1242 Y. Liu et al.

: Nonlinear Characteristics of Leakage Current for Flashover Monitoring of Ice-covered Suspension Insulators

Nonlinear Characteristics of Leakage Current for Flashover

Monitoring of Ice-covered Suspension Insulators
Yong Liu1, 2, Masoud Farzaneh1 and B. X. Du2
1
Canada Research Chair on Engineering of Power Network Atmospheric Icing (INGIVRE) (www.cigele.ca)
Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, Qc, Canada
2
Key Laboratory of Smart Grid of Ministry of Education (Tianjin University)
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

ABSTRACT
This paper investigates nonlinear characteristics of leakage current (LC) for analyzing
and monitoring AC flashover performance of ice-covered suspension insulators. The
experiments were carried out in a cold climate room of CIGELE Laboratories
according to the methods recommended by IEEE Std. 1783/2009. The maximum
withstand voltage (VMW = 81 kVrms) and minimum flashover voltage (VMF = 84 kVrms)
were obtained to reflect electrical performance of suspension insulators under a most
dangerous ice type. The ice accretion process, the length, width and number of icicles
associated with the appearance of partial discharges were observed and discussed to
present the final formation of a relatively uniform ice layer and vertical icicles along
the insulator string. This ice-covered insulator string was characterized by air gaps on
the grounded-side shed space and complete ice bridging of the other shed spaces, which
have significant influence on the development of arcing discharges leading to flashover.
Nonlinear characteristics of LC were analyzed by using a recurrent plot (RP)
technique, which graphically gives nonlinear variations of LC on RP maps as well as
nonlinear indicators for quantitative prediction of the flashover. The obtained results
reveal that dynamic behavior (initiation, propagation, extinguishment and re-ignition)
of arcing discharges on ice-covered suspension insulators can be visually reflected by
the texture transition of RP maps of LC, which correlate with different stages during
the flashover process. The quantitative indicators including a recurrence rate (RR)
value lower than 0.24 and a deterministic (DET) value lower than 0.965 are proposed
as the predictive values to indicate the highest probability of flashover occurrence. The
results obtained will be helpful to predict most hazards of ice-covered outdoor
insulators; this is one of monitoring methods based on LC characteristic analysis.

Index Terms - ice-covered suspension insulator, wet-grown icing condition, AC

voltage, surface flashover, leakage current, nonlinear characteristics, performance
monitoring, flashover prediction.

1 INTRODUCTION mathematical models to predict the flashover voltage of ice-

covered insulators, as a function of electric field strength,
AS is generally known, ice accretion threatens reliable
voltage polarity, ice surface condition, presence of ice-free
operation of power systems in many cold climate countries [1-
zones, environmental conditions and insulator type and
3]. Much research has been published on surface flashover of
configuration. The latter mainly focuses on measurement and
ice-covered outdoor insulators. These investigations can be
analysis of leakage current (LC) on the insulator surface
mainly divided into two categories: one concerns the
during icing and melting periods [4-9], in order to develop
characteristics and mechanisms of flashover performance of
diagnostic criteria for monitoring icing severity and flashover
ice-covered insulators; the other is to provide the condition
imminence. So, it is a source of increasing interest from both
monitoring methods for preventing icing flashover. The
academics and utilities to investigate dynamic characteristics
former has contributed to establish experimental and
of LC for monitoring the performance of ice-covered
Manuscript received on 9 May 2015, in final form 8 September 2015, insulators.
accepted 9 September 2015.

DOI: 10.1109/TDEI.2015.005396

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 23, No. 3; June 2016 1243

As pointed in an earlier investigation [4], the flashover of relatively uniform wind through a diffusing honeycomb panel
iced suspension insulators can be initiated at lower values of by using a 10-fan system, through which wind velocity can be
LC, and the magnitude fluctuation and wave-shape variation controlled by changing the fan rotating speed.
of LC correspond to irregular discharge behaviors on the
insulator surface, as it is significantly affected by ice Table 1. Configuration, dimensions and parameters of each unit of the
experimental specimen.
components and ice density. Phan et al [5, 6] have measured
LC to investigate the electrical behavior of ice-covered Main Dimension and Parameters Configuration
insulators during growth and melting of icicles. Based on the Diameter (D) = 254 mm
magnitude variation of LC in relation with surface Height (H) = 146 mm
performance of ice-covered insulators, the LC was divided Leakage Distance = 305 mm
into four components to reveal different threshold values for
analyzing icing rate, melting rate, white arc and flashover, Number of Unit = 5 units
which depends on thickness of ice accumulation, ice type and Arcing Distance for 5 units = 809 mm
ambient temperature. Studies carried out at CIGELE reveal
temporal and frequency characteristics in the LC of ice-
covered station post insulators. It was proposed that the time
evolution of LC harmonics and phase angle variations
between LC and applied voltage can characterize ice
precipitation behavior on the insulator surface, which makes it
possible to detect the transition of ice accumulation period and
to identify the severity of ice accretion [7]. Moreover, an
artificial neural network model of LC was presented to
identify the evolution of surface discharges to flashover on an
ice-covered station insulator during the ice melting period, for
the purpose of predicting the flashover occurrence [8].
Comparing with investigations on other aspects, there are a
few publications on monitoring and diagnostic of outdoor (a) Photo of the cold-climate room.
insulators under icing conditions, which need further
investigation to reduce icing flashover hazards.
In this paper, based on LC distortion caused by dynamic
behavior of arcing discharges on ice-covered insulators [9],
nonlinear characteristics of LC are analyzed by using a
recurrence plot (RP) technique for the purpose of monitoring
surface flashover of ice-covered insulators.

2 EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES AND

PROCEDURE
2.1 EXPERIMENTAL FACILITIES
The experimental specimen is a 5-unit suspension ceramic
insulator string, with the schematic configuration, dimensions
and parameters listed in Table 1.
Figure 1 shows the experimental facilities used at CIGELE
Laboratories, including a picture of the cold-climate room
(Figure 1a) and the schematic diagram of the experimental
arrangement (Figure 1b). All the icing experiments were
carried out in the 4.8 m × 2.8 m × 3.5 m cold room, whose
lowest temperature is -30 °C. The ambient temperature inside
the room can be quickly reduced by heat exchange through the
mesh-grid ceiling and controlled by a proportional integral
and differential (PID) temperature controlling system with a
precision of ±0.2 °C. The water spraying system is mainly
composed of a water supply system and a wind generating
system. The former produces liquid water mixed with high-
pressure air spray on the insulator surface through 4 air
atomizing nozzles, which can oscillate along the vertical axis
of insulator string resulting in the formation of a uniform ice
thickness on the insulator surface; the latter generates a
(b) Schematic diagram of experimental setup.
Figure 1. Experimental facilities at CIGELE (Canada).
The AC high voltage is supplied by using an especially
designed power system for flashover experiments under icing
conditions. The rated voltage and power of the power source
are 120 kVrms at 60 Hz and 240 kV·A respectively, with a
short-circuit impedance of 5%. Both applied voltage and
leakage current (LC) can be simultaneously recorded by using
a synchronized measuring system based on a National
Instrument PCI-6251 DAQ device and a Labview
programmed software. The applied voltage is measured
through a resistance-capacitance (RC) divider directly
connected to the output of the HV power source, and the LC is
measured through a sampling resistance connected to a
grounded line.

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1244 Y. Liu et al.: Nonlinear Characteristics of Leakage Current for Flashover Monitoring of Ice-covered Suspension Insulators
2.2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
It should be noticed that wet-grown ice accretion
characterized by glaze accompanied with icicles is considered
as the most dangerous ice type for outdoor insulators, because
it has the highest probability of surface flashover [10, 11].
Therefore, wet grown ice was artificially accreted on the
experimental insulator to investigate the flashover process of
suspension insulators under this environment, in accordance
with the ice test procedures and evaluation methods
recommended in IEEE Std. 1783/2009 [12, 13].
The experimental parameters and procedure conducted in
this paper are shown in Table 2 and Figure 2 respectively, and
are detailed as follows.
1) Preparation for ice accretion - All the surfaces of the
insulator units were cleaned by using deionized water and
dried at room temperature. Then, the experimental insulator
string was fixed in the climate room without rotating and kept
under -12.0 °C for more than 16 hours, giving all the
specimens and experimental devices enough time to reach the
same temperature as that of the experimental environment.
2) Ice accretion - A constant voltage of 15 kVrms per
insulator unit was used as the applied voltage (V0 = 75 kVrms)
to the experimental insulator string during ice accretion.
Meanwhile, the water fed to the spraying system started was
contaminated by adding sodium chloride into deionized water
to obtain a conductivity of 30 μS/cm. The velocity of wind
associated with the spraying water was adjusted at 3.30 m/s.
The wind was generated through 10 fans vertically to the
specimen surface, producing a fixed and uniform wind
blowing on the windward face of the insulator string during
the accretion process. The ice accretion duration (t0) was fixed
at 90 minutes to obtain a 2-cm ice thickness on the specimen
surface, which was measured by using a monitoring rotating
cylinder with a diameter of 3.8 cm and a rotating speed of 1
rpm. According to the insulator icing test methods presented
in [13] and the determined icing conditions, only a one-time
measurement of the ice thickness was needed before
conducting the accretion tests.
3) Preparation for the flashover test – Immediately after the
water spraying system and the applied voltage were turned off,
the resulting ice accretion of the energized insulator strings
was photographed and some preparation work was carried out
for the flashover test. This preparation duration (ǻt0) was
strictly less than 2 minutes to make sure the water film on the
ice surface was not frozen.
4) Flashover test - The voltage was applied again on the
ice-covered insulator string at an increasing rate of 3.9 kV/s
controlled by an automatic system, until it reached the
estimated value of flashover voltage (VF), as shown in Figure
2. If no flashover occurred during a period of 15 minutes, the
test was stopped and the ice on the insulator string was
removed. After this, the same icing experiment was carried
out again following the procedures 1) to 3). Then, the
flashover test was conducted under the voltage level of
(VF+ǻV), where ǻV is the fixed voltage step by an increment
of 3 kV (less than 5% of the initially applied voltage). If the
flashover occurred under the voltage level of VF, the same
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experimental procedure was conducted on the specimen
except for the voltage level of the flashover test under (VF-
ǻV). Therefore, under the same icing condition, the voltage
level under which the flashover did not occur for 3 flashover
tests was determined as the maximum withstand voltage
(VMW), while the voltage level under which the flashover
occurred for 2 flashover tests was determined as the minimum
flashover voltage (VMF). During these flashover tests, both the
applied voltage and LC in relation with the lapse time were
simultaneously recorded with the sampling frequency of 10
kHz. Each flashover test was carried out only one time under
the settled icing condition and predetermined applied voltage
level.
Table 2. Experimental parameters for ice accretion.
Water conductivity 30±2 μS/cm at 20 °C
Climate room temperature -12.0±0.2 °C
Wind velocity 3.30±0.01 m/s
Support oscillating rate 16 rpm
Applied voltage during ice accretion 75 kVrms
Ice accreting duration 90 min
Ice thickness measured by rotating
2.0 cm
monitoring cylinder
Data sampling frequency 10 kHz
Figure 2. Experimental procedure and determination method for maximum
withstand voltage (VMW) and minimum flashover voltage (VMF).
3 CLASSIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF
SURFACE PERFORMANCE OF AN ICE-
COVERED INSULATOR
3.1 SURFACE PERFORMANCE ON A SUSPENSION
INSULATOR STRING DURING
ICE ACCRETION
Due to specific control of the experimental conditions, the
ice accretion to flashover related phenomena show repeatable
and reproducible characteristics. Figure 4 shows the surface
performance on the energized insulator string during ice
accretion, including both surface discharge phenomena and
physical performance of wet-grown ice. At the onset (Figure
4a), the accretion of icicles can be observed at the edges of
insulator sheds due to the accumulation of freezing rainfall
vertically along the air space between the insulator sheds (G1
to G5). With increasing precipitation of super-cooled water
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
droplets, the length, width and number of icicles showed an
increasing tendency, and icing layers can also be observed to
form and become thicker on the upper surface of the insulator
sheds, as shown in Figures 4b and 4c.
With the variation of icicle characteristics, the distribution
and strength of the electric field along the insulator string can
be distorted to produce local intensification. Once the electric
field strength is higher than the threshold value of air
breakdown, partial arcing discharges can be observed between
the icicles and the metal fittings or between the icicles and the
ice-covered upper surfaces along the insulator string. With the
shortening of air gaps resulting from ice accretion, the
discharges were increasingly strengthened to show a brighter
light. Although the discharges can produce heat energy that
may influence droplet freezing, this influence is much lower
than heat transfer by forced convection between the climate
room and the environment, which can stabilize the
experimental temperature at around -12°C. Therefore, the
icicles kept on growing to progressively shorten the spaces
between the insulator sheds, until some of them (G2 and G3)
were completely bridged due to the icicle buildup. The
discharge arcs were also extinguished at G2 and G3, while
they became stronger at other air gaps (G1, G4, G5) due to the
decreasing air gap and the increasing voltage gradient, as
shown in Figures 4d and 4e. Figure 4f shows the final stage of
the icing formation on the insulator surface, displaying the
characteristics of a relatively uniform ice-covered layer and
vertical icicles along the insulator string. Air gaps can be
observed on the top of the insulator string (grounded side),
which is caused by the precipitation characteristics of freezing
water droplets associated with more and stronger discharge
activities during the ice accretion regime.
3.2 ELECTRICAL PERFORMANCE OF ICE-
COVERED SUSPENSION INSULATOR DURING
FLASHOVER
After the ice accretion regime, a series of flashover tests
were carried out to obtain the minimum flashover voltage
(VMF = 84 kVrms) and the maximum withstand voltage (VMW =
81 kVrms), as shown in Figure 5. Therefore, the flashover tests
can be divided into two groups according to whether or not
there is flashover occurrence.
Figure 4. Surface performance on the experimental insulator string during the ice accretion regime.
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Vol. 23, No. 3; June 2016 1245
As the experimental parameters for ice accretion were fixed
(Table 2), the corresponding stage of ice accumulation on the
insulator string surface can be obtained. The different results
obtained during the flashover tests are mainly dependent on
the dynamic behavior and varying characteristics of surface
discharges on ice-covered insulators. So, two approaches will
be used for the analysis of surface discharge phenomena and
for the underlying variation of LC during the flashover
process. Therefore, the monitoring method based on nonlinear
characteristics analysis of LC is proposed to investigate the
propagation of surface discharges to flashover arc on ice-
covered insulators, and to establish the predictive values of
flashover occurrence.
Figure 6 shows the initiation and propagation of surface
discharges on an ice-covered suspension insulator during the
flashover process. Due to the accumulation characteristics of
the ice accretion on the insulator surface and the complete
icicle bridging of the air gaps of the shed spacing (Figure 4),
the partial arcing discharges were firstly observed across the
upper two air gaps (G4 and G5) with increasing the applied
voltage, as shown in Figure 6a. The reason for the initiation of
discharge arcs in air gaps is that the ice accretion causes the
uneven distribution of the electric field so that ice melting can
be ignored due to the rapid increase in applied voltage to the
certain value. At this stage (Stage I), the ice-covered insulator
string mainly shows a capacitive performance. As the
permittivity of ice is greater than that of air and, conversely, as
air has a relatively lower breakdown voltage, most of the
electric field strength along the insulator string is sustained in
the air gaps, which can cause the occurrence of discharge arcs
at those positions (G4 and G5). However, discharges at this
stage are weak and instable, resulting from the combined
action of ignition and re-ignition characteristics of AC arcs
and the inhibiting influence of ice melting.
With the development of partial arcing discharges and ice
melting, stronger partial local arcs are generated to shorten the
air gaps, as shown in Figure 6b. Due to the conductive
properties of discharge arcs, most of voltage gradient are
imposed to the ice-covered units, which significantly changes
the distribution of the electric field along the insulator string.
Under the heating effects produced by the partial local arcs
and the increased current, melting of the wet-grown ice layer
1246 Y. Liu et al.: Nonlinear Characteristics of Leakage Current for Flashover Monitoring of Ice-covered Suspension Insulators
is accelerated, causing droplets to form and drip along the
insulator string. Therefore, a conductive layer is formed on the
ice due to the rejection of conductive impurities (Na+ and Cl-)
from the applied contaminated water. This contributes to
sustain local arcs in the air gaps and to establish another
ignition of arcing path from the HV electrode, as shown in
Figure 6c. With the increase of the heat generated by the
energy from discharge activities together with the Joule
energy from LC, ice melting is enhanced to produce enough
energy from the applied voltage in order to sustain the
propagation of local arcs, as shown in Figure 6d. Once the
dynamic arcs from the HV electrode side propagate to connect
with the stable local arcs in the air gaps, the complete
flashover of the ice-covered suspension insulator string is
mainly caused by the initiation and stability of air-gap
discharges and the dynamic propagation of arcing discharges
along the ice layer. These discharge performances on the ice-
covered insulator were recorded in the form of underlying
variations of LC, whose characteristics can be extracted to
reveal transitions from surface discharges to flashover arc.
4 LC ANALYSIS
4.1 TEMPORAL VARIATION OF LC
DURING THE FLASHOVER
In relation with the development of discharge phenomena
on the ice-covered insulator during the flashover process, LC
was recorded from the voltage application to the flashover
occurrence. In order to clearly show the temporal
characteristics of LC prior to the flashover, some typical
waveforms were taken out in time series from the whole
process, as shown in Figure 7, which is also in accordance
with the evolution of surface discharges from stages I to V
during the flashover test of Figure 6. It was found that the
LC waveform distortion at “Stage I” is significantly different
from those at other stages, which is dependent upon the
Figure 6. Propagation of surface discharges to the flashover on the ice-covered insulator string.
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electrical properties of the ice-covered insulator. At Stage I
(the initial stage of voltage application for the flashover test),
the dominated acts on the insulator surface concern the
capacitive ice layer with unstable and weak arcing discharges
in the air gaps, leading to a triangular waveform containing
some sawtooth shapes. The tip parts of LC waveform look
sharper with a lower amplitude.
90
VMW = 81 kV rms
VMF = 84 kV rms
Flashover Test (kVrms)
Applied Voltage for
85 Flashover Flashover
Withstand Withstand Withstand
80
75
70
Flashover Tests
Figure 5. Determination of maximum withstand voltage (VMW) and minimum
flashover voltage (VMF).
Except for stage I, the LC waveforms are almost the same
as the pulse shapes, but show a tendency of the amplitude to
increase, which is associated with an increase in intensity of
arcing discharges on the insulator surface. It should be noted
that the applied voltage is sufficient enough to supply the
necessary energy for the ignition and re-ignition of the
discharge arcs at both positive and negative half cycles which
are extinguishing when the arc passes through the zero point.
Such transition in both waveform and magnitude of LC from
stages II to V clearly reflects the discharge performance on the
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
ice-covered insulator. Due to the stable discharge arcs formed
in the air gaps (Figures 6b to 6e), the insulator surface is
dominated by the discharges compared with the conductive
current passing through the ice-melting layer. Therefore, the
enhancing development of discharge arcs from the HV
electrode side increases the LC amplitude, but causes little
change in the LC waveforms.
Based on the observation of discharge phenomena and the
analysis of LC temporal variation, it can be shown that the
flashover occurrence is related to the dynamic behavior
(initiation, propagation, extinguishment and re-ignition) of the
arcing discharges. Flashover seems to occur suddenly through
visual observation at a certain LC level as some researcher
reported [14-16]. However, different researchers gave
different amplitude values for predicting the flashover
occurrence, which needs further investigation on the
monitoring method for the flashover prediction of ice- covered
insulators. In recent years, surface discharges on outdoor
insulators have been proved to be nonlinear, which can be
investigated by using nonlinear analyzing methods to extract
the underlying mechanism and transition of surface discharges
to flashover [16-18]. Therefore, a nonlinear analysis method
named recurrent plot (RP) was selected to extract the internal
characteristics from time series of LC signals, providing a
graphical framework to visualize the aperiodic degree of LC
time sequences in a m-dimensional phase space [16, 18]. So,
the nonlinear characteristic of LC signals related to the
dynamic variation on the insulator surface can be reflected on
a RP map, which is visualized by the variation of high-density
points in a rectangular block structure. On this map,
homogeneous patterns reveal the stationary and regular
variation of the given LC signals. More detailed information
of this can be found in our previous papers [16, 18-21].
(a) Stage I
(d) Stage IV
Figure 7. Temporal variation of LC on the ice-covered insulator just prior to the flashover.
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Vol. 23, No. 3; June 2016 1247
4.2 NONLINEAR LC CHARACTERISTIC ANALYSIS
Although the traditional monitoring technique based on LC
levels is useful to specify the surface performance of outdoor
insulators under various conditions, it is also found to not
always match the discharge activities propagating along the
insulator surface [22, 23]. As the discharges show complex
and irregular properties, non-linear characteristic analysis of
LC can help to understand the underlying propagation of
surface flashover. Therefore, this paper continues the work on
the development of monitoring methods for outdoor insulators
by using the recurrent plot technique, which provides a
graphical framework for dynamic changes and underlines
characteristics of LC for monitoring surface performance of
ice-covered outdoor insulators. Figure 8 shows an example for
RP maps of LC by using the RP technique to reveal LC
nonlinear variations in relation with the propagation of surface
discharges on an ice-covered insulator during the flashover
process. In this figure, the axes are the number of LC data
related to the lapse time of 1s used in the calculation. Based
on the calculating procedures detailed in our previous papers
[18, 19], the specific parameters in this paper are as follows:
the delay time IJ=10 (1 ms) and the embedding dimension m=3
were chosen according to the C-C method [24] and the
threshold value (İ) was selected as 0.25ı, where ı is the
standard deviation of LC in the time series.
It was shown that the RP topological structures are
significantly different from one stage to another, from the
initial discharges to just prior to flashover. The distribution
of dense points in the RP maps are related to the stationary
performance of surface discharges on the insulator and
the white blank components correspond to the transition
of different discharge performance. In other words, the
(b) Stage II (c) Stage III
(e) Stage V
1248 Y. Liu et al.: Nonlinear Characteristics of Leakage Current for Flashover Monitoring of Ice-covered Suspension Insulators

concentration of RP points is related to the sustained burning shown in Figure 8d. Such non-stationarity and complexity of the
of discharge arcs and the white blanks are related to the RP structure reveals that there is little correlation among the
extinguishing of surface discharges. Such alternating texture discharge activities. Once one of these arcing discharges
in an RP map indicates the ignition, propagation and re- indiscriminately becomes long enough, it will dominate the
ignition of surface discharges on their way to flashover. discharge performance on the insulator, and essentially cause
At stage I (Figure 8a), the RP map is characterized as a the flashover, which can be characterized by the dominated
random distribution of RP points. It indicates less correlation concentration of one dense RP point area, as shown in Figure 8e.
between the embedding vectors of LC, which is consistent with
the discharge activities on the insulator, as shown in Figure 6a. 4.3 QUANTITATIVE NONLINEAR INDICATORS OF
With the development of surface discharges from stages II to V, LC FOR FLASHOVER PREDICTION
the RP maps (Figures 8b to 8e) show a prominent characteristic
By calculating the quantitative indicators of nonlinear
that is the separation of dense RP point areas, which is due to
characteristics of LC [25], the recurrence rate (RR) and
the fact that the arcing discharges are becoming relatively stable
deterministic (DET) values were obtained to identify their
on the insulator surface (Figure 6). However, by comparing
varying characteristics in relation with the propagating stages
Figures 8b to 8e, individual characteristics can also be obtained.
of surface discharges during the flashover tests of the ice-
At stage II, the RP map is almost entirely covered with RP
covered suspension insulator, as shown in Figure 9. The
points, except for a few regions of white blanks, which indicates
values shown in Figure 9 were obtained based on RP maps of
that most of discharge activities on the insulator surface are
LC during all the flashover and withstand tests, which are
stable arcing discharges. This relatively deterministic structure
related to the reproducibility of both the discharge phenomena
and high degree of regularity suggest less complex discharge
and the obtained data discussed above. The RR value reveals
activities, which are initiated and sustained in the air gaps
the nearness degree of different vectors obtained by the
formed during the ice accretion regime. At stage III, the dense
reconstruction of LC time sequences in the phase space, where
RP point areas are divided into more components by the white
the increasing closeness of two vectors is reflected by a bigger
blanks, which is due to the appearance of arcing discharges
RR value. The DET value is related to the connectedness
from the HV electrode side. However, with the propagation of
relationship of isolated points with each other in the diagonal
these arcing discharges from the HV electrode side to the
direction of a RP map, where a bigger DET value indicates the
grounded side, the occurrence of ignition and re-ignition of
presence of more deterministic elements in the investigated
discharge arcs show randomly developing tracks, which is
LC signals.
reflected by an increase of number of dense RP point areas, as
10000 10000 10000

8000 8000 8000

Number of LC Data

Number of LC Data
Number of LC Data

6000 6000 6000

4000 4000 4000

2000 2000 2000

0 0 0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Number of LC Data Number of LC Data Number of LC Data
(a) Stage I (b) Stage II (c) Stage III

10000 10000

8000 8000
Number of LC Data

Number pf LC Data

6000 6000

4000 4000

2000 2000

0 0
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Number of LC Data Number of LC Data
(d) Stage IV (e) Stage V
Figure 8. Nonlinear variation of LC reflected in RP maps during the flashover process of an ice-covered insulator.

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
The nonlinear characteristics of LC under both flashover
and non-flashover conditions were quantitatively represented
during the whole process, where the obtained value is the
average of all the experiments. As shown in Figure 9a, it was
found that the RR value decreases with the propagating stages
of surface discharges during the flashover process, while
showing an inflection point during the withstand process,
where the RR value decreases to about 0.3 (lowest value) and
then shows an increasing tendency. The same varying
tendency can also be found for the DET values, as shown in
Figure 9b, where the lowest value for the withstand process
was about 0.97. Therefore, in accordance with the surface
discharge phenomena and the related nonlinear variation of
LC, the predictive values for the flashover occurrence can be
obtained. It is suggested that the quantitative nonlinear
indicators of LC at the conditions of a RR value lower than
0.24 and a DET value lower than 0.965 can predict the highest
probability of flashover occurrence for the ice-covered
suspension insulator.
1 Flashover
No Flashover
0.8
0.6
RR
0.4
0.2
Stage I Stage II Stage III Stage IV
0 values for the highest probability of flashover occurrence.
Different Stages During Flashover Test
(a) RR variation during the flashover test.
1 for monitoring outdoor insulators. However, from the
Flashover
0.99 No Flashover
0.98
DET
0.97
0.96
0.95
Stage I Stage II Stage III Stage IV
0.94
Different Stages During Flashover Test
(b) DET variation during the flashover test.
Figure 9. Quantitative nonlinear indicators of LC for flashover prediction of
ice-covered suspension insulator.
5 CONCLUSIONS
Based on artificial ice accretion and flashover experiments
on a suspension insulator string, the surface was analyzed to
study the process and phenomena of both ice accumulation
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Vol. 23, No. 3; June 2016 1249
and surface flashover. Nonlinear characteristics and related
quantitative indicators of leakage current (LC) were
investigated by using the recurrent plot (RP) technique to
reveal underlying variation characteristics of surface
discharges during the flashover and to propose a monitoring
method and predictive values for the flashover occurrence.
The main conclusions drawn are as follows.
1) A relatively uniform ice layer and vertical icicles were
finally formed along the insulator string during the ice
accretion process, which is mutually affected by the increase
in length, width and number of icicles associated with the
appearance of partial discharge arcs. This is characterized by
the presence of air gaps on the grounded-side shed space and
by complete ice bridging of the other shed spaces.
2) Both maximum withstand voltage (VMW = 81 kVrms) and
minimum flashover voltage (VMF = 84 kVrms) were obtained to
assess the electrical performance of the 5-unit suspension
insulator string under wet-grown icing conditions, which is
considered as the most dangerous type of ice for outdoor
insulators.
3) The nonlinear variation of LC in RP maps can
graphically reveal the dynamic behavior (initiation,
propagation, extinguishment and re-ignition) of arcing
discharges on an ice-covered suspension insulator, by
visualizing the propagation of surface discharges at different
stages during the flashover process.
4) The nonlinear indicators of LC can be obtained to
quantitatively monitor the propagation of surface discharges
to flashover on an ice-covered suspension insulator. A
recurrence rate (RR) value lower than 0.24 and a deterministic
(DET) value lower than 0.965 are proposed as the predictive
Stage V
The results obtained in this paper propose a graphical
monitoring method to predict most hazards of ice-covered
outdoor insulators, which is one of methods in development
viewpoint of increasing requirements for safety and reliability
of power systems, more work is still needed to develop
monitoring methods based on information extraction from LC
characteristics during the operating lifetime of outdoor
insulators.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research work was carried out within the framework of
the NSERC/Hydro-Quebec/UQAC Industrial Chair on
Stage V Atmospheric Icing of Power Network Equipment (CIGELE)
and the Canada Research Chair on Engineering of Power
Network Atmospheric Icing (INGIVRE) at Université du
Québec à Chicoutimi, in collaboration with the support from
Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (Grant
51277131), National Basic Research Program of China
(Program 973, Grant 2014CB239501 and 2014CB239506).
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Yong Liu (M’12) was born in Tangshan, China, on
December 8, 1980. He received the M.E. and Ph.D.
degrees in electrical engineering from Tianjin
University, China, in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
Since 2009, he has been a Lecturer at School of
Electrical Engineering and Automation in Tianjin
University, China. He is now working as a Research
Fellow with the NSERC/Hydro-Quebec/UQAC
Industrial Chair on Atmospheric Icing of Power
Network Equipment, Canada. His main research
interests are ageing evaluation and performance monitoring of outdoor
insulators.
Masoud Farzaneh (M'83-SM'91-F’07) is Director-
founder of the International Research Center
CENGIVRE, Chairholder of the NSERC/Hydro-
Quebec/UQAC Industrial Research Chair CIGELE,
and Chairholder of the Canada Research Chair
INGIVRE related to power transmission engineering
in cold climate regions, at University of Québec at
Chicoutimi (UQAC). His field of research
encompasses high voltage and power engineering,
including the impact of cold climate on overhead
transmission lines. He has authored or co-authored about 600 technical papers,
and 17 books or book chapters. To date Professor Farzaneh has trained about
130 postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Actively involved with
IEEE and CIGRÉ, he was President of IEEE DEIS for 2013, and is member of
the Editorial Board of IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical
Insulation, Convenor of CIGRE WG B2.44 on coatings for protection of
overhead lines during winter conditions, as well as member of the Executive
Committee of CIGRE Canada. He is a Fellow of The Institution of
Engineering and Technology (IET) and Fellow of the Engineering Institute of
Canada (EIC). His contributions and achievements in research and teaching
have been recognized by several prestigious prizes and awards at national and
international levels.
Boxue Du (M’00-SM’04) received the M.E. degree in
electrical engineering from Ibaraki University in 1993
and the Ph.D. degree from Tokyo University of
Agriculture and Technology in 1996. He was with
Niigata College of Technology, Japan and was an
Associated Professor. Since 2002, he has been a
Professor at Department of Electrical Engineering,
Tianjin University, China. His research interests focus
on dielectric failure mechanisms of polymer insulating
materials, electrical insulation technology, monitoring
of outdoor insulators and partial discharge measurements. He is a member of
IEEJ and senior member of CSEE.