Study on the Effect of Acid Rain on Polymeric Insulator through Experimental and Computational Method

Acid rain is one of the most severe environmental contaminants which degrades polymeric insulator material. This paper reports the flashover voltage analyses of a Silicone Rubber sample and 11 kV polymeric insulator subjects to acid rain. A weak organic acid is prepared as an alternative to Sulphuric acid with the same pH and electrical conductivity. The AC flashover voltage of the SiR sample and the 11 kV polymeric insulator is measured with the weak organic citric acid. The results indicate that as the electrical conductivity increases, the flashover voltage decreases. The Electric Field and Leakage current are analyzed through a Finite Element Method based Solver. A linear fit is used to correlate computational and experimental work. The measurement in flashover voltage of 11kV insulator is further extended to DC Flashover Voltage measurement and compared with the AC flashover Voltage.