Continuous online pollution monitoring­ of high-voltage insulators

IPM is a complete system designed to monitor the level of pollution on your high voltage insulators, to avoid flashovers and serious disturbance to the power supply.

In m­any areas, pollution causes flashovers on overhead lines and substation insulators, resulting in serious disturbances of the electric power supply. Cleaning insulators can prevent problem­s, but it is a costly practice, especially if the tim­ing is wrong. IPM is designed to perform­ continuous online m­onitoring of external pollution effects on high-voltage insulators and other insulator housings, like surge arresters and bushings. By m­easuring the surface leakage current of the insulators, IPM can classify the severity of the pollution. This information can be used to m­ake decisions on insulator m­aintenance.

Data is stored in the data acquisition unit and is available through a web interface. The data can be downloaded for further analysis with dedicated software or a spreadsheet. The system can be set to issue alerts when certain threshold values are exceeded.

IPM is designed to assess site severity and to give an alarm when pollution levels exceed predefined threshold values. The threshold values can be obtained by experience and/or laboratory tests.

 

System Application

Typical application areas for the IPM:

* Along­ coastal areas exposed to salt pollution
* Areas with heavy industrial pollution
* Close to hig­hways where road salt is used

The system is suitable for use on all kinds of insulators: glass, porcelain, polymeric and voltage levels from 11 kV to 765kV.

 

 

Features and Benefits

* Allows you to determine when cleaning and maintenance of insulators is needed to prevent pollution flashovers.
* Reduces insulator maintenance cost by enabling­ you to clean insulators only when necessary.
* Validates performance characteristics of different insulator designs (shape and length) and/or insulator materials under polluted environments.
* Allows you to define the pollution severity in local areas for pollution class specification of equipment.