Wet Snow Accretion

Packed with Sea-Salt on Insulator String

Manabu "Gaku" Sakata «JP»

NIPPON KATAN Co., LTD.
NIPPON KATAN
Nippon Katan, Osaka, JAPAN 1

・Nippon Katan is a manufacturer of overhead transmission line hardware with more than 100-years experience.
・It supplies polymer insulators in JAPAN in collaboration with PFIS TE R E R Ins ulators since 2000.

・Nippon Katan made three presentations at INMR 2022, Berlin.

a. Application of Polymer Insulators for Varying Natural Environments in Japan
b. Application of Polymer Insulators as Countermeasure for Volcanic Ash
c. Aeolian Noise from Polymer Insulators and it's Countermeasures

・Feel free to visit Exhibition Booth 39

Introduction 2
● The warm ocean currents “Tsushima Current” coming from the south and the very cold winds blowing from the Eurasian
continent meet on the Sea of Japan.
It brings heavy snowfall to the west coast of Japan in winter.

The Sea of Japan

Seasonal wind

Japan current

Tsushima
Pacific Ocean
current
Introduction 3
● The warm ocean currents “Tsushima Current” coming from the south and the very cold winds blowing from the Eurasian
continent meet on the Sea of Japan.
It brings heavy snowfall to the west coast of Japan in winter.
● This harsh climate has long plagued overhead transmission line engineers with snow/ice-related electrical and
mechanical failures.
The Sea of Japan

Seasonal wind
Snow cloud

Japan current Seasonal wind

Snow
Water vapor Mountain
Tsushima Continent Tsushima current West coast East coast
Pacific Ocean
current
Modified figure from the Japan Meteorological Agency website
Introduction 4

● On Dec. 22, 2005, a very severe snowstorm caused a large blackout in Niigata, the largest city in the west coast.
Approximately 650 thousand households were out of electricity for maximum about 30 hours.

Niigata, west coast of JAPAN

Local newspapers reported that the outage had a great impact on lives of people .
Introduction 5
● This blackout was caused mainly by wet snow accretion to many 154 kV and 66 kV porcelain “long-rod” insulators.
Wet snow strongly accreted to the insulators by strong winds. The snow kept falling for hours to finally fill all the gaps
between the sheds of the long-rod insulators.
● The snow had high conductivity, a maximum of about 0.2 mS/cm. It greatly deteriorated the insulation strength of the
insulators, leading to the outage to a wide area for long hours.
Leeward string with NO snow
Wind

Wind

Windward string with snow

● There was no wind direction change during the snow accretion.

In most cases, the snow can be seen only on windward strings, and not on leeward strings.
Introduction 6
● This blackout was caused mainly by wet snow accretion to many 154 kV and 66 kV porcelain “long-rod” insulators.
Wet snow strongly accreted to the insulators by strong winds. The snow kept falling for hours to finally fill all the gaps
between the sheds of the long-rod insulators.
● The snow had high conductivity, a maximum of about 0.2 mS/cm. It greatly deteriorated the insulation strength of the
insulators, leading to the outage to a wide area for long hours.
Leeward side with snow
Leeward string with NO snow
Wind

Wind Concentric cylinder

-like snow accretion
Windward string with snow
Winward side with snow

● There was no wind direction change during the snow accretion. In most cases, the snow can be seen only on windward
strings, and not on leeward strings.
● On the windward string, the snow can be seen not only on the windward side but also on the leeward side.
The shape of the accreted snow looked like a concentric cylinder.
Introduction 7
Wet snow accretion
Item Icing Capped snow
packed with sea-salt
Snow/Ice Wet snow Ice Dry snow

Temperature Around 0 ℃ Below 0℃ Below 0℃

Precipitation Large Case by case Very large

Wind Strong winds Case by case Light winds

Pollution Heavy Case by case Very light

Timing of During snow During ice accretion or After sunrise or

flashover accretion after sunrise or temperature rise temperature rise

Appearance

In-cloud icing Freezing rain icicle

Research by CRIEPI 8

● Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, CRIEPI, has been carrying out comprehensive research in
collaboration with Japanese TSOs and university experts since 2007.

● The research includes:

a. Snow accretion property including field monitoring and artificial snow accretion test [13]; and
b. Electrical performance of snow accreted insulator strings, including 154 kV full-scale flashover voltage test [14].
Research by CRIEPI : Review 1 9
Snow Accretion Property [13] - Field Monitoring

● Field Monitoring in Niigata has been Web camera

carried out for over 10 years since 2008.
･ A web camera system was set up for
monitoring various insulators, porcelain
long-rod, cap-and-pin, and composite
insulators.

Setup of Field Monitoring in Niigata

Research by CRIEPI : Review 1 10
Snow Accretion Property [13] - Field Monitoring

● Field Monitoring in Niigata has been Web camera

carried out for over 10 years since 2008.
･ A web camera system was set up for
monitoring various insulators, porcelain
long-rod, cap-and-pin, and composite
insulators.

Setup of Field Monitoring in Niigata

● In over ten-year long monitoring:

･ Only a few cases of small amounts of wet
snow accretion packed with sea-salt have
been observed. Small snow
But there was no case that snow grew in a accretion
concentric cylinder-like shape.
･ It shows that the wet snow accretion
packed with sea-salt is a very rare event. Wet snow accretion packed with sea-salt at the monitoring site
Research by CRIEPI : Review 2 11
Snow Accretion [13] - Artificial Snow Accretion Test

● Artificial snow accretion test has been

performed at Sumitomo laboratory in Niigata.
･ Natural snow, which had been made wet,
was blown onto an insulator with a wind
generator in a temperature-controlled room.
Setup of Artificial Snow Accretion Test

Wind

Wind
Research by CRIEPI : Review 2 12
Snow Accretion [13] - Artificial Snow Accretion Test

● Artificial snow accretion test has been

performed at Sumitomo laboratory in Niigata.
･ Natural snow, which had been made wet,
was blown onto an insulator with a wind
generator in a temperature-controlled room.
Setup of Artificial Snow Accretion Test
shed snow

● In the test. Wind

･The process of snow rotating around an
cap Snow
(a) Initial (b) Snow accrtion starts

insulator was seen.

･ But the resultant shape did not look Wind
like a concentric cylinder, but like an
eccentric pennant into windward. ( c) Snow rotates by 45° (d) Snow rotates by 90°

･ The process of the concentric cylinder- Eccentric pennant-like Cylinder-like shape

like shape formation has still been left shape seen in the test seen in the field
unclear.
(e) Snow rotatesby 180° (f) Snow rotates by 270° Details are shown in INMR
Result of Artificial Snow Accretion Test Vol. 18, No. 2, 2010
Research by CRIEPI : Review 3 13
Electrical Performance of Wet Snow Accreted Insulator [14] - at STRI
● 154 kV Full-Scall Flashover Voltage Test Procedure was developed in collaboration with STRI.

1. Making artificial snow from 2. Putting snow onto entire surface 3. Spraying water on the snow to 4. Applying voltage to get flashover voltage
conductivity-adjusted water of insulator with handheld obtain required high-water
blower, resulting in packed snow content of snow, resulting in
wet snow
Details were presented by Dr. Igor Gutman
154 kV Full-Scall Flashover Voltage Test Procedure at INMR 2015, Berlin
Research by CRIEPI : Review 4 14
Electrical Performance of Wet Snow Accreted Insulator [14] - at STRI
● 154 kV Full scall Flashover Voltage Test Procedure was developed in collaboration with STRI.
･ Flashover voltages of long-rod, cap-&-pin, and composite insulators with wet snow accretion were determined.

Long-rod and Cap-&-Pin Insulators

entirely covered with snow with
defined concentration of salt
Research by CRIEPI : Review 4 15
Electrical Performance of Wet Snow Accreted Insulator [14] - at STRI
● 154 kV Full scall Flashover Voltage Test Procedure was developed in collaboration with STRI.
･ Flashover voltages of long-rod, cap-&-pin, and composite insulators with wet snow accretion were determined.

Result of Flashover Voltage Test

Long-rod and Cap-&-Pin Insulators
entirely covered with snow with ･ Cap-&-Pin and composite have higher F.O.V. than long-rod.
defined concentration of salt K. Yaji, H. Homma, “Insulator Flashover Caused by Salt-contaminated Snowstorms - Lessons from
the Snow Damage in Japan,” IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, Vol.35, No.1, pp.23−37 (2019)
The remaining question ? : Cylinder-like snow 16
● The process of concentric cylinder-like snow formation still remains unclear.

Eccentric pennant-like packed snow accretion

seen in the artificial snow accretion test
Cylinder-like packed snow accretion
seen in Niigata in 2005
Field Monitoring 1 Setup 17
● Location of Field Monitoring : West coast in Niigata
Monitoring site No.1 Monitoring site No.2
Niigata Outage in 2005

The field monitoring has been done in collaboration with

TOHOKU Electric Power Company and
TOHOKU Electric Power Network Company.
66 kV porcelain lightning arrester 154 kV porcelain long-rod
on a tower connecting power cables. tension insulators.
Field Monitoring 1 Setup 18
● Trail cameras are installed at each monitoring site.
Items Explanation
Image Still pictures are taken for every 3 or 6 min.
Resolution High Resolution, 5200×3900 to 3264×2448 pixels
Dry battery with backup solar panels.
Power supply
Trail Camera No commercial power source is used.
Trail camera Monitoring at night Still pictures are taken with Infrared LED at night.
IP 56 (IP: Ingress Protection)
Dust and water-proof
Simple housing is designed and used.
Not measured at the monitoring sites.
Weather Data
Data measured by nearby public monitoring station is used.
“Heavy” according to ESDD Map of the TSO.
Pollution Severity
Trail camera Pollution severity is not measured at the monitoring sites.
with Housing Leakage Current Not measured at the monitoring sites.

Details of Nippon Katan’s monitoring system and experience will be presented in “State of the art Monitoring and Analysis of Overhead
Transmission Line in Japan.” at INMR 2023 Bangkok.
Field Monitoring 2 Result – Lightning Arrester- 19
● During a snowstorm from at 23:40, Feb. 16 to 06:30, Feb. 17 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Mean wind velocity for 10 min. was about 7.0 m/sec.

Wind
Field Monitoring 2 Result – Lightning Arrester- 20
● During a snowstorm from at 23:40, Feb. 16 to 06:30, Feb. 17 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Mean wind velocity for 10 min. was about 7.0 m/sec.
.① at 23:40 on Feb. 16

Snow started accreting to

the lightning arrester.
Wind
Field Monitoring 2 Result – Lightning Arrester- 21
● During a snowstorm from at 23:40, Feb. 16 to 06:30, Feb. 17 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Mean wind velocity for 10 min. was about 7.0 m/sec.
① at 23:40 on Feb. 16 ② at 01:53 on Feb. 17
(about 2 hours later)
Snow started accreting to
the lightning arrester. Shed spacings were mostly
Wind
filled with snow.
Field Monitoring 2 Result – Lightning Arrester- 22
● During a snowstorm from at 23:40, Feb. 16 to 06:30, Feb. 17 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Mean wind velocity for 10 min. was about 7.0 m/sec.
① at 23:40 on Feb. 16 ② at 01:53 on Feb. 17
(about 2 hours later)
Snow started accreting to
the lightning arrester. Shed spacings were mostly
Wind
filled with snow.

③ at 02:35
(about 3 hours after ①)

Snow started rotating toward

leeward direction (from front side
to back side of the screen).
Field Monitoring 2 Result – Lightning Arrester- 23
● During a snowstorm from at 23:40, Feb. 16 to 06:30, Feb. 17 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Mean wind velocity for 10 min. was about 7.0 m/sec.
① at 23:40 on Feb. 16 ② at 01:53 on Feb. 17
(about 2 hours later)
Snow started accreting to
the lightning arrester. Shed spacings were mostly
Wind
filled with snow.

③ at 02:35 ④ at 03:29
(about 3 hours after ①) (about 4 hours after ①)

Snow started rotating toward Snow continued to rotate.

leeward direction (from front side
to back side of the screen).
Field Monitoring 2 Result – Lightning Arrester- 24
● During a snowstorm from at 23:40, Feb. 16 to 06:30, Feb. 17 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Mean wind velocity for 10 min. was about 7.0 m/sec.
① at 23:40 on Feb. 16 ② at 01:53 on Feb. 17
(about 2 hours later)
Snow started accreting to
the lightning arrester. Shed spacings were mostly
Wind
filled with snow.

③ at 02:35 ④ at 03:29
(about 3 hours after ①) (about 4 hours after ①)

Snow started rotating toward Snow continued to rotate.

leeward direction (from front side
to back side of the screen).
⑤ at 04:53
(about 5 hours after ①)

Snow started dropping due to

higher ambient temperature.
Field Monitoring 2 Result – Lightning Arrester- 25
● During a snowstorm from at 23:40, Feb. 16 to 06:30, Feb. 17 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Mean wind velocity for 10 min. was about 7.0 m/sec.
① at 23:40 on Feb. 16 ② at 01:53 on Feb. 17
(about 2 hours later)
Snow started accreting to
the lightning arrester. Shed spacings were mostly
Wind
filled with snow.

③ at 02:35 ④ at 03:29
(about 3 hours after ①) (about 4 hours after ①)

Snow started rotating toward Snow continued to rotate.

leeward direction (from front side
to back side of the screen).
⑤ at 04:53 ⑥ at 06:30
(about 5 hours after ①)
Snow had mostly dropped out
Snow started dropping due to after sunrise.
higher ambient temperature.
Field Monitoring 4 Result – Tension Insulator - 27
● During a snowstorm at 13:30 – 15:30, Dec. 25 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Maximum wind velocity was 11.5 m/sec.
Field Monitoring 4 Result – Tension Insulator - 28
● During a snowstorm at 13:30 – 15:30, Dec. 25 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Maximum wind velocity was 11.5 m/sec.
① at 13:33 on Dec. 25

Snow started accreting to

the insulators.
Wind
Field Monitoring 4 Result – Tension Insulator - 29
● During a snowstorm at 13:30 – 15:30, Dec. 25 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Maximum wind velocity was 11.5 m/sec.
① at 13:33 on Dec. 25

Snow started accreting to

the insulators.
Wind
② at 14:09
(about 30 min. later)

Accreted snow moved

downward.
Field Monitoring 4 Result – Tension Insulator - 30
● During a snowstorm at 13:30 – 15:30, Dec. 25 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Maximum wind velocity was 11.5 m/sec.
① at 13:33 on Dec. 25

Snow started accreting to

the insulators.
Wind
② at 14:09 ③ at 14:40
(about 30 min. later) (about 1 hour after ①)

Accreted snow moved Accreted snow further moved

downward. to leeward side.
Field Monitoring 4 Result – Tension Insulator - 31
● During a snowstorm at 13:30 – 15:30, Dec. 25 in 2021, wet snow accretion with strong winds was observed.
Ambient temperature was about 0℃. Maximum wind velocity was 11.5 m/sec.
① at 13:33 on Dec. 25

Snow started accreting to

the insulators.
Wind
② at 14:09 ③ at 14:40
(about 30 min. later) (about 1 hour after ①)

Accreted snow moved Accreted snow further moved

downward. to leeward side.

④ at 15:25 (about 2 hours after ①)

Then the snow
Shed spacings were mostly filled stopped falling and
with snow and the accreted snow the accreted snow
became cylinder-like shape. dropped off.
Field Monitoring 6 Result 33
● The process of wet snow accretion into a cylinder-like
shape was first observed on:
vertically-mounted lightning arrester; and Movement of
horizontally-mounted tension insulators. snow
Similar

Wind Wind

Movement of
snow Similar

Wind
Wind
Field Monitoring 6 Result 34
● The process of wet snow accretion into a cylinder-like
shape was first observed on:
vertically-mounted lightning arrester; and Movement of
horizontally-mounted tension insulators. snow
Similar
● Mechanism of the movement of snow
a. Strong winds and gravity (in case of horizontally
mounted insulator) cause the particles to move. Wind Wind

b. Snow particles probably move on a thin water film

formed on the surface of the arrester/insulator.
Thin water film may be formed due to: Movement of
･ high ambient temperature around 0 ℃; and snow Similar
･ leakage current flowing over the surface.

c. The surface tension of the snow particles may

prevent them from dropping during the movement. Wind
Wind
● We will continue the field monitoring for further
clarification of the mechanism.
Thank you for listening

35