Evaluating the Performance of Outdoor Apparatus in Harsh Environments

Ensuring the reliability of high voltage insulation materials in harsh outdoor environments is a complex challenge. Manufacturers of outdoor apparatus can make use of standardized material tests and multi-stress tests but for confirmation must rely on dedicated outdoor testing stations. The correlation between the results of these three methods is not fully understood. A barrier to improving understanding is the uncontrolled environment and typically remote location of outdoor testing stations. This work demonstrates some of the anomalies that can be observed in testing by these three methods and concludes that, rather than rely on outdoor test stations, the current IEC 61109 (Annex C) multi-stress test should be enhanced to better represent the conditions seen in them.