Wet Snow Flashover Characteristics of 500-kV AC Insulator Strings with Different Arrangements

Abstract

In order to study the wet snow flashover characteristics of 500-kV AC insulator strings under different arrangements, wet snow flashover tests were carried out in the large climate chamber of China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI). The wet snow flashover voltages were obtained by the even-rising method and the flashovers were filmed by a camera. The test results showed that the installation of an anti-icing shed of large diameter could increase the wet snow flashover voltage. The distance between the two insulators was a key parameter that influenced the discharge process and the flashover voltage. Under Λ-string arrangement, for common insulators, the flashover performance of iced insulators increased with the connection angle; for anti-icing insulators, the flashover performance increased at first and then decreased with the connection angle. In wet snow conditions, when the connection angle was at the commonly adopted angle of 60°, the flashover performance of the common insulators under the V-string and Λ-string arrangements was almost the same. For anti-icing insulators, however, the V-string arrangement was recommended according to the tests. The results obtained in this study can provide a reference for external insulation design in wet snow conditions.

Keywords

• wet snow flashover
• Λ-string
• II-string
• V-string
• shed type