Development and Application of a Hot-Line Suspension Insulator Tester

The paper describes the development and application of a hot-line insulator tester for the detection of defective suspension insulators. Concern over the quality of porcelain insulators and increasing line outage rates has renewed interest in programmed field testing of insulators. Field tests identified a need for a positive method of detecting defective insulators, leading to the development of the unit described in the paper. Initial field trial results using the detector are reviewed.