Field Evaluation of Polysil Outdoor Post-Type Insulators

A comprehensive program has been designed to evaluate the capabilities of Polysil insulation for outdoor applications in a wise variety of environmental conditions. The program will consist of eighteen 69-kV post-type insulators of varying designs, all made of Polysil, mounted on a fully instrumented rack and energized on various systems throughout the United States and Mexico. There will be 25 racks involved and these will be placed geographically in such a manner as to encounter as many different environmental conditions as possible. Instrumentation attached to the insulators will record various types of surface currents and correlate these with atmospheric conditions at the time of occurence. In addition, there will be nonenergized flat samples of the various Polysil formulations used to collect contaminants and be analyzed in laboratories on a periodic time basis. It is expected that data will be accumulated that will provide the utilities with information on types of materials, insulator designs, surfaces and economics for their particular local environmental conditions.