HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING

Electric field stress

INTRODUCTION Gas/vacuum as insulator

Liquid dielectrics
Solid and composites
Estimation and control of electric stress
Numerical methods for Electric Field Computation
Surge Voltages, their distribution and control

Covering
Power Systems – transmission line, substation
 Industries – Electrostatic precipitators, in automobile ignition coil and
X ray equipment
 Research Laboratories - Nuclear Research, High Voltage Lab.
Electric field stress

conductor
E  V
High voltage
material
V : The applied voltage

ax , a y and az are unit vectors

insulator
 : del operator
  
  ax  a y  az
x y z

HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING

Dielectric strength – maximum dielectric stress which the
material can withstand

Breakdown parameters

Pressure Nature of applied voltage

Temperature Imperfections in dielectric
Humidity materials
Field configurations Material of electrodes
Surface condition
Insulation failures
Presence of discharges within voids in insulation or over the surface
Thermal or electrochemical

HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING

 Insulation Materials

The functions of insulation materials are:

1. To insulate between a conductors and other conductor.

2. To withstand mechanics force due to the current flowing in

insulated conductor.

3. Ability to withstand pressure due to thermal and chemical

reaction.
 GAS / VACUUM AS INSULATOR

• Air at atmospheric pressure is the most common gaseous insulation

• The air breakdown (BD) is considerable to the design engineers of

power trans. lines and power apparatus for ex. Bus-bar, conductor ,
Insulator.
• Breakdown occurs in gasses due to the process of collision
ionization

• Gas can be used as one basic insulating material n (for Ex. cables,
condenser, apparatus in S/S)
 Gas Basic Requirements:

 High dielectric strength,

 Thermal stability and chemical inactivity toward materials of construction,

 Non-flammability and environmentally non hazard,

 Low temperature of condensation,

 Good heat transfer, and

 Ready availability at moderate cost

Advantages of Gas insulation

• At high pressure provides a flexible and reliable medium

• The electric strength increases with increase in pressure

• At high pressure can be used field gradients up to 25 MV/m

Examples Gas insulation :

• N2 (Nitrogen) • CCl2F2 (Freon)

• H2 (Hydrogen) • SF6 (Sulphur
• CO2 (Carbon dioxide) hexafluoride)
Breakdown voltage in Gas at different air pressure

The numbers on curves indicate the distance

between electrodes in mm
Variation of BD Voltage
for different gasses
 VACUUM AS INSULATOR

A vacuum is a system in which the pressure is maintained at a

value much below the atmosphere pressure (mm Hg)

Classification of Insulating Vacuum

1 x 10-3 to 1 x 10-6 Torr

1. High vacuum
2. Very high vacuum 1 x 10-6 to 1 x 10-8 Torr

3. Ultra high vacuum 1 x 10-9 Torr and below

(1 mm of Hg = one Torr)
• Vacuum is the best insulator up to 107 V/cm, limited only by emissions

from the electrode surfaces.

• Under high vacuum conditions, where the pressure are below 10-4 torr,

breakdown cannot occur due to collision processes like in gasses, and

hence the BD strength is quite high

• Vacuum insulation is used in Particle Accelerators, X-ray and field

emission tube, Capacitor and Circuit Breaker.

Liquid Insulations

• Used in high voltage equipment (normally 50-60 kV/cm) to

serve the dual purpose i.e insulation and cooling system.
• Temporary failure due to over voltage is reinsulated
quickly by liquid flow to attacked area.
• Highly purified liquids have dielectric strength as high as
1 MV/cm.
• The breakdown strength reduces due to the presence of
impurities.
• The important electrical properties of the liquid include the
dielectric strength, conductivity, flash point, gas content,
viscosity, dielectric constant dissipation factor, stability.
Examples of Liquid Dielectric:

• Askarel/Chlorinated hydrocarbons (in 1970’s)

health hazard
• Mineral oil (Transformer Oil)
• Silicone oil
• Synthetic hydrocarbons
• Fluorinated hydrocarbons
• High Temperature hydrocarbons (HTH)
Solid dielectric and Composite

• Possess good mechanical and bonding strengths

• Using organic and inorganic materials for H V insulation
• Breakdown stress will be as high as 10 MV/cm
• The breakdown usually occurs due to mechanisms
Examples of Solid Dielectric (Insulations)

• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

• Polyethylene (PE)

• Cross linked polyethylene (XLPE)

• Kraft paper,

• Natural rubber,

• Polypropylene rubber etc.

 Dielectric Composite

• more than one types of insulation are used together

mainly in parallel, giving rise to composite insulating system

• Example:

solid/gas insulation (transmission insulators)

solid/vacuum insulation and

solid/liquid composite (transformer winding insulation,

oil impregnated metallized plastic film).

• In the application, it is important to make sure that both

the component of the composite should be chemically stable

 BD comparison of

insulating material various

 Characteristics of insulating material

• Electrical characteristics:
High dielectric strength, Low dielectric losses, High tracking strength,
Suitable dielectric constant

• Mechanic characteristics:
Tensile strength (transmission line), Bending strength (in substation),
Bursting pressure withstand (Circuit Breaker), Elasticity.

• Thermal characteristics:
Ability to withstand high thermal, High thermal conductivity , Low thermal
expansion coefficient, Not easy on fire and withstand to arcing.