Computer-aided design of insulators

A new method is described which is based on the computer-aided design concept for optimizing insulator contours according to a given field distribution along their surfaces. The method uses field calculation by means of surface charge simulation and some iteration procedures in order to get optimized contours. The influence of insulator materials like PE or PVC on the calculated contours is presented. Also investigated is the extent to which a conductive surface layer changes the field distribution and has to be considered for the optimization process. A comparison is made between calculations and measured results of breakdown voltages. The total-field strength (E _tot-optimized contour) is found to be the best solution