Comparison of methods applied to measuring the lightning impulse breakdown voltage of insulating pressboard impregnated with mineral oil and natural ester

The aim of this paper is to compare three different methods of analysis of results of lightning impulse breakdown voltage measurements of solid materials such as insulating pressboard. These three methods are the series method, the step method and the up-and-down method which are applied to withstand voltage estimation commonly in high voltage engineering. To obtain the data needed for the analysis a series of experimental studies was carried out. It included studies of mineral oil and natural ester impregnating 1 mm of thick cellulose-based pressboard. In order to show the distribution of breakdown voltage the Weibull distribution was additionally applied in data analysis. The results were also assessed from the viewpoint of dielectric liquid used for impregnation. The studies carried out showed that series and step methods give comparable results opposite to the up-and-down method. The latest overstates the results for mineral oil impregnated pressboard and understates for natural ester impregnated pressboard when juxtaposing them with the rest of the methods applied. In addition, there is lack of possibility to assess the withstand voltage for the up-and-down method directly from the vector of random variable. It is possible only as a result of a specially developed equation which always arouses doubt. From the methods applied it seems that the step method can be a great substitution for the series method as intuitive, fast in application and limiting the number of samples in solid insulation material testing.