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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

HVDC wall bushing studies

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:7080771
; ;  [1]
  1. General Electric Co., Lenox, MA (USA)

This report describes research conducted to determine the performance of HVDC wall bushings in different wetting conditions. The in-service behavior of these wall bushing on HVDC systems at voltages of {plus minus}450 kV and above is first described to establish the conditions under which flashovers have occurred. Laboratory tests made at the EPRI High Voltage Transmission Research Center confirm that wall bushings may flash over at rated operation voltage under conditions which are intended to be representative of those experienced on operating transmission systems. Methods for improving performance are discussed, and results of tests with several types of mitigation techniques are described. The major emphasis is placed on the application of room temperature vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber. Clean fog is used to evaluate the characteristics of this material on post insulators. The encouraging performance of the post insulators coated with RTV is the basis for further evaluation on full scale wall bushings tested in nonuniform rain. In addition to tests on RTV coated wall bushings without pre-doposited contamination, attempts at achieving reasonable contamination layers on RV are described. By means of resistance measurements on horizontal insulators, the critical conditions which may lead to flashover on surfaces with different materials and coatings are investigated 15 refs., 39 figs., 11 tabs.

Research Organization:
Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); General Electric Co., Lenox, MA (USA)
Sponsoring Organization:
EPRI
OSTI ID:
7080771
Report Number(s):
EPRI-EL-6923
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English