Investigation of Degradative Signals on Outdoor Solid Insulators Using Continuous Wavelet Transform

Most outdoor solid insulators may suffer from surface degradations due to non-stationary currents that flow on the insulator surface. These currents may be classified as leakage, discharge and tracking currents due to their disturbing potencies respectively. The magnitude of these currents depends on the degree of the contamination of surface. The leakage signals are followed by discharge signals and tracking signals which are capable of forming carbonized tracking paths on the surface between high voltage and earth contacts (surface tracking). Surface tracking is one of the most breakdown mechanisms observed on the solid insulators, especially polymers which may cause severely reduced lifetime. In this study the degradations observed on polyester resin based insulators are investigated according to the IEC 587 Inclined Plane Test Standard. The signals are monitored and recorded during tests until surface tracking initiated. In order to prevent total breakdown of an insulator, early detection of tracking signals is vital. Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT) is proposed for classification of signals and their energy levels observed on the surface. The application of CWT for processing and classification of the surface signals which are prone to display high frequency oscillations can facilitate real time monitoring of the system for diagnosis.