The effect of fog parameters on the testing of artificially contaminated insulators in a fog chamber

The paper analyzes the wetting process during the testing of artificially contaminated insulators. A calculation method is developed to determine the rate of wetting by condensation and by the collision of water droplets with the insulator surface. Series of tests show that the flashover voltage, the washing effect of fog and the leakage current all depend on the fog conditions. Different fog-generation methods (cold, warm, steam) are compared on the basis of calculations and experimental results. The paper concludes that the pollution test results for an artificially contaminated insulator depend on the fog parameters and the fog generation method. The operation of the fog chamber can be optimized by adjusting the fog parameters to achieve the minimum flashover voltage.