Natural Contamination and Surface Flashover on Silicone Rubber Surface under Haze–Fog Environment

Anti-pollution flashover of insulator is important for power systems. In recent years, haze-fog weather occurs frequently, which makes discharge occurs easily on the insulator surface and accelerates insulation aging of insulator. In order to study the influence of haze-fog on the surface discharge of room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber, an artificial haze-fog lab was established. Based on four consecutive years of insulator contamination accumulation and atmospheric sampling in haze-fog environment, the contamination configuration appropriate for RTV-coated surface discharge test under simulation environment of haze-fog was put forward. ANSYS Maxwell was used to analyze the influence of room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface attachments on electric field distribution. The changes of droplet on the polluted room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface and the corresponding surface flashover voltage under alternating current (AC), direct current (DC) positive polar (+), and DC negative polar (−) power source were recorded by a high speed camera. The results are as follows: The main ion components from haze-fog atmospheric particles are NO3, SO4, NH4, and Ca2+. In haze-fog environment, both the equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) and non-soluble deposit density (NSDD) of insulators are higher than that under general environment. The amount of large particles on the AC transmission line is greater than that of the DC transmission line. The influence of DC polarity power source on the distribution of contamination particle size is not significant. After the deposition of haze-fog, the local conductivity of the room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface increased, which caused the flashover voltage reduce. Discharge is liable to occur at the triple junction point of droplet, air, and room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber surface. After the deformation or movement of droplets, a new triple junction point would be formed, which would seriously reduce the dielectric strength of room temperature vulcanized silicone rubber.