IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 31, NO.
4, AUGUST 2016
Effect of the Parameters of the Semiconductive
Coating on the Anti-Icing Performance
of the Insulators
Xiaoxing Wei, Zhidong Jia, Member, IEEE, Zhenting Sun, Masoud Farzaneh, Fellow, IEEE, and
Zhicheng Guan, Member, IEEE
Abstract—Partial coating of insulators with semiconductive sil-
icone rubber has proved to be a potential method for reducing
ice accretion on insulators. The performance of the coated insu-
lator strings is mainly determined by the insulator parameters, the
coating resistance, and the coating area covering the insulator sur-
face. This research is to investigate the effect of using semiconduc-
tive silicone rubber coating on the anti-icing performance of ce-
ramic insulators, considering the coating resistance and the coating
area. A series of icing tests was carried out in a climate room and
the results obtained from tests on a single insulator unit were ex-
tended to short insulator strings. The experimental results showed
that the magnitude of the appropriate coating resistance was below
in the freezing condition recommended, and that the suit-
able width of the band of the uncoated area was about 5 to 8 cm.
Since the main heating power was consumed in the region of the un-
coated band, the uncoated area should better be close to the edge
of the top surface of the insulator, in which case the icicles could
fall off more easily.
Index Terms—Anti-icing, aging, coating area, coating resistance,
semiconductive silicone rubber.
I. INTRODUCTION
I CE AND snow accretion on exposed structures, including
power networks, can lead to their failure [1]. In particular,
ice or wet snow accretion on insulators can bridge the shed
spacing, which can cause flashovers with resulting power out-
ages [2]. Much progress has been made in understanding the
physical processes involved in ice or snow accretion [3]–[5].
Moreover, investigations have been carried out on the impact of
ice buildup or snow cover on insulator strings [6]–[10].
Manuscript received June 13, 2013; revised November 13, 2013; accepted
June 14, 2014. Date of current version July 21, 2016. This work was supported
in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Project no.
51177081, in part by the China Scholarship Council (CSC), and in part by
CIGELE, Université du Québec, Canada, within the framework of a collabo-
ration with Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, China. Paper no. TPWRD-00673-
2013.
X. Wei, Z. Jia, Z. Sun, and Z. Guan are with the Graduate School at
Shenzhen, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, Guangdong 518055, China (e-mail:
weixx10@gmail.com; jzd1966@gmail.com; sztlgj@163.com; guanzc@sz.
tsinghua.edu.cn).
M. Farzaneh and X. Wei are with the NSERC/Hydro-Quebec Industrial
Chair on Atmospheric Icing (CIGELE) and the Canada Research Chair on
Atmospheric Icing Engineering of Power Networks (INGIVRE), Univer-
sité du Québec in Chicoutimi, Chicoutimi, QC G7H 2B1 Canada (e-mail:
farzaneh@uqac.ca).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPWRD.2014.2337012
0885-8977 © 2014 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
1413
According to CIGRE TB 438 [11], the mitigation methods
for overhead phase conductors and ground wires subjected to
icing are passive methods, active coatings and devices, mechan-
ical methods, and thermal methods. However, none of these
methods are applicable to outdoor insulators.
Insulator dimensioning and positioning approaches are
widely used in most of the icing prone areas since the 2008 ice
storm in China [12], [13]. For example, insulators with larger
shed spacing, resulting in longer ice bridging time, as well as
insulators with alternative shed diameters have been identified
as potential mitigation options [14].
Thermal methods are considered to be an effective de-icing
approach and widely used for preventing ice accretion on over-
head conductors [15]–[17]. Then, the idea of using the thermal
method was extended to the ice prevention for insulators by in-
troducing a semiconductive silicone rubber coating to which
conducting particles, such as carbon black and carbon fibers,
were added [18].
The semiconductive silicone rubber is applied to the bottom
side of the insulator to configure the surface resistance of the
insulator in order to eliminate power loss and accelerated aging
due to the continuous thermal consumption when there is no pre-
cipitation [19]. In this case, a conductive path forms when the
top side of the insulator is wetted by moisture or precipitation
under certain conditions. Leakage current and electric discharge
occurring between water droplets can generate enough heat to
defer the ice accretion. With this method, good anti-icing perfor-
mance of tested insulators was obtained under certain laboratory
conditions [19]. However, this paper was only a rough introduc-
tion of using semiconductive silicone rubber for anti-icing on
suspension ceramic insulators. An effective anti-icing behavior
depends on the heating power generated by the leakage current
across the insulator surface. Except for atmospheric conditions,
the coating resistance and coating area covering the insulator
surface are the two important factors, and can be adequately
controlled and fixed. Therefore, the following research focused
on investigating the effect of the parameters of the semicon-
ductive coating to the anti-icing performance of the suspension
insulators.
II. EXPERIMENT AND SETUP
All of the experiments were carried out in a climate room and
the anti-icing performance of the treated insulators was tested
according to IEEE Standard 1783 [20] and using the experi-
mental facilities, samples, and procedures that will be described.
1414 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 31, NO. 4, AUGUST 2016

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experiment setup T1-regulator: 0.22 kV/35

kV, 50 kVA; R1–protection resistor: 10 k ; V.D.—capacitive voltage divider:
35 kV; R2–35 kV bushing; R3–resistor used for the measurement of leakage
Fig. 2. Illustration of insulators tested.
current; PLC- PLC control system; ADLC—acquisition device of leakage cur-
rent; TS—temperature sensor; WS—weight sensor; SN—spray nozzle; IS—in-
sulator tested; AI—additional insulator; RI—paperless recorder.
TABLE I
PARAMETERS OF THE INSULATORS USED IN THE TEST

A. Experimental Setup
The schematic diagram of the experimental setup is shown
in Fig. 1, It is similar to those presented in [21] and [22], but
with some modifications and enhancements as described in this
section.
The inner size of the climate chamber is
length width height and the air temperature inside the
chamber can be reduced down to 20 . In the setup, several
temperature sensors (TS) filled in the space to measure the tem-
perature accurately. Two pneumatic nozzles (SN) were on one TABLE II
PARAMETERS OF THE COATINGS IN THE TEST
of the walls of the chamber as shown in Fig. 1. The water pres-
sure and air pressure were simultaneously controlled by a PLC
control system (PLC) to ensure a uniformly distributed mist
around the insulator. The insulator unit or string was hung in the
center of the chamber. Another insulator (AI) was used to allow
for leakage current measurements. A weight sensor (WS) was
included to measure the weight of ice accretion on the insulators.
The applied voltage and the leakage current were monitored and
recorded by a data-acquisition (DAQ) system. The data of tem-
perature and weight were recorded in real time by the paperless
recorder (RI) at 1 Hz. The applied voltage and the leakage cur-
rent were monitored and recorded by a DAQ (ADLC). Mean- preparation of normal room temperature vulcanization (RTV).
while, the ice-covered insulator strings were photographed and Following this, some material characteristics, such as hy-
their surface temperature distribution was measured by an in- drophobicity, tear and tensile strength, elongation at break,
frared camera. as well adhesion ability stayed almost the same compared to
normal RTV. However, resistance to tracking and erosion, di-
B. Insulators and Coatings electric strength, and volume resistivity was decreased because
Three types of insulators were used in the tests, which was of the presence of conductive fillers in the final product.
abbreviated as: 1) Ins A; 2) Ins B; and 3) Ins C, respectively, as
shown in Fig. 2. The parameters of the insulators are shown in C. Coating Resistance and the Measurement
Table I. Ins A is a porcelain insulator, the Ins B and Ins C are Coating resistance is another important factor in anti-icing
glass insulators, and Ins C is an aerodynamic insulator with a performance under freezing conditions. The conductivity of the
greater shed. semiconducting coating is sensitive to the volume fraction of
The parameters of the coating used in the tests are sum- carbon black and to temperature [18]. So the coating resistance
marized in Table II. Similarly, as described in [18] and [22], can be changed by adjusting the concentration of the carbon
the semiconductive coatings were prepared by adding carbon black in the preparation. The scope of volume resistivity used in
black fillers into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) during the the tests varied from to . To determine the coating
WEI et al.: EFFECT OF THE PARAMETERS OF THE SEMICONDUCTIVE COATING ON THE ANTI-ICING PERFORMANCE OF THE INSULATORS
Fig. 3. Measurement method of coating resistance.
TABLE III
COATING RESISTANCE SELECTED IN THE TEST
resistance, Ins A was used and the coating was only treated on
the bottom side.
The measurement of the dc resistance of the coating was car-
ried out until the coating was cured completely after being ex-
posed to atmospheric moisture. The equivalent dc resistance of
the coating was measured by using a megameter and a flat bare
wire. The measuring method is shown in Fig. 3. A flat shape
bare conductor was used to form a circular ring and was tied
up tightly on the outer shed of the top surface. The two heads
of a megameter were connected with the pin and conductor.
Then, the megameter multimeasurement average readings were
recorded when they were stable.
The coating dc resistances selected in the tests are pre-
sented in Table III. Except for the insulator without coating, in-
sulators with different magnitudes were also tested. Every test
includes three insulators of the same coating. All of the coated
insulators were treated with a semiconductive coating on the
lower side.
D. Coating Configurations
Actually, the coating can also be applied to the top surface of
the insulator rather than on the bottom surface only. The novel
design is sketched in Fig. 4, which represents the top view of
the insulator being partially treated with the coating. The bottom
side is covered with the coating, which is not displayed in Fig. 4.
On the top surface, however, the entire porcelain or glass area is
1415
Fig. 4. Configurations of the coating on insulators.
TABLE IV
CONFIGURATIONS OF COATINGS USED IN THE TEST
divided into three ring-shaped bands: coating band A, coating
band B, and a blank band without any coating. The widths of
the three bands are expressed as , , and , respectively.
To determine the appropriate coating resistance for anti-icing,
a single-unit insulator test with 5 kV was carried out in the cli-
mate room. Ins C with a relatively large shed diameter on the top
side was used in the tests for configuration design. The coating
used was the same as that of sample A4. There are six configu-
rations listed in Table IV: samples B1, B2, and B3 with ,
and B4, B5, and B6 with . The case of and
will be discussed in Section IV.
E. Icing Conditions
This study was performed under the wet ice growth regime,
and the experimental conditions, as set out in Table V, were
chosen to mimic freezing rain. The water was sprayed con-
tinuously onto the insulator surface during the subsequent test
process. The water conductivity was adjusted to S/cm at
20 C, as recommended in IEEE Standard 1783 [20]. A thermal
infrared imager was additionally used at the end of the test to
record the surface temperature of the insulator string as needed.
In order to directly reflect the impact of coating resistance and
coating configuration on the performance, the single insulator
test was adopted, and the test voltage for evaluating the anti-
icing performance of the unit was 4 or 5 kV rms at 50 Hz.
III. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
A. Design of the Coating Resistance
The results of the anti-icing performance after about 2 hours
of icing test are presented in Fig. 5. The evolution of the leakage
1416
TABLE V
EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS
TABLE VI
CONFIGURATIONS OF THE INSULATOR STRINGS IN THE TESTS
Fig. 5. Anti-icing performance of insulators treated with semiconductive coat-
ings of different resistance.
current of the above samples during the icing process is shown
in Fig. 6.
As can be seen in Fig. 5, since the coating resistance of sample
A2 was 1.38 M , there was still a thick ice layer and long ici-
cles like that of an insulator without coating. Apparently, the
heat generated by the low leakage current 1.5 mA) was not
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 31, NO. 4, AUGUST 2016
Fig. 6. Evolution of leakage current during anti-icing performance of insulators
of different resistance.
enough to resist the freezing conditions. At difference with sam-
ples A1 and A2, however, sample A3 showed were few icicles
left, teetering on the edge of the insulator A3. As its average
leakage current was 2.8 mA, it produced almost 4 times more
heat than sample A2 did with the same applied voltage. Ob-
servation through the icing process of sample A3 showed that
icicle growth still continued, but that ice accretion was greatly
prevented. Moreover, the roots of the icicles, by which long ici-
cles can stick tightly to the edge of the insulator, were eroded by
the “hot water” from the melting of the ice layer or heating of
the impacting droplets on the blank area of the insulator. Then
the adhesive strength between ice and insulator was not strong
enough to stop the icicles from dropping off due to gravity.
When coating resistance further decreased to an order of mag-
nitude of 0.03 M , the average leakage current increased to 6
mA (Fig. 6 A4), and eventually the heat flux rate was 30 W (5
kV 6 mA), nearly 4 times as much for sample A2 and twice as
much as for sample A3. A better anti-icing performance than for
samples A2 and A3 was obtained as the slightly larger discrete
ice layers were melted and all the icicles dropped off after the
2 h icing test.
Whether the surface temperature of the insulators can be
raised to over 0 C or not, depends on the competitive rela-
tionship of the sources of heat production: leakage current,
heat convection, heat conduction or other forms of heat loss.
Generally, the voltage applied to the insulator strings is fixed,
though sometimes with small changes. So, the heat production
rate depends only on the leakage current across the insulator
surface. Fig. 7 shows the average leakage current (RMS) of all
the coated samples during the icing process. In the above con-
ditions recommended, a remarkable leakage current, more than
3 mA, can be obtained when reducing the coating resistance to
lower than about 0.3 M . Combinedwith the results in Fig. 5,
it could be roughly inferred that better anti-icing performance
could be obtained when reducing the coating resistance to no
more than about 0.3 M in the aforementioned recommended
conditions. As for the specific environment conditions, just like
wind, surrounding temperature and the contamination level, the
leakage current has an inverse relationship with coating resis-
tance, which is shown in Fig. 7. Especially when the resistance
WEI et al.: EFFECT OF THE PARAMETERS OF THE SEMICONDUCTIVE COATING ON THE ANTI-ICING PERFORMANCE OF THE INSULATORS 1417

Fig. 7. Average leakage current (rms) of samples A2 to A4 during the icing

process.

of the coating is far less than the equivalent resistance of the

water or mixture of water and ice, almost all the heat generated
will be entirely consumed on the top surface increasing the
water droplet temperature and melting the ice layer and the
icicles.

B. Design of Coating Configuration Fig. 8. Anti-icing performance of insulators for different configurations;
arrow: the radial length of the uncoated area.
In this section, all of the insulators were treated with the
semiconductive coating, which was the same as that of sample
A4. The appearances of the ice buildup of the single aerody-
namic insulator after a 2-h icing period are presented in Fig. 8.
Fig. 9 shows the average leakage current (rms) of all the sam-
ples during the icing process.
In Fig. 8, for samples B1, B2, and B3 with 0, long ici-
cles and thick ice layers indicated that this kind of configura-
tion could not improve the anti-icing performance, even though
the width of the blank area decreased to only 8 cm and the
leakage current increased to about 4.5 mA (Fig. 9). Unexpect-
edly, there was no significant increase in the leakage current and
heating power when more area was covered with semiconduc-
tive coating. Especially as shown on the top surface of sample
B2, the Joule heat was mainly generated in the uncoated area
since most of the resistance is situated in this area. At the same
time, however, most of the Joule heat was also generated in the Fig. 9. Average leakage current (rms) of Samples B1 to B6 during the icing
same area. Since icicle accretion is more dangerous than the process.
ice buildup on the top insulator surface, it is more important
to prevent the growth of the icicles. However, this was only of
little help for the 0 configuration. The coating temperature sample B4, the longer radius of the blank band caused a decrease
showed only little increase for the above reason. Hence, for this in conductivity, with a small resulting leakage current, about 3
configuration, ice accretion near the edge of the insulator and mA. So long icicles and thick layers also appeared, just as in
icicle growth were observed, even when the coating area was samples B2 and B3, since the very close heat rate with them. Un-
expanded. like sample B3, the leakage current of sample B5 was enhanced
Conversely, the use of the 0 configuration proved the greatly when the distance decreased to 7 cm and eventually the
above conclusion that for samples B4, B5 and B6, the coating is heat rate strengthened to be about 30 W. Therefore most of the
to be applied not only on the bottom side but also near the cap. icicles dropped off and the rest is about falling off the edge of
The main purpose was not only to increase the leakage current the insulator, as shown in Fig. 8. Moreover, all the icicles disap-
and then the heat rate by narrowing the area of the blank band, peared during the icing period when the width of the blank band
but also to let the melted water reach the edge of the insulator further decreased to 5 cm, as a result of an important rise in the
more quickly followed by more soft icicles roots. In Fig. 8, for heat rate.
1418
Fig. 10. Anti-icing performance of insulator strings for different configura-
tions: (a) appearance of icing after 1.5 h and (b) infrared images of the tested
insulator strings after the experiments.
IV. DISCUSSION
The case of an insulator string is different from that of a single
insulator. When every insulator of the string is partially coated,
it means that there will be more “gaps” (uncoated areas) along
the insulator string. In principle, anti-icing process will not be
triggered until all the gaps are covered and connected by the
liquid water. In order to investigate the anti-icing performance
of the coated insulator string or string with alternative sheds,
two additional groups of tests were carried out under the same
conditions as presented in Table II. The coating configurations
and insulator information are presented in Table IV. The coating
resistance is the same as for sample A4 in Fig. 5.
A. Short Insulator Strings With the Same Sheds
Fig. 10 shows the icing appearance and infrared images of
the short insulator strings after an icing process of 1.5 h. Fig. 11
presents the change in the weight of ice accretion during the
icing process.
Compared to the uncoated insulator string, the three coating
ones with the same volume resistivity can greatly prevent ice
buildup during the icing tests at different levels, even with in-
creasing units and more gaps. The temperature of most of the top
surfaces of these three samples increased to above C (as in-
dicated by the white rectangles in Fig. 10). However, it must be
admitted that this performance cannot catch up with that of the
single insulator, sample A4, since they shared the same coating.
In the last 5 min of the test when the leakage current was more
stable, the leakage current of samples C1, C2, and C3 were mea-
sured to be 3.82, 4.01, and 4.28 mA, respectively. The leakage
current was somewhat like that of sample A3, but much lower
than sample A4. Therefore, the anti-icing capability will decline
for long insulator strings.
For samples C2 and C3, with the same width of the coating
at the edge of the insulator, the narrowing blank band increased
the heating power rate. But for sample C3, the main heating area
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 31, NO. 4, AUGUST 2016
Fig. 11. Weight of ice accretion and leakage current of the four insulator strings
during the icing process.
Fig. 12. Anti-icing performance of insulator strings with five units or alterna-
tive sheds.
shifted to the external side from the adjacent area of the cap. The
case is more obvious for sample C4, where the area with higher
heating is closer to the edge of the insulator, in which case most
of the ice layer can melt with more icicles dropping off.
B. Short Insulator Strings With Alternative Sheds
For the purpose of improving the performance of an insulator
in cold and freezing rain areas, insulator strings with longer
leakage distance (more units) or with alternative sheds are
widely used. Figs. 12 and 13 show the icing/anti-icing perfor-
mance of insulator strings with more units or alternative sheds
at the 35 kV level.
In Fig. 12, samples D2 and D4 seem to present features of
icephobicity. However, Ins A and Ins B had similar parameter
values except for surface curvature. The amount of accumulated
water droplets on the top surface of Ins B per unit of time is
higher than that of Ins A, since water droplets or water film
fall off more easily for Ins A than Ins B from the top surface.
Then water film thickness will decline, that is, the equivalent
resistance of the water film or mixture will increase, causing
the leakage current to decrease. It is the reason why the leakage
current of sample D2 was higher than that sample C2. So, the
anti-icing performance of an insulator string is not only related
WEI et al.: EFFECT OF THE PARAMETERS OF THE SEMICONDUCTIVE COATING ON THE ANTI-ICING PERFORMANCE OF THE INSULATORS 1419

Fig. 13. Leakage current of the four insulator strings during the icing process.

Fig. 14. Comparison of the icing appearance of the insulator string: (a) treated
to coating resistance, configuration, and environment, but to the with the new coating and (b) taken down from a 35 kV line after one year's
operation. (a) New coating. (b) Aged coating.
specific parameters of the insulator as well.
For the insulator string with alternative sheds, the icicles
need a long time to bridge the whole insulator string, thus im-
proving the performance of the insulator in freezing conditions,
which has also been reported in [2]. Moreover, the anti-icing
coating was also effective when comparing samples D3 and
D4, as shown in Fig. 10.
In the case of sample D4, some of the icicles formed on the
edge of the small insulators (white rectangle) fell onto the top
surface of the aerodynamic insulator, whereas another portion
of them fell out (red rectangle A). However, there were a lot
of icicles (red rectangle B) adhering stubbornly to the edge of
the aerodynamic insulator. It is an important difference with the
single insulator (sample B6), as shown in Fig. 8. A possible
reason for that is the low leakage current density when the radius
of the insulator increases resulting in a lower power generation
Fig. 15. Leakage current of the insulator string treated with the new coating
rate, unable to compensate for the freezing rate. In addition, and aged coating.
because of the larger area of the top surface, more water was
collected on the top surface and more energy was required to
increase the temperature of the water. Otherwise, some of the V. CONCLUSION
water would freeze with an increase in electrical resistance and This paper focuses on investigating the effect of the semi-
a decrease in leakage current. conductive coating applied on suspension insulators on the anti-
icing/icing performance. Considering the aforementioned anal-
ysis, the following conclusions can be drawn.
C. Long-Term Aging Problem Appropriate coating resistance and configuration are neces-
sary conditions for the effective anti-icing, but these are not suf-
Because of the conductive fillers, the aging problem is always ficient conditions. The necessary maximum order of magnitude
the main concern. As for the different principle, the coating was of the coating resistance of the single insulator is below 0.3 M
not ensured by the Inclined Plane Test, but some field trials for the recommended icing conditions of IEEE Standard 1783.
were carried out to investigate the performance of the coating. A But a very low coating resistance is not safe for the insulators
coated string running for one year was taken down for an icing during heavy rain or polluted environment.
test from a 35-kV line. The appearance after the 3 h icing test When applied on short insulator strings, the coating of
(Fig. 14) and the leakage current in Fig. 15 indicated that the the resistance in the above scope also has a positive role in
capacity of anti-icing of the operating insulator was almost the overcoming ice accretion as compared to an uncoated insulator
same with the new coated one. string.
Even so, however, longer time is required to monitor their Configuring the coating on the top surface of the insulator in-
performance, especially during the polluted, heavy rain, and fluences the growth of the icicles. The coating should preferably
icing environment. be applied not only on the bottom side of the insulator, but also
1420
on its top surface. A suitable uncoated area, close to the edge
of the insulator, can make the icicles fall off more easily. How-
ever, the leakage current density will decline for larger shed di-
ameters. By narrowing the uncoated area, leakage current and
then the heating power rate can be enhanced against the freezing
conditions. Therefore, in order to obtain a better anti-icing per-
formance, the design of the semiconductive coating on the in-
sulator should be further optimized subjected to electrical and
icing environments.
There are also positive effects for short insulator strings or
strings with alternative sheds by changing the application of
the semiconductive coating. Compared to the single unit insu-
lator, however, it would be more difficult for each uncoated area
to be covered or connected by water droplets or water film at
the same moment. So anti-icing capacity will decline for coated
long insulator strings. In addition, a remarkable decrease of the
anti-icing capacity was not found after one year's operation, but
more time is required to monitor their performance during the
extreme environments.
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Xiaoxing Wei was born in Guangdong Province,
China, on August 17, 1985. He received the B.S.
degree in electrical engineering from Hunan Uni-
versity, Changsha, China, in 2009 and is currently
pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
He is an exchange student at the Universiti
du Quebec, Chicoutimi, QC, Canada. His major
research fields are outdoor insulation and the ap-
plication of silicone rubber, anti-icing material for
outdoor insulators.
Zhidong Jia (M’06) was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi
Province, China, on October 4, 1966. He received the
B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from
Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China, in 1987 and
2001, respectively.
From 2001 to 2003, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow
at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Currently, he
is a Full Professor at the Graduate School at Shen-
zhen, Tsinghua University, where he has been since
2008. His major research fields are high-voltage in-
sulation, improvement of room temperature vulcan-
ization coatings, preventing ice on outdoor insulation, and discharges along hy-
drophobic surfaces.
Zhenting Sun was born in Jilin Province, China, on
March 18, 1985. He received the B.S. and M.S. de-
grees in electrical engineering from Tsinghua Univer-
sity, Beijing, China, in 2010 and 2012, respectively.
His major research fields are outdoor insulation
and the application of silicone rubber on anti-icing
for outdoor insulators.
WEI et al.: EFFECT OF THE PARAMETERS OF THE SEMICONDUCTIVE COATING ON THE ANTI-ICING PERFORMANCE OF THE INSULATORS
Masoud Farzaneh (M’83–SM’91–F’07) is
Director-Founder of the International Re-
search Center CENGIVRE, Chairholder of the
NSERC/Hydro-Quebec/UQAC Industrial Research
Chair CIGELE, and Chairholder of the Canada
Research Chair INGIVRE related to power trans-
mission engineering in cold climate regions at
the University of Québec at Chicoutimi (UQAC),
Chicoutimi, QC, Canada. He has authored or co-au-
thored about 600 technical papers, and 17 books
or book chapters. To date, he has trained about
130 postgraduate students and postdoctoral fellows. His field of research
encompasses high voltage and power engineering, including the impact of cold
climate on overhead transmission lines.
Prof. Farzaneh is a Fellow of The Institution of Engineering and Technology
(IET) and Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC). His contribu-
tions and achievements in research and teaching have been recognized by sev-
eral prestigious prizes and awards at national and international levels. Actively
involved with IEEE and CIGRÉ, he was President of IEEE DEIS for 2013, and
is a member of the Editorial Board of IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON DIELECTRICS
1421
AND ELECTRICAL INSULATION, Convenor of CIGRE WG B2.44 on coatings for
protection of overhead lines during winter conditions, as well as member of the
Executive Committee of CIGRE Canada.
Zhicheng Guan (M’06) was born in Jilin Province,
China, on November 10, 1944. He received the B.S.,
M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in high voltage engineering
from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Ts-
inghua University, Beijing, China, in 1970, 1981, and
1984, respectively.
Currently, he is Full Professor of the Graduate
School at Shenzhen, Tsinghua University. His
major research fields are high-voltage insulation
and electrical discharges, flashover mechanisms on
contaminated insulators, electromagnetic environ-
mental technologies, as well as the application of plasma and high-voltage
technologies to biological and environmental engineering.