Comparative Analysis of 420kN Cylindrical and Conical Head Suspension Porcelain Insulators

Porcelain insulators are basic and important insulation components on overhead power lines, in which zero-value deterioration can pose serious threat to the safety and stability of Chinese power grid. In this paper, a 420kN conical head insulator and a 420kN cylindrical head insulator are investigated in comparison with respect to the mechanical and electrical characteristics, and the stress and electrical field cloud maps of porcelain insulator are calculated by the finite element method (FEM). The simulation results show that the cylindrical head porcelain insulator appears to outperform the conical head porcelain insulator in terms of electrical performance under power frequency conditions; however, it seems to be inferior to the conical head counterpart in terms of stress distribution and electrical performance under transient impulse conditions. Nevertheless, further studies are called for to confirm the simulated results in the near future.