1304 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 15, NO.

4, OCTOBER 2000
Development of Line Post Type Polymer Insulation
Arm for 154 kV
Kunikazu Izumi, Takeshi Takahashi, Hiroya Homma, Member, IEEE, and Toshiyuki Kuroyagi
AbstractBased on the results of basic studies on the housings
and FRP cores of polymer composite insulators, a line post type
polymer insulation arm for 154 kV with a truss structure formed
by three polymer insulation arm units; i.e., two horizontal units
with an open angle between them and one suspension unit, was
experimentally manufactured. Samples of the polymer insulation
armwere tested to verify the withstand voltage performance under
a polluted conditions, the impulse and power-frequency withstand
voltage performance, and the mechanical performance by a full
scale test against longitudinal loads.
I. INTRODUCTION
I
N JAPAN, while the power demand tends to be densified
with the expansion of urban areas, it has become difficult to
secure land for power transmission lines year after year due to
various restrictions. Overhead transmission lines can be roughly
classified into trunk transmission lines of typically 500 kV and
275 kVand 60 to 150 kVclass transmission lines used for power
transmission to distribution substations. To ensure the electric
power transmission to urban and suburban areas, it is necessary
to technically develop compacted 60 to 150 kV class overhead
transmission lines. For this purpose, it is considered very effec-
tive to use more slender towers such as steel pipe type towers
for reducing the tower site area, and to apply insulation arms
for functionally integrating the tower arm and porcelain insula-
tors of presently used transmission lines.
In recent years mainly in America and Europe, composite
insulators respectively consisting of a fiber reinforced plastic
(FRP) core, shed housing and metal end fittings provided at both
the ends of the FRP core (hereinafter simply called the polymer
composite insulators) are being used to substitute the porcelain
insulators [1]. The polymer composite insulators are said to be
lighter in weight, better in pollution resistance and more excel-
lent in mechanical impact resistance than the porcelain insula-
tors. So, it is also reported that the polymer composite insulators
are applied as horizontal insulation supports of a 150 kV class
overhead transmission line [2], as akimbo type insulation arms
[3], or as line-to-line spacers for inhibiting galloping and sleet
jump [4].
It can be considered if an insulator arm composed of the
polymer composite insulators (hereinafter called the polymer
insulation arm) is developed and applied, the horizontal distance
Manuscript received December 27, 1997.
The authors are with the Yokosuka Research Laboratory, Central Research
Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) 2-6-1, Nagasaka, Yokosuka City,
Kanagawa Pref., 240-01, Japan.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8977(00)10327-9.
TABLE I
REQUIRED SPECIFICATIONS OF LINE POST TYPE POLYMER INSULATION
ARM FOR 154 kV
between two circuits of an overhead transmission line can be
shortened to allow a smaller transmission line to be realized.
Samples of a line post type polymer insulation arm for 154 kV
which is considered to be most severe in electric insulation and
mechanical requirements among 60 to 150 kVclass polymer in-
sulation arms were experimentally manufactured based on the
results of studies on the insulation characteristics of the hous-
ings for the polymer composite insulators under the polluted
conditions, the mechanical properties of the FRP cores, etc.
This paper describes the experimental manufacture and the
electrical insulation and mechanical performance of the line
post type polymer insulation arm for 154 kV.
II. SPECIFICATIONS
The structure of the 154 kV overhead transmission line con-
cerned and the outline of the required performance in electric
insulation and mechanical forces of the line post type polymer
insulation arm for 154 kV are shown in Table I. The polymer
insulation arms are required to assure a highest phase voltage
of 161 kV at the time of single phase ground fault at an equiv-
alent salt deposit density (ESDD) of 0.12 mg/cm as the with-
stand voltage under the polluted conditions, and also to assure
the maximum longitudinal load of 40 kN with the use of an
ACSR 410 mm , power conductor taken into account and the
maximum allowable load of 100 kN obtained by multiplying
the maximum longitudinal load by a safety factor of 2.5.
08858977/00$10.00 2000 IEEE
IZUMI et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF LINE POST TYPE POLYMER INSULATION ARM FOR 154 kV 1305
TABLE II
RWDT CONDITIONS
Fig. 1. Relation between cumulative charge and weight loss of housing
materials.
III. BASIC ELECTRIC INSULATION PROPERTIES OF HOUSINGS
AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF FRP CORES
A. Insulation Characteristics of Housings Under Polluted
Conditions
The electric insulation stresses which can be considered
in the system include lightning and switching surges and
power-frequency overvoltages. Among them, the insulation
characteristics under polluted conditions considered to be most
important for the polymer composite insulators were studied.
To select the housing material of polymer composite insulators,
three kinds of rod samples of SR (silicone), EVA (ethylene
vinyl acetate) and EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer)
were tested according to the Rotating Wheel Dip Test (RWDT)
[5]. The test conditions are shown in Table II.
As a result of RWDT for 5000 hours, with any of the samples,
no tracking was observed to occur. Fig. 1 shows the relation
between the cumulative charge of surface leakage current and
the weight loss of each sample. From this figure, correlation
was observed between the cumulative charge and the weight
loss considered to have close relation with the erosion of sample
surface. From the test results, SR which was least in weight loss
was selected as the housing material of the polymer composite
insulators.
At the exposure testing station of CRIEPI, polymer composite
insulators with SR used as the housing material were energized
and exposed for about 8 years. The testing station is located at
about 50 m from the coast at about 20 m above the sea level,
TABLE III
SPECIMEN INSULATORS FOR EXPOSURE TEST
TABLE IV
EXPOSURE TEST CONDITIONS
and faces the sea on its southwest side. The appearances of the
polymer composite insulator samples and long rod type porce-
lain insulator samples for reference and their specifications are
shown in Table III. The ratio of the creepage distance to the ef-
fective length of the SR housing is about 2.5. For the test, re-
spectively four insulator samples were connected in series and
suspended vertically, being grounded at the top and energized at
the bottom, and an AC voltage of 280 kV was applied.
The energized exposure test conditions are shown in Table IV.
The cumulative 50% and 95% ESDD and standard deviation
on the polymer composite insulators were 0.0139 mg/cm ,
0.107 mg/cm and 29% respectively, which were about the
same as the corresponding values on the porcelain insulators
of 0.0145 mg/cm , 0.116 mg/cm and 30% respectively. The
numbers of occurrences of leakage current over 20 mA and
100 mA in respective years are shown in Fig. 2.
From the figure, it can be seen that the leakage currents of
the polymer composite insulators are smaller than those of the
porcelain insulators, and that the numbers of leakage current oc-
currences of the respective current levels of the former are also
smaller. The difference in leakage current occurrence character-
istics is considered to be attributable to the difference in surface
repellency between the porcelain insulators and the, SRhousing
of the polymer composite insulators [6].
The withstand voltages of the polymer composite insulators
were obtained as four-time withstand voltages according to the
solid layer method by wetting after energization [7]. The liquid
pollutant used was a solution with 40 g of a tonoko powder
dissolved per liter of water, and salt was used by 10 g, 40 g and
100 g to achieve ESDD values of 0.06, 0.12 and 0.35 mg/cm
respectively. Since the surface of the SR housing of the polymer
composite insulator has water repellency, the withstand voltage
1306 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 15, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2000
Fig. 2. Occurrence frequency of leakage currents on the exposure tests.
Fig. 3. Withstand voltage characteristics of polymer composite insulators and
porcelain insulators under artificial polluted conditions.
depends on the drying time after surface polluting [8]. So, the
drying time was kept constant at 4 hours.
The obtained withstand voltage characteristic per 1 m of
creepage distance is shown in Fig. 3. The figure also shows the
withstand voltage characteristic calculated from the Japanese
standard pollution design curve for the porcelain insulator
with almost the same shape as that of the polymer composite
insulator.
In the design of the required creepage distance of the
polymer composite insulators, based on the withstand voltage
design curve of porcelain insulators under polluted conditions,
a voltage of about 30 kV per 1 m of creepage distance at
an ESDD of 0.12 mg/cm was adopted. This value has an
allowance with the polymer composite insulators, since the
withstand voltages of the polymer composite insulators are
about 1.5 times higher than those of the porcelain insulators as
shown in Fig. 3. Since the required withstand voltage under
polluted conditions is 161 kV, the required creepage distance is
about 5.4 m.
Furthermore, considering that the ratio of the creepage dis-
tance to the effective length of the SR housing is about 2.5,
Fig. 4. Loading and strain measuring positions on insulation arm model.
Fig. 5. Mechanical force test result of insulation arm model.
the required effective length of the polymer insulation arm for
154 kV was set at about 2.2 m.
B. Mechanical Properties of FRP Cores
To optimize the power conductor installation position, i.e.,
loading position, as shown in Fig. 4, two horizontal units with
an open angle of 40 degrees were assumed, and the mechanical
stress on the FRP core was examined for the loading position
A simulated truss structure and loading position B simulated
Lahmen structure.
The samples were of glass fiber reinforced FRP (GFRP),
and had an outer diameter of 7.9 mm and an inner diameter of
4.95 mm. The glass fibers were arranged in the axial direction
only, and the fiber content by volume was about 65%. The ob-
tained relation between applied loads and strains at respective
portions is shown in Fig. 5. From the figure, it can be seen
IZUMI et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF LINE POST TYPE POLYMER INSULATION ARM FOR 154 kV 1307
TABLE V
RELATION BETWEEN ORIENTATION AND STRENGTH OF GLASS FIBERS
that in the truss structure, an axial force in the compressive
direction acted on the horizontal unit in the loaded side, and
that an axial force in the tensile direction acted on the other
horizontal unit. On the other hand, in the Lahmen structure,
each horizontal unit on the power conductor side and that on
the tower side showed reverse strains, to suggest that a moment
was generated. The breaking load of the truss structure was
2.6 kN, larger than 2.4 kN recorded by the Lahmen structure.
From these results, it has been found that the insulation arm
designed with a truss structure is more advantageous. As for
the longitudinal load which is the largest load on the polymer
insulation arm, compressive and tensile loads act equally on the
two horizontal units. So, a GFRP having equal in compressive
and tensile strengths is advantageous. Therefore, hollow GFRP
produced by the filament winding method was used as samples,
to experimentally examine the relation between glass fiber
orientation angles and tensile and compressive strengths. The
glass fiber content by volume was about 65%, and the samples
for a load test had an outer diameter of 26 mm, an inner
diameter of 21 mm and a length of 44 mm.
The obtained relation between fiber orientation angles and
strengths is shown in Table V. The GFRP sample with a ratio
of fibers oriented at 0 degrees to fibers oriented at 90 degrees
kept at 2 : 1 was equal in tensile and compressive strengths, and
the tensile and compressive elastic modulus were 40 GPa. This
GFRP was used as the core material of the polymer composite
insulator for the insulation arm.
IV. STRUCTURE OF LINE POST TYPE POLYMER INSULATION
ARM FOR 154 kV
The structure of the line post type polymer insulation arm for
154 kV (hereinafter simply called the polymer insulation arm)
is shown in Fig. 6. The polymer insulation arm is composed
of two horizontal units with an open angle for responding to
the longitudinal load and a suspension unit corresponding to the
vertical load. The open angle of the horizontal units was set at
40 degrees as examined in Section III-B, and the open angles
between the suspension unit and the horizontal units were set at
30 degrees considering the vertical load. Each unit was formed
by connecting two polymer composite insulators for insulation
arm shown in Table VI, in series.
The specifications of the GFRP core and the housing were
decided according to the methods described below. The required
axial force of the GFRP hollow core can be obtained from the
Fig. 6. Outside view of line post type polymer insulation arm for 154 kV.
TABLE VI
TECHNICAL PARTICULARS OF POLYMER COMPOSITE INSULATOR FOR
INSULATION ARM
following Eulers formula (1) under the condition that a truss
structure is adopted.
(1)
where
: Axial force,
: Buckling coefficient,
: Tensile or compressive elastic modulus,
: Geometrical moment of inertia and
: Core length.
In the case of hollow core,
(2)
where , : Outer diameter or inner diameter of core.
On the other hand, the required axial force of the horizontal
units can be obtained from formula (3).
(3)
1308 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 15, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2000
Fig. 7. Withstand voltage characteristics of polymer insulation arm under
artificial polluted conditions.
where : Maximum allowable longitudinal load of horizontal
units and : Open angle between horizontal units. In the above
formulae (1) and (2), if we have 2 (general value with
one end fixed), 40 GPa, 2.2 m, 100 kN, and
40 degrees, and if is 80 mm due to the restriction in
the production of filament winding, then is 66 mm. For the
GFRP core, the SR housing had a trunk diameter of 92 mm,
large shed diameter of 176 mm, small shed diameter of 146 mm
and inter-shed distance of 50 mm. The effective length per one
polymer composite insulator for insulation arm was 1.05 m, and
the creepage distance was 3 m.
V. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF POLYMER INSULATION ARM
A. Electric Insulation Performance
The withstand voltage characteristic of the polymer insula-
tion arm obtained by solid layer method is shown in Fig. 7.
The figure also shows the withstand voltage characteristic of a
unit with two polymer composite insulators for insulation arm
connected in series. In the figure, the withstand voltages of the
polymer insulation arm were lower than those of the unit by
about 15% in an ESDD of about 0.12 mg/cm , but exceeded the
specified withstand voltage of 161 kV. Therefore, it was found
that the pollution withstand voltage at an ESDD of 0.12 mg/cm
can be almost satisfied if design is worked out with about 30 kV
per 1 m of creepage distance.
To examine the difference between a polymer insulation arm
composed of 3 units, connected in parallel and an unit in with-
stand voltage, a flashover test according to the slurry method
at an ESDD of 0.35 mg/cm was repeated. Fig. 8 shows the
obtained flashover voltages as normally distributed cumulative
percentages. The voltage of 5% flashover probability obtained
in an slurry test is generally used as the withstand voltage of a
porcelain insulator. The voltage of 5% flashover probability of
the polymer insulation armwas 164 kV, being lower than 191 kV
of the unit by about 14%. From the result, it can be considered
that the main cause to keep the withstand voltage of the polymer
insulation arm under polluted conditions lower than that of the
unit is the parallel connection of the plurality of units.
Fig. 8. Distribution of flashover voltages.
TABLE VII
IMPULSE AND POWER-FREQUENCY WITHSTAND VOLTAGES OF
POLYMER INSULATION ARM
Flashover tests of polymer insulation arm samples were
conducted using steep front, lightning and switching impulse
voltage and power-frequency voltage [9], [10]. In the tests,
all the flashovers occurred on the surfaces of the polymer
insulation arm, and the flashover inside the GFRP hollow
core did not occur. Respective withstand voltages obtained by
subtracting double the standard deviation from the obtained
50% flashover voltages of the polymer insulation arm are
shown in Table VII. All the withstand voltages satisfied the
specified value of the 154 kV transmission system. Therefore,
it can be considered that the electric insulation performance
satisfies respective overvoltages if design is worked out based
on the withstand voltage under polluted conditions.
B. Mechanical Performance
To identify the mechanical performance of the polymer in-
sulation arm against the longitudinal load, as shown in Fig. 9,
the insulation arm was placed on a base simulating a tower, and
a load was applied in the longitudinal direction. Two kinds of
tests were conducted. As a static load test, the longitudinal load
was gradually increased. As an impact load test, the load was
gradually increased, and at a predetermined load, a cutting bolt
was momentarily released, to apply an impact load. During the
testing, the displacement at the place corresponding to the power
IZUMI et al.: DEVELOPMENT OF LINE POST TYPE POLYMER INSULATION ARM FOR 154 kV 1309
Fig. 9. Test equipment and strain measuring positions on full scale mechanical
test.
Fig. 10. Relation between load and axial force in static load test.
conductor installation portion, and the strains of respective por-
tions were measured. The relation between longitudinal loads
and the axial forces calculated from formula (4) is shown in
Fig. 10.
(4)
where
: Average value of strains at three places on the same
circumference,
: Sectional area of core and
: Elastic modulus.
The axial forces (#1, #2 and #3) of the horizontal unit in the
loaded side and the other horizontal unit were almost linear
against applied loads. As the axial forces on the horizontal units,
compressive forces acted on the horizontal unit in the loaded
side and tensile forces acted on the other horizontal unit in good
agreement with the basic examination result of Section III-B.
The axial forces of the unit in the loaded side and the other unit
at a load of 100 kN were 140 kN and 150 kN respectively, i.e.,
almost equal. The axial force (#4) on the suspension unit was
found to be smaller than those on the horizontal units.
Fig. 11. Relation between load and displacement in static load test.
The axial force on the horizontal units is calculated to be
1.4 times the longitudinal load based on the formula (3) ex-
pressing the relation between longitudinal loads and the axial
forces of the horizontal units when the open angle of the hor-
izontal units was 40 degrees. This value agrees with the axial
force of the horizontal units obtained by the test, and it was ver-
ified that any remarkable bending moment was not generated.
The displacement of the loaded portion was as slight as about
25 mmat 100 kNfromthe relation between the load and the dis-
placement of the loaded portion shown in Fig. 11. The breaking
load obtained in the test was 150 kN, and the breaking was buck-
ling breaking of the horizontal unit in the loaded side at a portion
near the tower. The buckling coefficient in the formula (1)
obtained from the breaking load is about 2.4. This is conserva-
tive, considering that the general buckling coefficient of 2
with one end fixed used in the basic examination.
On the other hand, based on the strains of the GFRP at the
#1 portion at a load of 40 kN obtained from the static load test
and the impact load test, the amplification factor defined
by formula (5) and the displacement response ratio defined
by formula (6) were obtained.
(5)
where , : Axial forces in impact load test and static load
test.
(6)
where , : Displacements in impact load test and static load
test.
As a result, was 0.54 and was 0.31. Since both were
less than 1, it was found that the mechanical stress against the
longitudinal load on the polymer insulation arm was larger with
a static load than with an impact load, when a truss structure
was adopted.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Based on the results of the basic examination concerning
the pollution insulation characteristic of the SR housing for
the polymer composite insulator and the mechanical properties
of the GFRP core, a line post type polymer insulation arm
1310 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 15, NO. 4, OCTOBER 2000
for 154 kV was experimentally manufactured. The polymer
insulation arm has an installation length of about 2.3 m and is
formed as a truss structure composed of two horizontal units
and one suspension unit. The maximum longitudinal working
tension is 40 kN. Each unit is formed by connecting two about
1.1 m long polymer composite insulators in series.
The insulation performance under polluted conditions, im-
pulse and power-frequency withstand voltage performance and
mechanical performance against longitudinal loads of the exper-
imentally manufactured polymer insulation arm samples were
verified by full scale tests. Furthermore, the design parameters
of the polymer insulation arm for electric insulation and me-
chanical performance were clarified.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Shikibo Ltd. for the coop-
eration in the experimental manufacture of polymer composite
insulator samples, Nippon Denro Mfg. Co., Ltd. for the cooper-
ation in the mechanical force tests, and Dr. Y. Yoshida, Director
of Yokosuka Research Laboratory, CRIEPI, for his valuable ad-
vice on this study.
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[2] C. E. Williamson, Transmission line developments up to 150kV in
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[4] EPRI, Transmission Line Reference Book, 115138kV Compact Line
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Kunikazu Izumi was born in Kanagawa, Japan on Oct. 4, 1945. He received
his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Kantougakuin University, Kana-
gawa, Japan, in 1968. In 1977, he joined the CRIEPI, Japan, where he has been
engaged in the R&D on composite insulators, surge arresters, etc. From 1989 to
1990, he was a Visiting Researcher of the University of Connecticut, USA. Mr.
Izumi is a Member of IEE of Japan.
Takeshi Takahashi was born in Nagasaki, Japan on July 24, 1947. He received
his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Kanagawa University, Kanagawa,
Japan, in 1972. In 1977, he joined the CRIEPI, Japan, where he has been en-
gaged in the R&D on composite insulators. Mr. Takahashi is a Member of the
IEE of Japan.
Hiroya Homma was born in Tokyo, Japan on Sep. 29, 1964. He received his
M.S. degree from Rikkyo University, Tokyo, Japan in 1987 and his M.S. degree
in engineering physics from the University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan in 1989.
In 1989, he joined the CRIEPI, Japan, where he has been engaged in research
on polymer insulating materials. Mr. Homma was a Visiting Scholar of the Uni-
versity of Connecticut, U.S.A., from 1994 to 1995. Mr. Homma is a Member of
the IEE of Japan.
Toshiyuki Kuroyagi was born in Chiba, Japan on Apr. 10, 1967. He received
his B.S. and M.S. degree in engineering physics from Yokohama National Uni-
versity, Kanagawa, Japan, in 1991 and 1993. In 1993, He joined the CRIEPI,
Japan, where he has been engaged in the research on composite insulators. Mr.
Kuroyagi is a Member of IEE of Japan.