A review of modeling ageing behavior and condition monitoring of zinc Oxide Surge Arrester

Abstract

The gapless Metal Oxide Surge Arresters (MOSA) have been available in the market for many years. Its primary function is to protect the equipment in the system against various electrical over stresses. A reliable condition monitoring of zinc oxide surge arrester is vital to its performance to ensure the continuity and reliability of power supply. It is known that voltage-current characteristics of zinc oxide varistors become degraded due to a series of stresses. Leakage current of the surge arrester can be increased by any increase of ageing level. This paper presents a review and comparison of various techniques for condition monitoring of MOSA. A comparative analysis is carried out in which the advantages and disadvantages for each technique are assessed. Previous review demonstrates some techniques which are simple in setup and measurement but its accuracy depends on the sensitivity and accuracy of the measuring instruments. Furthermore, moreover, some methods are used to simultaneously record the voltage and leakage current waveforms, but these techniques are usually hard to apply in practice.