Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-08-27 Origin: Site
Medium-voltage porcelain-housed distribution arresters are being largely replaced by composite-housed arresters. This is a clear industry trend. Although porcelain-housed arresters will not be completely "phased out" overnight, their market share is shrinking rapidly. Composite-housed arresters have become the absolute mainstream now and for the future.
Here’s a detailed explanation from several perspectives on why this replacement is happening:
Composite-housed arresters (also known as silicone rubber-housed arresters) have several key advantages over traditional porcelain-housed ones:
Explosion-Proof Performance (Safety): This is the most critical advantage. Porcelain housing is a rigid material. Internal faults generate immense pressure, making it highly prone to explosion, causing (shattering) damage to the equipment, potentially triggering line short circuits, injuring personnel, and damaging nearby equipment. The composite housing is flexible. During an internal fault, it usually just bulges, tears, or cracks slightly to release pressure, eliminating the risk of explosion, making it much safer.
Pollution Flashover Performance: The porcelain surface is hydrophilic. In damp and contaminated environments, the pollution layer can become conductive, forming partial arcs that develop into a full flashover, causing line trips. Composite housing is hydrophobic (water-repellent). Water beads up on its surface instead of forming a continuous film, effectively blocking leakage current. Its resistance to pollution flashover is significantly stronger, making it particularly suitable for coastal areas, industrial zones, and regions with heavy rain or fog.
Weight and Mechanical Strength: The composite housing uses polymer materials, making it much lighter than porcelain, facilitating transportation and installation. Its flexible structure also gives it greater impact and shock resistance. It's less likely to be damaged during transport and installation and can better withstand impacts from severe weather (like hail).
Performance Monitoring: Many composite-housed arresters integrate fault indicators (like operation counters or disconnectors). Maintenance personnel can check from the ground with binoculars to see if it has operated or failed, greatly improving maintenance efficiency. Porcelain-housed arresters lack effective visual monitoring methods.
Besides the disadvantages highlighted in the comparison above, porcelain arresters have some inherent drawbacks:
Fragility: The ceramic material is very brittle. Hidden cracks that are hard to detect can occur during transportation and installation, posing potential safety hazards later.
Manufacturing Process: The ceramic firing process is energy-intensive, and achieving consistent quality is more challenging compared to polymer injection molding.
Despite the clear trend, porcelain-housed arresters still exist in some specific scenarios:
Legacy Systems and Inventory: A large number of existing porcelain-housed arresters are still operational in power grids. Their lifespan can be 20-30 years, so they will be gradually replaced rather than淘汰 (phased out) all at once.
Cost Inertia: In some cases, the initial purchase price of porcelain-housed arresters might be slightly lower (but considering the total life-cycle cost, composite-housed ones are better).
Habit and Preference: Some old design specifications or users, out of long-term habit, might still specify porcelain-housed products.
Special Environments: In very rare occasions requiring extremely high mechanical strength (like pure compression) and where explosion risk is not a concern, porcelain might still have applications.
Feature | Composite-Housed Arrester | Porcelain-Housed Arrester | Verdict |
Explosion-Proof | Excellent (Flexible, tears, doesn't explode) | Poor (Rigid, prone to explosion) | Absolute advantage for Composite |
Pollution Flashover Resistance | Excellent (Strong hydrophobicity) | Poor (Hydrophilic, prone to flashover) | Absolute advantage for Composite |
Mechanical Properties | Excellent (Lightweight, impact-resistant) | Poor (Heavy, fragile) | Clear advantage for Composite |
Maintenance & Monitoring | Excellent (Can integrate indicators) | Poor (No effective monitoring) | Clear advantage for Composite |
Initial Cost | Slightly higher or comparable | Potentially slightly lower | Slight advantage for Porcelain |
Long-Term Cost | Excellent (Long life, low maintenance) | Poor (Requires cleaning, higher replacement rate) | Clear advantage for Composite |
Final Conclusion:
Medium-voltage porcelain-housed distribution arresters are and will be replaced by composite-housed arresters. This is an inevitable result of technological progress, driven primarily by higher demands for operational safety (explosion-proof) and improved power supply reliability (pollution flashover resistance). In procurements by major users like State Grid and China Southern Grid, composite-housed arresters have become the dominant choice. New projects and renovation projects almost exclusively choose composite-housed products. Porcelain-housed arresters will gradually fade from the mainstream market, remaining only in some existing old lines or very specific applications.
Therefore, if you are making a selection or procurement now, you should prioritize composite-housed arresters.
