INVESTIGATION OF SPACE CHARGE AND ITS TRANSPORT PROCESS IN UV AGED SILICONE RUBBER

Silicon rubber (SiR) insulators are widely accepted outdoor insulator since two decades for conventional High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC) transmission lines. Though under HVAC transmission line performance wise there are fewer issues but under High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission space charge accumulation is causing severe tracking and erosion leading to failure of the SiR insulator. The accumulated space charge during processing is affected in outdoor environment by various factors like corona, electric field, dry band arcing, pollution, humidity, temperature and ultraviolet (UV) radiation which leads to material degradation. In this present investigation the effect of UV ageing in SiR is studied by a non-destructive test technique. The technique employed, Thermally…