Study on characterization parameter of algae growth degree on silicone rubber surface

Summary

Silicone rubber materials including HTV, RTV and LSR are widely used in power system. The surface of silicone rubber accumulate contamination easily and grow algae that consequently reduce the flashover voltage especially in some moist areas. Summing up the available research results, there are few quantitative measurements or quantitative analysis of algae on the surface of silicone rubber materials, which explains the huge difference between the results of different experimental studies to some extent. This paper proposes a new method to solve the problem. The main process of the method is as follows. Firstly, adhering algae quantitatively on the surface of silicone rubber and take photos using SLR camera with preset white balance. Secondly, use MATLAB to process the image and acquire the characterization parameter named characteristic green value of silicone rubber surface in the RGB color space. In this paper, the effects of different light sources and different shooting angles on the characteristic green value are analyzed. The results show that the characteristic green value and the number of algal cells appear a linear relationship when the algae is below 3×107 cells/cm2, and characteristic green value curve gradually saturate when the algae continues to increase. Therefore, this parameter can be effectively used to measure the algae growth degree on the insulator surface through pictures shooting without contact.

Additional informations

Keywords

silicone rubber, algae growth, flashover voltage, characteristic green value, color space