Impact of dry ice and water on safe electrical distances and impulse withstand voltage
Vidyadhar Peesapati, Ian Cotton, Chorphaka Plaengpraphan, Anusha Arva, Ed Brown, Peter Hansen, S. Costello, Gerry Boyce · IET conference proceedings. · 2024
In order to minimise the time for tower surface preparation, and to improve health and safety conditions for the workers and the environment, National Grid Electricity Transmission have started an innovation project where high pressure water and dry ice jet sprays are being explored as potential alternatives to abrasive or chemical cleaning. The use of such technologies can also reduce the time required to re-paint individual towers. However, it needs to be assessed if the use of water and dry ice sprays could potentially increase the risk of flashovers. The current paper will look to determine the impact of using dry ice and water sprays for tower surface preparation ahead of re-painting activity. The paper will look to determine the safe electrical distances and voltages, based on laboratory tests of a typical rod-plane gap with the introduction of water and dry ice sprays between these gaps.