DESIGNNING A POST

INSULATOR
IN COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS 4.3
R U PA M M A N DA L ( B E E )
D E PA RT M E N T O F E L E C T R I C A L E N G I N E E R I N G
JA D AV P U R U N I V E R S I T Y

POST INSULATORS
Primarily used for supporting electrical
equipments above ground.
Used to electrically insulate the
equipments.
Should have high mechanical strength so
as to bear the weight of the equipment.

SPECIFICATIONS
THE DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS ARE TAKEN AS PER AN AVAILABLE POST
INSULATOR IN THE HIGH VOLTAGE LABORATORY, DEPARTMENT OF
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING, JADAVPUR UNIVERSITY.

DESIGN

ENVIORMENT

THE GEOMETRY DESIGN IS DONE IN COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS 4.3 IN 2DAXISYMETRIC PLANE,

USING THE FOLLOWING TOOLS:
1. DRAW LINE
2. DRAW QUADRATIC
ALL SCALES FURTHER SHOWN AND USED ARE IN cm

THE GEOMETRY

DRAWING PROCEDURES
THE FOLLOWING SEGMENT IS FIRST DRAWN USING DRAW LINE AND DRAW
QUADRATIC TOOLS TO FORM SOLID BEZIER POLYGON.

DRAWING PROCEDURES
THE POLYGON THUS FORMED IS THEN DUPLICATED BY RIGHT CLICKING ON
THE BEZIRE POLYGON. TH DUPLICATE POLYGON IS THEN MOVED TO
APPROPIATE POSITION.

UNION
THE TWO POLYGONS THUS PRODUCED ARE MERGED TO FORM A SINGLE
SOLID OBJECT IN THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE.
STEP 1: RIGHT CLICK ON GEOMETRY > BOOLEAN OPERATION > UNION
STEP 2: SELECT THE OBJECTS TO BE MERGED (LEFT CLICK FOLLOWED BY
RIGHT CLICK ON EACH OBJECT)
STEP 3: UNCHECK KEEP INPUT OBJECTS, AS WE DONT NEED THIS UNION TO
KEEP THE INPUT OBJECTS. THE INPUT OBJECT ARE KEPT BY THE BEZIER
POLYGON AND THE DUPLICATE OF BEZIER POLYGON.
STEP 4: UNCHECK KEEP INTERIOR BOUNDARIES, AS WE DONT NEED THE
INTERIOR BOUNDARIES. THE OBJECTS SHOULD FORM A SINGLE SOLID
OBJECT.
STEP 5: BUILD ALL

UNION

UNION AFTER BUILD

DUPLICATE UNION
TO DUPLICATE THE UNION FORMED, FOLLOWING STEPS ARE FOLLOWED.
STEP 1: RIGHT CLICK ON THE UNION SELECT DUPLICATE
STEP 2: CHECK KEEP INPUT OBJECTS, AS THIS UNION IS RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE DUPLICATE OBJECT. THE INPUT OBJECT ARE THUS KEPT FROM THE
PREVIOUS UNION.
STEP 3: UNCHECK KEEP INTERIOR BOUNDARIES.
STEP 4: MOVE THIS UNION TO DESIRED POSITION.
STEP 5: BUILD ALL

DUPLICATE UNION

RE-UNION
THIS TWO OBJECTS THUS FORMED ARE AGAIN MERGED BY THE UNION
PROCESS MENTIONED EARLIER.

UNION OF UNIONS
THE UNION PROCESS IS CARRIED IN REQUIRED PROCESS TO JOIN 7
SEGMENTS OF THE BEZIER POLYGON INTO A SINGLE OBJECT.

FINISHING THE GEOMETRY

THE END IRON DISC IS DRAWN USING LINES AND QUARDRATICS AND THEN
DUPLICATED, MOVED TO DESIRED POSITIONS TO COMPLETE THE GEOMETRY.

MEASUREMENTS
CREEPAGE DISTANCE:

MEASUREMENTS
CREEPAGE DISTANCE IS 68.61 cm AS MEASURED.

MEASUREMENTS
PROTECTED CREEPAGE DISTANCE:

MEASUREMENTS
PROTECTED CREEPAGE DISTANCE IS 16.06 cm AS MEASURED.

MESH
MESHING IS THE SPLITTING OF DOMAINS INTO SMALLER SUB-DOMAINS
MESHING A GEOMETRY IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THE SIMULATION PROCESS,
AND IS CRUCIAL FOR OBTAINING BEST RESULTS IN THE FASTEST MANNER.
WE CHOOSE PHYSICS-CONTROLLED MESH IN THE PRE-DEFINED MESHING
OPTIONS.
COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS HAS 9 BUILT-IN SIZE PARAMETER SETS WHEN
MESHING. WE CHOOSE FINE AS THE ELEMENT SIZE.
AFTER DEFINING THE ELEMENT SIZE AND MESHING OPTION,WE BUILD ALL.

AFTER ADDING MESH

STUDY AND RESULTS

IN STUDY,WE CHOOSE THE OPTION OF ELECTROSTATICS .
UNDER ELECTROSTATICS,WE CHOOSE ELECTRIC POTENTIAL.
WE THEN APPLY A POTENTIAL OF 100 KV ON TOP METAL AND ZERO IN THE
BOTTOM METAL.
WE THEN TRY TO COMPUTE THE RESULTS AND SEE THE POTENTIAL
DISTRIBUTION ALONG THE SURFACE OF INSULATOR.

AFTER ADDING POTENTIAL

VISUALISATION OF MODEL
AFTER COMPUTING THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM,COMSOL
AUTOMATICALLY PROVIDES A REVOLUTION OF THE 2D DATA SET CALLED
REVOLUTION 2D,WHICH IS LISTED UNDER DATA SETS.
THIS REVOLUTION PROVIDES US WITH A BETTER VIEW OF THE GEOMETRIC
MODEL WE HAVE CREATED.
USING THIS 2D REVOLUTION DATA SET,WE CAN VIEW THE SOLUTION IN 3D.
WE GIVE THE STARTING ANGLE AS 0 DEGREE AND REVOLUTION ANGLE AS
360 DEGREE AND THEN PLOT.

AFTER 2D REVOLUTION