Finite Element Analysis on Post Type Silicon Rubber Insulator Using MATLAB | ISSN: 2321-9939

Finite Element Analysis on Post Type Silicon Rubber

Insulator Using MATLAB
1
Vishal Kahar,2Ch.v.sivakumar, 3Dr.Basavaraja.B
Department of Electrical Engineering
1,2
Parul Institute of Engineering &Technology, Vadodara, Gujarat, India.
3
GITAM University, Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh, India.
1
[email protected],2 [email protected],3 [email protected]

Abstract: This paper presents the analysis of potential and Similarly, for high voltage insulators, during the first
electric distribution characteristics of outdoor polymer three quarters of the 20th century, the only material of choice
insulator. Silicone rubber provides an alternative to porcelain for an outdoor high voltage insulator was porcelain. Natural
and glass regarding to high voltage (HV) insulators and it has occurring resins and gums that were available within the early
been widely used by power utilities since 1980s owing to their part of the 20th century were shellac. Later, in 1907, rubber is
superior contaminant performances. Failure of outdoor high created by Dr Baekland synthetic phenol formaldehyde. These
voltage (HV) insulator often involves the solid air interface two early polymer materials had good indoor properties, but
insulation. As result, knowledge of the field distribution being organic, with a carbon backbone in its chain, had a very
around high voltage (HV) insulators is very important to poor track resistance. Later, during 1930s and 1940s, newer
determine the electric field stress occurring on the insulator synthetic resins were developed and some of the earliest
surface, particularly on the air side of the interface. Thus, polymer insulators were made of butyl and acrylic materials.
concerning to this matter, this project would analyze the However, while they enjoy some commercial success, they
electric field distribution of energized silicone rubber high quickly become obsolete because of high cost, limited
voltage (HV) insulator. And the simulation results of electric manufacturing, versatility and most importantly, inadequate
field and potential distributions along surface of silicone performance for high voltage application in outdoor
rubber polymer insulators under clean and contamination environments The development and application of
conditions. For comparative purposes, the analysis is based on cycloaliphatic epoxy helped to address the resin deficiency but
two conditions, which are silicon rubber insulators with clean did not able to address the coefficient of thermal expansion
surfaces and silicon rubber insulators with effect of water problem at the fiberglass rod or housing interface.
droplets on the insulator surface. Finite element method Compounding materials to correct this compatibility problem
(FEM) is adopted for this work. The electric field distribution resulted in depolymerization of the molded sheds in warm,
computation is accomplished using MAT LAB-PDE TOOL humid environments which led to electromechanical failure
software that performs two dimensions finite element method. Structure of a polymer insulator is shown in Fig. 1. The basic
The objective of this work is to comparison of both the design of a polymer insulator is as follows; fiber reinforced
alternative shed and straight shed type insulators under the plastic (FRP) core, attached with two metal fittings, is used as
effect of contamination on potential and electric field the load bearing structure. The presence of dirt and moisture in
distributions along the insulator surface when water droplets combination with electrical stress results in the occurrence of
exist on the insulator surface local discharges causing the material deterioration such as
tracking and erosion. In order to protect the FRP core from
Key Words: Silicon rubber Insulator, Finite Element various environmental stresses, such as ultraviolet, acid, ozone
method, Electricfielddistribution, Potential distribution. etc., and to provide a leakage distance With in a limited
insulator length under contaminated and wet conditions,
I. INTRODUCTION weather sheds are installed outside the FRP core. Silicone
Silicon rubber composite insulators, which are now rubber is mainly used for polymer insulators or composite
extensively accepted, did not come out until 1970s, and insulators as housing material.
Germany is the first country developing and using this kind of
insulator. Compared to conventional porcelain and glass
insulators, composite insulators such as silicon rubber
insulator offer more advantages in its application. For further
information, this chapter would mainly discussed issue that
related to silicon rubber insulator. The experience of outdoor
insulator goes back to the introduction of telegraphic lines, in
the 19th century. Service experience and product development
with high voltage insulators made from glass and porcelain Fig.1 Structure of a polymer insulator
materials have been gathered over more than hundreds years. The early development of modern polymeric insulators can
Porcelain and glass insulators completely dominated the be illustrated by the work of the German manufacturer
market until the introduction of polymeric alternatives. The Rosenthal, later called Hoechst Ceram Tec. Their development
first polymeric insulator (epoxy) was made in United State of started in 1964 and prototypes for field installation were offered
America in 1959, but it suffered from severe tracking and in 1967. However, it took until middle of the 1970s before a
erosion. number of manufacturer offered commercial products of the first

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH | IJEDR(www.ijedr.org)

IJEDRCP1402005 23
(Two Day National Conference (RTEECE-2014) -17th ,18th January 2014)
 Finite Element Analysis on Post Type Silicon Rubber Insulator Using MATLAB | ISSN: 2321-9939

generation polymeric transmission line insulator [6] as given in B. FEM analysis of the electric field distribution :
Table .1 First generation commercial polymeric transmission
line insulator The finite element method is one of numerical analysis
methods based on the variation approach and has been Widely
TABLE -1 used in electric and magnetic field analysis since the late
POLYMERIC TRANSMISSION LINE INSULATOR
1970s. Supposing that the domain under consideration does
COMPANY HOUSING YEAR COUNTRY not contain any space and surface charges, two-dimensional
MATERIAL functional F(u) in the Cartesian system of coordinates can be
Ceraver EPR* 1975 France formed as follows[2]:
Ohio Brass EPR 1976 USA
Rosenthal SIR* 1976 Germany
1 du du
2 2

F u x y dxdy
Sediver EPR 1977 USA
(5)
TDL CE* 1977 England
2 D dx dy
Lapp EPR 1980 USA
Reliable SIR 1983 USA
Where x and y are x- and y-components of dielectric
* Ethylene propylene rubber
constant in the Cartesian system of coordinates and u is the
* Silicon rubber
electric potential. In case of isotropic permittivity
* Cycloaliphatic epoxy
distribution ( x y ) Equation (5) can be rewritten ass
II. DIMENSIONS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF INSULATORS:

1 du du
2 2

F u y dxdy (6)
2 D dx dy

If the effect of dielectric loss on the electric field

Distribution is considered, the complex functional F(u) should
be taken into account as

du 2 du 2
1

2 D
F(U) 0 j .tg dxdy (7)
dx dy
a) Straight shed b) Alternate shed
Fig.2.Basic Model Insulator where is angular frequency 0 is the permittivity of
free space (8.85 10-12 F/m), tg is tangent of the dielectric
III. PROBLEM SOLUTION EQUATION
loss angle, and u is the complex potential. Inside each sub
A. Electric field and potential distributions calculation domain De a linear variation of the electric potential is
assumed.
One simple way for electric field calculation is to
calculate electric potential distribution. Then, electric field ue ( x, y) e1 e2 x e3 y ; (e 1,2,3,.....ne) (8)
distribution is directly obtained by minus gradient of electric
potential distribution. In electrostatic field problem, electric Where ue ( x, y) is the electric potential of any arbitrary
field distribution can be written as follows [1]:
point inside each sub-domain De, e1, e2 and e3 represent
E V (1)
the computational coefficients for a triangle element e, ne is
From Maxwells equation
the total number of triangle elements. The calculation of the
E / (2) electric potential at every knot in the total network composed
Where is resistivity / m , of many triangle elements was carried out by minimizing the
functional F(u), that is,
is material dielectric constant ( 0 r ) and
F (ui )
0 is free space dielectric constant (8.8541012F/m) 0; i 1,2,...np (9)
ui
r is relative dielectric constant of dielectric material placing
Where np stands for the total number of knots in the
equation(1) into equation(2) Poisson equation is obtained.
network then a compact matrix expression
(V ) (3)
Without space charge =0, poissions equation becomes s {u } {T }
ji i j i, j 1,2,3....np (10)
Laplace equation
(V ) 0 (4)

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH | IJEDR(www.ijedr.org)

IJEDRCP1402005 24
(Two Day National Conference (RTEECE-2014) -17th ,18th January 2014)
 Finite Element Analysis on Post Type Silicon Rubber Insulator Using MATLAB | ISSN: 2321-9939

Where s the matrix of coefficients is, {u }

ji i is the within an element is a polynomial approximation. PDE Tool
in MATLAB is used for finite element discretization. The
vector of unknown potentials at the knots and {T j } is the results of FEM discretization for clean and contamination
vector of free terms. After (10) is successfully formed, the conditions illustrate in Fig. 4
unknown potentials can be accordingly solved.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF FEM

There are several methods for solving partial differential

equation such as Laplaces and Poisson equation. The most
widely used methods are Finite Difference Method (FDM),
Finite Element Method (FEM), Boundary Element Method
(BEM) and Charge Simulation Method (CSM). In contrast to
other methods, the Finite Element Method (FEM) takes into
accounts for the no homogeneity of the solution region. Also,
the systematic generality of the methods makes it a versatile
tool for a wide range of problems. The following topics in this
chapter would describe briefly on the concept of Finite
Element Method (FEM)
Straight sheds polymer insulator was selected to simulate
electric field and potential distributions in this study. The a)Straight sheds b) Alternated Sheds
basic design of a polymer insulator is as follows; A fiber Fig4. Finite element discretization results
reinforced plastic (FRP) core having relative dielectric
constant of 7.1, attached with two metal fittings, is used as the V. SIMULATION RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
load bearing structure. Weather sheds made of HTV silicone
rubber having relative dielectric constant of 4.3 are installed In this study, clean and contamination conditions are
outside the FRP core. Surrounding of the insulator is air simulated using FEM via PDE Tool in MATLAB. Potential
having relative dielectric constant 1.0. A 15 kV voltage source Distribution results are shown in Fig. 5(c) and electric field
directly applies to the lower electrode while the upper distribution are shown in Fig. 5(d).Comparison of potential
electrode connected to ground. Two dimensions of the and electric field distribution along surface of the two type
alternate sheds polymer insulators for FEM analysis are shown polymer insulators are shown in Fig.5 and Fig. 6, respectively.
in Fig. 3 The most common form of approximation solution Although nonlinear potential distribution along leakage
for the voltage within an element is polynomial distance of the two type specimens, no significant different
approximation. PDE Tool in MATLAB issued for finite can be seen on the straight sheds specimen comparing with the
element discretization. The obtaining results are 1,653 nodes alternate shed specimen, as shown in Fig. 9 In spite of clean
and 3,180 elements for straight sheds type insulator and condition, electric field distribution on the straight sheds
2,086 nodes and 4,030 elements for alternate sheds type specimen is slightly higher than the alternate sheds specimen
insulator, respectively. The obtaining results are shown as shown in Fig 9. Contamination condition is simulated by
in Fig.4 place 12 water droplets on the two type insulator surfaces as
shown in Fig. 7a and Fig. 8a. The simulation results of electric
field and potential distributions are illustrated in Fig. 7(c) and
Fig.8(c), respectively. Comparison of potential and electric
field distribution along surface of the two type polymer
insulators are shown in Fig. 9. In case of contamination
condition, although nonlinear potential distribution along
leakage distance of the two type specimens, no significant
different can be seen on the straight sheds specimen
comparing with the alternate shed specimen, as shown in
Fig.7.

The Results on Electric field and potential distributions

a) Straight sheds b) Alternated sheds for a straight sheds insulator as shown in blow Figs.
Fig 3. Two dimension of the two type polymer insulators for
FEM analysis

The whole problem domains in Fig. 5 are fictitiously

divided into small triangular areas called
domain.Thepotentials, which were unknown throughout the
problem domain, were approximated in each of these elements
n terms of the potential in their vertices called nodes. Details
of Finite Element discretization are found in [5]. The most
common form of approximation solution for the voltage

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH | IJEDR(www.ijedr.org)

IJEDRCP1402005 25
(Two Day National Conference (RTEECE-2014) -17th ,18th January 2014)
 Finite Element Analysis on Post Type Silicon Rubber Insulator Using MATLAB | ISSN: 2321-9939

Fig5. (d). Electric field distribution under clean condition

Fig5. (a). Straight Sheds Insulator
The Results on Electric field and potential distributions
for a Alternate sheds insulator as shown in blow Figs.

Fig5. (b). Finite element discretization results

Fig6. (a). Alternated sheds insulator

Fig6. (b). Finite Element Discretization

Fig5. (c) Potential distribution under clean condition

Fig6. (c). Potentital Distribution under clean Contamination

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH | IJEDR(www.ijedr.org)

IJEDRCP1402005 26
(Two Day National Conference (RTEECE-2014) -17th ,18th January 2014)
 Finite Element Analysis on Post Type Silicon Rubber Insulator Using MATLAB | ISSN: 2321-9939

Fig6. (d). Electric Field Distribution under clean Fig7. (d). Electric Field Distribution under Contamination
Contamination
The Results on Electric field and potential distributions The Results on Electric field and potential distributions
for a Straight sheds insulator under contamination as shown in for a Alternate sheds insulator under contamination as shown
blow Figs. in blow Figs.

Fig7. (a). Straight Sheds insulator with Contamination Fig8. (a). Alternated shed insulator with Contamination

Fig7. (b). Finite Element Discretization

Fig8. (b). Finite element discretization results

Fig7. (c). Potentital Distribution with contamination

Fig8. (c). Potentital Distribution under contamination

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH | IJEDR(www.ijedr.org)

IJEDRCP1402005 27
(Two Day National Conference (RTEECE-2014) -17th ,18th January 2014)
 Finite Element Analysis on Post Type Silicon Rubber Insulator Using MATLAB | ISSN: 2321-9939

Technology, Vadodara. His research interests include Partial

discharge and High Voltage Engineering.
E-mail: [email protected].

2
Ch.V.Siva Kumar received the B.Tech in Electrical
and Electronics Engineering from Acharya
Nagarjuna University Guntur in 2008 and M.Tech in Power
electronics and Power systems from K.L.University Guntur in
Fig.9 Comparison of Potential Distribution under 2011.Presently working as Asst.Proff in Electrical Department,Parul
contamination condition Institute of Engineering & Technology,Vadodara. His research
The Fig.9 shows the comparison of straight shed & alternate interests include Power Systems, Finite Element method and High
shed with different environments conditions like water, dust Voltage Engineering.
and it gives the information that potential E-mail: [email protected].
distribution of the straight shed insulator is 3
Dr.Basavaraja Banakara was born in 1970.He is IEEE Member
large than that of alternate shed type
since 2005. Fellow of IE(I). Presently he is an Executive member for
insulator ISTE Andhra Pradesh Section. He obtained his B.Tech (EEE) degree
VI. CONCLUSION
from Gulbarga University and M.Tech from Karnataka University,
In this paper, electric field and potential India and he did his Doctoral program at National Institute of
distributions on Technology, Warangal, India. He worked as a Lecturer, Associate
Straight sheds & Alternate shed silicone rubber polymer Professor, Professor, Principal and director at different
insulators under clean and various contamination conditions Institutes/Universities. Presently he is working has a Vice Principal
were investigated by using FEM Considering a silicon rubber and HOD of EEE in GITAM. University. His areas of interest include
surface with water droplets & dust as contamination on the power electronics and drives, High voltage Engineering and EMTP
surface of the silicon rubber. And concluded that potential applications.
distribution of the straight shed insulator is large than that of E-mail: [email protected].
alternate shed type insulator. This situation is has potential to
initiate sport discharges and possible flashover within
operating conditions.

REFERENCES

[1]. B.marungsri,W.onchantuek,andA.onsivilai Electric Filed and

Potential Distribution along Surface of Silicon Rubber Polymer
Insulators Using Finite Element Method International Journal
of Electrical and Electronics Engineering 3:10 2009.
[2]. B. Marungsri, W. Onchantuek, A. Oonsivilai and
T.Kulworawanichpong Analysis of electric Field and
Potential Distributions along Surface of Silicone Rubber
Insulators under contamination Conditions Using Finite
Element Method World Academy of Science, Engineering and
Technology .
[3]. CIGRE TF33.04.07, Natural and Artificial Ageing and
Pollution Testing of Polymer Insulators,CIGRE Pub. 142,
June 1999.
[4]. R. S. Gorur, E. A. Cherney and R. Hackam, A Comparative
Study of Polymer Insulating Materials under Salt Fog Test,
IEEE Trans. On Electrical Insulation, Vol. EI 21, No. 2,
April 1986, pp. 175.
[5]. M. C. Arklove and J. C. G. Wheeler, Salt Fog Testing of
Composite Insulators, 7th Int. Conf. on Dielctric Material,
Measurements and Applications, Conf. Pub. No. 430,
September 1996, pp. 296 302.
[6]. B. Marungsri, H. Shinokubo, R. Matsuoka and S.Kumagai,
Effect of Specimen Configuration on Deterioration of Silicone
Rubber for Polymer Insulators in Salt Fog Ageing Test, IEEE
Trans. on DEI, Vol.13, No. 1 , February 2006, pp. 129 138.

AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY
1
Vishal Kahar received the B.E. in Electrical Engineering from M.S.
University Vadodara in 2009. Presently perusing as PG Student
in Electrical Department, Parul Institute of Engineering &

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH | IJEDR(www.ijedr.org)

IJEDRCP1402005 28
(Two Day National Conference (RTEECE-2014) -17th ,18th January 2014)