Abstract:
Nowadays, the insulator of low tension fuse switch makes from ceramic porcelain. The property of this insulator is good but it has more weight and easy to damage even from application and installation. In addition, the ceramic porcelain has a complicated manufacturing and consumes more energy in production process. It should be burnt with temperature at 950 1280 degree Celsius. Therefore, the alternative insulator material should be developed for low tension fuse switch, which has easier manufacturing processes, save energy and low prices.
This thesis presents designing and testing of resin insulator for low tension fuse switch, which is divided into 2 steps. The first step is to design using AutoCAD in order to create the low tension fuse switch model and to simulate electric field stress and electrical potential distribution inside the resin insulator by using finite element program. Secondly, is to prepare the low tension fuse switch model for mechanical properties testing according to ASTM D2240, ASTM D412 and ASTM D149 standard and electrical properties testing according to IEC 60947-3 standard.
From electric field stress simulation results of resin insulator for low tension fuse switch found that the maximum value of electric field stress occurred at the line terminal, which is 67.6 V/mm. This value is not high enough to destroy resin insulator. Then, the resin insulator has been tested for mechanical properties. In which, its hardness is 82 ± 1.0 Shore D, a tensile strength is 37.89 ± 4.5 Mpa, and its withstand maximum power frequency voltage is up to 19.25 kV/mm. In addition, it can withstand lightning impulse voltage (1.2/50 μs) up to 42.22 kV maximum without any flashover or puncher. Nevertheless, it also passes the temperature rise testing at 400 A rated current in laboratory according to IEC 60947-3 standard.