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Degradation/failure
processes
Whilst the materials withstand remains of paramount importance,
equally of interest remains the surface condition
particularly when contaminated or aged. Both destructive
and non-destructive testing has yielded considerable
detail by artificially ageing dielectric materials.
Other approaches have applied controlled impurities
emulating the effects of coastal and industrial area
air-borne contaminants. Alternatively methods of accelerated
frequency and continuous impulses approaches have
proved fruitful in displaying early signs of premature
degradation.
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Underside view of suspended glass insulator-string high
voltage discharge.
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Maintaining
the theme of degradation and fatigue monitoring,
additional research projects have previously assessed
motor laminations considering multiple influences
towards failure. Funded by an industrial collaboration,
motor laminations were subjected to vibration
and high temperature heating effects, whilst the
dielectric integrity of the materials was monitored
for low levels of electrical discharge activity.
On-line monitoring systems based on Pd detection
methods are envisaged to play a very important
role in the area of asset management in transformers,
power transmission & particularly regarding
new dielectric materials. The trend in power transmission
due to environmental pressures is away from overhead
line and towards underground power cables. Hence
on-line monitoring methods is considered essential
by many of the main electrical utilities. |
University
of Brighton
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