Evaluation of ceramic insulators for UHVDC transmission

Currently there is a significant requirement for the electrical energy across the globe. Many countries including India are adopting ultra high voltage (UHV) AC and DC transmission. HVDC transmission is increasingly being adopted for long distance transmission for evacuating huge power transfer in comparison to UHVAC. The design of overhead transmission insulators for UHVDC particularly during contaminated conditions is an important issue faced by the utilities. In the present investigation exhaustive simulation studies are conducted under different environmental conditions on three types of newly developed HVDC insulators used for ± 500 kV and ± 800 kVDC transmission. It is also known in case of faulty discs in a string, redistribution of field and potential occurs, hence estimation of surface potential, electric field is conducted by using a code developed based on surface charge simulation method (SCSM). Some experiments are conducted using the developed HVDC experimental facility. It is believed the results obtained from the study will be useful to the utility and design engineers.