Pollutant Particle Adhesion and Desorption Characteristics on the Pillar Insulator Surfaces in the Substation

CHEN Tong; LI Xingyu; ZHANG Weiyi; HE Jiahong

doi:10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.22.018

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Surface Technology ›› 2025, Vol. 54 ›› Issue (22) : 187-197. DOI: 10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.22.018

Surface Functionalization

Pollutant Particle Adhesion and Desorption Characteristics on the Pillar Insulator Surfaces in the Substation

CHEN Tong¹, LI Xingyu¹, ZHANG Weiyi¹, HE Jiahong^2*

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Abstract

The surface cleanliness of insulators has a significant impact on their insulating performance. In a humid environment, the accumulation of pollutants on the surfaces of substation insulators significantly increases the probability of pollution flashovers, which endangers the safe operation of the power grid. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the pollutant adhesion and desorption characteristics of insulators in different operating environments to guide the selection of the insulator cleaning method and cleaning mechanism design. A model ZS-35/4 pillar insulator was selected for the investigation. The adhesion and desorption characteristics of pollutant particles under different operating conditions were calculated with a combined methodology of flow field simulation and material point dynamics. Quantitative metrics, including pollutant adhesion rate and desorption rate, were proposed to evaluate surface pollutant accumulation and cleaning effectiveness. Experiments were also carried out to verify the simulation model. The insulator surface was divided into a windward area, two lateral areas, and a leeward area based on the airflow direction. The windward area directly blocked the air flow with a wind speed of 0.75 m/s. The air flow blocked by the windward area converged into the lateral area, with the highest wind speed of 1.16 m/s. The leeward area had the lowest flow velocity of 0.24 m/s. In addition to the wind speed, the water film on the surface of the insulators increased the collision kinetic energy loss of the pollutant particles, which had an important effect on the pollutant accumulation characteristics. The simulation and experimental results demonstrated that as the water film area on the insulator surface increased (0%, 50%, 100%), the adhesion rate of the windward area exhibited a significant increment of 46.6% on average, while the adhesion rates of the leeward and lateral areas had lower increment rates. The pollutant adhesion rate of the lateral area increased from 1.67% to 9.95%, while the adhesion rate of the leeward area remained below 1%. The desorption process was investigated with dry, moist, and consolidated pollutants. Dry and moist pollutants formed in low and high-humidity environments, respectively, while consolidated pollutant was the formation of the moist pollutant after drying. In addition, consolidated pollutants were converted to moist pollutants by water flushing. The dry pollutant was composed of loose particles with a low inter-particle van der Waals force and no capillary force. The moist pollutant was a mixture of particles and moisture with a low van der Waals force and a high capillary force. The consolidated pollutant had no capillary force but a significantly high Van der Waals force because of the close combination of the pollutant particles. When brushing was used as one of the pollutant desorption methods, after brushing for 5 s, the dry pollutant demonstrated the highest pollutant desorption rate (99.6%), followed by moist pollutants (70.4%), with consolidated pollutants being the most resistant to be removed (9.6%). The combined desorption method of brushing and water flushing proves to be a more effective way of cleaning consolidated pollutants because the pollutant desorption rate increased from 9.6% to 93.4%. Its dual mechanisms are explained as follows: water gradually infiltrated consolidated pollutants via micro-pores formed by brush friction. It transforms them into a removable moist state, while hydraulic wash simultaneously enhances detachment forces. The combined desorption method represents an 83.8% improvement over the standalone desorption method of brushing, providing theoretical guidance for the design of pillar insulator cleaning methods.

Key words

pillar insulator / surface moisture / typical pollutant / adhesion characteristics / desorption characteristics / insulator cleaning

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CHEN Tong, LI Xingyu, ZHANG Weiyi, HE Jiahong. Pollutant Particle Adhesion and Desorption Characteristics on the Pillar Insulator Surfaces in the Substation[J]. Surface Technology. 2025, 54(22): 187-197 https://doi.org/10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2025.22.018

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