Numerical simulations of a new desing of pin insulators

Abstract

Although pin insulators are designed to have a long operating life, many factors can reduce their life and consequently the quality of power supply, reliability and availability. Among the main factors, one of that causes the most failures in distribution lines is the accumulation of pollutants that lead to the phenomenon of superficial electrical tracking. In order to study the pollution accumulation, simulations were carried out on the air flow around the pin insulator of distribution lines, in order to verify, from the point of view of the characteristics of the flow, which model presents, comparatively, a better performance. The numerical simulations were made in ANSYS® FLUENT® 18.1 software, by finite-volume method and k-omega turbulence model SST (shear stress transport). Among the methodologies of analysis: streamlines, pressure field and velocity field; the pin insulator model, which in all methods showed superior performance, was the pin insulator of 4 ribs, comparatively with the conventional model and the one with 3 ribs.