Effects of stationary power quality disturbances on lifetime of low voltage conductors

This paper presents a method to estimate the effects over the expected lifetime in Low Voltage (LV) conductors due to the presence of stationary power quality disturbances. The cable insulation aging can be accelerated by temporary increases of rms values of voltages and currents caused by stationary disturbances, i.e. waveform distortion, unbalance and phase displacement. A short duration increase of rms values cannot cause a significant reduction of insulation’s lifetime, but its recurrent presence during long time periods will produce a cumulative effect. Currently available models for insulation aging are employed, the expected power quality disturbance levels are extracted from power quality data bases. A discussion about the effects on insulation lifetime is presented