Design Optimization of Polymeric Insulators Under Various Environmental Conditions

Outdoor insulator failures have adverse effects on transmission and distribution networks. One of the major reasons for the insulator failure is environmental conditions such as heavy wetting, heavy pollution, high altitude and haze. These conditions alter the electric field, causing an increase in probability of flashover in insulators. Reduction in the electric field can be achieved by optimizing field-sensitive parameters of an insulator such as end metal fittings (triple point junction) diameter, shed spacing, shed diameter and corona ring. 11kV and 220kV polymeric insulators are taken for the study by integrating the Finite Element Method and linear optimization. The effectiveness of optimization is validated using field analysis under various environmental conditions for both the original and optimized insulators. The obtained results show the reduction of electric field in every environmental conditions taken which is desirable.