Leakage current analysis of porcelain disc insulator subjected to unusual pollutants

One of the critical and common factors affecting the reliability of the power transmission network has been pollution flashover of outdoor insulators under polluted conditions. Most commonly seen pollution sources polluting the outdoor insulators are marine and industrial pollution. In the recent incidents of pollution flashover of insulators, it has been observed that unusual pollutants derived out of pollution sources such as vehicular traffic, brick kilns and burnt waste of agricultural dry crop have led to the pollution flashover of outdoor polluted insulators and resulted into partial blackouts. The other unusual pollution sources which may affect the performance of outdoor insulators are soap foam and fertilizer spray, when the transmission lines traverse through dhobighats and agricultural fields respectively. In the present work, an experimental analysis of leakage current of a porcelain disc insulator subjected to unusual pollutants such as soap foam and fertilizer spray of type NPK (Nitrogen(N) phosphorous(P) and potassium(K)), ammonium sulphate((NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 ) and potassium (K 2 O) has been carried out. The results of the experimental analysis revealed that the soap foam seems to be more prominent for pollution flashover of insulators in comparison with other pollutants considered in the present study.