AC Flashover Characteristics of Ice-Covered Suspension Insulators

The flashover of ice-covered suspension insulator string is one of the major problems for the transmission lines. In this paper, the AC flashover characteristics of FC-16p and XWP2-160 ice-covered suspension insulators with different contamination degree are investigated in the artificial climate chamber. The relationship between flashover voltage and contamination degree of insulator is analyzed. Results show that the AC flashover voltage of three units FC-16p ice-covered suspension insulator string is higher than that of XWP2-160 at the same contamination degree. The AC flashover voltage of ice-covered insulator increases with the decrease of contamination degree and the increase of the surface leakage distance of the insulators.