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Insulators 101
Section A - Introduction
Tutorial IEEE WG 15.09.09
A. E. Schwalm, Member, IEEE, Chair Lightning & Insulator Subcommittee
Abstract This paper is the first of four documents in a series that
provides information on the history, design, qualification, and
performance characteristics of porcelain, glass, and non-ceramic
(NCI) insulators. This section is devoted to the history and
introduction of the insulator working group program.
I. INTRODUCTION
T his series of papers focuses on basic parameters for
understanding, designing, installing, evaluating
performance, qualifying suppliers, and determining end-of-life
criteria for high voltage insulators. These papers focus on
those products used to insulate overhead power lines and
associated control equipment. The world of insulators is much
larger of course encompassing a myriad of products such as
those used in low voltage applications in home wiring, control
circuitry etc.
Our purpose here is to assist those responsible for
specifying, selecting, installing and/or maintaining insulators
used on utility lines, in substations etc insulators used in
applications at high voltage and extra high voltage.
II. BASICS
That said lets start with a definition or more correctly the
answer to the question what is an insulator? The short
answer is simply that an insulator is a very, very poor
conductor but that is only part of the story. ANSI Standard
C29.1 has a good definition specifically:
An insulator is a device intended to give flexible or rigid
support to electric conductors or equipment and to insulate
these conductors or equipment from ground or from other
conductors or equipment.
Note that the definition identifies the primary function of the
insulator as giving support between items and in doing so
providing and maintaining an air gap between the items and
because it is a very poor conductor at the same time it
permits the air gap so created to insulate the line/equipment
electrically. That is, it doesnt short out the air gap.
The function of the insulator being to support both
A. E. Schwalm is with Victor Insulators, Inc., Victor, NY 14564 USA
(email: aschwalm@victorinsulators.com)
978-1-4244-6547-7/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE
mechanical and electrical loads requires that the product is
made from materials that are both mechanically and
electrically strong. The history of insulators centers on that
very thing finding the right materials.
III. INSULATOR HISTORY
Electrical insulators have been around quite a long time - in
fact since the late 1790s
(http://www.drumbarracks.org/Original%20Website/Insulator
s.html). There are numerous books and web sites devoted to
the subject of electrical insulators. They indicate that
insulators as we know them today originated in the late 1890s
with the development of wet process porcelain and glass
insulators of adequate quality to withstand the rigors of
service. Prior to that time, many different materials were tried
ranging from wood to cement to glass.
In that period from the late 1700s to the late 1800s,
application was associated with telegraph lines and thus
voltages were low - but reliability was also low - which
presented a serious problem especially when in the late
1800s, early 1900s the development of the electric power
industry began in earnest (i.e. higher voltages were now being
used) and the need for good electrical insulators became a real
necessity.
It is this low reliability that is purported to have been the
driving force behind the development of the modern
insulator by Fred Locke. While Locke and subsequent early
developers patented many, many unique designs of insulators,
their real contribution was in the development of a material
that meets the requirements noted above mechanically AND
electrically sound especially when exposed to the elements.
IV. MODERN INSULATOR HISTORY
The history of insulators in the 20th century can be divided
into 2 distinct eras the ceramic era (porcelain and glass)
and the non ceramic (NCI) era.
Ceramic and glass insulators dominated until the early
1970s, when various new types of insulators began to be
introduced based on organic rather than inorganic insulating
materials.
Ceramic materials such as porcelain and glass are strong
and rigid, and under appropriate, controlled loading conditions
 2

they are mechanically strong. They are excellent insulating make an intelligent, economical choice of the correct way to
materials electrically. insulate.

The materials that are predominantly used for NCIs
(silicone rubber or EPR/EPDM rubber) are not mechanically
strong in fact they are quite weak. Use of these materials
required that some other method be found to provide the
primary mechanical support and the solution was the use of
the fiberglass rod (core) surrounded by the rubber weather
sheds which is the common feature of most NCIs in use today.
The question then is why did this change in materials occur
why were the new types of insulators developed? The
answer is because the new designs and materials offered some
advantages over the ceramic insulators, advantages ranging
from lighter weight to higher tensile strength to easier
handling, to greater toughness, and - perhaps most
significantly - surface properties such as hydrophobicity that
greatly improve insulating performance in contaminated
conditions (i.e. improving the resistance to shorting out the
air gap under difficult operating conditions).
The search for better insulators - better materials, better
designs, and better manufacturing methods continues to this
day and will continue into the future.
This has been made possible by the joint efforts of
manufacturers, utility engineers, standards making
organizations, academia, and organizations such as IEEE to
improve existing insulator designs, materials, test methods,
application parameters, etc., while at the same time working to
develop the next generations of products to be used in the
insulation of electric utility power lines, substations and
equipment.
VI. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrew Schwalm was born in Glasgow Scotland in
1946. He graduated from the University of Toronto
with a Doctorate in Chemical Engineering
Ceramics in 1975.
He has been employed at Victor Insulators, Inc. since
1975 in a variety of functions relating to the
development, design, testing and manufacturing of
porcelain and non ceramic insulators. He is currently
the Chair of the Lightning and Insulator
Subcommittee, and an IEEE delegate to S/C-5 of ANSI C2.

Ceramic insulators have seen tremendous improvements in

the quality and consistency of the materials themselves,
improvements in manufacturing processes (both improving
quality and reducing costs), and the development of designs
and materials specifically intended for application in
contaminated environments.

While the history of NCIs is shorter (nearly 40 years,

however) the development process has been extremely
rapid, with current designs, materials, and manufacturing
methods being generations ahead of the original attempts.
Like any new idea, first attempts are rarely perfect but they
lead the way to improvement after improvement to the point
that today the NCI is considered essentially a mature product
not a prototype and not a risky alternative to other
insulating methods and materials.

V. SUMMARY
To be sure there are many arguments made both for
and against each of the types of insulators, but the mere fact
that these discussions continue after so many years of service
is simply testament to the fact that both ceramic and non
ceramic insulators successfully fulfill the roles they were
developed for.

While neither ceramic nor non-ceramic insulators are

without some intrinsic limitations such as fragility and
weight for ceramics, and potential tracking or erosion for non
ceramics, the utility engineer today can with a basic
understanding of the concepts behind each type of insulator