Electrical Performance of Distribution Insulators with Chlorella vulgaris Growth on its Surface

This paper presents a study about electrical performance of ceramic and polymeric insulators bio-contaminated with alga Chlorella vulgaris. The performed tests involve ANSI 55-2 and ANSI 52-1 ceramic insulators and ANSI DS-15 polymeric insulators, all of them used in distribution systems of Colombia. Biological contamination of insulators is realized using a controlled environment chamber that adjusts the temperature, humidity and light radiation. The laboratory tests include measurements of flashover voltages and leakage currents and they were performed to determine how insulators are affected by biological contamination. After a series of laboratory tests, it was concluded that the presence of Chlorella vulgaris on the contaminated ceramic insulators reduces the wet flashover voltage up to 12% and increases their leakage currents up to 80%. On the other hand, for polymeric insulators the effect of algae growth on flashover voltages was not to strong, although the leakage currents increase up to 60%.

• Autores: Rojas-Cubides, Herbert Enrique; Pérez, Carlos Daniel; León, Andrés Felipe; Cantor, Luis Felipe
• Tipo de recurso: Article of journal
• Fecha de publicación: 2015
• Institución: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Repositorio: Universidad Nacional de Colombia
• Idioma: spa
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.unal.edu.co:unal/67655
• Acceso en línea: https://repositorio.unal.edu.co/handle/unal/67655; http://bdigital.unal.edu.co/68684/
• Palabra clave: 62 Ingeniería y operaciones afines / Engineering; Algae; biological contamination; chlorella vulgaris; distribution insulators; flashover voltage; leakage current.; Algas; aisladores de distribución; chlorella vulgaris; contaminación biológica; corriente de fuga; tensión de flameo.
• Rights: openAccess
• License: Atribución-NoComercial 4.0 Internacional