Abstract
Many studies have investigated the influence of harmonics on insulation life. A limited number of these studies address electrical tree growth characteristics while even fewer employ harmonics maintaining a constant peak voltage. This experimental study sought to quantitatively identify any distinguishing features of electrical tree growth characteristics as a consequence of harmonic content. The total harmonic distortion (THD) and waveshape (Ks) indices were varied to a maximum of 40% and 1.6 respectively. Electrical trees were developed in point-plane geometry using 2 m tip radius hypodermic needles and a 2 mm gap in epoxy resin (LY/HY 5052) samples. Upon electrical tree initiation, 50 Hz composite waveforms incorporating harmonic content were applied as the excitation waveform at a constant voltage of 14.4 kV peak for 2.5 hours. No change in the electrical tree growth characteristics was identified using the width/length ratio. Electrical tree growth resulting from low power quality reduced operational insulation life and decreased the Weibull shape parameter β with the 7th harmonic displaying particular characteristics worthy of further investigation. © 2010 IEEE.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 5595560 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1576-1584 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2010 |
Keywords
- dielectric breakdown
- Electrical treeing
- epoxy resin insulation
- harmonics
- power quality
- Weibull distribution