A novel method to measure the contamination level of insulators-spot contamination measurement

A practical method and test instrument for measuring the pollution severity on outdoor electric insulators were developed. The method is called Spot Contamination Measurement (SCM). The method can be used to assess contamination severity quickly and easily on a wide variety of outdoor insulators without removing them from the line. The method probes only a small area of the insulator surface, so it is useful to get information on the distribution of contamination deposition on the surface. The method takes into account the hydrophobic nature of contamination deposited on silicone rubber insulators.