Mechanical and Electrical Phenomena of Droplets Under the Influence of High Electric Fields

High-voltage composite insulators are specially designed to withstand different environmental conditions to ensure a reliable and efficient electric power distribution and transmission. Especially, outdoor insulators are exposed to rain, snow or ice, which might significantly affect the performance of the insulators. The interaction of sessile water droplets and electric fields is investigated under various boundary conditions. Besides the general behavior of sessile droplets, namely the deformation and oscillation, the inception field strength for partial discharges is examined depending on the droplet volume, strength and frequency of the electric field and the electric charge. Particularly, the electric charge is identified to significantly affect the droplet behavior as well as the partial discharge inception field strength. In addition to ambient conditions, the impact of electric fields on ice nucleation is investigated under well-defined conditions with respect to the temperature and electric field strength. High electric field strengths are identified to significantly promote ice nucleation, especially in case of alternating and transient electric fields. Different influencing factors like the strengths, frequencies and time constants of the electric fields are investigated. Consequently, the performed experiments enhance the knowledge of the behavior of water droplets under the impact of electric fields under various conditions