Field distribution on an HVDC wall bushing during laboratory rain tests

This paper reports that an efficient counter-measure to suppress flashovers across HVDC wall bushings is to make their surfaces hydrophobic. This laboratory investigation reports the measured electric field along such a bushing under different environmental conditions. A significantly reduced radial field strength has been found for the hydrophobic bushing. Moreover, the total field strength distribution becomes almost independent of the prevailing dry zone. The flashover voltage for bushings with a hydrophobic surface is therefore significantly increased