Simulation study on failure mechanism of composite insulator flashover caused by foreign matter

Abstract

Many typical non lightning failures of transmission lines are caused by foreign matter, such as bird streamer, floating objects, branches and so on. In this paper, 110kV composite insulators are taken as the research object. First, the mechanism of flashover caused by foreign matter is analysed theoretically, and then a three-dimensional model of composite insulators is built by using the Maxwell simulation software. Electric field and potential changes of the composite insulator in the presence of different foreign matter are studied, and the flashover mechanism and related influencing factors are analysed. Based on this, through a large number of simulation calculations, the area of 110kV composite insulator caused by foreign matter flashover is finally given, which provides guidance for the typical non-lightning fault of 110kV line protection.