Discharge occurring at a grounded electrode located in a charged particle cloud

Electrical discharge phenomena from a grounded electrode located in a charged particle cloud have been investigated. Soil conditioning particles charged by corona charging were blown to form a space charge cloud. A grounded sphere electrode was placed at the center of the charged cloud to produce an electrical discharge. A positive pulse discharge extended from the sphere electrode toward the charged cloud with a strong luminescence. A brushlike streamer with a maximum length of 170 mm appeared at an interval of 30 ms. The maximum pulse height of the discharge was 2.4 A. The distribution of the electric field around the sphere electrode was obtained from field analysis using a concentric spherical model. It was found that the magnitude of the discharge depends on the radius of the grounded electrode and the size and charge density of the clouds. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 136(4): 7–14, 2001     

Early stages of negative PD development in dielectric liquids

The pulse shapes in the early stages of partial discharge (PD) development, well before liquid streamer onset, and obtained with a 500 MHz wide band detection system using needle-to-metallic plane electrodes submerged in a mineral oil, were compared to those measured with needle to mineral oil plane electrodes in air under negative dc potential. All measurements were carried out ≈50% below the breakdown field value, using gap separations between 3 and 25 mm. Whereas the needle to plane discharge behavior in the mineral oil was characterised by discrete sporadic pulses or burst of several pulses of increasing negative amplitude and oscillatory form, the needle to mineral oil plane gap in air gave rise to primarily dense bursts of unidirectional negative pulses with sequentially decreasing amplitude. The pulses had rise times typically of the order of 1 to 2 ns, indicating the involvement of rapid PD mechanisms     

电极结构对介质阻挡放电参数的影响研究

为了优化介质阻挡放电(DBD)反应器设计,提高放电效率,提出一种针阵列芒刺状棒电极结构。利用电压-电荷Lissajous图形法,研究了光滑铜棒、螺纹铜棒和针阵列芒刺状铜棒电极等反应器电极结构对DBD放电参数的影响。实验结果表明,随着外加激励电压的升高,5种电极结构的放电功率P和平均放电电流Im及周期传输电荷量Q都随之增大。相同激励电压下,针阵列芒刺状棒电极的P、Im、Q值最大。针阵列芒刺状铜棒电极的气隙等效电容Cg随电压的升高呈震荡形式增加,而光滑电极和螺纹电极的Cg随电压的升高呈减小的趋势。研究结果表明,针阵列芒刺状铜棒电极更有利于挥发性有机物的去除,针间距越小,能量利用率越高。     

Positive streamer propagation in large oil gaps: electricalproperties of streamers

This paper presents experimental data and calculations concerning the electrical properties of positive streamers in mineral oil at large gaps and HV. The experiments concern the measurement of charge, electric field, and the determination of the potential drop along streamers, either in the liquid alone, or for streamers guided within insulating tubes. Calculations of charge and field distribution around streamers are carried out by charge simulation. To do this, streamers are represented by objects with simple shapes (spheres or cylinders) equivalent to their macroscopic aspect. These models lead to a correct agreement with measured streamer charge and field on the plane electrode. Qualitative correlations are established between calculated field distributions and streamer behavior such as velocity, transitions between propagation modes. It is also concluded that the potential drop in streamers and branching both act as regulating mechanisms that help to keep the streamer tip field, and hence the velocity, constant over a wide voltage range     

Positive Streamer Propagation and Breakdown in Air: the Influence of Humidity

The influence of humidity on streamer propagation at conditions from the threshold for propagation to those for streamer-induced breakdown was investigated in a uniform field in air at atmospheric pressure. Experiments were carried out in a three electrode arrangement consisting of a 12 cm long parallel-plane gap, with an auxiliary needle in the earthed anode. Positive streamers were initiated by applying at the needle electrode a pulse voltage which varied in amplitude. These propagated towards the upper plane electrode which was stressed by a negative dc voltage. Under natural atmospheric conditions, propagation and breakdown probability curves were obtained for several values of absolute humidity in the range between 5 and 22 g/m³. Thus, distributions of the electric field required for streamer propagation and breakdown were obtained and the associated velocity of propagation and time to breakdown were measured. Besides humidity, the amplitude of the voltage used for streamer initiation and the ambient electric field were considered as influencing parameters on streamer properties. Empirical equations are presented expressing the effects of the above parameters on the intrinsic streamer properties. A comparison with previous work in the literature is made and this leads to the conclusion that the influence of humidity on streamer propagation and breakdown can be placed in a sounder quantitative basis.     

Streamer initiation in mineral oil. Part II: influence of ametallic protrusion on a flat electrode

For pt. I see ibid., vol. 9, no. 1, p. 84-91 (2002). Presents a study of streamer inception in transformer oil, in a "semiuniform" geometry under impulse voltage. This geometry consists of parallel plane electrodes, with a thin triggering point of calibrated size emerging at the center of one plane. By reducing the length of the point, it is possible to move progressively from a point-plane geometry, up to a quasi-uniform geometry. Compared to a point-plane gap, the initiation of streamers is impeded due to the presence of a metallic plane behind the triggering point, that reduces the tip field. Field calculations allow to extrapolate the results obtained to the case of microscopic surface protrusions and particles. It is possible to predict the streamer initiation voltage, and hence the breakdown voltage under uniform field, from the shape of the protrusion and from streamer initiation fields measured in point-plane geometry     

Switching characteristics of a triggered vacuum gap employing a trigger electrode in the respective main electrodes

Both switching time and minimum firing voltage of a triggered vacuum gap employing a trigger electrode in the cathode and anode (double triggered vacuum gap) were measured. The double triggered vacuum gap was operated below 100 V independent of the high voltage main electrode polarity (positive or negative). This minimum firing voltage was lower than that of the conventional triggered vacuum gap. The switching time is approximately 0.5 μs in the range 3 to 18 kV. The conventional triggered vacuum gap has a trigger electrode that is placed at the center of the grounded main electrode. The polarity of the main electrode affected switching time characteristics. A trigger electrode was added to the high voltage main electrode. The double triggered vacuum gap was only slightly influenced by the polarity of the high voltage main electrode when both main electrodes were triggered at the same time.     

The influence of surface charge on lightning impulse breakdown ofspacers in SF6

We have investigated the influence of surface charges on the discharge development across particle contaminated spacer surfaces under SF₆ for lightning impulse (LI) voltages (1.2/50 μs). Surface charges may be generated by dc, ac or lightning impulse stress. The discharge characteristic shows a strong reduction of the insulation strength if the applied voltage and the surface charge have opposite polarities. The investigations were performed with a needle protrusion attached to the bottom electrode to give severe field distortion. The bottom electrode was biased positively. The influence on the discharge process is observed by measuring the surface charge distribution and predischarge currents. The results reveal changes in streamer onset voltage, streamer to leader transition, and leader development     

Effect of Moving Speed of Charged Metallic Spherical Electrode on Electrostatic Discharge

In this investigation, the nature of the electrostatic discharge (ESD) that occurs when a charged object moves toward a stationary grounded object is experimentally clarified. The spark lengths, discharge currents, and induced voltages in a magnetic probe were measured when a charged metallic spherical electrode connected to a 422 pF capacitor approached a stationary grounded object, which was the current target, for different moving speeds of the charged metallic spherical electrode in a range of 1 mm/s to 100 mm/s. The charge voltages of the capacitor were +6.5 kV and +10 kV. Based on the results, the average gap length shortened with the speed of the spherical electrode. The average peak values of the discharge current and the induced voltage were likely to increase with the speed of the spherical electrode. The average rise times of the discharge current and the induced voltage were likely to drop with the speed of the spherical electrode. The relation between the spark length and the discharge current due to the ESD can be explained qualitatively by using an equation derived from the spark resistance formula proposed by Rompe and Weizel.     

Nanosecond, electrical triggering of water switches

Spark gaps, which use water as a switching medium, allow fast closing and high repetition rate operation for high power and high voltage switching. They are usually operated in the pulse-charging mode and have a large jitter. To reduce the jitter, a trigger electrode with positive polarity is used to initiate breakdown between a negative high voltage electrode and a ground electrode. The trigger electrode consists of a tungsten wire with a diameter of 50 μm, enclosed in glass tubing. At the triple point where the three dielectrics (glass, water and metal) meet, the electric field is greatly enhanced. From the triple point, a trigger voltage of +16 kV at a pulse duration of 100 ns produces two streamer branches traveling towards the high voltage and ground electrodes. These two streamer branches bridge the main gap and serve as preionized channels for the initiation of the breakdown between the main electrodes. Arc transition develops along the two channels and completes the switching. It allows for the gap to be fired at various voltages independent of the gap?s self-breakdown voltage. The delay between application of the trigger pulse and the electrical breakdown is on the order of hundred nanoseconds. The jitter in breakdown is on the order of ten nanoseconds. It is less by more than an order of magnitude than that obtained with pulse charging.     

Influence of humidity on current waveform and light emission of alow-frequency discharge controlled by a dielectric barrier

The aim of this work is to determine the effect of humidity on a silent discharge in air. A point to plane configuration has been used. Current and emission spectra of the discharge have been recorded in dry and humid air for short and long inter-electrode gaps and with the plane electrode coated by a silicone rubber plate alone or under a polypropylene film. Results show the typical corona discharge regimes. For a long gap, humidity decreases the number of breakdown streamer pulses. For a short gap, the behavior observed depends on the surface conduction of the dielectric in contact with the discharge. These results show that the presence of humidity in the discharge cell not only modifies the gas but also the surface states of the dielectrics coating the electrodes. The surface charge decay appears as a major parameter, since it is related to the local field value which results from the applied field and the reverse field induced by charge accumulation during previous discharges     

Parallel streamer discharges between wire and plane electrodes in water

Streamer discharges in tap water and distilled water have been generated by applying a voltage pulse from 120 to 175 kV and 500 ns duration to a wire-to-electrode configuration. Electrical and optical diagnostics were used to explore the temporal development of the streamers in tap and distilled water, at various applied voltages and both polarities. With the wire serving as anode, multiple, parallel streamer discharges were generated. The number density of these streamers along the wire decreases with decreasing electric field on the surface of the wire. The dependence of the streamer density on electric field indicates the role of field enhancement at inhomogeneous microstructures along the wire as streamer initiation mechanism. The appearance of the discharge was different for tap and distilled water. However, the measured average streamer propagation velocity from the positive wire to the grounded plane electrode, of 32 mm//spl mu/s, was independent of the water conductivity and the applied voltage. This suggests the existence of a self-sustained electric field at the streamer head. With the wire serving as cathode, only a weak light emission from the area close to the wire was observed, and streamers did not appear for the same voltage amplitude as with the positive polarity. This suggests that an ionic current flowing in the water is not dominant in the streamer propagation process.     

Positive corona in air using a point/cup electrode system

The authors have previously published some measurements of negative corona currents in air using a spherically-symmetric point/cup electrode system, and also the related simulations. In this paper the corresponding current/voltage measurements and simulations for positive-point corona, again using the highly symmetric electrode system, are described. Although the corona onset voltages are again predicted with reasonable accuracy for different point radii and air pressures, the currents are very much lower, presumably due to the effect of positive space charge accumulating close to the point electrode (since the simulations assume the absence of space charges). In agreement with this assumption, the streamer pulses are only seen at or just above the onset voltage. Only avalanches occur from about 1 kV above the onset voltage.     

Gas Heating and Formation of Single Linear Discharge Channel on Repetitive Branched Streamer Corona

Under a nonuniform field in an atmospheric short gap, a branched pulse streamer corona changes to a single filamentary discharge (SFD) for a split second just before sparkover occurs. This SFD is a pretransitional phenomenon of sparkover. Therefore, it is very important to study SFD for an understanding of the sparkover mechanism. In this work, the SFD was recreated well by applying a highly repetitive impulse voltage to a needle‐plane gap in synthetic air with dilute CO₂. The characteristics of the SFD, including the channel temperature, the propagation of the streamer head, and the formation process, were investigated by means of an intensified charge coupled‐device (ICCD) camera and a spectroscopic measurement system. It was found that the transition to SFD progresses with localized gas heating along the discharge channel. Furthermore, it was revealed that the SFD is a nonbranched positive streamer.     

Surface treatment of plastic material by pulse corona inducedplasma chemical process-PPCP

A novel plasma chemical process PPCP (pulse corona induced plasma chemical process) can produce copious active radicals in air under NTP (normal temperature and pressure) by using an extremely fast rising narrow high voltage pulse between corona electrodes and grounded counter electrodes so that intense streamer coronas are generated. This provides an effective means of surface treatment to a plastic material placed between the two electrodes through generation of free bonds on the surface directed to the corona electrodes. Special features of this method are that it can cope with a complex shape of the material to be treated, and that it does not spark even at the periphery near the grounded counter electrode. This method is suitable for the surface treatment of polypropylene bumpers so as to provide a strong adhesion of color paint to it. The adhesion strength of a paint film is raised from zero to ca. 1000 g/cm² by PPCP treatment for 60 seconds     

Creepage discharge characteristics over solid-liquid interfaceswith grounded side electrode

The properties of streamers traveling over the surface of oil-immersed solid dielectrics were experimentally studied under lightning impulse conditions. Streamer polarity and the position of a grounded side electrode significantly affected the relationship between the streamer extension length and the applied voltage. Solid surface charging also had a large effect on the streamer propagation. However, the streamer propagation properties showed a consistent dependence on the potential at the solid-liquid interfaces. In addition, the potential drop inside the streamer channel was measured as a function of normalized streamer length. The curve revealed that the potential drop increased drastically within the region of ~20% from the streamer tip. The streamer appeared to progress with a constant mean velocity     

空气中电晕放电与绝缘液体中流注放电的测量和分析(英文)

Insulation is one of the most important parts in a high voltage equipment.There are gaseous,liquid and solid insulations which are commonly used.In a high voltage transformer for example the insulating materials are all used.During operation of a high voltage equipment high electric stress may occur.Under extreme condition failure of the insulation may take place.Excessive electric field in air may cause corona discharges while in liquid insulation discharges may take place in the form of streamer.This paper reports experimental results on the corona and streamer discharges in air and silicone oil.The discharges were artificially generated around a needle tip in a needle-plane electrode system with gap length of 4 mm under sinusoidal and triangular voltages.The needle was made of steel with tip radius of 3 μm and curvature angle of 30°.The needle was made by Ogura Jewelry.The discharge pulses were measured using personal-computer based partial discharge(PD)measurement system with sensitivity of better than 0.5 pC.The system is able to measure discharge in time sequential.Phase-resolved analysis of the discharges was done to interpret the physical processes behind the discharges.The experimental results showed that corona discharges took place at negative half cycles.The discharges were concentrated around 270° of phase angle of applied voltage.The discharge magnitude and discharge number of corona clearly dependent on the instantaneous of applied voltage.These were strongly supported by the application of triangular voltage.Streamer discharges occurred at both positive and negative half cycles.The discharges pulses concentrated around the peak of applied voltage at phase angle of 90° and 270°.Experimental results under sinusoidal and triangular voltages revealed that streamer discharge magnitude as well as probability of occurrence was strongly dependent on the instantaneous applied voltage.     

Positive streamer discharges along insulating surfaces

By measuring the currents associated with the streamer discharge along silicone rubber surfaces, parameters of streamer propagation such as the minimum field of streamer crossing, the field of stable streamer propagation, the mean velocity and the streamer charge distribution have been analyzed and compared to the streamer discharge in air alone. Clear differences were observed in the measured currents for the individual surfaces at low background fields (285 kV/m). For higher fields the streamer crosses the gap almost independently of the surface type. The minimum streamer field was found to be slightly increased compared to air. The field of stable streamer propagation also was higher than in air. It is ~ 570 kV/m, larger than that of the streamer discharge in air (~ 500), under the same conditions. The streamer speed was found slightly increased in the presence of the silicone rubber surface and the distinction between the individual surfaces was modest. A discussion on possible mechanisms for the observed differences in the streamer speed and currents with and without the insulator surfaces is presented. The net positive charge of the streamer along an insulating surface seems to be distributed along the streamer channel rather than localized in the front part of the channel as the case for the streamer in air     

Theoretical and experimental studies for spherical free-conducting particle behavior between nonparallel plane electrodes with AC voltages in air

This paper deals with free-conducting particle motion and particle-triggered breakdown in AC electric fields between nonparallel plane electrodes in atmospheric air. Spherical particle motion was investigated theoretically and experimentally under AC voltages with various frequencies, considering the effect of the electrical gradient force and the dependence of the Coulomb force magnitude on the distance between a particle and an electrode. The result shows that when the Coulomb force acting on a bouncing particle changes its direction periodically under AC voltage whose frequency is around commercial power frequency, the electrical gradient force can become effective in initiating particle motion toward decreasing electrode gap regions, causing the particle to trigger breakdown. Moreover, it was found that the direction in which a particle advances horizontally is greatly influenced by microdischarge occurrence when the particle bounces very near to the grounded electrode under high-frequency AC voltage, and that when a particle bounces on an electrode, particle-triggered breakdown voltage is decreased by the effect of microdischarge.     

Characteristics of creeping discharge developed in a narrow gap between insulators and effect of a backside electrode

Discharge characteristics have been investigated for a needle–plane electrode configuration containing insulating barriers with a narrow gap which has been placed between the needle and the plane. The characteristics of creeping discharge developed in the narrow gap of the barrier filled with SF₆ are especially considered. In the case of a configuration with a backside electrode below the needle, the corona generated from the needle easily extended to the gap. On the other hand, for a configuration without a backside electrode, the corona has hardly extended to the gap, and on increasing the applied voltage the corona developed greatly in the gap. This difference in corona extension should affect the flashover characteristics in the present system. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 146(2): 27–36, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10248