The influence of lightning induced voltage on the distribution power line polymer insulators

Protection of medium voltage (MV) overhead lines against the indirect effects of lightning is an important issue in Malaysia and other tropical countries. Protection of these lines against the indirect effects of lightning is a major concern and can be improved by several ways. The choice of insulator to be used for instance, between the glass, ceramic or polymer, can help to improve the line performance from the perspective of increasing the breakdown strength. In this paper, the electrical performance of a 10 kV polymer insulator under different conditions for impulse, weather and insulator angle with respect to a cross-arm were studied (both experimental and modelling) and the results were discussed accordingly. Results show that the weather and insulator angle (with respect to the cross-arm) are surprisingly influenced the values of breakdown voltage and leakage current for both negative and positive impulses. Therefore, in order to select a proper protection system for MV lines against lightning induced voltage, consideration of the local information concerning the weather and also the insulator angles with respect to the cross-arm are very useful for line stability and performance.