An experimental study on the flashover of 10kV indoor and outdoor power apparatus insulators

In order to study the performance of indoor and outdoor insulators on flashover, and to preliminarily analyze the factors that influence the flashover performance, 4 types of insulators were selected for experiment. Power frequency voltage was applied to these insulators and various environment conditions were simulated using solid layer method according to national standards. Comparisons were made between outdoor and indoor post insulators, as well as 3 different kinds of outdoor insulators. Conclusions were achieved: the indoor post insulators have a much lower initial discharge voltage comparing to outdoor ones; initial discharge voltage does not decrease too much as long as the surface of the insulator is dry even if its polluted; flashover is much easier to happen if the surface of insulator is wet, especially when its polluted; pollution resisting pin type insulators have the best flashover performance; for one shed on the pin type insulators, initial discharge voltage could be increased for about 24kV in power frequency voltage; initial discharge voltage is positively corelated to the creepage distance of insulators.