Leakage current characterization for estimating the conditions of ceramic and polymeric insulating surfaces

Leakage current produced on contaminated ceramic and polymeric insulating surfaces was analyzed using a wavelet transform technique providing time-frequency domain information. Salt-fog tests with and without the deposition of non-soluble contamination were conducted in a laboratory, during which the leakage current was separated into sinusoidal, local arc, or their transition components per halfwave of power frequency. The wavelet transform allowed the detection of the zero-cross point of the base current at 50 Hz without the need for voltage information. The source information regarding the distortion level (I_{150 Hz}/I_{50 Hz}) of the current half-wave separated by the zero-cross point and a time lag to onset in current attributable to arcs are used in order to obtain the above three components. The time-integrated values (cumulative charges) of these components were found to correlate with hydrophobicity and contamination level. It was shown that time variations of the cumulative charges and of their component ratios were useful for estimating the conditions of ceramic and polymeric insulating surfaces.