A Comprehensive Condition Assessment Method for Line Composite Insulator Asset Management

Electricity distribution companies always strive to operate the power network efficiently and reliably so that their network be able to satisfy the growing needs for electricity. To achieve these goals in a power network, a comprehensive asset management plan with a sound policy for inspection, periodic maintenance, replacement, and disposal of depreciated equipment is required. In this paper, authors concentrate on line composite insulators asset management. These types of insulators have desirable characteristics such as: hydrophobicity, lower price, and lower weight if compared with the ceramic insulators which make them more attractive than other types of insulators. The output of “insulation condition assessment” of these insulators is employed to develop an asset management plan; which involves: inspection plan, condition monitoring, determination of the aging stage, early failure predictions, washing schedules, and repair strategies. Various condition monitoring methods are used in this work, such as: measuring the contact angle of water droplets on the insulator's surface, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and leakage current analysis to determine the degradation process and the aging rate of composite insulator. Finally, the asset management algorithm of these insulators is presented on the basis of insulation condition assessment, and then it is applied to the condition assessment of three samples of the composite insulators to improve the reliability and life of the insulator system.