Created in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.

High Voltage Insulator

This model is licensed under the COMSOL Software License Agreement 5.6.
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. See www.comsol.com/trademarks.
Introduction
Insulators are widely used in high voltage power transmission lines to support the weight
of suspended conductors without allowing the current to flow through the tower to
ground. A typical high voltage composite insulator rated at 110 kV is shown in Figure 1.

High voltage insulators are usually made from glass, porcelain, or composite polymer
materials. Composite insulators are typically composed of a central rod made of fiber
reinforced plastic and an outer weather shed made of silicone rubber. The weather shed
makes some parts of the insulator stay dry to withstand the flashover in wet weather.

Metal fitting, ground end

Grading ring, ground end

Weather shed

Core rod

Grading ring, line end

Metal fitting, line end

Figure 1: The high voltage insulator geometry.

The electric field is not distributed evenly across the insulator but is strongest at the sheds
nearest to both ends, which flashover first under an overvoltage. Metal grading rings are

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usually installed around the sheds at both ends, to reduce the non-uniformity of the
electric field and improve the flashover voltage.

Model Definition
Under static conditions, the electric potential V is defined by E = −∇V. Using this together
with the constitutive relation D = εrε0E and setting the free space charge to zero, one can
rewrite Gauss’ law as a variant of Poisson’s equation

– ∇ ⋅ ( ε r ε 0 ∇V ) = 0

where ε0 is the permittivity of vacuum and εr the relative permittivity of the material. This
equation can be solved by using the Electrostatics interface. To obtain a unique solution,
electric boundary conditions are applied to the line end with the overvoltage amplitude
V = 500 kV and to the ground end with V = 0.

Ideally, the metal is an equipotential body and electric field inside the metal is zero.
Usually, the metal parts are excluded from the computation domain since their potential
is known in advance. One can also include the metal parts and define the potential using
the Domain Terminal feature. In this case, the domain of the metal parts is not solved and
thus it is not necessary to assign a material to it. For other domains, the relative permittivity
of the material needs to be defined, as listed in Table 1.
TABLE 1: RELATIVE PERMITTIVITY OF DIFFERENT MATERIALS.

MATERIAL RELATIVE PERMITTIVITY

Core rod 5
Weather shed 3
Air 1

Figure 1 indicates that the geometry of the insulator can be modeled in 2D Axisymmetric
Space Dimension. The geometry sequence can be imported from a separate .mph file that
only contains the geometry. For a detailed instruction of the geometry building, see
Appendix: Modeling Instructions for the Geometry.

Results and Discussion

Figure 2 shows the revolved 3D electric potential distribution of the insulator. The
flashover voltage of the insulator is mainly determined by properties of the vertical
component of the tangential electric field. Figure 3 compares the vertical component of
the tangential electric field along the first six sheds from the line end. It is shown that the

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inhomogeneity and the maximum of the field are greatly reduced with the installation of
the grading rings. In this way, the grading rings help the insulator to withstand a higher
overvoltage and thus improve the external insulation of the power system.

Figure 2: The electric potential distribution of the high voltage insulator.

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Figure 3: Comparison of the z component of the tangential electric field along the surface of
the first six sheds from the line end without and with grading rings.

Reference
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulator_(electricity)

Application Library path: ACDC_Module/Capacitive_Devices/

high_voltage_insulator

Modeling Instructions
From the File menu, choose New.

NEW
In the New window, click Model Wizard.

MODEL WIZARD
1 In the Model Wizard window, click 2D Axisymmetric.
2 In the Select Physics tree, select AC/DC>Electric Fields and Currents>Electrostatics (es).

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3 Click Add.
4 Click Study.
5 In the Select Study tree, select General Studies>Stationary.
6 Click Done.

GLOBAL DEFINITIONS

Parameters 1
1 In the Model Builder window, under Global Definitions click Parameters 1.
2 In the Settings window for Parameters, locate the Parameters section.
3 In the table, enter the following settings:

Name Expression Value Description

Vi 500[kV] 5E5 V Overvoltage amplitude
H 30[mm] 0.03 m Thickness of the grading ring
D 350[mm] 0.35 m Diameter of the grading ring
d 150[mm] 0.15 m Distance of the grading ring from
the end

GEOMETRY 1
Insert the geometry sequence from the
high_voltage_insulator_geom_sequence.mph file.

1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Insert Sequence.

2 Browse to the model’s Application Libraries folder and double-click the file
high_voltage_insulator_geom_sequence.mph.

3 In the Geometry toolbar, click Build All.

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4 Click the Go to Default View button in the Graphics toolbar.

MATERIALS

Core Rod
1 In the Model Builder window, under Component 1 (comp1) right-click Materials and
choose Blank Material.
2 In the Settings window for Material, type Core Rod in the Label text field.
3 Select Domains 3–5 only.
4 Locate the Material Contents section. In the table, enter the following settings:

Property Variable Value Unit Property

group
Relative permittivity epsilonr_iso ; 5 1 Basic
epsilonrii =
epsilonr_iso,
epsilonrij = 0

Weather Shed
1 Right-click Materials and choose Blank Material.
2 In the Settings window for Material, type Weather Shed in the Label text field.

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3 Select Domain 7 only.
4 Locate the Material Contents section. In the table, enter the following settings:

Property Variable Value Unit Property

group
Relative permittivity epsilonr_iso ; 3 1 Basic
epsilonrii =
epsilonr_iso,
epsilonrij = 0

Air
1 Right-click Materials and choose Blank Material.
2 In the Settings window for Material, type Air in the Label text field.
3 Select Domain 1 only.
4 Locate the Material Contents section. In the table, enter the following settings:

Property Variable Value Unit Property

group
Relative permittivity epsilonr_iso ; 1 1 Basic
epsilonrii =
epsilonr_iso,
epsilonrij = 0

ELECTROSTATICS (ES)

Metal Fitting, Line End

1 In the Model Builder window, under Component 1 (comp1) right-click Electrostatics (es)
and choose the domain setting Terminal.
2 In the Settings window for Terminal, type Metal Fitting, Line End in the Label text
field.
3 Select Domain 2 only.
4 Locate the Terminal section. From the Terminal type list, choose Voltage.
5 In the V0 text field, type Vi.

Metal Fitting, Ground End

1 In the Physics toolbar, click Domains and choose Terminal.
2 In the Settings window for Terminal, type Metal Fitting, Ground End in the Label
text field.
3 Select Domain 6 only.

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4 Locate the Terminal section. From the Terminal type list, choose Voltage.
5 In the V0 text field, type 0.

STUDY 1, WITHOUT GRADING RINGS

1 In the Model Builder window, click Study 1.
2 In the Settings window for Study, type Study 1, Without Grading Rings in the Label
text field.
3 In the Home toolbar, click Compute.

RESULTS

Study 1, Without Grading Rings/Solution 1 (sol1)

In the Model Builder window, expand the Results>Datasets node, then click Study 1,
Without Grading Rings/Solution 1 (sol1).

Selection
1 In the Results toolbar, click Attributes and choose Selection.
2 In the Settings window for Selection, locate the Geometric Entity Selection section.
3 From the Geometric entity level list, choose Domain.
4 Select Domains 2–7 only.

Electric Potential, Without Grading Rings

1 In the Model Builder window, under Results click Electric Potential (es).
2 In the Settings window for 2D Plot Group, type Electric Potential, Without
Grading Rings in the Label text field.

Next, add the grading rings and then compute.

GEOMETRY 1

Circle 2 (c2)
1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Circle.
2 In the Settings window for Circle, locate the Size and Shape section.
3 In the Radius text field, type H/2.
4 Locate the Position section. In the r text field, type D/2.
5 In the z text field, type d.

Circle 3 (c3)
1 Right-click Circle 2 (c2) and choose Duplicate.

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2 In the Settings window for Circle, locate the Position section.
3 In the z text field, type 1150-d.

ELECTROSTATICS (ES)

Grading Ring, Line End

1 In the Physics toolbar, click Domains and choose Terminal.
2 In the Settings window for Terminal, type Grading Ring, Line End in the Label text
field.
3 Select Domain 8 only.
4 Locate the Terminal section. From the Terminal type list, choose Voltage.
5 In the V0 text field, type Vi.

Grading Ring, Ground End

1 In the Physics toolbar, click Domains and choose Terminal.
2 In the Settings window for Terminal, type Grading Ring, Ground End in the Label text
field.
3 Select Domain 9 only.
4 Locate the Terminal section. From the Terminal type list, choose Voltage.
5 In the V0 text field, type 0.

ADD STUDY
1 In the Home toolbar, click Add Study to open the Add Study window.
2 Go to the Add Study window.
3 Find the Studies subsection. In the Select Study tree, select General Studies>Stationary.
4 Click Add Study.
5 In the Home toolbar, click Add Study to close the Add Study window.

STUDY 2, WITH GRADING RINGS

1 In the Settings window for Study, type Study 2, With Grading Rings in the Label
text field.
2 In the Home toolbar, click Compute.

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RESULTS

Study 2, With Grading Rings/Solution 2 (sol2)

In the Model Builder window, under Results>Datasets click Study 2, With Grading Rings/
Solution 2 (sol2).

Selection
1 In the Results toolbar, click Attributes and choose Selection.
2 In the Settings window for Selection, locate the Geometric Entity Selection section.
3 From the Geometric entity level list, choose Domain.
4 Select Domains 2–9 only.

Electric Potential, With Grading Rings

1 In the Model Builder window, under Results click Electric Potential (es).
2 In the Settings window for 2D Plot Group, type Electric Potential, With Grading
Rings in the Label text field.

Electric Potential, Revolved Geometry (es) 1

1 In the Model Builder window, click Electric Potential, Revolved Geometry (es) 1.
2 In the Settings window for 3D Plot Group, locate the Plot Settings section.
3 Clear the Plot dataset edges check box.
4 In the Electric Potential, Revolved Geometry (es) 1 toolbar, click Plot.
5 Click the Go to Default View button in the Graphics toolbar.
The resulting plot is Figure 2.

Next, compare the tangential electric field along the surface of the first six sheds.

DEFINITIONS

Shed Surface
1 In the Definitions toolbar, click Explicit.
2 In the Settings window for Explicit, type Shed Surface in the Label text field.
3 Locate the Input Entities section. From the Geometric entity level list, choose Boundary.
4 Select Boundaries 22–33, 57–62, and 78–83 only.

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5 Click the Zoom to Selection button in the Graphics toolbar.

RESULTS

Tangential Electric Field, z Component

1 In the Home toolbar, click Add Plot Group and choose 1D Plot Group.
2 In the Settings window for 1D Plot Group, type Tangential Electric Field, z
Component in the Label text field.

Without Grading Rings

1 Right-click Tangential Electric Field, z Component and choose Line Graph.
2 In the Settings window for Line Graph, type Without Grading Rings in the Label text
field.
3 Locate the Data section. From the Dataset list, choose Study 1, Without Grading Rings/
Solution 1 (sol1).
4 Locate the Selection section. From the Selection list, choose Shed Surface.
5 Locate the y-Axis Data section. In the Expression text field, type es.tEz.
6 In the Unit field, type kV/cm.
7 Locate the x-Axis Data section. From the Parameter list, choose Expression.

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8 In the Expression text field, type z.
9 Click to expand the Legends section. Select the Show legends check box.
10 From the Legends list, choose Manual.
11 In the table, enter the following settings:

Legends
Without grading rings

With Grading Rings

1 Right-click Without Grading Rings and choose Duplicate.
2 In the Settings window for Line Graph, type With Grading Rings in the Label text field.
3 Locate the Data section. From the Dataset list, choose Study 2, With Grading Rings/
Solution 2 (sol2).
4 Locate the Selection section. From the Selection list, choose Shed Surface.
5 Click to expand the Title section. From the Title type list, choose None.
6 Locate the Legends section. In the table, enter the following settings:

Legends
With grading rings

Tangential Electric Field, z Component

1 In the Model Builder window, click Tangential Electric Field, z Component.
2 In the Tangential Electric Field, z Component toolbar, click Plot.
3 Click the Zoom Extents button in the Graphics toolbar.
The resulting plot is Figure 3.

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Appendix: Modeling Instructions for the Geometry
From the File menu, choose New.

NEW
In the New window, click Model Wizard.

MODEL WIZARD
1 In the Model Wizard window, click 2D Axisymmetric.
2 Click Done.

GEOMETRY 1
1 In the Model Builder window, under Component 1 (comp1) click Geometry 1.
2 In the Settings window for Geometry, locate the Units section.
3 From the Length unit list, choose mm.

Use the following instructions to construct the model geometry. First, create the metal
fitting at the line end.

Rectangle 1 (r1)
1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Rectangle.
2 In the Settings window for Rectangle, locate the Size and Shape section.
3 In the Width text field, type 12.
4 In the Height text field, type 100.
5 Click Build Selected.

Second, create the core rod.

Rectangle 2 (r2)
1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Rectangle.
2 In the Settings window for Rectangle, locate the Size and Shape section.
3 In the Width text field, type 6.
4 In the Height text field, type 1050.
5 Locate the Position section. In the z text field, type 50.
6 Click Build Selected.

Rectangle 3 (r3)
1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Rectangle.

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2 In the Settings window for Rectangle, locate the Size and Shape section.
3 In the Height text field, type 100.
4 In the Width text field, type 12.
5 Locate the Position section. In the z text field, type 1050.

Next, create the weather shed.

Bézier Polygon 1 (b1)

1 In the Model Builder window, right-click Geometry 1 and choose Bézier Polygon.
2 In the Settings window for Bézier Polygon, locate the General section.
3 From the Type list, choose Open curve.
4 Locate the Polygon Segments section. Find the Added segments subsection. Click
Add Linear.
5 Find the Control points subsection. In row 1, set r to 12.
6 In row 1, set z to 100.
7 In row 2, set r to 12.
8 In row 2, set z to 150.
9 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
10 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 60.
11 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
12 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 20.
13 In row 2, set z to 153.
14 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Quadratic.
15 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 13.
16 In row 2, set z to 154.
17 In row 3, set r to 12.
18 In row 3, set z to 161.
19 Find the Weights subsection. In the 2 text field, type 1.
20 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
21 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set z to 200.
22 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
23 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 60.
24 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.

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25 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 20.
26 In row 2, set z to 203.
27 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Quadratic.
28 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 13.
29 In row 2, set z to 204.
30 In row 3, set r to 12.
31 In row 3, set z to 211.
32 Find the Weights subsection. In the 2 text field, type 1.
33 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
34 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set z to 250.
35 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
36 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 80.
37 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
38 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set z to 253.
39 In row 2, set r to 20.
40 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Quadratic.
41 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 13.
42 In row 2, set z to 254.
43 In row 3, set r to 12.
44 In row 3, set z to 261.
45 Find the Weights subsection. In the 2 text field, type 1.

Array 1 (arr1)
1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Transforms and choose Array.
2 Select the object b1 only.
3 In the Settings window for Array, locate the Size section.
4 From the Array type list, choose Linear.
5 In the Size text field, type 5.
6 Locate the Displacement section. In the z text field, type 161.

Bézier Polygon 2 (b2)

1 Right-click Geometry 1 and choose Bézier Polygon.
2 In the Settings window for Bézier Polygon, locate the General section.

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3 From the Type list, choose Open curve.
4 Locate the Polygon Segments section. Find the Added segments subsection. Click
Add Linear.
5 Find the Control points subsection. In row 1, set r to 12.
6 In row 1, set z to 905.
7 In row 2, set r to 12.
8 In row 2, set z to 944.
9 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
10 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 60.
11 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
12 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 20.
13 In row 2, set z to 947.
14 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Quadratic.
15 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 13.
16 In row 2, set z to 948.
17 In row 3, set r to 12.
18 In row 3, set z to 955.
19 Find the Weights subsection. In the 2 text field, type 1.
20 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
21 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set z to 994.
22 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
23 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 60.
24 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
25 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set z to 997.
26 In row 2, set r to 20.
27 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Quadratic.
28 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 13.
29 In row 2, set z to 998.
30 In row 3, set r to 12.
31 In row 3, set z to 1005.
32 Find the Weights subsection. In the 2 text field, type 1.

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33 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
34 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set z to 1050.
35 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
36 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 6.
37 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
38 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set z to 100.
39 Find the Added segments subsection. Click Add Linear.
40 Find the Control points subsection. In row 2, set r to 12.

Convert to Solid 1 (csol1)

1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Conversions and choose Convert to Solid.
2 Select the objects arr1(1), arr1(2), arr1(3), arr1(4), arr1(5), and b2 only.

Fillet 1 (fil1)
1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Fillet.
2 On the object r1, select Point 2 only.
3 On the object r3, select Point 3 only.
4 In the Settings window for Fillet, locate the Radius section.
5 In the Radius text field, type 8.
6 Click Build All Objects.

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7 Click the Zoom Extents button in the Graphics toolbar.

Next, add the computation domain.

Circle 1 (c1)
1 In the Geometry toolbar, click Circle.
2 In the Settings window for Circle, locate the Size and Shape section.
3 In the Radius text field, type 2[m].
4 Locate the Position section. In the z text field, type 500.
5 Locate the Size and Shape section. In the Sector angle text field, type 180.
6 Locate the Rotation Angle section. In the Rotation text field, type -90.
7 Click Build All Objects.
8 Click the Zoom Extents button in the Graphics toolbar.

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