CIGRE CBIP RTV Coating Neelesh Arora 12 NOV 2018

NEELESH ARORA
RTV Insulator Coatings:

Panacea for Pollution Flashovers in EHV/UHV Transmission Systems
What is an RTV HVIC?
“Room temperature Vulcanizing” (RTV)
“High Voltage Insulator Coating” (HVIC) Silicone
Rubber
Use: To create a “silicone surface on a ceramic

insulator” to prevent the formation of a conductive
layer, and avert “contamination-flashovers”
For AC|DC Insulators, even up to 1200 kV
Also referred to as:

Anti-Tracking Coatings
RTV Silicone Rubber Coatings
And often incorrectly as “silicon coating”
Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

2
International practices on usage of insulators in EHV/UHV transmission systems
Combining the Best of Both Worlds
+ =
Mechanical Strength Silicone Rubber Surface Mechanical Strength

Poor Surface Properties + Silicone Surface
Conductive Path Averted

3
Brief History of RTV Coatings:
RTV Core Characteristics
Gen-1, • Early 1970s experimental product; Trichloroethane solvent, unfilled
1970s
Gen-1 • Contain Alumina Trihydrate (ATH) (≤ 5μ) dispersed in naphtha
Commercial • Focus on Inclined Plane Tracking and Erosion, not Hydrophobicity
1994
Gen-2 • Similar to the above with ATH filler ( ≥ 2μ ≤ 10μ)
1989
Gen-3 • Use variations of ATH in different sizes ( ≥ 2μ ≤ 15μ)
1994 • Commercial patent with 13μ
• Solvent changed from Trichloroethane to Naphtha
Gen-4 • Silica-based filler over ATH for improved thermal stability, better adhesion,
1999, reduced porosity and better performance in SOx/NOx conditions
2010/11 • Hybrid Coating with Quartz primary filler and ATH as a secondary filler

4
Standardization being done at CIGRÉ, IEEE and IEC
IEEE 1523: “Guideline for RTV Coating”, 2018 revision expected soon
Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS): Now covered under ETD 06 (Insulator and
Insulator Standards)
CIGRÉ B2.69 “Coatings for Power Networks” recently formed, with RTV
HVIC having a special sub-group
IEC: Discussions underway to use CIGRÉ B2.69 work

5
Artificial Salt Fog Test (IEC 60507), with a Challenge
400 kV String
23 x FLASHED OVER discs
Salt Fog density at 224 kg/m3

Cycle -1 (60 min) Pass

6
Fillers, String Orientation and Full/half Coating: Tests
IEEE Transactions Paper: Vol 25, June 2018
Adapted IEC 62217 salt-fog tests (1,000 h) on:

ATH-filler RTV Coating
Quartz-filler RTV Coatings
Fully coated Insulators, and

Bottom-only coated Insulators
In
Vertical Arrangement (Susp.) Bottom
Horizontal Arrangement (Tens.)
Source: “Comparative tests on RTV Silicone Rubber Coated Porcelain Suspension Insulators in a Salt-Fog Chamber” as
published in IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 25, No. 3; June 2018
Dr. Suat Ilhan Dr. E. A. Cherney
Istanbul Technical University, Turkey University of Waterloo
Department of Electrical Engineering Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering

7
Filler Performance in Suspension Orientation
3rd harmonic of leakage current is an
indicator of hydrophobicity loss, 1h readings
(Quartz Filler)
(ATH Filler)
Dry Band Hydrophobicity
Leakage Current
Arcing Loss + Aging
After 1,000 hours:

No Dry-band Arcing on ATH sample (S1)
No Dry-band Arcing on Quartz sample (S2)
Performance excellent on both samples

8
Filler Performance in Tension Orientation
IEC 62217 1,000 hour salt-fog test:

3rd harmonic of leakage current (Quartz Filler)
(ATH Filler)

9
Filler Performance in Tension Orientation
Withstand time (hrs.) till Dry-Band Arcing onset

(Higher is better)
700
640
600
500
400
300
210
200
100 80
60
0
Fully Coated Bottom Coated
S1 (ATH) S2 (Quartz)
The complete IEEE Transactions paper by Dr. S Ilhan and Dr. EA Cherney is available here 10
Leakage Current Intensity (mA)
Tension Strings, Fully Coated
ATH
Quartz Filler
Filler

11
Coating Mass Loss Under Heating Conditions
Additional loss of ATH

mass due to thermal
breakdown till 400°C
• Breakdown of ATH, a smoke-retardant pigment starts at ~200 °C

• Irreversible dehydration reaction causes coating mass erosion
• Quartz-filled coatings lose mass, but beyond 400 °C
Slide Courtesy Permission: Dr. E A Cherney, Chairman, IEEE Dielectrics & Electrical Society, Outdoor Service Environment Committee
12
Tata Power Case Study
Gen-4 RTV Coating in Extreme Pollution

Coastal Gujarat Power Corp, (CGPL), India
Largest Power Station in India (4,000 MW)

Highest engineering standards
33 mm/kV design creepage
365-day live-line washing cycle

Extreme leakage current & corona persisted
MULTIPLE Flashovers despite washing
After trying all other preventive methods, in 2012 Epsilon was selected for the RTV
Coating project as the ONLY TECHNICALLY COMPETENT contractor

13
Coastal Location
Köppen Classification: BWh (Hot Desert, with coastal proximity)
22° 49’ 48" N, 69° 30’ 58" E

14
Köppen BWh: Hot Desert Climate

15
Mundra: Annual Temperature and Precipitation

16
CGPL: 31-disc 400kV Tension strings

17
Natural Contamination Severe Contamination

18
Evidence of Flashovers

19
2012
• Entire 400 kV Switchyard

coated
Coating Inspection on 29 SEP 2018
After 6 years:
Coating in good condition

21
Summarizing the Results
Pre-Coating
365 days of washing, yet flashovers every 7 to 10 days
In six years of EM570 Coating:

No washing
No flashovers
No special monitoring
No maintenance required
Paper authored by TATA POWER CGPL about their experiences

with Gen-4 RTV HVIC can be viewed here

22
765 KV Bushing Coating Project
(POWERGRID Substations, Pan-India)
450+ bushings of 765 kV coated in-situ, and as spares

Location: 35 substations, pan-India
Pre-coating 20 flashovers, in ~2 years
After ZERO Flashovers in ~2 years

coating
765 KV Bushing Coating Project (POWERGRID Stations)
Special Bushing Handling and RTV Coating Procedures Developed

24
RTV Coatings on Air Core Reactors
Discharges on outer surfaces and between coils
25
Image Gallery
26
33kV – 220kV

27
Steel Plant
28
Extreme Pollution
Pollution Source
Insulator yard

29
Extreme-Polluted Conditions
epsilon
30
400kV
epsilon
31
Coating 400kV Strings, in-situ
epsilon
Epsilon RTV Coating Team
Insulator Cleaning/Preparation prior to Coating
400kV Transformer Bushings
epsilon
500 kV HVDC: Air Core Reactors
epsilon
Insulator Cleaning/Preparation prior to Coating
37
765kV
epsilon
800kV HVDC NEA800 epsilon

39
epsilon
1200 kV PGCIL Bina Test station


40
Lines: Field Trials on OLD/FLASHED OVER Discs
Year Location Details
2008 Delhi Transco, Mandola Fully Flashed-over strings, coated with Gen-4 RTV HVIC and
220kV installed on Flashover Prone part of Line
2009 PGCIL*, 400kV Hisar- Fully Flashed-over string, coated and installed on flashover
Bawana line prone part of line, near brick kilns
2010 Punjab Transco, 220kV Coating on failed anti-fog insulators in highly flashover-prone
& 66kV area near dye factories
2010 PGCIL WRTS-2 Kawas 500 Field Aged insulators (15 years old) coated and installed
Haldwara 220kV in flashover-prone Kawas-Haldarwa CKT-1.
2011 Indian Railways, 132kV: 4,500 discs on highly flashover prone line in North India
Project
All field trials have been successful with no failures reported
*Coated discs replaced as part of an overall SRI installation program

41
Heading
Text

42
“Trains will not get interrupted. Coatings will work
wonders” Not fake News!
43
Text
Corona CA
Click here for video
UV Cam. Same day, same time. Independently shot video
44
Coating thickness and Uniformity
Thickness:
Commonly accepted Range: 400µ to 500µ DFT
Above 500µ: heating occurs, esp. breaks down ATH filled coatings
Uniformity:
In the factory: ± 5% variation can be achieved
Outdoor Conditions: A ± 20% thickness variation, even on the same
insulator have shown NO PERFORMANCE VARIATION
Measurement: DFT vs. WFT:
Field Experience:
DFT: Impractical, slow and in 90% of cases, requires 3+ shutdowns for
EACH insulator!
WFT is fast, practical and thickness errors corrected on-the-fly
IEEE 1523 makes no preference for DFT or WFT measurement

45
A Little Quiz
What is common between the next three slides?

46
47
48
49
Common to all Three Samples:
1. All taken from the field/project sites

2. Coating material passed every Type Test and Field Test required
3. All were coated by contractors meeting Bidder QR (Qualification Requirements) because
SKILL BARRIERS ARE MOSTLY IGNORED, OR SET VERY LOW
A poor coating applied well is likely to outperform good coating applied badly.
Seek out competence.

50
Do’s and Don’ts
Do not try and equate factory and field coating conditions and pass/fail
criteria – field projects will carry on for years with DFT readings
Do not entangle yourself with irrelevant and academic test reports: All tests
and studies are worthless, if coating is applied by inexperienced teams
Do not compare RTV Coatings by weight or volume as coverage can be vastly

different
Obtain Customer references

51
Conductor Clearance Infringement, Animal/Tree
Induced outages
RTV HVIC sometimes used where conductor clearance is infringed

or animals/trees cause tripping – do NOT do this!
Use insulation sleeves that give up to 66 kV dielectric strength,

applied in-situ

52
Thank you! X-29 Hauz Khas, New Delhi – 110016, India
Level 29, Offices at Central World, Bangkok, Thailand
Do not hesitate to contact me Tel (India): +91. 11. 4101.4888; www.epsilonasia.com
+91. 98715 16222 Neelesh.arora@epsilonasia.com

CIGRE CBIP RTV Coating Neelesh Arora 12 NOV 2018

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NEELESH ARORA

RTV Insulator Coatings:

Use: To create a “silicone surface on a ceramic

For AC|DC Insulators, even up to 1200 kV

Also referred to as:

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Mechanical Strength Silicone Rubber Surface Mechanical Strength

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

IEC: Discussions underway to use CIGRÉ B2.69 work

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Salt Fog density at 224 kg/m3

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Adapted IEC 62217 salt-fog tests (1,000 h) on:

Fully coated Insulators, and

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

After 1,000 hours:

Performance excellent on both samples

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

IEC 62217 1,000 hour salt-fog test:

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Withstand time (hrs.) till Dry-Band Arcing onset

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Additional loss of ATH

• Breakdown of ATH, a smoke-retardant pigment starts at ~200 °C

Gen-4 RTV Coating in Extreme Pollution

Largest Power Station in India (4,000 MW)

365-day live-line washing cycle

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

22° 49’ 48" N, 69° 30’ 58" E

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

International practices on usage of insulators in EHV/UHV transmission systems

• Entire 400 kV Switchyard

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

International practices on usage of insulators in EHV/UHV transmission systems

In six years of EM570 Coating:

Paper authored by TATA POWER CGPL about their experiences

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

International practices on usage of insulators in EHV/UHV transmission systems

450+ bushings of 765 kV coated in-situ, and as spares

Pre-coating 20 flashovers, in ~2 years

After ZERO Flashovers in ~2 years

Special Bushing Handling and RTV Coating Procedures Developed

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

International practices on usage of insulators in EHV/UHV transmission systems

1200 kV PGCIL Bina Test station

International practices on usage of insulators in EHV/UHV transmission systems

All field trials have been successful with no failures reported

*Coated discs replaced as part of an overall SRI installation program

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

What is common between the next three slides?

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

1. All taken from the field/project sites

Neelesh Arora, Epsilon Asia Group

Do not compare RTV Coatings by weight or volume as coverage can be vastly

Obtain Customer references