Hydrophobic properties, pollution performance, ease of handling, low cost and compact power designs incredibly increase the use of composite insulators which are also called polymer insulators and NCI insulators. However, their outstanding properties, those which initially led to their popularity, might be deteriorated by continuous corona activity. Compromised composite insulator are usually replaced by new ones, affecting their total life cycle cost. The issue of corona is indeed a major concern both at the design stage of NCIs and after installation.
Manufacturers of insulators act during the design stage, while utilities are responsible for their performance after installation. To mitigate the outcome of corona, utilities seek to understand what are the factors that lead to the creation of corona and what are the cost-effective maintenance practices that they should endorse in order to reduce the insulators’ total life-cycle cost, reduce maintenance cost and improve their assets health index. To mitigate the aging effect of e-field