1.0 Introduction
Insulation is the isolation between conductors of electrical power system. It may be solid, liquid, gas or vacuum. The insulation deterioration and its effects are two phenomena that must be familiar with by any electrical or maintenance engineer if adequate safety of equipment and personnel and continous service to consumers are to be maintained.
Since the introduction of electricity in the 19th century, there has been a growing demand for electrical energy. Higher voltages led the researchers to develop new types of insulators. Many natural insulators, which were widely used at the beginning of this century, have been replaced by ceramic or porcelain materials. Many of these suffer from low impact strength, inflexibility, cracking during the manufacturing process, etc. A great variety of organic insulating materials are being used as electrical insulation in cables, machines, switch boards, outgoing lines and since these devices are being used under severe ambient conditions, breakdown of the insulating material has become a serious problem and it has a strong influence on safety and reliability of the insulators.
Deterioration of insulators occurs as a result of ageing and stresses imposed on them during their normal working life. The end result of the occurrence is the damaging or shortening of the life span of electrical equipment being protected by these insulators. Occasionally, personnel and environment in which such system is being operated are negatively affected. Also, the cost of replacement of the equipment is another effect that must not be over-looked.
This project deals with the determination of dielectric strength of insulators by investigating / determining the voltage that can breakdown a particular insulator. The result of this preliminary study on solid insulator show that every insulator has a particular voltage that it can withstand without breaking down that insulator's molecular structure.
Generally, a survey of previous equipment used by the various researchers was found to be very complicated and expensive and such equipment cannot be afforded by local Nigerian researchers due to cost. It was this that necessitated us to come up with a locally made equipment to detect the breakdown of insulators due to excess voltage in practical system. The construction is simple, cheap and reliable.
This material contains electrical diagrams, circuits, illustrations and more (Very detailed)
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