IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 17, No.

2; April 2010 465

Recurrent Plot Analysis of Leakage Current

on Flashover Performance
of Rime-iced Composite Insulator
Yong Liu and B. X. Du
Key Laboratory of Power System Simulation and Control of Ministry of Education
School of Electrical Engineering and Automation
Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

ABSTRACT
Due to the wide application of composite insulators in the power industry, the insulator
performance is challenged by various environments. To determine the flashover
performance of rime-iced composite insulator, laboratory investigation was carried out
in an artificial climate chamber to simulate different rime-ice morphology on the
insulator surface. The configuration and characteristics of the rime-ice were
demonstrated to establish the relationship between the rime-ice parameters and the
flashover performance. In accordance with the discharge phenomena, the transition of
leakage current (LC) until the flashover was analyzed by using a recurrent plot
approach. After extracting the high frequency components by using a wavelet
transform technique, the LC just before the flashover was extended to m dimensional
phase space based on a phase space reconstructed method. The recurrent plot was
obtained to reveal the non-linear characteristics of LC for identifying the dynamic
behaviors on the insulator surface. It is shown that the propagation and properties of
the discharges can be graphically projected on the topological structure of recurrent
plot as a function of the rime-ice parameters. The process and underlying mechanism
of flashover performance of rime-iced composite insulator can be visually reflected by
the recurrent plot and the quantitative indicators of LC.

Index Terms — composite insulator, rime-iced condition, flashover, leakage current,

recurrent plot, dynamic behavior.

1 INTRODUCTION The rime-iced condition often has the meteorological

characteristics as follows [11]: i) most days of rime are
COMPOSITE insulators made of silicone rubber are in winter characterized by a time varying feature; ii) high
proverbially used as outdoor insulation due to their relative humidity with large number of floating moisture;
advantages of light weight, higher impact strength, better iɿi) stable atmospheric inversion and wet-fallouts; iv)
anti-contamination performance and lower cost [1-3]. As the ambient temperature below -3 oC, associated with multi-
insulators are subject to various environments including weather conditions of glaze, ice freezing and so on. Once
soluble and non-soluble contamination, the surface the rime-ice generates on the insulator surface, the
performance in severe conditions has caused more concerns distribution of electric field will be changed. When the
about the reliability of transmission and distribution lines as electric field is enhanced more to cause surface
well as the substation equipments [4, 5]. With the required discharges, the rime-ice will be partially melted to form
application in cold or high-altitude regions, snow, ice and the conductive layer. Leakage current (LC) driven by the
rime-iced conditions are the inevitable climate factors which source voltage becomes much higher to pass through the
influence the operating performance of outdoor insulators [6- layer and causes dry-band discharges. With the initiation
10]. In addition to mechanical damages caused by excessive and development of discharges, flashover may take place
and dynamic loads, the rime-ice accumulated on the insulator and affect the operating reliability of power systems.
surface will induce a substantial decrease in the electrical Therefore, it is essential to investigate the process and
insulation, even lead to flashover [7-9]. mechanism of rime-ice flashover phenomena for the
reliable application of composite insulators in such
Manuscript received on 16 May 2009, in final form 1 November 2009. severe climate conditions.

1070-9878/10/$25.00 © 2010 IEEE

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
466 Y. Liu and B. X. Du: Recurrent Plot Analysis of Leakage Current on Flashover Performance of Rime-iced Composite Insulator

Besides the flashover voltage, the LC is one of the most conductance measurement meter (MODEL SC82). The ac
widely used investigating methods for outdoor insulator, power source with the rated voltage of 100 kV and the rated
which effectively provides the valuable information of the capacity of 140 kVA was applied as the experimental power
insulator performance [5, 12-19]. Based on the temporal supply. Once the experimental condition was sustained for 3,
analysis of LC, the peak recording, surge counting and 5, 9 and 15 h respectively, ac voltage of 30 kVrms at 50 Hz
charge measurement have been employed for the was maintained until the flashover occurred. The dynamic
investigation [12-14]. Although these researches established behaviors on the sample surface were captured by a high-
the relationship between the insulator performance and the speed camera. The LC was recorded by using a measuring
temporal characteristics of LC, the discharge activities were resistor in connection with an analog to digital (A/D)
found to be closely related to the frequency properties of LC converter, with the sampling frequency of 10 kHz.
[15]. The methods of Fourier series, wavelet transform and
spectral analysis were employed to extract the harmonic
components of LC for evaluating the insulator performance
with variation of environmental factors [15-19]. However, it
was found that the behaviors on the insulator surface showed
nonlinear properties during the flashover process [20]. The
information provided by the time and frequency analysis of
LC can not well reflect such nonlinear transition of surface
discharges which are essential to the flashover. The
appropriate diagnostic methods are still required for the
estimation and evaluation of the insulator performance [1].
In this paper, a recurrent plot technique was proposed to
analyze nonlinear characteristics of LC with the purpose of Figure 1. Experimental set-up.
investigating the flashover performance of rime-iced
composite insulator. The experiments were carried out by
3 RECURRENT PROPERTIES OF
simulating different rime-ice conditions on the insulator
surface without the deposit of non-soluble contamination. LEAKAGE CURRENT
Associated with the observation of the insulator surface, the
recurrent plot of LC can serve as a visual method to 3.1 PROOF OF RECURRENT PLOT
understand the process and mechanism of the rime-ice TECHNIQUE FOR LEAKAGE CURRENT
flashover.
The proof of chaotic characteristic of LC is helpful to
apply the recurrent plot technique to the current analysis [21].
2 EXPERIMENTAL ARRANGEMENT Lyapunov exponent can characterize the exponential
The experimental set-up is shown in Figure 1. The divergence of neighbor embedding vectors in phase space. It
insulator-type specimens with straight shed were made of is considered as one necessary and sufficient parameter to
high temperature vulcanized silicone rubber with alumina confirm the chaos of dynamic systems [22]. When one or
trihydrate filler contents of 38 parts per hundred by weight, more value is positive, the system proves to have chaotic
having the height of 80 mm, the rod diameter of 24 mm, the properties. Generally, the largest value of Lyapunov
shed diameter of 100 mm with the inclined angle of 20° and exponent is calculated for the proof. Figure 2 shows an
the leakage distance of 180 mm. All the experiments were example of typical LC and the largest Lyapunov exponent by
carried out in an artificial climate chamber equipped with a using the algorithm described in [23]. It is found that the
condensing system, having the dimensions of 1000 mm×480 largest Lyapunov exponent equals to 0.050665, which
mm×1015 mm. indicates the LC has the chaotic properties.
The experimental procedure is as follows: Firstly, surfaces
3.2 RECURRENT PLOT ANALYSIS OF
of the specimens were cleaned by ethyl alcohol and dried in a
LEAKAGE CURRENT
desiccator with silica gel at room temperature for 24 h before
the experiments. Immediately after the specimen was Recurrent plot (RP) technique is a useful data processing
vertically hung through an insulating rod in the chamber, the tool since it can provide a graphical framework for extracting
HV windings were connected to the upper end-fittings and information from time series of signals [24]. Visible
the LV windings were connected to the bottom end-fittings. rectangular block structures with higher density of points in
o
The ambient temperature was controlled around -15 C by the RP map indicate the non-linear characteristics of dynamic
using a temperature controller. Then the salt fog, generated courses within the signal. If the texture of the pattern within
by an ultrasonic vibration salt-fog generator filled with saline such a block is homogeneous, stationary can be assumed for
water, was injected into the chamber making the ESDD on the given signal within the corresponding period of time. In
the sample surface at 1.0 mS/cm. The saline water was made this paper, the RP of LC is obtained by using the calculation
by the mixture of distilled water and sodium chloride. The method given in our published manuscripts [20, 21]. As
conductance was measured and controlled at 1.0 mS/cm by a the high frequency (1.25-2.5 kHz) components of LC are

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 17, No. 2; April 2010 467

vectors are very similar to the neighbor vectors in m-

dimensional phase space. Lower point density stands for a
relatively dispersal process. The white space indicates the
rapid changes of the amplitude.
In order to quantitatively describe the characteristics of
RP, the recurrent rate (RR) and determinism (DET) were
calculated. RR denotes the nearness degree of the vectors in
the phase space. A bigger value of RR means the closer
distance between the vectors. DET differentiates the recurrent
points connected with each other in the diagonal direction
(a) Example of LC waveform
from the isolated recurrent points in a RP map. A smaller
value of DET denotes the investigated system has less
deterministic ingredient.

4 VISUAL OBSERVATION

4.1 SURFACE OBSERVATION

Figure 4 shows the accumulated rime-ice conditions on the
sample surface, including both upper surface and subsurface.
When the fog was injected into the chamber, the insulator
was surrounded by numerous super cooled fog droplets,
continuously accumulating and freezing to form the rime-ice
(b) Calculation of the largest Lyapunov exponent
on the sample surface. There are many air gaps between the
Figure 2. Estimate of the largest Lyapunov exponent. rime-ice points, typically showing white appearance and
effective to provide the useful information of insulator grainy structure. The main features of the rime-ice are as
performance [20], wavelet transform is conducted to extract follows: small particle size, light specific gravity, less
these components for the analysis. cohesion and soft structure including many air holes.
Figure 3 shows an example of RP drawing from a typical However, by comparing the rime condition between the
current waveform during the flashover process. Figures 3a upper surface and the subsurface, due to the difference in the
and 3c show the original current waveform and its RP. It was shed structure, there are many distinctions in the rime-ice
found that the discharge appears frequently at the positive formation, configuration, coverage and physical nature.
and negative peaks of the waveform. Due to the applied For the upper surface as shown in Figure 4a, the micro
voltage, the current waveform has the power frequency rime firstly began to form near the shed. With the deposition
components, which are reflected in the RP as the recurrent of fog droplets, the grainy rime-ice locally appeared and
points mainly parallel to the diagonal. The recurrent gradually increased. Then the upper surface was covered by
distribution of sinusoidal series in RP is determined by the the rime-ice with the soft structure and increasing thickness.
recurrent technique. The periodic characteristic covers the For the subsurface, the discrete tiny ice crystal started to form
nonlinear features and acts as the adverse factor for the at first. Accompanied by the adhesion of fog droplets, the
nonlinear analysis. Figures 3b and 3d show the processed distribution density of tiny ice crystal increased but still in
current sequence by the wavelet transform and its RP. After discrete state. With increasing the lapse time, the rime-ice
the data preprocessing, it was found that the recurrent points layer on the insulator surface became more compact.
randomly distribute in the RP map and the topological For the upper surface as shown in Figure 4a, the micro
structure can actually reflect the nonlinear characteristics. rime firstly began to form near the shed. With the deposition
From the topological structures of RP shown in Figure 3, of fog droplets, the grainy rime-ice locally appeared and
geometrical properties of the plots can provide complexity gradually increased. Then the upper surface was covered by
and local rate of divergence estimates. The RP consists of the rime-ice with the soft structure and increasing thickness.
isolated dots, dots joining into line segments (two or more For the subsurface, the discrete tiny ice crystal started to form
adjacent dots) and white spaces. Point density and white at first. Accompanied by the adhesion of fog droplets, the
segments are in accordance with nonlinear features of the distribution density of tiny ice crystal increased but still in
current. A recurrent point means that the distance of two discrete state. With increasing the lapse time, the rime-ice
neighborhood vectors in phase space is less than or equal to layer on the insulator surface became more compact.
the threshold value. The main diagonal exists in all the
structures, which corresponds to the fact that the distance
4.2 PROCESS OF RIME-ICE FLASHOVER
between vector and itself is zero. The higher point density
means that the distance between reconstructed vectors in According to the visual observation, the flashover process of
phase space changes slowly. It indicates that the embedding insulator under rime-ice conditions can be separated into six

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
468 Y. Liu and B. X. Du: Recurrent Plot Analysis of Leakage Current on Flashover Performance of Rime-iced Composite Insulator

(a) Example of LC waveform (b) LC waveform after wavelet transform

(c) RP of LC before wavelet transform (d) RP of LC after wavelet transform

Figure 3. An example of RP of LC.

Stage II: There are weak discharges continually appearing at

the edge of the shed. The difference in the rime distribution
significantly affects the flowing path and distributing density of
LC, leading to different thermal effects on the insulator surface.
At the edge of the shed, the rime layer is thin enough to be
easily melted and evaporated, and then the dry-band activities
appear, resulting in the partially enhanced electric field. Once
(a) Upper surface situation
the electric strength achieves the breakdown strength of air, the
weak discharges occur, as shown in Figure 5b.
Stage III: Strong discharges appear around the HV
electrode, as shown in Figure 5c. As the current density
around the HV electrode is much higher, the rime is
accelerated to melt and evaporated to cause the dry-band
discharges.
(b) Subsurface situation Stage IV: With the appearance of discharges around the
Figure 4. Rime-ice performance on the sample surface
HV electrode and the shed edge, the rime on the upper
stages. The typical phenomena and discharge characteristics surface is being partially melted. Due to the uneven
at each stage are shown in Figure 5 and described as follows. distribution of the rime and the coinstantaneous occurrence of
Stage I: This is the process of melting rime and forming melting and evaporation, the forming location of dry band is
conductive layer on the insulator surface. Due to the small ever-changing, causing the random phenomena of transient
particle size and soft structure, the charged particles are local discharges.
vibrated under the applied ac electric field, causing the Stage V: With effects of local arcing discharges, the
melting of rime and the formation of conductive layer. The surface resistance is significantly reduced to induce more
LC will be driven passing through the layer to accelerate dry-band activities. Once the electrical strength of these dry
melting the rime and reducing the surface resistance. At this bands achieves the breakdown strength of air, more arcing
stage, the current is continuously increased and no apparent discharges will appear. When the local arc along the
discharges are observed on the insulator surface, as shown in subsurface extends to the shed edge, there are two developing
Figure 5a. cases: one is to still continue the extension along the upper

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 17, No. 2; April 2010 469

surface; the other is to drift away the insulator surface and 5.2 NONLINEAR CHARACTERISTICS OF
generate the arcing discharge among the air gaps. LEAKAGE CURRENT
Stage VI: With the continuous development of local arcs, As described in Figures 5 and 6, the process of rime-ice
they extend forward to each other and bring together to form flashover is associated with the surface discharges which are
longer arcs. Once the arcing channel reaches the total length reflected in the distortion of the current waveforms. The
by 60%~80%, the local arc rapidly expands to cause the substantial properties of these discharges on the insulator
flashover, as shown in Figure 5f. surface are more useful for investigating the flashover
performance. Based on the practical consideration, the
information of LC before the flashover is more essential to
the operating safety and reliability of outdoor insulators. The
LC described in Figure 6 is divided into three stages: stages I
and II as the initial stage; stage III as the intermediate stage;
stages IV and V as the prior to flashover stage. Although the
LC levels are helpful to classify the stages during the rime-
ice flashover, the LC level itself does not always match the
discharge activities on the insulator surface [15]. As the
discharges randomly occur on the insulator surface, the LC
has complex and irregular properties. Analyzing the non-
linear characteristics of LC can assist to understand the
underlying mechanism of the flashover process [20].
Figure 5. Process of the rime-ice flashover Therefore, the recurrent plot technique is employed to
provide visualization and description of non-linear
characteristics of discharge current.
5 ANALYSIS OF LEAKAGE CURRENT After extracting the high frequency components of LC, the
RP topological structures during the flashover process are
5.1 TRANSITION OF LEAKAGE CURRENT obtained as shown in Figure 7, which provide the non-linear
The transition of LC is well consistent with the dynamic characteristics of LC. Visual assessment of the structures
performance during the flashover process. Based on the indicates the transition of dynamic performance on the
stages shown in Figure 5, the typical waveform and its insulator surface. It is found that there are apparently two
frequency characteristics at each stage are shown in Figure 6 different properties: one is characterized by the recurrent
and described as follows. points forming the lines, which are parallel to the main
Stage I: The current waveforms are almost the sinusoidal diagonal, as shown in Figure 7a; the other is characterized by
due to the resistive current driven by the source voltage. As the alternation of concentrated recurrent points and white
there is no apparent discharge and the resistive performance space segments, as shown in Figure 7c. At the initial stage,
dominates the insulator surface, the magnitudes are small. the parallel lines indicate the embedding vectors of LC have a
Due to the resistive and capacitive properties of insulator high correlation in m-dimensional space, while the discrete
surface, the frequency spectrum of LC contains the points indicate the less correlation components in the LC.
prominent 50-Hz fundamental components and the harmonic Due to the resistive and capacitive properties, the
components induced by the discharges. comparatively stationary performance dominates the insulator
Stage II: The waveforms have a little distortion into the surface. With the melting process of the rime-ice, the
sawtooth shape due to a few faint discharges occurring on the conductive layer increasingly forms to reduce the surface
insulator surface. resistance. Then more conductive components appear in the
Stage III: The current waveforms become triangular due to current, which have the same or very similar embedding
the appearance of intense local discharges. The tip part of the vectors in m-dimension phase space. It can be manifested in
current is sharper in the meantime and the peak value RP as the regular distribution of recurrent points. The
increases from the start of voltage application. deterministic structure and high degree of regularity suggest
Stage IV: The current waveforms become similar to the fewer complex activities on the insulator surface. As
pulse wave. The bigger distortion and larger peak value of observed at this stage in Figures 5 and 6, only a few
the current are in accordance with the propagation of the discharges occurred on the insulator surface. The discharge
local arcing discharges. activities associated with the conductive current stably occur
Stage V: The pulse waveforms having the largest at both positive and negative cycles of the sinusoidal
magnitudes are associated with intensive dry-band discharges, waveform. As the embedding vectors of the discharge
which can be clearly observed on the insulator surface. With activities have a weak correlation, the RP topological
the development of these arcs, they will connect together and structure shows some random distribution of recurrent points.
generate the arcing channel, which is the initial trace of the The increasing number of recurrent points can well reflect the
flashover. substantial changes of discharge activities on the insulator
Stage VI: The flashover occurs on the insulator surface. surface.

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
470 Y. Liu and B. X. Du: Recurrent Plot Analysis of Leakage Current on Flashover Performance of Rime-iced Composite Insulator

Stage Current waveform Frequency spectrum

II

III

IV

VI

Figure 6. Transition of LC and the frequency characteristics during the rime-ice flashover

At the intermediate stage, with the increase of thermal nonstationarity and complexity in the RP structure indicate
energy produced by the current, the melting of rime is that there are more randomly dynamic activities on the
accelerated to form the electrolytic solution, which can also insulator surface. Such transition shows the appearance of
be evaporated by the thermal energy. When the evaporation local arcing discharges. It indicates that the current has less
rate is higher than the melting rate, dry-band activities appear correlation in m-dimension phase space, which is in
in the certain surface locations. With simultaneous accordance with the randomness of discharge activities. And
occurrence of enhanced electric field, the discharges the high density of RP points reflects the discharges become
randomly occur across the dry band, resulting in little denser on the insulator surface.
correlation among the discharges. Thus the non-linear At the prior to flashover stage, the local discharges connect
characteristics are reflected by the disperse points, as shown and form the intensive arcing discharges. Once the intensive
in Figure 7b. The parallel lines disappear and only the discharges continuously appear and connect to form the
discrete points remain in the RP. The increasing comparatively stable discharge channel, the station of

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 17, No. 2; April 2010 471

(a) Initial stage (b) Intermediate stage (c) Prior to flashover stage
Figure 7. RP of the high frequency components of LC during the rime-ice flashover.

insulator surface turns into stable dry-band discharges. By means of artificial experiments, this paper proposed a
With the alternating discharges, the RP structure is recurrent plot technique to analyze non-linear
composed of white space segments and concentrated characteristics of LC for the purpose of investigating the
recurrent points, as shown in Figure 7c. The white rime-iced flashover performance of outdoor insulators. The
segments indicate the intermission of intensive RP of the high-frequency components gives a visual
discharges and the dense points indicate the intensive monitoring method for insulator performance, which is
arcing discharges. Such transition between the two helpful to the comprehensive analysis on the insulator
segments means the coming flashover. With performance in rime-iced environments. From the
propagation of dry-band activities, the weak local arcs viewpoint of the field application, further investigation
join together to form the intensive dry-band discharges, should be carried out to establish the database of RP graph
which are the essential cause of the flashover. and its indicators to effectively identify the dynamic
The RP structure manifested in Figure 7c is performance of insulator surface. Thus the prediction of
significantly different from those shown in Figures 7a contamination flashover will be fulfilled to enhance the
and 7b. The dense points indicate the stationary state of operating reliability of outdoor insulators and reduce the
intensive dry-band discharges. The white blank risk of damage to people and properties caused by the
segments stand for the transition state, which means the flashover accidents.
switches of different discharge states. The alternation 0.1 0.6
between the dense points and the blank segments RR
demonstrates the intermittent groups of dry-band DET
discharges. The scope of concentrative points shows
sustained duration of the discharges. Such highest
complexity of RP structure reveals intensive discharge

DET
activities and their switches on the insulator surface,
RR

0.05 0.3
which is an indication of the imminent flashover.
Therefore, the RP is well in accordance with the
transition performance of insulator surface during the
rime-iced flashover.

5.3 RP QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS 0

Stage I Stage II Stage III Stage IV Stage V
0

Figure 8 shows the quantitative indicators of RP of

LC during the rime-ice flashover. As shown in Figure 8, Figure 8. Quantitative indicator of the RP during the rime-ice flashover.
the RR decreases from the initial stage to the just
before flashover stage, indicating the reduction of the
6 CONCLUSIONS
regular performance on the insulator surface. Such
decreasing tendency is due to the increasing faint The flashover performance of rime-iced composite
discharges, and then the weak local discharges, finally insulator was investigated based on the recurrent plot
the formation of intensive discharge channel. In Figure analysis of LC. According to the visual observation of
8, the DET shows the decreasing variation to reveal the rime-ice morphologies and discharge activities on the
decreasing deterministic ingredients in the current. It is insulator surface, it was found that the discharges firstly
found that the variation of both RR and DET are well appeared at the edge of insulator shed which is dependent
related with the transition of RP topological structure upon the melting of rime-ice and the formation of
in Figure 7. conductive layer. After extracting the high-frequency (1.25-

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
472 Y. Liu and B. X. Du: Recurrent Plot Analysis of Leakage Current on Flashover Performance of Rime-iced Composite Insulator

2.5 kHz) components of LC, the related recurrent plot was [14] Salt-fog", IEEE Trans. Dielec. Electr. Insul., Vol. 10, pp. 128-136,
2003.
obtained to reveal the nonlinear characteristics during the
[15] M. A. R. M. Fernando and S. M. Gubanski, "Leakage Current
process of rime-iced flashover. The recurrent plot technique Patterns on Contaminated Polymeric Surfaces", IEEE Trans. Electr.
was effective for the identification of dynamic behaviors on Insul., Vol. 6, pp. 688-694, 1999.
the insulator performance during the flashover process. It [16] S. Kumagai and N. Yoshimura, "Leakage Current Characterization
graphically gave insight into the discharge associated with for Estimating the Conditions of Ceramic and Polymeric Insulating
Surfaces", IEEE Trans. Dielec. Electr. Insul., Vol. 11, pp. 681-690,
the act of rime-ice melting and the discharge propagation 2004.
for the formation of flashover channel. The underlying [17] T. Suda, "Frequency Characteristics of Leakage Current Waveforms
mechanism of the rime-ice flashover can be revealed by the of a String of Suspension Insulator", IEEE Trans. Power Delivery,
topological structure and the quantitative indicators of Vol. 20, pp. 481-487, 2005.
[18] Y.-C. Song and D.-H. Choi, "High-frequency Components of
recurrent plot. Leakage Current as Diagnostic Tool to Study Ageing of Polymer
Insulators under Salt Fog", Electronics Letters, Vol. 41, No. 12, pp.
684–685, 2005.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT [19] B. X. Du, Yong Liu, H. J. Liu and Y. J. Yang, “Recurrent Plot
This research work is sponsored by National Nature Analysis of Leakage Current for Monitoring Outdoor Insulator
Performance”, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr.l Insul., Vol. 16, pp. 139-
Science Foundation of China (NSFC 50777048) and 146, 2009.
Tianjin Nature Science Foundation (No. 07JCYBJC07700). [20] B. X. Du and D. S. Dong, "Recurrence Plot Analysis of Discharge
Current in Tracking Test of Gamma-ray Irradiated Polymer", IEEE
Trans. Dielec. Electr. Insul., Vol. 15, pp. 974-981, 2008.
REFERENCES [21] A. Wolf, J. B. Swift and H. L. Swinney, "Determining Lyapunov
[1] S. M. Gubanski, A. Dernfalk, J. Andersson and H. Hillborg, Exponents from a Time Series", Physica D, Vol. 16, pp. 285-317,
"Diagnostic Methods for Outdoor Polymeric Insulators", IEEE Trans. 1985.
Dielec. Electr. Insul., Vol. 14, pp. 1065-1080, 2007. [22] M. T. Rosenstein, J. J. Collins and C. J. De Luca, "A Practical
[2] T. Kikuchi, S. Nishimura, M. Nagao, K. Izumi, Y. Kubota and M. Method for Calculating Largest Lyapunov Exponents from Small
Sakata, "Survey on the Use of No-ceramic Composite Insulators", Data Sets", Physica D, Vol. 65, pp. 117-134, 1993.
IEEE Trans. Dielec. Electr. Insul., Vol. 6, pp. 548-556, 1999. [23] G. M. Mindlin and R. Gilmore, "Topological Analysis and Synthesis
[3] R. S. Gorur, H. M. Schneider, J. Cartwright, Y. Beausajour, et al. of Chaotic Time Series", Physica D., Vol. 58, pp. 229-242, 1992.
"Surface Resistance Measurements on Nonceramic Insulators", IEEE
Trans. Power Delivery, Vol. 16, pp. 801-805, 2001.
[4] S. M. Gubanski, "Modern Outdoor Insulation-Concerns and
Challenges", IEEE Electr.Insul. Mag., Vol. 21, No. 6, pp. 5-11, 2005.
[5] F. Meghnefi, C. Volat and M. Farzaneh, "Temporal and Frequency Yong Liu was born in Tangshan, China, on
Analysis of the Leakage Current of a Station Post Insulator during December 8, 1980. He received the M.E. and Ph.D.
Ice Accretion", IEEE Trans. Dielec. Electr. Insul., Vol. 14, pp. 1381- degrees in electrical engineering from Tianjin
1389, 2007. University, China, in 2006 and 2009, respectively.
[6] M. Farzaneh and W. A. Chisholm, "Insulator Icing Test Methods, He is currently working as a researcher at the
Selection Criteria and Mitigation Alternatives", IEEE Trans. Dielec. School of Electrical Engineering and Automation
Electr. Insul., Vol. 14, pp. 1462-1473, 2007. in Tianjin University. His research interests are
[7] C. L. Phan and M. Hara, "Leakage Current and Flashover dielectric breakdown mechanisms of polymeric
Performance of Iced Insulators", IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus and insulating materials and monitoring of outdoor
Syst., Vol. 98, pp. 849-859, 1979. insulators under multi-effect environments.
[8] M. M. Khalifa and R. M Morris, "Performance of Line Insulators
under Rime Ice", IEEE Trans. Power Apparatus and Syst., Vol. 86,
pp. 692-698, 1967.
[9] M. Farzaneh, J. Kiernicki and J. F. Drapeau, "AC Flashover
Performance of H.V. Insulators under Glaze and Rime", IEEE Conf.
Electr. Insul. Dielec. Phenomena (CEIDP), pp. 499-507, 1993. B. X. Du (M’00-SM’04) received the M.E. degree
[10] H. Hemmatjou, M. Farzaneh and I. Fofana, "Modeling of the AC Arc in electrical engineering from Ibaraki University,
Discharge on Snow-covered Insulators", IEEE Trans. Dielec. Electr. Hitachi, Japan and the Ph.D. degree from Tokyo
Insul., Vol. 14, pp. 1390-1400, 2007. University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo,
[11] K. Klimaszewska1, C. Sârbu and ĩ. Polkowska1, "Rime Samples Japan. During 1996-2002, he was with Niigata
Characterization and Comparison Using Classical and Fuzzy College of Technology, Niigata, Japan and was an
Principal Components Analysis", Central European J. Chem., Vol. 6, Assistant Professor and then up to an Associated
No. 2, pp. 208-215, 2008. Professor. From 2000 to 2002, he was a Visiting
[12] B. Marungsri, H. Shinokubo, R. Matsuoka and S. Kumagai, "Effect Scientist at Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
of Specimen Configuration on Deterioration of Silicone Rubber for Since 2002 he has been a Professor at the
Polymer Insulators in Salt Fog Ageing Test", IEEE Trans. Dielec. Department of Electrical Engineering, Tianjin
Electr. Insul., Vol. 13, pp. 129-138, 2006. University, China. His research interests are focused on dielectric failure
[13] D. D. Channakeshava and A. D. Rajkumar, "Leakage Current and mechanisms of polymer insulating materials, electrical insulation
Charge in RTV Coated Insulators under Pollution Conditions", IEEE technology and partial discharge measurements. He is a member of IEEJ
Trans. Dielec. Electr. Insul., Vol. 9, pp. 294-299, 2002. and senior member of CSEE.

Authorized licensed use limited to: ULAKBIM UASL ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIV. Downloaded on May 01,2021 at 18:51:07 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.