Accelerated testing of outdoor power equipment

In this work we summarize the results of long-term ageing of different medium voltage outdoor power equipment in an artificial climatic chamber and compare them with the results obtained at a natural ageing site at the Koeberg Insulator Pollution Test Station near Cape Town, South Africa. The results show that by correctly adjusting the ageing cycle consisting of UV radiation, heat, clean and salt fog it is possible to age power equipment at an accelerated rate (a factor of 5 and greater) and obtain the same type of damage (UV damage, tracking and erosion due to surface discharges, cracking) as observed at the natural ageing site. Although many different types of outdoor power equipment will still have to be tested, the first results based on epoxy insulated power equipment are encouraging.