From LDPE to XLPE: investigating the change of electrical properties. Part I. space charge, conduction and lifetime

This paper discusses the results of space charge, conduction current and electrical lifetime measurements performed on widely-used materials for electrical insulation, that is, low density polyethylene (LDPE) and cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). Space charge accumulation profiles were compared in LDPE, low density polyethylene plus antioxidant (LDPE+AO) and XLPE, with consideration of thermal treatment effects in LDPE and XLPE. Significant variation (decrease) of accumulated space charge and apparent mobility, as well as slight decrease of conduction current, can be seen going from LDPE to LDPE+AO and XLPE, which may be associated with formation of deeper trap levels (or an increase of their density). On the contrary, electrical life under AC voltage does not show significant differences from LDPE to XLPE. This latter result underlines that life under high AC electrical stress is mostly determined by defects (weak points) rather than material characteristics associated with charge injection and transport.     

Application of the Kalman filter for electrical endurancecharacterization of insulating materials and systems

The Kalman filter algorithm is applied to the results of accelerated life tests performed on insulating materials and systems carried out for electrical endurance characterization purposes. It consists of a recursive procedure that applies to the failure-time percentiles obtained from life tests, on the basis of the inverse power or the exponential models, and provides estimates of the endurance indices which give particular weight to the results of the life tests performed at the lowest test stresses. This allows more meaningful endurance characterization and accurate life prediction. This paper provides the algorithms for Kalman filter applications, giving emphasis to error estimation, as well as the method for calculation of confidence limits of life-line parameters and predicted failure times. The proposed Kalman filter procedure is applied to the experimental results of accelerated life tests relevant to different insulating materials and systems     

Robust output feedback learning control for induction motor servo drives

This paper addresses the output feedback tracking control problem for induction motor servo drives with mechanical uncertainties: rotor angle, rotor speed and stator currents are assumed to be available for feedback. A robust adaptive learning control is designed under the assumption that the reference profile for the rotor angle is periodic with known period: it ‘learns’ the periodic disturbance signal by identifying the Fourier coefficients of any truncated approximation; ??₂ and ??_∞ transient performances are guaranteed in the ‘learning phase’. It is shown that, for any motor initial condition belonging to an arbitrary given compact set, by properly setting the control parameters: (i) the rotor position and flux modulus tracking errors exponentially converge to residual sets, which may be arbitrarily reduced by increasing the number of terms in the truncated Fourier series; (ii) when the unknown periodic disturbance can be represented by a finite Fourier series, the rotor position and flux modulus tracking errors exponentially converge to zero. As in field oriented‐control, the control algorithm generates references for the magnetizing flux component and for the torque component of the stator current leading to significant simplifications for current‐fed motors. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inference of PD in electrical insulation by charge-heightprobability distribution. Diagnosis of insulation systemdegradation

This paper deals with application of stochastic procedures for the analysis of PDHD (partial discharge height distributions) detected during life of insulation systems. Experiments of accelerated aging under electrical stress were carried out on both an artificial flat cavity and a 23 kV epoxy-resin insulator, where PD are already active at the beginning of aging. A correlation between aging time and PDHD features is observed during long-term voltage application, until breakdown, on both objects. In particular, the PDHD analysis is approached by means of the Weibull function. It is shown that the time evolution of shape and scale parameters can provide diagnostic indications on aging amount, incoming failure and thus on the reliability of insulation systems     

Polymeric HVDC Cable Design and Space Charge Accumulation. Part 1: Insulation/Semicon Interface

From theory and experiments, it can be deduced that materials for DC applications should not accumulate a large amount of space charge if accelerated degradation of the insulation system is to be avoided. Therefore, the characterization of DC insulation must take into account the evaluation of space charge accumulation. This cannot be done exhaustively without taking a system approach considering both the semiconductive material and the insulation, in particular, the properties of the semicon/insulation interface. The latter interface, in fact, plays a major role in space charge injection/accumulation in the insulation bulk. Having analyzed different semiconductive and insulating materials candidate for HVDC cable applications, the best solution to be exploited for HVDC cable design would be the combination showing a high threshold for space charge accumulation, a small rate of charge accumulation as a function of electric field and a small activation energy, i.e., a space charge amount less dependent on temperature. Therefore, space charge measurements will provide important information to cable material manufacturers with the aim of tailoring insulation and semicon specifically for HVDC application and, thus, improving the reliability of polymeric cables.     

Effect of supply voltage frequency on testing of insulation system

This paper deals with the effect of supply frequency on partial discharge phenomena. Results of measurements performed on artificial and practical test objects are compared with computer simulations based on physical models. This comparative analysis points out and explains the differences in partial discharge phenomena observed in tests performed at different frequencies (from 0.1 to 300 Hz). The consequences associated to the use of different supply frequencies in practical applications are, eventually, outlined.     

The electrical degradation threshold of polyethylene investigatedby space charge and conduction current measurements

Measurement of dc charging current and space-charge observations, performed on specimens made by low-density polyethylene (PE) and crosslinked PE, are considered for dc electrical threshold investigation. The threshold is inferred from charging-current measurements through steady-state voltage-current characteristics, as well as from the total trapped charge, obtained by space-charge measurements carried out at 0 V and under short-circuit after poling for a pre-selected time. It is shown that both techniques provide similar information regarding the electrical threshold values, which vary for the two tested materials. Being the threshold associated with mechanisms of charge storage, its evaluation can help in insulation design and material characterization when electric field, especially dc, is a significant stress in service. Other significant information for design purposes comes from the rate of charge accumulation as function of the applied field, which is estimated through the charge-field characteristic derived from space-charge measurements     

Deep trapping centers in crosslinked polyethylene investigated bymolecular modeling and luminescence techniques

Space charge in crosslinked polyethylene (XLPE) has been detected under both ac and dc fields. Its role in electrical aging and breakdown is recognized, but not deeply understood. It is thought that identification of the trapping centers in this material would help improve the modeling of conduction and electrical aging as well as making possible the design of crosslinked materials with improved properties. We have developed theoretical and experimental approaches to this problem which emphasize the role of chemical traps acting as deep trapping centers. Molecular modeling is used to estimate the trap depth for negative and positive charge carriers associated with the main by-products of crosslinking reactions (using dicumyl peroxide as a crosslinking agent) since their aromatic structure makes them candidates for deep traps. Calculations on acetophenone, n-methyl styrene and cumyl alcohol show that they indeed can act as deep traps. Because such deep traps can act as recombination centers, their involvement in charge trapping can be checked in specially designed luminescence experiments. In our experiments, charges of both polarities are generated at the surface of the material under study by using a non-reactive cold plasma in helium. The analysis of the decay kinetics and emission spectrum of the subsequent luminescence allows us to define unambiguously the time range in which charge recombination is the dominant excitation process of the luminescence. The emission spectra obtained within this time range provide the optical fingerprint of chromophores acting as deep traps in the material. The low-density polyethylene (LDPE) doped with crosslinking byproducts and XLPE (film and cable peeling) have been investigated. Their role in charge trapping is apparent in the luminescence experiments and in space charge distribution analysis. In thermally treated XLPE, it is shown that other species strongly bonded to the polymer chain are also able to trap electrical charges