Reference Information
Key information from reference documents and guides (e.g.) or succinct descriptions of concepts (e.g. what is risk and how do I visualize it)
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Research & Technical Content
Key takeaways, results from ongoing research tasks, and how they are applied.
1 - Research Result Summaries
Latest results from ongoing tasks
Lessons Learned from Polymer Insulator Failures
EPRI performs failure assessment of insulators regularly.
This report describes the trends identified from tracking failures and some lessons learned from detailed studies.
Comparing Insulator Resistance to Physical Impacts
This work attempts to identify tests that can assess an insulators ability to withstand mis-handling that could damage an insulator and either result in lost product before being installed or unknowingly be installed and lead to premature failure.
2 - Reference Information
Key information from reference documents and guides (e.g.) or succinct descriptions of concepts (e.g. what is risk and how do I visualize it)
Categorization of Hydrophobicity
A simple and practical approach to classify the hydrophobicity of insulators has been developed in 1992 by STRI in the “Hydrophobicity Classification Guide”.
3 - Videos
Updates on tasks or tests
Insulator Corona Cage Test Corona discharge activity can cause damage to polymer insulators that can lead to failure. While no corona is ideal, it may not be practical to consider all circumstances that result in corona activity. However, the design of the insulator end fitting may affect how corona interacts with the rubber and this video describes a test designed to investigate how much, if any, affect there is.
Smal-scale Aging Chamber Test When the rubber for polymer insulators is qualified, it is often tested in square samples that are cured differently than is done in the manufacturing process. This has the result of rubber being used on insulators that can be suscpetpible to corona damage. EPRI developed a small-scale aging chamber that tests assembled insulator samples with the rubber having been through a typical manufacturing process. This video describes how this test is setup and how it is run.
3.1 - Insulator Corona Cage Test
Corona discharge activity can cause damage to polymer insulators that can lead to failure. While no corona is ideal, it may not be practical to consider all circumstances that result in corona activity. However, the design of the insulator end fitting may affect how corona interacts with the rubber and this video describes a test designed to investigate how much, if any, affect there is.
3.2 - Smal-scale Aging Chamber Test
When the rubber for polymer insulators is qualified, it is often tested in square samples that are cured differently than is done in the manufacturing process. This has the result of rubber being used on insulators that can be suscpetpible to corona damage. EPRI developed a small-scale aging chamber that tests assembled insulator samples with the rubber having been through a typical manufacturing process. This video describes how this test is setup and how it is run.