2020 IEEE Region 10 Symposium (TENSYMP), 5-7 June 2020, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Mathematical Morphology aided Random Forest

Classifier based High Voltage Porcelain Insulator
Contamination level Classification
1st Kaushik Sit 2nd Abhinaba Chakraborty 3rd Sovan Dalai
Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department
Jadavpur University Jadavpur University Jadavpur University
Kolkata, India Kolkata, India Kolkata, India
kaushik.sit@gamil.com abhinabacr4@gmail.com sovandalai@yahoo.co.in

4th Biswendu Chatterjee 5th Arpan Kumar Pradhan

Electrical Engineering Department Electrical Engineering Department
Jadavpur University Jadavpur University
Kolkata, India Kolkata, India
biswenduc@gmail.com arpan.pradhan85@gmail.com

Abstract—In the present work, the influence of different
surface contaminations on the performance of a porcelain
insulator is investigated. The measurement of the Leakage
current on different classes of the contaminated porcelain
insulators is performed with the help of an experimental setup.
Necessary features from the recorded leakage current data are
thereafter identified and used for analysis purposes. The entire
data analysis has been implemented at the software platform. In
the reported work the authors used Mathematical
Morphological function and different statistical operations for
the feature extraction purpose. By using the Random Forest
classifier, authors have achieved the optimal feature
classification. The accuracy level of the Random Forest classifier
for different classes of contamination is also reported in the
paper.
Keywords— Porcelain Insulator, Leakage Current (LC)
Measurement, Mathematical Morphology, Statistical Analysis,
Random Forest Classifiers, Data analysis.
I. INTRODUCTION
The Insulators are unique to the supreme significance part
of power supply and broadcast lines. Porcelain insulators are
utilized for the two insides just as in outdoor resolutions. The
protectors are presented to different ecological conditions at
the divergent geographical landmass. The haze, shower,
downpour, ocean salt, sand, dust, soil, and air contamination
are the diverse ecological situations that affect much of the
time on outside protectors. Mostly, the mixture of moisture
and dry contaminants cause surface deterioration of the
insulator. This blend is shaping a insufficient nonstop leading
layer on the cover surface because of the ionization of the
electrolytes. A soggy insulator exterior makes a non-uniform
layer of pollution accordingly, Leakage Current (LC) begins
streaming once again the outside of the cover [1-2]. Moreover,
due to the non-uniform dissemination of the degree of
expanding leakage current makes a localized warming impact
on the insulator. This warming effect that leads to insufficient
dissipation of the dampness, prompts the development of dry
band [1] on insulator. Sooner or later, it is the motivation to
do breakdown and arrangement of an arc which could live to
raise till a complete flashover takes place [1-3]. The surface
leakage current that has a nature of non-linearity, has
increased eventually with the increment of pollution level. It
RUSA 2.0 Project at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.
has been also found from different works of literature that, the
leakage current is varying with respect to the alteration of
operational voltage, contamination level, temperature, and
humidity. The condition monitoring of the porcelain
insulator's leakage current that, is carried out either in the
laboratory or field, found from the literature.
In this work, authors have accomplished the experimental
work on the laboratory as per IEC 60507 and IS 8704
standards [7, 5]. They have taken five classes of porcelain
insulators and studied all the classes insulators leakage current
behavior by using experimental setup. The entire data analysis
was carried out at the MATLAB as well as in Python software
platform for each of the acquired classes LC data. The authors
have used Mathematical Morphological [9-10] operation as
well as various statistical processes for the feature extraction
determination. By using the usage of the Random forest
classifier [12-13], authors have accomplished the most
effective characteristic class. This features category is done by
the use of proposed filter method. The accuracy degree of the
Random forest classifier for specific classes of contamination
is likewise stated within the paper.
II. METHODOLOGY
A. Preparation of samples
Authors have applied the contaminated coating on each of
the insulators that is Shown in the Figure 1 as per IEC 60507
and IS 8704 standards [7, 5]. The Sodium Chloride (NaCl) salt
usually contaminates the line insulators in the coastal area.
The Asian tropical rainforest countries’ line insulators are get
affected by Kaolin (Al SiO2 O5 (OH)4). Hence, In the
laboratory, Kaolin and Sodium Chloride have been mixed
with distilled water as per the standard for contamination
purposes [8]. This artificial pollution is layered on the surface
of the insulator (Fig. 1) and dries for 24 hrs. In this work,
authors have measured the LC for five categories of
contamination. The contamination classes have been
calculated by the Equivalent Salt Deposit Density (ESDD)
measurement [1-3]. In each classes of contamination were
prepared by using the standard proportion of kaolin and NaCl
mixture [5, 8]. The Leakage Current (LC) from the
contaminated insulator was measured using an established
experimental hardware arrangement. Essential features from
the documented LC data are thereafter identified and used for

978-1-7281-7366-5/20/$31.00 ©2020 IEEE

98

Authorized licensed use limited to: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Downloaded on June 14,2021 at 10:22:55 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 analysis purposes. The complete data analysis has been
performed at MATLAB and Python 3.7.4 software.
B. Data Acquisition Arrangement
To observe the insulator’s LC state and anticipate the
flashover, authors have built up an exploratory arrangement
that can be utilized to gauge the surface LC. This kind of
measurement is very essential so that essential precautionary
accomplishment can be taken before it’s too late. Therefore, a
measuring system has been developed in the laboratory that is
shown in the figure 2. In this work, authors have taken five
different classes of contamination on porcelain insulator
specimens. These resemble an extremely low, low, moderate
class, high and exceptionally high class of pollution
respectively. The insulators that are used in this work, are
nominally rated at 11kV. All the specimens were tested at
laboratory by using the developed measuring setup. In the
laboratory, the power supply system contains practical field
noise from the network of the service provider. Captured data
contains this noise. A separate set of high voltage supply
consisting of signal generator and high voltage amplifier is
given to the insulator under test in an artificially controlled
environment in the laboratory as per the IEC 60507 and IS
8704 standards [3, 5 and 7]. Different classes of porcelain
insulators are tested in the laboratory in both controlled and
uncontrolled environment to extract the features of noise
which are then subsequently eliminated in the software
platform. The electricity supply has been given to the
conductor of the experimental samples from a 1-ph, 50 Hz
laboratory transformer that is having a rating of 1-ph,
500V/250kV, 150 kVA, and 50Hz. A protective high voltage
resistance of 180 kΩ is connected in series with High Voltage
(HV) terminal of testing transformer (shown in Fig. 2) for
providing any accidental short circuit protection [1, 3]. The
schematic of power supply setup that has been shown in the
Fig. 2 has HV capacitors C3 and C4 [7] are used as a voltage
divider for measurement purpose. The necessary supply
voltage is controlled from the control room.
Fig. 1. Pure and Contaminated Porcelain insulator sample.
Fig. 2. The schematic diagram of overall hardware setup.
99
Authorized licensed use limited to: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Downloaded on June 14,2021 at 10:22:55 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
A parallel rheostat (i.e. 10k), employed as to record the LC
by using Digital Storage Oscilloscope (DSO). The LC data has
acquired from DSO to the computer via Universal Serial Bus
(USB) cable for data analysis purpose. The measured LC data
is stored in the computer as excel file.
III. FEATURES EXTRACTION
After acquiring the measured data from the hardware
setup, then the obtained data have been used as input in
MATLAB and Anaconda Jupyter Notebook (Python 3.7.4)
software platform where the necessary features extraction and
classification works have been performed.
A. Mathematical Morphology
In this work, the Mathematical Morphological Operation
[9] has performed on the measured raw LC records for getting
different statistical features. The Mathematical Morphology
filter [10] is used at those acquired data in the MATLAB
platform to perform the statistical operation. These statistical
operations are like Dilation, Erosion [10], Maximum Value,
Kurtosis, Skewness, and Variance [4]. The Dilation is the
morphological operation that mixes two units utilizing vector
expansion of set components. In case, X and Y are set in M2,
the dilation of X via Y is the standard of altogether of the
feasible vector addition of combined components, one is
approaching from X and other one is approaching from Y.
Therefore, mathematically the dilation of X by Y is signified
as
X ⊕ Y = p ∈ M (1)
Where, = for x ∈ X and y ∈ Y. Similarly, The
Erosion is additionally the morphological transformation. It is
additionally called Double Dilation. In case, X and Y are set
in M × M, the erosion of X with the aid of Y is the
arrangement of all of the additives of c for which the Erosion
of X through Y is implied to as
X ⊖ = c ∈ (2)
Where, c + y = X for every values of y ∈ Y.
B. Statistical Operation
In this work, few statistical operations are performed
like Maximum Value, Kurtosis, Skewness, and Variance [4].
The idea of the raw information was unique like H1, H2, H3
… Hn, where n is the measure of information points. Here,
is represented as the Mean of the all data set. The Variance of
the data points is represented in mathematically as
V(H) = σ2 (3)
Where, σ is the Standard Deviation i.e.
1
σ= ∑ =0( ) (4)
The Kurtosis and Skewness together are the statistical
operators that are utilized to depict the dissemination work. In
spite of the fact that Skewness isolates uncommon values in
one versus the other end, Kurtosis dealings infrequent values
in either tail. The Skewness fundamentally measures the
symmetry of the dissemination, though the Kurtosis chooses
the hugeness of the scattering ends. As indicated by the
Adjusted Fisher-Pearson Coefficient of Skewness (SK(A))
[11] is meant as
1 3
√ ( 1) ∑ =1( )
SK(H) = 2
(5)
( 2)
The guideline distinction between skewness and kurtosis
is that the skewness indicates to the grade of symmetry,
whereas the kurtosis alludes to the degree of the nearness of
 deviation inside the distribution. Mathematically, the kurtosis
∑ ( ) This method along with the classifer have been implemented
K(H) is represented as K(H) =
The valuation of the function at a most extraordinary point
is known as the maximum value and the estimation of the
function at the exceptionally least point is known as the
minimum value of the function. Characteristically, maxima of
a data point are composed as:
∶ → ℝ if, (∀ ∈ . ); (ℎ ) ≥ (ℎ) (7)
where, ℎ0 ∈ . Also, the Mathematical expression of minima
of the data point is:
∶ → ℝ if, (∀ ∈ ); (ℎ ) ≤ (ℎ) for ℎ0 ∈ . (8)
After performing the Morphological Operation and
Statistical function, the 21 distinct features that have been
extracted, have used in the feature’s classification work. The
corresponding results of Mathematical Morphology and
Statistical operation are revealed in Table I.
IV. FEATURES CLASSIFICATION
In this paper, authors have used Random Forest [12-13]
classifier that has applied to extracted Features. Also, the yield
of the classifier would help to determine the best fixability
with the different classes of porcelain insulators. Likewise,
outputs exactness level has been examined. The features
classification is performed with the help of the Filter method.
Here, the operation of Filter methodology has been illustrated
as flow charts (Fig. 3).
A. Filter Method
The porcelain insulators have been classified into 5
different contamination classes. Those classes have been
taken here as an output of the model. Each class contains five
numbers of data that is represented as 5 rows in Table I. Due
to space constraints in the manuscript, only two numbers of
each class data has shown in Table I. The following steps of
the Filter Method of feature classification are stated below.
Some rows are randomly taken for testing set and the rest of
the data are used to train the model. The all the raw data are
taken and applied the Random Forest [12-13] classifier and
correspondingly, the accuracy level is checked. In the next
step, three consecutive processes have run. Also, the whole
process is performed without correlation operation. The
consecutive three conditions are checked and eliminated those
features. Those conditions are: (1) Initially, all the constant
values of the feature are verified and eliminated out of 21
features. (2) Next, the threshold value of variance is set as
0.01. All low variance column's features are removed among
21 features. (3) In a third stage, any two random columns are
checked and eliminated if there is either column are having the
same value or not. After performing all these steps no such
results have been found for the same. The cross correlation has
performed for the achieving least feature sets (i.e. among 11
features). Likewise, the "absolute parson correlation co-
efficient" has assigned as 0.9 and has eliminated those features
that have a co-efficient value more than or equal to 0.9. These
3 existing features (i.e. C_Max, C_Variance and Nmsw_D)
out of the 11 distinct features have executed as an outcome of
this step. Also, the corresponding accuracy level has been
checked with the help of RF classifier..
B. Random Forest (RF) Classifier [12-13]
With this classifier, the optimal features have been
selected based on Filter Method. This classifier is also
Authorized licensed use limited to: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Downloaded on June 14,2021 at 10:22:55 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
provided the best acuracy among the 21 extracted features.
(6) in the Python software platform. The algorithm of Random
Forest works like a discrete transform. It develops a robust
model from a weak model. The main advantage of the
random forest is not over fitted during the feature
classification. The famous bootstrap technique has been used
to erect the Random forest methodology. The fundamental
concept of bootstrapping is to intensification the sorting
consequence by the integration of various training models.
The following step would be performed by the classifier on
the given data set as HZ where, Z is the size of the data set.
The size Z will be fragmented using bootstrap procedure. (1)
The training set with replacement is having n number of
samples. The bootstrap has been performed on n numbers of
sample randomly. (2) Obtain a determination tree from the
bootstrap pattern. (3) The D numbers of features without
replacement have been selected randomly. (4) The nodes are
divided by using the best split features. (5) All the steps are
repeated from 1 to k times. Where, 0 ≤ k ≤ Z. (6) Approximate
its observation against each tree to attribute that class
designation according to a democratic majority. (7) Assign,
D (HZ) = HB where, Z are the samples without replacement
and the bootstrap data collection has been created i.e. B from
1 to Z.
( )=
!
;0 ≤ ≤ (9).
( ! ( )!)
Fig. 3. The Flow chart of the Filter Method.
Where, P(C) is a probability of approximation, Z is the
quantity of trials and C is recapitulation. The all respective
outcomes are shown in the Table II.
V. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In this work, porcelain insulators have been classified into
5 different contamination classes. Those classes have been
taken here as an output of the model. Each class contains five
numbers of data that is represented as 5 rows in Table I. Due
to space constraints in the manuscript, only two numbers of
each class data has shown in Table I. After getting all the
various features that from the Mathematical Morphology
operation, have been fed to the Radom forest Classifier by
using the Filter method in the software platform. In the filter
method, the number of features that have been providing as
input has reduced to optimal number of features. Initially, the
Mathematical Morphology operation provided 21 numbers of
features as a data set for the filter method. Some of the features
set have shown in the Table II. In the Filter method, at first
step, the existing features have been reduced to 11 without
using the correlation operation. It has been observed, with the
help of the correlation function, the input features have been
100
 reduced to 3 (i.e. C_Max, C_Variance and Nmsw_D) features Hence, the RF classifier has provided the precision level i.e.
at third stage. When the correlation and the grouping model 100% in the different types of the feature classification
has executed at the final stage, the selected features would be process. Due to the limitation in the available data set, the RF
5 (i.e. C_Max, C_Variance, O_Max, Nc_D, and Nmsw_D) classifier has shown the accuracy level always 1.0 pu, but its
out of 21 features. This Filter method is a features reduction precision value would be reduced for the more numbers of
process where it selects the suitable and optimal features from data set. The output of the classifier has been provided suitable
many features. This fitting is done based on RF classifier’s and optimal features among those features. Moreover, the
outcome. The corresponding precision level of each stage has classification algorithm is simple for computation and
shown in the column 1, 2,3, and 4 in Table II. At each stage, execution. In conclusion, this work has exhibited the most
the accuracy level has been measured with the help of the RF noticeable outcomes which have helped to predict the
classifier and the accuracy level has been found 100 percent insulator’s contamination class. The Random Forest has given
for the same. The corresponding outcomes of all the processes significantly good accuracy level in the Filter Method.
are represented in the given below tabulations.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
TABLE I. RESULTS OF MATHEMATICAL MORPHOLOGY The authors' salutation to the RUSA 2.0 Venture as well
S Features Seta as the Electrical Engineering division of The Jadavpur
Classes
N 1 2 3 21 University, for their budgetary bolster as an inquiry about the
1 1.003 -1.003 1.525 - 101.483 remittance.
Very Light - -- -- -- - --
5 1.005 -10012 1.5254 - 101.462 REFERENCES
1 1.004 -1.008 1.5160 - 89.1099
Light - -- -- -- - -- [1] S. Deb, R. Ghosh, S. Dutta, S. Dalai and B. Chatterjee, "Effect of
5 1.011 -1.001 1.5263 - 89.4662 humidity on leakage current of a contaminated 11 kV Porcelain Pin
1 1.008 -1.008 1.5160 - 96.7883 Insulator," 6th International Conference on Computer Applications In
Moderate - -- -- -- - -- Electrical Engineering-Recent Advances (CERA), Roorkee, 2017, pp.
5 1.005 -1.008 1.5405 - 96.2372 215-219.
1 1.0052 -1.006 1.4179 - 107.9464 [2] S. Deb, R. Ghosh, S. Dutta, S. Dalai and B. Chatterjee, "Condition
High - -- -- -- - -- monitoring of 11kV porcelain pin insulator extracting surface current
5 1.0065 -1.004 1.4173 - 107.9492 from total leakage current," 2017 3rd International Conference on
1 1.0914 -0.930 1.3764 - 140.4982 Condition Assessment Techniques in Electrical Systems (CATCON),
Very High - -- -- -- - -- Rupnagar, 2017, pp. 403-406.
5 1.0651 -0.954 1.5377 - 134.6653 [3] S. Deb, S. Das, A. K. Pradhan, A. Banik, B. Chatterjee and S. Dalai,
a.
All features are: Dilation Average = 1, Erosion Average = 2, C_Kurtosis = 3, C_max = 4, "Estimation of Contamination Level of Overhead Insulators based on
C_Skewness = 5, C_Variance = 6, D_Kurtosis = 7, D_Max = 8, D_Skewness = 9, D_Variance = 10,
E_Kurtosis = 11, E_Max = 12, E_Skewness = 13, E_Varince = 14, O_Kurtosis = 15, O_Max = 16,
Surface Leakage Current employing Detrended Fluctuation Analysis,"
O_Skewness = 17, O_Variance = 18, Nc_D=19, NC_E = 20, Nmsw_D = 21 in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, ISSN: 0278-0046,
2019.
TABLE II. RSULTS OF FILTER METHODS [4] K. K. Lai, Lean Yu and Shouyang Wang, “Mean-Variance-Skewness-
Kurtosis-based Portfolio Optimization,” in First International Multi-
Accuracy level (pu) Symposiums on Computer and Computational Sciences (IMSCCS'06),
Classification

ISBN: 0-7695-2581-4, Hanzhou, Zhejiang, 20-24 June 2006, pp. 292-

(21 features)

(11 features)
Correlation2

Groupping4
(3 features)

(5 features)
Correlation
Corelation3
With Raw

297.
Without
Data1

With

With

and

[5] A. Singh, , L. Gewali, and J. Khatiwada, “New Measures of Skewness

Random
1.0
Forest
1.
With Raw data the model has taken 21 features set
model has taken 11 features set.
3 features set. 4 With correlation & grouping the model has taken 5 features set
VI. CONCLUSION
Within the reported work, 5 number of distinctive
categories of insulators have been engaged and spillage
current estimation has been completed on them. The entire
data analysis has been implemented at the software platform.
In the reported work, the authors have implemented
Mathematical Morphological function and several statistical
operations for the feature extraction purpose. The five classes
of insulator's leakage current data have used to extract features
with the help of the above-mentioned methods. The outcome
of the above-mentioned methodology is 21 features. Those
features are used in feature classification at a later stage. By
using the Random Forest classifier and cross-correlation, the
authors achieved the optimal feature classification. This
feature classification has achieved by using the proposed filter
methodology. This filter method is a features reduction
process (i.e. shown in Table II) where it selects the suitable
and optimal features from many features. Also, the accuracy
level of the best features is carried out with the help of the
Random Forest classifier for different classes of the insulator.
of a Probability Distribution,” Open Journal of Statistics, Vol. 9, issue
5, 2019, pp. 601-621, ISSN: 2161-7198.
1.0 1.0 1.0 [6] IS:8704, "Artificial Pollution on High Voltage Insulators to be Used on
AC Systems," Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 1995.
2
Without correlation
3
[7] IS:731-1971, "Porcelain insulators for overhead power lines with a
With correlation the model has taken
nominal voltage greater than 1000 V [ETD 6: Electrical Insulators and
Accessories]," Bureau of Indian Standards, New Delhi, 2006.
[8] A. K. Pradhan, S. Chatterjee, A. Banik, S. Dalai and B. Chatterjee,
"Condition assessment of outdoor porcelain insulator based on
dielectric dissipation factor evaluated from non-linear equivalent
circuit.," IET Science, Measurement & Technology, vol. 10, no. 8, pp.
866-873, 2016.
[9] IEC-60507, "Artificial pollution tests on high-voltage ceramic and
glass insulators to be used on a.c. systems," IEC, 2014.
[10] S. Gautam and S. M. Brahma, "Overview of mathematical morphology
in power systems — A tutorial approach," IEEE Power & Energy
Society General Meeting, Calgary, AB, 2009, pp. 1-7.
[11] R. M. Haralick, E. Dougherty, J. Ha, T. Kanungo, S. Karasu, C. K. Lee,
L. Rystrom, V. Ramesh & I. Phillips (1994) Statistical morphology,
Journal of Applied Statistics, Volume 21, Issue 1-2, 1994, pp. 341-354.
[12] D. Feng, Z. Deng, T. Wang, Y. Liu and L. Xu, "Identification of
disturbance sources based on random forest model," 2018 International
Conference on Power System Technology (POWERCON), Guangzhou,
2018, pp. 3370-3375.
[13] C. D. Morales-Molina, D. Santamaria-Guerrero, G. Sanchez-Perez, H.
Perez-Meana and A. Hernandez-Suarez, "Methodology for Malware
Classification using a Random Forest Classifier," 2018 IEEE
International Autumn Meeting on Power, Electronics and Computing
(ROPEC), Ixtapa, Mexico, 2018, pp. 1-6.

101

Authorized licensed use limited to: King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. Downloaded on June 14,2021 at 10:22:55 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.