Methods for mapping salt pollution deposition in insulation

The present work proposes two methods for mapping the rate of pollution deposition on high voltage insulators over time: in the first method, it seeks to quantify the rate of deposition of pollution over time in a given region; in the second method, it seeks to determine how such pollution is deposited preferentially, considering spatial aspects, as in a given time interval. Both methods use small glass plates (test objects) as test samples and were tested at a 500 kV substation. In the first method, several glass plates are disposed in a place protected from rain, but not from the wind that brings pollution, and periodically one of them is extracted from the site and analyzed. In the second method, several glass plates are distributed throughout the substation, exposed to both pollution deposition and rain, removed after a determined period, several times. Both methods employ the equivalent salt deposit density for the quantification of salinity in the glass plates. As a result of a case study, it was possible to quantify the rate of saline pollution deposition (mg/cm
³
/day) in the equipment over the time of experimentation, as well as the spatial arrangement of pollution deposition in different areas of the substation, which has regions more prone to high salinity deposition.