The Outdoor Insulation and Condition Monitoring Research Group focuses on two main streams of research activities:
- Outdoor insulation: Outdoor insulation systems are crucial components in the power grid. We focus on the following research activities related to outdoor insulation:
- Impact of severe weather conditions on the aging of non-ceramic insulators.
- Development of new polymer-based materials for outdoor insulation systems.
- Understanding the aging mechanism for ceramic and non-ceramic insulators.
- Condition monitoring: With the increased number of aged power system assets that exceed or are about to exceed their expected life, it is crucial to develop innovative condition monitoring techniques to assess the health of these assets. Specifically we work on the following areas:
- Usage of different non-intrusive sensors like IR and UV cameras, ultrasonic sensors and antennas to monitor the health conditions of different electrical insulations systems.
- Application of the state-of-the-art deep and machine learning algorithms to assess the conditions of different electrical insulations systems.
- Deployment of drones to facilitate better access to outdoor insulation systems for more efficient condition monitoring.
