ИСТИНА

The reliability of the power transmission lines and electric equipment including the electric insulators, circuit breakers, etc. is of great importance for a safe operation of power systems. The atmospheric icing, typical for the northlands, weakens the insulation performance of insulators and causes flashover and blackout. Superhydrophobic treatment of the surface is considered as a potentially effective antiicing method for insulators due to a number of different mechanisms [1], including weak adhesion strength of ice and water to superhydrophobic surfaces, increased freezing delay time for sessile water droplets deposited on such surfaces and lubrication layers of unfrozen water films between ice and superhydrophobic surface. In this presentation we will describe the new method to design the superhydrophobic state for the surface of silicon rubber isolator. We will present the experimental data on the influence of wettability of silicon rubber on the statistics of freezing for the ensemble of sessile water droplets. It will be shown that the mechanical stability of surface texture to mechanical stresses arising upon contact with aqueous phase and upon droplet freezing plays the key role in the anti-icing properties of superhydrophobic silicon isolators. We will demonstrate that the fabrication of superhydrophobic coatings with accounting for the peculiarities of anti-icing action of the superhydrophobic surfaces allows reaching the freezing delay time of order of several days at T = -15 ◦C.