Study on natural contamination performance of typical types of insulators

As natural contamination of insulators may lead to flashover, its determining factors should be studied to prevent the occurrence of pollution flashover. In this paper, the fluid mechanics models of insulators with typical shed types were established to simulate their flow field distribution and particle collision coefficient (P). At the same time, a natural contamination test lasting for 8 months was carried out in order to contrast the experimental data and simulation results. The research results have shown that: wind velocity and shed type affect the flow field near the insulators; P is affected by particle diameter and wind velocity; under certain particle diameter and wind velocity, P reaches the maximum value; rainfall has different effects on contamination of insulators with different shed types; wind causes non-uniformly distribution of pollution on the surfaces; the simulation test and the experimental test are comparable. The research method and results can provide not only reference to establishing natural contaminating model but also significant meaning for the external insulation design and selection.