Author(s)

Maryam Amirbandeh^1*, Abdol Amir Yaghoti², Gholam-Reza Sharifi-Tameh³

¹Science and Research Branch—Hormozgan, Islamic Azad University, Bandar Abbas, Iran.
²Department of Electrical Engineering, Abhar Branch, Islamic Azad University, Abhar, Iran.
³Nourabad Mamasani Branch, Islamic Azad University, Nourabad Mamasani, Iran.

In recent years, the deficiencies of ceramic insulators along with their high maintenance costs have resulted in the replacement of ceramic insulators with silicon type in the pollution area. This idea has been employed for more than two decades in the polluted areas. Humidity of the weather in the south of Iran and the presence of pollutants in the air have made special conditions for construction and maintenance of some equipment including transformer bushings. Usual ceramic bushings, due to their ability in absorbing pollution and the rapid reduction of creepage distance (in a limited time period), have reduced transformer disconnection severely as a result of earth fault. Additionally, they are costly to be washed regularly. Therefore, using intelligent materials in designing bushing can increase the reliability of network and consequently reduction of costs. In this regard, this paper investigates the use of silicon bushings in the distribution systems and proposes operational ideas for the optimal operation of these devices in the polluted areas. The sample bushing was evaluated based on the IEC60137 standard test.

Ceramic Bushing, Silicon Bushing, Distribution Transformer, Insulator Pollution

Amirbandeh, M. , Yaghoti, A. and Sharifi-Tameh, G. (2014) The Investigation of Replacing Ceramic Bushings with Silicon Bushings in the Distribution Transformers. Journal of Surface Engineered Materials and Advanced Technology, 4, 319-325. doi: 10.4236/jsemat.2014.46035.