Composite Insulators

Composite Insulators

Trench is a recognized world-wide
leader in design and manufacture
of high voltage equipment for
electrical and industrial systems.
In its long history — while utilizing
several insulation mediums, e. g.
epoxy resin, traditional oil-paper-
insulation — Trench Germany
decided to focus on SF6-gas as an
insulation medium for its whole
product range.
In 1980, Trench Germany intro-
duced composite technology for
hollow composite insulators.
This type of insulator consists of a
tube of filament reinforced plastic
(FRP) for mechanical support, with
a housing made of silicone rubber
to withstand various environmen-
tal conditions.
Today, more than 10,000 units
with ratings up to 800 kV are in
service worldwide, operating
successfully under varying environ-
mental conditions.

Basic Structure of
Hollow Composite
Insulators

Flange

FRP-tube

Silicone Housing

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Application
The main use of hollow composite
insulators at Trench Germany is for
free-standing SF6-gas-insulated
instrument transformers and
bushings.
Application of 420 kV
Current Transformers under
different environmental
conditions
A location with less pollution accumulation on the
insulator surface
Due to the increased demand
for composite technology in high
voltage devices, Trench Germany
also manufactures the composite
insulators for a wide range of high
voltage applications such as:
• Instrument Transformers
• Circuit Breakers
• Disconnectors
• Post Insulators
• Lightning Arrestors
• Bushings
• Cable Terminations
A location with heavy pollution:
The insulator (originally grey) is covered totally
with a layer of high conductive minerals.
Nevertheless, the insulator surface shows excellent
hydrophobicity.
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 Features

Hydrophobicity
If the surface of a high voltage
insulator is hydrophobic, the leak-
age currents as well as the surface
discharge activities will be reduced
significantly.
In co-operation with its sub-
supplier, Trench Germany has
developed a special high quality
silicone for its insulator sheds.
This silicone provides not only a
hydrophobic surface when it is
clean; it also transfers its hydropho-
bicity quickly into and onto pollution
layers which may accumulate on
the surface.
Therefore — even under the worst
pollution conditions — the insula-
tor provides excellent performance
without any failures.
A cleaning process is not necessary.
Tests on Trench Germany insulators
that have been in service under
severe conditions for many years
prove that the transfer properties
remain unchanged.

Clean Insulator Surfaces:

The degree of water repellency on hydrophobic silicone rubber is much higher when compared to
hydrophilic porcelain.

Polluted Insulator Surfaces:

On a porcelain surface, water penetrates totally into the hydrophilic pollution layers; however, insulators with
silicone sheds still have a very good water repellency due to the hydrophobicity transfer.

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Creepage Distance
As there are no standards for mea-
suring creepage distance for com-
posite insulators, the IEC 815 for
ceramic and glass insulators often is
applied. However, this standard
does not refer to hydrophobic
surfaces and the transfer of
hydrophobicity under pollution.
Due to these hydrophobic proper-
ties it is possible to reduce creep-
age distances according to the
customer’s requirements.
Trench Germany measures the
creepage distance based on
20 years experience, considering
the individual electric and climatic
conditions of the operation location.

Mechanical Strength
The mechanical strength of a The Trench insulator is:
composite insulator is met by
the FRP-tube. • earthquake resistant
• resistant against vandalism
The tube data (winding angle,
• explosion proof
wall thickness etc.) are calculated
carefully – based on many • easy to handle during transport
years’ of know-how – and a and installation
special software program.
This results in outstanding me-
chanical strength.

The porcelain insulates after the Los Angeles earthquake in 1994.

While porcelain equipment was destroyed almost totally, Trench

current transformers were still ready for operation.

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 Unique Single Mould Method

Trench uses a unique method to
assemble the silicone sheds:
One shed is moulded on top of
the other. The mould rotates,
putting an inclination also on the
lower side of the shed.
There are no moulding lines on
the silicone surfaces which might
effect the pollution and erosion
performance.
With the single mould method the
seamless insulator can be designed
for to different shed geometry or
shed distances without requiring
special tools. This provides the
highest flexibility in meeting the
customers’ requirements.

Moulding Equipment

Moulding Principle

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Typical FRP-Tube/ Shed Data

Internal diameter 120 150 174 190 190 240 248 250 288 300 340 350 500 756 762 770
I.D. (mm)
Outer diameter 130 180 198 206 257 272 312 308 362 516 790
O.D. (mm)
Insulator length one stack up to 4620, cascading possible
L (mm)

Preferred types are printed in bold. Additional data on request.

Lifetime
Trench Germany was one of the
first manufacturers to use com-
posite materials for high voltage
hollow composite insulators.
Now, the hollow insulator is a
well-established product in the
high voltage industry world-wide.
Trench Germany has years of
experience with electrical and me-
chanical design, material selection,
production and testing. Having
installed more than 10000 units,
we have experience in different cli-
matic zones and at all high voltage
levels.
No deterioriation ageing of our
composite insulators has been
reported.
With this background, Trench
is in a position to guaranteelong
life for all its composite insulators.

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 Trench Austria GmbH
Paschinger Strasse 49, Postfach 13
A-4060 Linz-Leonding/Austria
Phone +43.732.6793-0
Fax +43.732.6713 41
E-Mail sales@TrenchAustria.at

Trench Brasil LTDA

Via Expressa de Contagem, 2685
CEP: 32370-485
Cpmtagem, MG - Brasil
Phone 55. 31. 391-5959
Fax 55. 31. 391-1828
E-Mail
trenchbrasil@ca.trenchgroup.com

Trench Limited
Coil Product Division
71 Maybrook Drive, Scarborough
Ontario, Canada M1V 4B6
Phone (416) 298-8108
Fax (416) 298-2209
E-Mail sales@ca.trenchgroup.com

Trench Limited
Instrument Transformer Division
390 Midwest Road, Scarborough
Ontario, Canada M1P 3B5
Phone (416) 751-8570
Fax (416) 751-6952
E-Mail sales@ca.trenchgroup.com

Trench France S.A.

16, rue du Général Cassagnou
B.P. 70
F - 68302 St-Louis Cedex/France
Phone +33.3.89 70 23 23
Fax +33.3.89 67 26 63
E-Mail sales@trench-france.com

Trench Germany GmbH

Nürnberger Strasse 199
96050 Bamberg/Germany
Phone +49.951.1803-0
Fax +49.951.1803-224
E-Mail sales@trench.de

www.trenchgroup.com
Trench Switzerland AG
Lehenmattstrasse 353
CH - 4028 Basel/Switzerland
Phone +41.61.315 51 11
Fax +41.61.315 59 00
E-Mail sales@trench.ch

Subject to change without notice

04.2000

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