Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution
performance of insulators
Presented by Igor Gutman, Convener D1.44
Paris – 28 august 2018
Originally: 28 members from 20 countries
Active participants: 18 members from 12 countries
Table of contents
1. Background
2. Physical principles, clean conditions
3. Physical principles, polluted
4. Status of correction within IEC
5. Status of correction within CIGRE
6. New data collected for AC
7. New data collected for DC
8. Detailled analysis of recent data
9. Summary
Background
Section 1
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 1: Background
Driving force 1: Lack of data
The altitude correction of outdoor insulation became essential when the existing AC and DC
transmission systems were being planned for altitudes of up to 5000 m.
The majority of the present data in CIGRÈ/IEC documents is based on findings from the 1970s and
1980s.
At that time the research was mostly limited to altitudes of up to 2000 m and very few results were
known for altitudes up to 3000 m.
Driving force 2: no harmonization in different standards
Different approaches and different formulae exist in the present IEC standards and CIGRÈ
recommendations
Section 1: Decision of SC D1
Two WGs were established within
the CIGRE SC D1:
CIGRE WG D1.44 dealing more
specifically with the atmospheric
influence for polluted insulators
under AC and DC operating
voltages.
CIGRE WG D1.50, dealing with all
aspects of atmospheric influences
under operating AC and DC
voltages and under overvoltages
as far as air gaps and insulators in
clean conditions are concerned.
Section 1: State-of-the-art in 2014
Section 1: State-of-the-art in 2014
Two basic/different insulation families should be
considered, based on different discharge
phenomena: air gaps/insulators in clean conditions
and polluted insulators.
The state-of-the-art show that it is complicated to
achieve an accurate and detailed approach for air
density/altitude correction on the basis of the
available knowledge.
A reasonable target would be to find an approach
combining simplicity with reasonable accuracy.
The next target should be to harmonize different
apparatus standards with the horizontal standards.
Physical principles
For clean conditions
Section 2
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 2: correction, clean conditions-1
Still under consideration of CIGRE WG
D1.50
Even in clean conditions, if the discharge
develops pure in the air, the physical
process is quite complicated.
Indication 1: the atmospheric correction
factors are larger when the discharge is
governed mainly by positive streamers (e.g.
rod-plane gap under positive lightning
impulses).
Indication 2: correction factors tend to be
lower when leaders or negative streamers
are present (e.g. large air gaps under
positive and negative switching impulses).
Physical principles
For polluted conditions
Section 3
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 3: correction, polluted
Different profiles are available for insulators:
Standard
Aerodynamic
Antifog
Different materials are available for insulators:
Conventional (glass and porcelain)
Composite (different hydrophobicity)
Coated conventional (different hydrophobicity)
Section 3: different profiles (AC/DC)
Section 3: different hydrophobicity-1
Section 3: different hydrophobicity-2
Section 3: real HC service evaluation-1
Section 3: real HC service evaluation-2
Section 3: different altitude
Same insulator (material and profile)
4000 m 0 m (sea level)
Section 3: large spread in results (1997)
Section 3: from science to engineering
Status of correction
within IEC
Section 4
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 4: AC correction IEC 60815-2,3
Generally the influence of altitude on impulse
performance is greater than on pollution
performance
Thus, the increase in insulation length necessary for
impulse voltages at higher altitudes is already
sufficient
However, if there is no previous operating
experience for altitudes above 1500 m, the
correction can be used based on CIGRE TB158
This means 5% per 1000 m of elevation
Section 4: AC correction IEC 60071-2
For polluted insulators, the value of the
exponent m is tentative
For the purposes of the long duration test and,
if required, the short-duration power-frequency
withstand voltage of polluted insulators, m may
be as low as 0,5 for normal insulators and as
high as 0,8 for anti-fog design
Section 4: DC correction IEC 60815-4
It may become necessary to correct for altitude
This is currently under study by CIGRE D1.44
Until the CIGRE results are available, the
proposed correction is based on IEC 60071-1,
i.e. a value of 0,35 is suggested for n
This means about 4,5% per 1000 m of
elevation
Section 4: AC/DC IEC 60507/61245
Test voltages shall be corrected for air density
according to IEC 60060-1. The coefficient m is
however still under investigation.
The coefficient m depends on many factors
such as pollution severity and insulator
characteristics. Provisionally reference can be
made to value m=0,5 (AC) and value m=0,35
(DC).
Atmospheric correction factors for polluted
insulators are presently under consideration by
CIGRE SC D1.
Section 4: comparison CIGRE/IEC
Section 4: Summary from IEC
Status of correction
within CIGRE
Section 5
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 5: AC correction TB 361
Depending on how critical the selection of the
insulators is, it may be necessary to adjust the
flashover performance values that are
available to take account of the altitude of the
installation.
This means 5% per 1000 m of elevation
Section 5: DC correction TB 518
The correction should be used and is
recommended for both non-HTM, i.e. ceramic,
and HTM materials
It is stated that the parameter n=0.35 is still
being considered by CIGRE and IEC. It is also
noted that two approaches are available:
In accordance with IEC 60071-2 where H is the
height above sea level in meters
In some industry practices which only consider
altitudes exceeding 1000 m so that the term H
becomes the height above sea level minus 1000
m.
This means about 4,5% per 1000 m of
elevation
Section 5: Summary from CIGRE
New data compiled
for AC
Section 6
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 6: AC design practice
Only a few national guidelines or design practices available
In Russia guidelines for design of AC electrical installations are available:
no correction up to 1000 m is recommended
5% correction on each further 1000 m up to 4000 m is recommended.
In Japan no correction up to 1000 m is recommended, while 2.5% correction on each further
1000 m is recommended
In China a very detailed National Standard applicable for both AC and DC is available, its short
summary presented for the WG was as follows:
For suspension insulators (porcelain, glass or composite), the correction can be between 3,1% and 10,8%
for each 1000 m depending on profile and material.
Insulators with different profiles have different correction factors.
The correction factors are applied for altitudes above 1000 m over the sea level
Section 6: Data collected-1
Section 3: Data collected-2
Section 6: Summary AC
For polluted insulators at AC the simple
averaging of all available data led to the
average value n of 0.54 with a standard
deviation of about 10%
This value is not substantially different from
those generally assumed by CIGRE/IEC (0.5
for AC)
This value is recommended to be retained and
adopted in the relevant IEC standards pending
further investigations
New data compiled
for DC
Section 7
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 7: DC design practice
Nothing is available so far for DC in national guidelines excluding
Chinese National Standard which provides a lot of different
correction factors depending on insulator profile, material and
severity level. A summary from the Chinese presentation made for
the working group is as follows:
For suspension insulators (porcelain, glass or composite), the
correction factor for DC can be between 1% and 7% for every 1000
m depending on profile and material
For post insulators, the correction factor for DC can be between
2.3% and 6.5% for every 1000 m depending on profile
It is important to note that insulators with different profiles have
different correction factors
The correction factors are applied for altitudes above 1000 m over
the sea level
Section 7: Data collected
Section 7: Summary AC
For polluted insulators at DC the simple
averaging of all available data led to the
average value n of 0.4 with a standard
deviation of about 30%
This value is not substantially different from
those generally assumed by CIGRE/IEC (0.35
for AC)
This value is recommended to be retained and
adopted in the relevant IEC standards pending
further investigations
Detailed analysis of
recent data
Section 8
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 8: Data available
This Standard is a comprehensive collection of data
from different HV laboratories and test sites, e.g. data
from Tsinghua University, Chongqing University, some
domestic institutes and old data from other countries
Provides also unique data for AC and DC voltages, for
different pollution levels, for different altitudes (air
density) and wide variety of insulators, including:
Porcelain post
Composite long rod
Cap and pin standard profile
Cap and pin anti-fog profile
Cap and pin double-rib profile
Cap and pin triple-rib profile
Section 8: Gold mine with data!
Section 8: Average data available
Section 8: Parameters for analysis-1
Selected parameters: L/H and L/D
Section 8: Parameters for analysis-2
Section 8: Example – AC porcelain post
Section 8: Example – AC cap and pin
Section 8: Example – AC composite
Section 8: DC porcelain post
Section 8: Example – DC cap and pin
Section 8: Summary
The analysis to find new trends to distinguish the
correction factors on altitude for different insulators
profiles and for different pollution severity levels did
not reveal any scientifically-confirmed trends
Summary
Section 9
Guidelines for altitude correction of pollution performance of insulators
CIGRE Paris Session 2018 – 28 August 2018
Section 9: Pre-summary: simplify!
Section 9: Summary-1
The working group collected and analyzed all available
data on flashover voltages of polluted insulators at
different altitudes from sea level to 6000 m and including
the period of publications 1987-2010, i.e. for 23 years
This is, however, finalized in only 35 publications
included in the TB
The analysis to find new trends to distinguish the
correction factors on altitude for different insulators
profiles and for different pollution severity levels did not
reveal any scientifically-confirmed trends.
The results of the literature review demonstrated a large
spread in the data on altitude correction factors
Section 9: Summary-2
For engineering purposes the averaged values can be used and
they are basically the same as mentioned earlier in relevant
CIGRE technical brochures and which are already included as
best practice/current state-of-art values in the relevant IEC
standards
It is proposed to harmonize the correction of the required
creepage distance for altitude by the factor Ca in the IEC-accepted
format (IEC 60071-2, IEC 60815-4) as per below:
where Ca is a correction factor for creepage distance, H is the height
above sea level in metres and n is the altitude correction factor
Section 9: Summary-3
For polluted insulators at AC the simple averaging of all available
data led to the average value n of 0.54 with a standard deviation of
about 10%
For DC the same simple averaging procedure provides n=0.4 with
rather high standard deviation of about 30%
These values are not substantially different from those generally
assumed by CIGRE/IEC (0.5 for AC and 0.35 for DC). These values
are recommended to be retained and adopted in the relevant IEC
standards pending further investigations
In many industry practices for apparatus insulators propose
application of correction factors only for altitudes greater than 1000
m. This subject is not discussed in this Technical Brochure, since it
is under the responsibility of the relevant IEC Committees
Copyright © 2018
This tutorial has been prepared based upon
the work of CIGRE and its Working Groups.
If it is used in total or in part, proper
reference and credit should be given to
CIGRE.
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