OPTIMIZING INSULATION CO-ORDINATION OF

HIGH VOLTAGE TRANSMISSION LINES USING

MATHEMATICAL MODELING
1st Progress Presentation
EEY7882-Engineering research project

BY SUPERVISORS
SAMPATH WIMALASENA DR. G.M.C.P. JAYAWARDANA
REG. NO.712222222 DR. W.A.L. NIWANTHI
15 T H OCTOBER 2022
Introduction
What is insulation coordination?
The selection of dielectric strength of equipment in relation to voltages which can appear
on the system for which the equipment is intended, taking into account the service
environment and the characteristics of the available protective devices. (IEC 60050-604),

Research area
This project mainly focus on the insulation coordination of HV transmission line insulators.
Here ,examine on the system parameters with environmental conditions , maintenance and
operation parameters.
At the final stage, the developed mathematical model will be verified by field data.
 Problem identification
Traditional insulation selection procedures mainly focus on system
reliability than optimization.
When providing the insulation to the transmission and distribution lines,
the clearances are taken as standard. It is not consider case by case like
location wise.
Often the insulators selected by the current methods may be higher than the
specified insulation level and may be lower for some locations.
Increase over the required insulation level is economically disadvantageous
and decrease over the required insulation level is affect to the system
reliability.
 Aim of the project
“Introduce a mathematical model to optimize the
insulation co-ordination by properly analyzing the
parameters, for HV transmission lines. “
Depending on the factors such as (factors), level of insulation may be
different to each site. 
If such factors could be properly analyzed, the cost, labor, material,
maintenance work could be optimized.
This project tries to address varies site dependency of the insulation,
developing a mathematical model taking the contributing factors as
variables. 
Objectives
Studying old and modern insulation co-ordination methods.
Studying the theoretical background of insulation co-ordination.
Identifying modern insulation materials and types in HV
transmission lines.
Identifying relevant parameters with mathematical relations to
insulation co-ordination in HV transmission lines.
Developing a mathematical model to optimize insulation
coordination in HV transmission lines.
 Methodology 7
Verifying by field
data

1
6
Justification of
literature results Developing a mathematical
model ,combining all parameters affect
to the insulation coordination of HV
2 transmission lines

Studying the
theoretical back
ground 5
Environmental
factors Finding out mathematical relations for
3 each parameters in insulation
coordination of HV transmission lines
Studying about the
System
parameters that affecting
parameters
to insulation coordination

Maintenance 4
parameters
Studding about characteristic of
insulators and materials in HV
transmission lines.
 Theoretical background
Creepage distance
Lightning Impulse flashover
Creepage distance is the shortest distance along the
surface of the insulator between the conductive ends of Lightning impulse flashover of insulator strings is effectively a
streamer breakdown of the air gap between the conductor and the cross
the insulator. The creepage distance is depending upon
arm or between the guard rings or along the string arcing distance,
the environmental conditions. whichever is shorter.
Clearance Distance
Distance between two terminal of the high voltage Switching impulse flashover
insulator is called clearance distance. Clearance shall
be dimensioned to withstand the required impulse This occurs with the streamer formation, continuous leader inception
withstand voltage. and propagation, and final jump.

Pollution flashover
pollution flashover mechanism can be summarize as follows.
contamination layer buildup, insulator wetting, leakage current surging,
formation of dry-band arcs, and eventual extension of such arcs to span
the whole leakage path.
Identification of variables
Description Variable Units

Rain density mm/minute

General Environmental factors Conductivity of rain S/m (Siemens per meter)

Air density kg/m3
Humidity kg/m3

Special Environmental factors according to ESDD( Equivalent salt deposit density kg/m2
pollution layer build up NSDD(Non conducting surface deposit
density) kg/m2

Lightning parameters Lightning impulse voltage kV (kilo Volt)

Switching impulse voltage kV

System parameters
System operating voltage kV

Wind speed km/h

Sub variable for NSDD
Size of the airborne particles(Radius) m
Density of airborn partical ppm

Wind speed km/h

Sub variables for ESDD
Distance from the sea m

Table 1: Affected some variables for insulation coordination

 Literature Review
1. Insulation Coordination Model Based on Breakdown Characteristics of Air-Gap Subjected to Damped
Alternating over voltages (Sima et al., 2022)
This article examine and calculate failure probability of a rod-plane air gap(RPAG) under a damped alternating overvoltage(DAOV)
based on a large amount of experimental data and the probability density distribution of measured over voltages in a power system.

2. A method for optimal coordinated insulation design of transmission line (Williams, Vakilian
and Blackburn, 2010)
Here different failure modes are introduced and the relevant costs of those failures, which are involved in insulation failure of
equipment in a transmission line, are evaluated.

3. Lightning Critical Flashover Voltage of High Voltage Insulators Laboratory Measurements and Calculations (
Filipović-Grčić,)
This paper presents the method for calculation of lightning critical flashover voltage of high voltage insulators. Flashover occurrence on
overhead transmission line insulators for 110 kV, 220 kV and 400 kV networks was studied using the leader progression model .

4. Flashover Voltage of Insulator String Under Various Conditions (Teo, S.Y. et al. )
This paper reports on the flashover voltage of 11kV composite insulator under different conditions.
 Literature Review
5. IEC Standard 60071-1 for insulation selection
In this standard present a flow chart for insulation coordination procedure with different classes and definitions.
6. IEEE Standard for Insulation Coordination—Definitions, Principles, and Rules
(INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS (IEEE), 2011)
This standard presents the definitions and the procedure for insulation coordination with determination of voltage stresses and
desired probability of failure.

7. High Voltage Engineering-Chapter 13-Insulation coordination (FAROUK A.M RIZK, 2017)

In this book explain the over roll concepts and theoretical back ground about the current insulation coordination methods .

8. Insulation coordination optimization study for ±660KV EHVDC project with increased transmission capacity (
Liuchun, Z., )
In this paper, recommended value of the equipment insulation level and the insulation configuration recommended values of the converter
station and transmission lines for ± 660kV EHVDC transmission project with the increased capacity of 4600MW were proposed.

9. Optimization of overhead transmission lines insulation and grounding costs with respect to back
flashover rate (De Oliveira-De Jesus, )
In this paper, the optimization of transmission insulation and grounding is performed considering two back flashover rate
(BFR) evaluation procedures widely applied in the industry.
 Future work
At the first stage of the research following tasks are completed successfully.

Description Progress/
Completed
Justification of literature results 95%
Studding the theoretical back ground 80%
Finding out factors that affecting to insulation coordination 90%
 Future work
At the 2nd stage, have to complete the following task

Description Percentage/To
complete
Studying about insulation materials and types in HV 90%
transmission lines
Studying about insulation characteristic of insulators in HV 90%
transmission lines
Finding out mathematical relations for each factors in insulation 95%
coordination in HV transmission lines
 List of reference
1.Sima, W. et al. (2022) ‘Insulation Coordination Model Based on Breakdown Characteristics of Air-Gap Subjected to
Damped Alternating Overvoltages’, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, 29(2), pp. 641–648.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/TDEI.2022.3157928.
2.Williams, A., Vakilian, M. and Blackburn, T.R. (2010) ‘A method for optimal coordinated insulation design of
transmission line’, Australian Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 7(3), pp. 211–223. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1080/1448837x.2010.11464273.
3.INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS (IEEE) (2011) ‘IEEE Standard for Insulation
Coordination — Definitions, Principles, and Rules’, IEEE Std C62.82.1-2010 (Revision of IEEE Std 1313.1-1996), 1996,
pp. 1–22. Available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5754137/.
4.FAROUK A.M RIZK, G.N.T. (2017) High Voltage Engineering.
5.Kishore, T.S. and Singal, S.K. (2014) ‘Optimal economic planning of power transmission lines: A review’, Renewable
and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 39, pp. 949–974. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2014.07.125.
6.De Oliveira-De Jesus, P.M., Hernandez-Torres, D. and Urdaneta, A.J. (2018) ‘Cost-Effective Optimization Model for
Transmission Line Outage Rate Control Due to Back-Flashover Phenomena’, Electric Power Components and Systems,
46(16–17), pp. 1834–1843. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/15325008.2018.1525775.
7.Filipović-Grčić, D., Filipović-Grčić, B. and Uglešić, I. (2012) ‘Lightning critical flashover voltage of high voltage
insulators: Laboratory measurements and calculations’, International Review of Electrical Engineering, 7(2), pp. 4321–
4328.
 List of reference
8. Teo, S.Y. et al. (2014) ‘Flashover voltage of insulator string under various conditions’, Conference Proceeding - 2014
IEEE International Conference on Power and Energy, PECon 2014, pp. 119–122. Available at: https://
doi.org/10.1109/PECON.2014.7062425 .
9. Liuchun, Z., Cuixia, Z. and Yu, Y. (2016) ‘Insulation coordination optimization study for ±660kv ehvdc project with
increased transmission capacity’, IET Conference Publications, 2016(CP696). Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1049/cp.2016.0427.
10. De Oliveira-De Jesus, P.M. et al. (2021) ‘Optimization of overhead transmission lines insulation and grounding costs with
respect to backflashover rate’, Electrical Engineering, 103(3), pp. 1711–1723. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00202-020-01180-7.
11. Lucas, J.R. (2001) ‘Surges on Transmission Lines’, High Voltage Transient Analysis, pp. 46–63.
12. Hileman, A.R. (2001) Insulation Coordination for Power Systems, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine. Available at:
https://doi.org/10.1109/MEI.2001.917540.
13. INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS (IEEE) (2011) ‘IEEE Standard for Insulation
Coordination — Definitions, Principles, and Rules’, IEEE Std C62.82.1-2010 (Revision of IEEE Std 1313.1-1996), 1996,
pp. 1–22. Available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/5754137/.
14. Wagner, C.F. et al. (1952) ‘Insulation Co-ordination’, Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers. Part
III: Power Apparatus and Systems, 71(1), pp. 1064–1084. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1109/AIEEPAS.1952.4498578.
Time plan
ACTIVITY
September October November December January February
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
 

Literature survey                                                

 
Studding theoretical background                                                

 
1st progress report writing and submission                                              

 
Progress presentation 1                                              

 
Finding out modern insulations and types and                                                
characteristics of HV transmission lines
 
Identifying affecting factors and mathematical
relations for insulation co-ordination in HV                                                
transmission lines.
 
2nd progress report writing and submission                                            

 
2nd progress presentation                                              

 
Developing the mathematical model                                            

 
final report writing and submision                                                

 
Final presentation                                                
Thank you