Influence of the thickness and the nature of HVAC insulator model on the flashover voltage and the leakage current

The aim of this study is to analyze the behavior of an insulating plan model. For this purpose, we have interested to the variation of the flashover voltage and the leakage current according to the thickness and the relative permittivity (nature) of the dielectric. Two materials were used: glass and plexiglass. The experimental study has been supported and explained by a numerical approach based on analysis of the charge and the field distributions using FEMM 4.0 software. The main results obtained show that the flashover voltage is practically independent of both nature and thickness of the insulator model. It depends only on the distance between electrodes. However, the leakage current depends significantly on the nature, the thickness of the dielectric and the distance between electrodes. Indeed, the measurement of leakage currents is influenced by the insulating material and its volume proportions.