Simultaneous electrical and visual measurements of leakage currents along polymer insulators in artificial pollution tests

Various discharge phenomena of polymer insulators tested in a fog chamber are analyzed and discussed. The insulators are tested inside the chamber for a 500 hour-long test period. During this test period, the magnitude of the current waveshapes together with the visual appearance of the leakage current discharge activities along the polymer insulators are investigated. By employing a rather simple technique, a joint view of the discharge activity and its corresponding waveshape is possible. The events are recorded on video tapes and later on, played back at a slower speed for analysis purposes. Events that are particularly of interest are paused and captured by using a video capture board installed in an IBM(R) compatible personal computer (PC).