Insulator leakage current monitoring, its application and advantages

In this paper we provide brief explanation of main issues related to the selection, application and performance of insulators on power lines and substations in respect to the polluted environments. We, also, provide a critic of the manual measurements of insulator pollution severity through measurements of its equivalent salt deposit density and highlight the advantages of the on-line monitoring of insulator pollution through accurate measurements of its surface leakage current. Additionally, we describe our insulator leakage current monitoring system developed in Australia and explain its advantages in application for on- line monitoring of insulator pollution severity.