substation
autonomous monitoring system and enable full evaluation the
arresters, acting as a complement to thermography.
Thermography was addressed in order to better identify the
factors influencing the measurement of surface temperature
and thus the diagnosis of thermal anomalies.
Performing an experiment to evaluate only one factor at a
time proved to be quite complex, since isolate the influence of
this factor requires a highly controlled environment. Outdoor
experiments, like solar radiation, imply the lack of control over
room temperature and wind speed, besides of impossibility of
leakage current measurement (for safety reasons).
For the wind tunnel, it was impossible to control the room
temperature or monitor the arrester temperature variation in
real time. Nevertheless, the results obtained indicate a direction
of improvement for monitoring and diagnosis of surge arrester.
The incidence of solar radiation caused distinct heating in
different regions of the device. The portion of greater relevance
is the direct radiation, and the region exposed to it had higher
elevation in surface temperature. The diffuse radiation caused a
lesser magnitude and near uniform heating across the surface.
The temperature difference between the regions of the surge
arrester due to solar radiation can be easily confused with one
caused by a thermal anomaly, causing erroneous diagnosis.
In the conditions in which they were conducted, the
experiments in the wind tunnel showed that the wind speed is
not an important factor for the surface temperature. In field
situations, the heating of the surge arrester is not only function
of the resistive current. Upon the occurrence of insolation, for
example, it is possible that the surge arrester reach
temperatures well above room temperature, enhancing the heat
exchange process. Thus, the wind speed could become much
more significant in the cooling process, being able to mask hot
spots.
In the experiment about the room temperature, the
difference between the surface temperature and room
temperature was attributed only to the resistive current, seeking
a relationship between this current and the difference between
the temperatures. However, despite an increase in the resistive
current cause an increase in temperature difference, it was not
possible to clearly determine an approximation to this
relationship.
The results of variation of the parameters of the cameras
thermals show that the value used for the ambient temperature
is little relevant for temperature measurement. The emissivity
is responsible for relate the amount of radiation received and
the temperature of an object. An error on this parameter causes
quite misleading measurements and may lead to temperature
underestimation or overestimation. Using a single value for all
equipment in an installation is assuming the risk of
compromising all diagnoses based on these measurements. The
average reflected temperature also proves to be important to
temperature measurement, even if the device has low
reflectivity. To consider the reflected temperature equal to the
room temperature would be plausible if equipment and people
were in thermal equilibrium. However, most of the objects near
the surge arrester do not meet that requirement, making it
necessary to measure the average reflected temperature upon
acquisition of thermograms.
Lack of knowledge about the uncertainties related to the
temperatures measured by thermography and the absence of
studies on the failure modes of the surge arrester and his real
symptoms can compromise the reliability of thermal
inspections. The application of quantitative thermography is
possible only from the increase in the quality and relevance of
information. From a rigorous metrological evaluation it is
possible to avoid very conservative and to implement more
efficient asset management, targeting the most opportune time
to carry out interventions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Lightning Research
Center (LRC) and the Thermometry Laboratory (LabTerm),
both from Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), for
their full support.
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