Performance Analysis of High Voltage Transmission Line Insulators in Highly Polluted Southern Coastal Areas of Pakistan

This paper presents performance analysis of high voltage transmission line disc insulators installed on 220 KV and 500 KV transmission line towers in highly contaminated and thus polluted southern coastal areas of Pakistan. This study is based on case studies carried out on three 500 KV transmission lines and two 220 KV transmission lines to investigate the effects of Room-Temperature Vulcanized (RTV) Silicon Coating on disc insulators in mitigating tripping and power outages resulting from pollution flashover. The flashover inhering from atmosphere in high voltage disc insulators on high power transmission lines is a major bottleneck in smooth power evacuation of electrical power. The improving behavior of transmission lines resulting in reduced tripping and reduced maintenance cost in terms of lesser power outages in the aftermath of replacement of faulty and poor condition disc insulators is also studied and results are concluded. Mitigation of frequent tripping and power outages occurring from flashovers due to environmental constraints is possible by either employing Room-Temperature Vulcanized Silicon and Polymer Coating of disc insulators or replacing poor quality disc insulators with good quality disc insulators.