An OH-PDMS-Modified Nano-Silica/Carbon Hybrid Coating for Anti-Icing of Insulators Part II: Anti-Icing Performance

Icing on insulators affects seriously the operation safety of high voltage transmission lines. Super-hydrophobic and semi-conducting coatings show anti-icing potential for insulators on transmission lines. By combining super-hydrophobicity and electrothermal effects, a hydroxy-terminated polydimethylsiloxane (OH-PDMS)-modified nano-silica/carbon hybrid coating was developed to solve the problem of insulator icing. The anti-icing performance of insulators coated with OH-PDMS-modified nanosilica/carbon hybrid coating were investigated. Leakage current, temperature distribution, ice morphology, icicle length, and flashover voltage of the insulators are presented. Both the electric and the thermal field distributions were analyzed to verify anti-icing performance of the coating. Experimental results show that the joule heat generated by the coating increases the insulator surface temperature, and the OH-PDMS-modified nano-silica/carbon hybrid coating has a superior performance to super-hydrophobic coating in terms of reducing ice accretion and improving flashover voltage of insulators.