Materials and Emerging Test Techniques

One main topic discussed by SC D1 is the understanding and improvement of insulation materials such as solids, liquids and gases and their combinations. The main driving forces for the power equipment is the demand for more compact power equipment, the use of power electronics as they will cover more areas and applications, and the use of vacuum circuit breakers because higher voltages will reach market maturity. Consequently, the electric fields within the insulation systems will increase and thus pose higher stress on these materials. This might in addition accelerate the aging processes. Another topic, which will influence the design and testing of power equipment in the future, is the increase of various diagnostic sensors, the improvement of their sensitivity, and compactness and their immunity against strong electric and magnetic fields. Physical integration of sensors will be a more common practice within power equipment, such as fiber optics in cables (temperature and tension control) and in transformers (temperature distribution, hot spots). These main topics and directions of the future WGs in SC D1, which will support the challenges of the electricity supply of the future, will be discussed in the following chapter.