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Insulating Materials for Future Power Systems: Performance Analysis, Defect Detection and Condition Assessment: 2nd Edition

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "F: Electrical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 April 2026 | Viewed by 811

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: dielectric insulation; insulation aging; intelligent optimization; state evaluation; fault diagnosis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Power System, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: high-voltage engineering; power transmission; partial discharge; dielectric insulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Electrical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Interests: high-voltage engineering; power transmission; partial discharge; dielectric insulation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A wide variety of electrical materials, such as polymeric insulating materials, energy storage materials, functional ceramics, semi-conductive sensing materials, and high-conductive metallic materials, compose the complicated power transmission system. Recently, modern renewable energy systems have begun to replace traditional energy systems owing to the development of more precise and controlled power stations. In this context, insulation materials, as core components in electrical power equipment, will undergo unprecedented challenges and opportunities that may enhance operational complexity and reduce the power system’s safety and reliability.

Variations in operational conditions create a question regarding the insulation strength of countless newly developed ultra-high-voltage (UHV) assets. Consequently, there is an urgent need for credible performance analysis, defect detection, and condition assessments of insulation materials in UHV equipment.

Therefore, in this Special Issue, we call for papers which focus on the fabrication, performance analysis, deterioration mechanism, defect detection, and condition assessments of new electrical materials. We welcome researchers to contribute original research, brief research reports, and review papers for this research topic. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Advanced measurement and characterization technology;
  • Advanced electrical materials fabrication and their deterioration mechanisms;
  • Advanced insulation defect detection and condition assessment techniques;
  • Dielectric materials and relaxation phenomena;
  • Operation, maintenance, and optimal designs of UHV equipment;
  • Other related aspects.

Dr. Xianhao Fan
Dr. Chuangyang Li
Dr. Fangwei Liang
Dr. Jiefeng Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • high-voltage engineering
  • insulation materials
  • performance characterization and analysis
  • defect detection
  • condition assessment

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 9828 KB  
Article
Study on Surface Charge Inversion and Accumulation Characteristics of DC Pillar Insulators Based on B-Spline Basis Functions
by Xi Yang, Houde Xu, Jie Wang, Jian Zhang, Shun Li and Xinran Fang
Energies 2025, 18(20), 5531; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18205531 - 21 Oct 2025
Viewed by 243
Abstract
Surface charge accumulation is an important cause of flashover accidents for DC pillar insulators and the failure of DC gas insulation equipment. In this paper, the DC pillar insulator is taken as the research object, and a surface potential measurement system is built. [...] Read more.
Surface charge accumulation is an important cause of flashover accidents for DC pillar insulators and the failure of DC gas insulation equipment. In this paper, the DC pillar insulator is taken as the research object, and a surface potential measurement system is built. The surface potential distribution of the pillar insulator under different voltages is measured. An inversion algorithm based on the B-spline basis function is proposed. The electric field simulation model of the DC pillar insulator considering the gas’s weak ionization and surface conductance is established. The surface charge accumulation characteristics of the pillar insulator under different DC voltages are studied. The results show that the surface potential of the DC pillar insulator presents an oscillating distribution in the axial direction, and the potential distribution is approximately mirror symmetry under positive and negative voltages. The surface charge density is non-uniform in the axial direction, and the surface charge distribution is different under different voltages. In addition, the current density on the solid side gradually approaches and exceeds the current density on the gas side with the increase in the applied voltage, which promotes the accumulation of charges on the insulator surface with the same symbol as the electrode to weaken the field strength and balance the normal electric field components on both sides. Full article
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13 pages, 6203 KB  
Article
Partial Discharge Characteristics of Typical Defects in Oil-Paper Insulation Based on Photon Detection Technology
by Zhengyan Zhang, Yong Yi, Ji Qi, Qian Wang, Weiqi Qin, Xianhao Fan and Chuanyang Li
Energies 2025, 18(18), 4991; https://doi.org/10.3390/en18184991 - 19 Sep 2025
Viewed by 351
Abstract
As a key equipment in the power system, the insulation state of oil-immersed transformer is directly related to the safe and stable operation of the power grid. To explore the feasibility of optical detection methods for detecting transformer insulation defects and further analyze [...] Read more.
As a key equipment in the power system, the insulation state of oil-immersed transformer is directly related to the safe and stable operation of the power grid. To explore the feasibility of optical detection methods for detecting transformer insulation defects and further analyze the trend of partial discharge optical signal characteristics under typical oil-paper insulation defects in transformers, this paper proposes a method for detecting insulation defects in transformers based on photon detection technology. This method can not only reflect the periodicity and phase characteristics of photon signals, but also exhibits higher sensitivity compared to the traditional PRPD method. Firstly, the study builds an experimental platform for optoelectronic combined transformer partial discharge based on photon detection technology and carries out partial discharge simulation experiments on four typical insulation defect models through the step-up method to collect their pulse current signals and photon signals. Then, a phase-resolved photon counting (PRPC) method is proposed to analyze the signals during the development of partial discharges. Finally, the optical signal characteristics of the four defect models are extracted for comparative analysis. The results show that the optical signals of partial discharges can effectively respond to the generation and development process of partial discharges inside the transformer, and different types of insulation defects and development stages can be clearly distinguished according to the phase distribution characteristics and characteristic parameters of the optical signals. This study verifies the effectiveness of photon detection technology and provides a new effective tool for the detection of transformer oil-paper insulation defects. Full article
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