Power Research

L. Zevgolas ¹, Y. Cheng ², M. G. Danikas ³, R. Sarathi ⁴

Affiliations
1 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, GR
2 State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment,Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R, CN
3 Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, GR
4 Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institue of Technology Madras, Chennai, IN

Abstract

In this paper nanocomposite samples of epoxy resin and TiO2 nanoparticles and microparticles were investigated with water droplets on their surface. Samples with 1 wt% nanoparticles, 1 wt% nanoparticles with 3 wt% microparticles, 3 wt% nanoparticles and also 3 wt% nanoparticles with 3 wt% microparticles were investigated. A uniform electric field was applied and the behaviour of the water droplets was observed. Parameters that were studied were the water conductivity, the droplet volume, number of droplets and the droplet positioning w.r.t. the electrodes. All above mentioned parameters influence the flashover voltage of the samples. It is to be noted that – at least in some cases – the water droplet positioning w.r.t. the electrodes was more important in determining the flashover voltage than the droplet volume. The results indicate that the addition of microparticles in a nanocomposite does not necessarily improve the flashover voltage behaviour.

Keywords

Flashover voltage, surface discharges, nanocomposites, uniform electric field, water droplet, water conductivity

Full Text