Insulation Life Estimation of Low Voltage Self-Supporting XLPE Cables Installed in Electric Power Distribution Network of Ilam Province, Iran: A Case Study in Ilam Province Electric Power Distribution Company

In order to provide high-reliability services to customers, special attention to cables is essential as one of the important parts of the comprehensive planning of distribution networks. In aerial distribution networks with copper wire, some challenges such as environmental issues, electricity theft, stealing cables, and technical issues have led to the approach of Tavanir senior managers and distribution companies to provide an alternative way to solve the problems. Accordingly, for this purpose, cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)-insulated self-supporting cables have been used. However, the insulation problem of self-supporting XLPE-insulated cables is more apparent in different loading and weather conditions. On the other hand, no comprehensive model has been provided to estimate the insulation life of self-supporting cables and determine the remaining life of these cables. By taking into consideration the concerns arising from the estimation of the short life of self-supporting cables, in the present study, a model is presented to investigate the insulation aging status of self-supporting cables in Ilam Province Electric Power Distribution Company, Iran. In the present investigation, thermal aging tests were applied to determine the insulation properties of self-supporting cables, and an index called the “life endpoint index“ was presented and considered to be a 50% reduction in tensile strength. In this study, a neural network of type long short-term memory was employed to achieve the life endpoint index. Moreover, the insulation life of low-voltage self-supporting cables with XLPE insulation was estimated considering the impact of structural and environmental conditions.