Surface charge accumulation on insulators becomes an important bottleneck to restrain the development of a DC energy transmission system. This study investigates the effects of SiC/epoxy coating on surface charge behaviors and flashover performance of alumina/epoxy spacers. A nonlinear conductive coating consisting of different contents of SiC fillers and epoxy matrix was fabricated and sprayed on only half surface of the spacers. The dependence of surface charges on the contents of SiC fillers is characterized by three stages. Surface charge accumulation is aggravated at deterioration stage, then almost unaltered at balance stage and inhibited at suppression stage. These three stages are determined by the competition between the increased surface trap density from interface region and the improved surface conductivity from SiC fillers. The variation trend of flashover in air and SF ₆ /N ₂ mixtures is distinguished by three stages as well. Flashover voltage decreases at descent stage where deficient contents of SiC fillers are appended and then goes up at improved stage with moderate supply of SiC fillers. Finally, it ends up with drastically collapse at degenerated stage when affluent SiC fillers are brought in. The theoretical analysis is proposed based on surface trap distribution and conductivity measurement results to reveal the regulation mechanism of SiC/epoxy coating on surface charge behavior and flashover performance.

Dielectrics with functionally graded material (d-FGM), which have spatially nonuniform dielectric properties, is effective to improve the insulation performance without complicating the structure. In the application of d-FGM, searching the optimal distribution of dielectric properties (permittivity or conductivity) is the most important goal, which however is difficult for conventional insulation design approaches. In this paper, the topology optimization technique is introduced to design a truncated cone insulator with permittivity FGM, which is to relieve local electric field (E-field) enhancement at the triple junctions. Firstly, a multi-objective topology optimization model is proposed using the variable density method. Secondly, the optimal values of several model parameters are determined based on the analysis of E-field uniformity. Finally, finite elements calculation demonstrates that the E-field uniformity is significantly improved for the topology-optimized permittivity FGM, and the E-field enhancement at triple junctions is strongly inhibited. It is thus expected that by applying the topology-optimized permittivity FGM insulator, the breakdown strength in gas or vacuum would be effectively improved.

High-temperature vulcanized silicone rubber (HTV-SR) employed for composite insulators is continuously subjected to a complex environment of alternating heat, corona discharge, humidity, etc. These stresses (especially alternating heat) complicate the aging mechanism of HTV-SR, which lacks systematic investigation. In this paper, a multi-factor aging platform considering temperature cycling, moisture, and corona discharge is established. Specifically, four temperature-cycling settings are employed, each of which lasts for 15 cycles. The surface morphology, hydrophobicity, and chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties of aged samples are methodically characterized. Experimental results show that the aging degree is correlated to the range of temperature cycling, which is attributed to diverse crosslink-degradation degrees with different temperature differences. Under a large temperature difference (70 °C), HTV-SR possesses a high crosslinking degree and a low degradation degree, making the material hard but easy to crack with alternating thermal stress. Then, severe defects and water condensation emerge on the HTV-SR surface, which promote the diffusion of corona products and water molecules into the material. The subsequent rise in crosslinking density caused by in-depth oxidation further exacerbates the aging of the material. Consequently, it brings about poor hydrophobicity, high interfacial polarization, and shallow trap energy levels in HTV-SR. This work provides a detailed analysis of the aging mechanism of HTV-SR in a simulated on-site environment.

This paper presents the design method using topology optimization and the fabricating feasibility using Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) 3D printing technique for Functionally Graded Material (FGM) insulator. The concepts of FGM and topology optimization are primarily introduced. And a topology optimization approach based on COMSOL Multiphisics is proposed. The optimization objective is to uniform the electric field (E-field) inside/along insulator surface for high electrical withstanding strength. As a result, a proper distribution of permittivity inside the insulator is obtained and the maximum value of E is significantly reduced. The higher the upper bound of permittivity is, the better E-field uniformity is. Finally, it is shown that FDM technique has the potential to be applied to fabricating FGM insulator. However, several technical obstacles have to be overcome before industrial application.

In this paper, a novel +45° insulator is proposed. The insulator has a conductivity graded structure in which the high conductivity part performs as a shield to reduce the electric field concentration at anode triple point and along surface. Hence, the surface electrical withstanding strength would be enhanced. Computer aided simulation is performed to investigate the electric field distribution with different shape parameters of high-conductivity area and an electric field optimized insulator design is thus obtained. A Fused Deposition Modeling 3D printing technique is adopted to fabricate the conductivity graded insulator. The wide application of 3D printing in insulator fabrication is expected for its ability to fabricate special functional structure and high fabricating efficiency. Flashover tests are to be conducted to investigate the electrical withstanding performance of such insulators.