Electrical characteristics of distribution polymer lightning arresters subjected to a water immersion test

In this paper we tried to assess the sealing characteristic of polymer lightning arresters (L.A.s). Sealing characteristic is one of the most important characteristics of L.A.s in order to prevent premature failure by moisture ingress into the L.A.s. In order to compare reliability of several specimens we put the specimens into the 95 [/spl deg/C] hot water and carried out characteristic analysis before and after water immersion treatment. After the immersion treatment, the assessment was carried out material analysis by chemical structure (FTIR:Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer). We also measured insulation resistance, leakage current and critical operation voltage for the reliability verification. In addition, the surface deterioration of housing material by immersion treatment was evaluated through the surface structure analysis.