Transmission lines the world over often have to traverse mountain ranges or plateaus

situated at least 1000 m above sea level. In China, for example, it is estimated that

some 60% of the country lies at this altitude or higher.

In such cases, design of transmission and distribution systems has to take into account

the fundamental changes in insulation performance that are associated with high

altitude. This past INMR article, contributed by Professor Guan Zhicheng of Tsinghua

Universitys Shenzhen Campus, discusses these changes as well as recent research

conducted in China on this topic.

Areas with low air pressure and thin air impact the operation of electrical lines since

voltage decreases with altitude whether air gap discharge voltage, corona inception

voltage or pollution flashover voltage. Moreover, the higher the altitude, the more

problematic this will become in terms of the performance of line insulators, or indeed

any high voltage insulation.

It is well known that, as altitude increases, changes in air pressure, temperature and

humidity will all exert some influence on discharge voltage. However, it is the change in

air pressure that is the most significant as well as the most consistent of these

variables in terms of its effect.

When it comes to evaluating insulator performance, pollution flashover voltage is

obtained when the humidity surrounding the test object reaches saturation. The

influence of atmospheric humidity can therefore be ignored.

Similarly, the regularity of temperature change as altitude increases is not always

obvious. Pollution flashover testing is performed in a fog chamber where temperature is

often different from ambient. Accounting for the influence of temperature on pollution

flashover of insulators is relatively complex and remains a subject of debate. Indeed,

no temperature correction factor is presently applied when it comes to insulator

pollution flashover voltage.

Given the above, current research on how altitude impacts insulator performance tends

to focus on the influence of air pressure not humidity or temperature. The correlation

between altitude and this parameter is shown in Table 1 below (obtained from actual

measurements).

Table 1: Changes in Air Pressure & Relative Density with Altitude

*1 mmHg = 133.3224 Pa

Experts from a variety of countries, including Japan, Russia, and Canada have studied

the influence of air pressure on insulator pollution flashover voltage and proposed that

the correction for air pressure be expressed using an equation. In it, the parameter, n,

reflecting the value of the air pressure correction, is obtained by testing. Most agree

with an n value of 0.5 for a normal design of insulator and 0.6 for an anti-pollution

design under AC voltage or 0.35 in the case of DC.

As early as the beginning of the 1980s, Tsinghua University and Chongqing University

began research into insulator pollution flashover characteristics under high altitude

conditions of low air pressure. Utilizing relatively small-scale tanks, pollution flashover

tests were conducted to better understand and evaluate the influence of air pressure

(altitude) on the pollution flashover characteristics of a variety of different types of

insulators.
Recent UHV transmission projects in China have only accelerated research into how

best to select external insulation at high altitude. Along with this has come rapid

improvement in the facilities available for this purpose. For example, two large-scale air

pressure tanks have been built and put into service in Beijing and in the central city of

Wuhan. In the case of the Beijing facility, the tank body (consisting of a circular

metallic structure of 20 m diameter and 25 m height) can simulate an altitude of up to

5500 m. Moreover, it is capable of performing not only icing and melting tests on

insulators but also full-scale UHV pollution flashover tests under both AC and DC. The

new facility in Wuhan, which has the same tank dimensions but is made of reinforced

concrete, has also conducted numerous insulator pollution and icing flashover tests at

simulated high altitudes.

China Southern Power Grid one of the two major Chinese grid operators has set up

a pollution laboratory in the southern city of Kunming at an altitude of 2100 m. The hall

there measures 26 m x 28 m x 30 m and can carry out flashover testing at up to

1000 kV DC and 800 kV AC. In fact, Tsinghua University and the China Southern Power

Grids Technical Centre have recently begun a joint research project at this facility to

study the pollution flashover characteristics of 800 kV full-size suspension as well as

station post insulators having different materials and profiles.

For its part, the State Grid Corp. of China has built a test base in Yangbajing, Tibet,

where the altitude is more than 4000 m. This facility includes a pollution laboratory and

fog chamber of 9 m x 9 m x 11m and can do testing for 200 kV in DC and 200 kV in

AC. The air pressure tanks in Beijing and Wuhan as well as the new high altitude test

bases in Kunming and Tibet serve to complement one another. For example, the air

pressure tanks artificially simulate high altitude and low air pressure to evaluate its

influence on insulator pollution flashover behavior. Test results from the two high-

altitude test sites can then verify these findings. At the same time, insulator pollution
flashover experience under the high altitude conditions of the test bases can be directly

applied during project design.

In China, universities, research institutes and power grid operators have all conducted

tests on the tendency of insulator pollution flashover voltage to decrease as altitude

increases. Pollution severity during the course of these tests has ranged from low to

high, including both AC and DC flashover tests. A lot of test data has been obtained in

the process and, while the actual figures may differ somewhat from one test to the

next, basic tendencies have been the same. For example, all these tests have

confirmed that the value of the exponent n, (quantifying the influence of air pressure

on pollution flashover voltage) depends not only on the voltage being applied, but also

on type of insulator (whether porcelain, glass or composite), its shed profile and the

severity of the pollution.

In this regard, tests were conducted by Tsinghua University on four different designs of

suspension insulators, with findings for the resulting exponent n values for the different

profiles shown below. Designs of these insulators were classified as: (a) XS-4.5, (b) XP-

16, (c) XP3-16 and (d) XWP2-16.

Test results showed that the n value for the type a insulator (with a relatively simple

profile and no edges on the lower surface) is comparatively small. Moreover, n values

for this insulator vary quite a bit under different pollution severities. It was also found

that the n value of the anti-pollution type d is not necessarily higher than for the

common type b and type cinsulators.

 Figure 1: Results of high altitude performance tests on four different suspension

insulator designs.

Chongqing University, China EPRI, China Southern Grid, and the Xian High Voltage

Apparatus Research Institute all performed separate statistical analyses of the n values

obtained from these tests measuring influence of air pressure on pollution flashover

voltage (and which included an AC pollution flashover test as well as a negative polarity

DC pollution flashover test). There were a total of 80 test samples of AC suspension

insulators, and the distribution of n values obtained is shown in the histogram of Figure

2. These n values follow a normal distribution, with the average being 0.49.

A similar approach was then applied to AC post insulators and here the average n value

was 0.48 (i.e. very close to that for suspension insulators). The average n value for DC

suspension insulators, however, was 0.27, which is significantly lower than for AC.

Figure 2: Distribution of n values obtained from testing 80 suspension insulators.

The influence of altitude (air pressure) on pollution flashover voltage is usually

expressed using the formula referred to earlier, which is basically an empirical formula

to statistically process test data. The physical meaning of n is not that clear. Tsinghua

University has therefore proposed that the equation below be used instead.

U(p)=(1-Kh)U(p0)

The physical meaning of K in this case is to show the percentage of pollution flashover

voltage decrease for every increase of 1000 m in altitude, while h expresses the

relevant multiple of 1000 m. Comparing the two formulas, the following correlation

between K and ncan then be obtained:

K= {1-(p/p0)n }/h

Based on the data from Table 1, the correlation between K and n can be calculated as

per this formula and is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: Correlation between K and n.

For example, given the n value is 0.5, compared with flat areas (near sea level), the

pollution flashover voltage of insulators at altitudes of 1000 m and 2000m will be

reduced by 5.7% and 11.4% respectively. The diagram also assigns a more direct

picture of the physical meaning of an n value.

Research at Tsinghua University has found that there are two basic reasons behind

change of pollution flashover voltage as air pressure changes. One is that the volt-
ampere characteristic of an electric arc changes with air pressure and second is the

influence of the electric arc bridge flashover across the insulators profile, or sheds.

Research measuring the influence of shed profile on insulator pollution flashover

characteristics at the high altitude test base in Tibet found that electric arc bridging the

insulator profile has two distinct components: stable electric arc bridges and also

electric arc breakdown in air. The first type stable bridging electric arcs are not

easily extinguished and move due to external forces such as electromagnetism and

thermal buoyancy. As the arc root moves, there is increased risk of a shortage of

enough discharge distance, leading to flashover.

The second type is a span bridge. In this case, the passage of the arc is not the result

of partial discharge but rather caused by breakdown of the air gap outside the insulator

profile. This arc span bridge leads to a growing shortage of sufficient discharge distance

and therefore a decrease in flashover voltage. Research found that the more shed

profiles protruded and the shorter the distance between them, the higher the

probability of the arc span bridge and the more significant the decrease in flashover

voltage.

In high altitude areas, this span bridge between insulator sheds is the type more likely

to occur and therefore this imposes a more demanding requirement in terms of ideal

insulator profile. In other words, those insulators that perform well near sea level are

not necessarily equally suitable for service in mountainous areas. All this suggests the

need for ongoing research to identify those insulator profiles that are optimized for

demanding high altitude applications.