Combined effect of different fields on the motion characteristics of dust particles around the insulators

Pollution flashover of the insulators threatens the safety and operation security of the power system severely. Contamination accumulation on the insulators is the precondition of the pollution flashover, while the contamination accumulation characteristics of the insulators depend on the motion characteristics of the dust particles moving around the insulators in service to a great degree. This paper researched the combined effect of the electric field, the air fluid field and the gravitational field on the dust particles' motion by means of experiments and numerical calculation. The distribution of the electric field and the electric potential around an actual insulator were calculated. The results indicate that the polarization force is very weak. Once the particles are charged, the electric field force acts and can drive the particles to move along the electric field lines. When there is a strong wind, the steady-state drag force is dominant and the particles move with the wind. These results can better explain the contamination accumulation characteristics of the insulators, and some measures are suggested to reduce the contamination accumulation.