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Bubbles, as typical defects of oil–paper insulation systems, pose a great threat to the insulation state. In this article, the characteristics and mechanisms of the partial discharge (PD) inception, evolution, and induced breakdown of bubbles embedded between oil-impregnated paper (OIP) layers are investigated. The results show that the PD inception has a significant statistical time delay due to the lack of free electrons. The PD inception time delay (PDTD) follows an exponential distribution and leads to the large dispersion of the PD inception voltage (PDIV), which follows a Weibull distribution. The changes in PD behavior [charge, repetition rate, pulse current waveform, and phase-resolved PD (PRPD)] over time all show two separable stages (stages 1 and 2). The continuous recording of bubble area and gas composition under PD reveals that the evolution of bubble PD is attributed to the change in gas composition rather than the change in surface conditions as believed by researchers. The OIP breakdown induced by bubble PD indicates two breakdown modes, fast and slow, which correspond to direct-induced breakdown in stage 1 and cumulative-damage breakdown in stage 2. The former occurs because of the severe distortion of the electric field by the space charge at the head of the discharge channel inside the bubble, whereas the latter occurs because of the gradual deterioration of the OIP due to the continuous PD action. This study increases our understanding of the mechanisms of bubble discharge and of oil–paper insulation deterioration, and it provides guidance for fault diagnoses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of free conductive particles in gas-insulated transmission lines (GIL) is the most significant threat to their insulation. The non-invasive identification of free conductive particle defects in GILs is extremely challenging. Existing identification methods which use the acoustic amplitude-flight time (AAFT) pattern are not often adopted on site due to their faulty theory, non-robust extraction algorithm, and generally inaccurate calibration. In this study, the theory established by L. E. Lundgaard is expanded by deriving estimation equations related to the particle's moving state. A new method for extracting the state information from the raw data of acoustic signals is established and the robustness of the acoustic identification method is enhanced. A convenient calibration method is also developed by building a standard collision signal generator. The proposed methods are validated in a scale GIL model and a real GIL model. The results of this study may represent a workable reference for GIL condition monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discharge characteristics of SF6 dependent on gas pressure under extremely inhomogeneous electric fields are strongly nonlinear and must be carefully considered when optimizing gas-insulated equipment insulation design and defect detection. The main aim of this study was to determine the relationship between nonlinear breakdown characteristics and the pre-breakdown discharge mode transition. The breakdown model established by Niemeyer, as adapted under impulse voltage, was expanded. The images and the phase-resolved patterns of the pre-breakdown discharge as a function of gas pressure and applied voltage were analyzed to observe the relationship between them as per the spatial distribution of the spark paths. A universal model of the nonlinear breakdown phenomenon under steady-state voltage was established accordingly. Experimental results demonstrate the existence of a positive glow corona (PGC) discharge in the interval with the discontinuous breakdown voltage as well as significant interactions between the PGC discharge and leader discharge. The nonlinear characteristics can be attributed to the inception and quenching of the PGC discharge. The shielding effect induced by the PGC discharge is the neglected culprit of the strong nonlinear discharge characteristics under steady-state voltage. The nonmonotonic U–p curve in electronegative gases was also assessed in an effort to build a theoretical basis for the manufacture and condition monitoring of the gas-insulated equipment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corona discharge under super low frequency (30–300 Hz) voltage is common in high-voltage transmission lines and equipment. The phase resolved partial discharge (PRPD) pattern is the most commonly used tool for power equipment condition-monitoring in the electrical engineering field. The present study centers on the correspondence between PRPD patterns and corona discharge modes under a wide range of applied voltage. Electric and optical emission characteristic measurement methods are applied to obtain PRPD patterns and phase resolved discharge images. The transition of corona discharge types and space charge behavior under different applied voltage are investigated. The electric field generated by negative needle electrode is shown to erase residual positive ions, which leads to an abundance of positive streamer bursts when applied voltage is low. Once the negative glow corona emerges under higher applied voltage, dense positive ions in the cathode sheath suppress the positive streamer bursts. The existence of residual positive ions is crucial for the transition from positive streamer discharge to glow corona discharge. A comprehensive understanding of PRPD patterns may help electrical engineers to assess the threat of partial discharge of the power equipment correctly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, SF6/N2 binary mixtures have been used as insulation in second generation gas-insulated metal-enclosed transmission lines mainly because of the greenhouse effect and diseconomy of SF6. Though the synergistic effect of SF6 is known in a uniform electric field, there is little understanding of the synergistic effect phenomenon with parameters in a non-uniform electric field under standard lightning impulse. A series of experiments were designed to increase our knowledge of this and the breakdown characteristics of SF6/N2 under multiple parameters show a negative synergistic effect. Our experimental results with negative lightning impulse demonstrated that the breakdown voltage of N2 increased greater than with both SF6 and its mixtures with increasing gas pressure. When the gas pressure exceeded 0.3MPa, the breakdown voltage of pure N2 was higher than SF6/N2 gas mixtures and even exceeded the value of SF6 at 0.5MPa. A normalization coefficient h was introduced in this research to evaluate the negative synergistic effect. Under negative lightning impulse the analytical results show that the negative synergistic effect increased with the augment of gas pressure. On the other hand, the synergistic effect was reduced with decreasing gas pressure under positive polarity impulse and it appeared to be a negative synergistic effect with the enhancement of field non-uniformity. The analysis of streamer discharge propagation indicates three reasons lead to the negative synergistic effect: similar streamer corona onset voltage, different space charge effect, and dissimilar discharge form of N2 and SF6/N2 gas mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contamination of free conducting particles is a major threat to gas insulated systems. In HVDC GIL, free conducting particles can be even more harmful due to the fact that particles can easily cross the gas gap under DC voltage and distort the electric field. In HVDC systems, impulse overvoltage can be generated and superimposed on the DC operating voltage. As a result, GIL will experience superimposed DC and impulse voltage. In this paper, the behavior of free conducting particles in HVDC GIL is observed and breakdown characteristics of particle contaminated GIL under superimposed DC and impulse voltages are studied. Two motion patterns of free conducting particles in HVDC GIL are mainly found: bouncing and firefly motions. Particles tend to firefly motion near the enclosure under positive DC voltage and near the high voltage bus bar under negative DC voltage. With increased DC voltage amplitude, the probability of firefly motion increases while the probability of bouncing motion decreases. It is found that the insulation strength of GIL is greatly reduced by free conducting particles under superimposed DC and impulse voltages. With increasing particle length, the breakdown voltage of GIL under superimposed voltage decreases sharply. Breakdown voltage decreases slightly with the increase of particle radius. Breakdown voltage of GIL is lower under superimposed voltage of negative DC and positive impulse than under negative DC and negative impulse with the same size of particle. The results indicate that superimposition of DC operating voltage and impulse overvoltage can be a critical condition for HVDC GIL if free conducting particles exist. Therefore, a superimposed DC and impulse voltage on-site test can be considered for HVDC GIL to check for insulation performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even for gas-insulated metal-enclosed switchgear (GIS) equipment that has passed an on-site dielectric test, some dielectric failure can occasionally occur without warning. It is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of on-site dielectric tests of GIS equipment. In this study, two standard test procedures, power-frequency partial discharge (PD) and lighting impulse (LI) withstand test, were carried out in a real model test platform of 550 kV GIS to evaluate the effectiveness of on-site dielectric tests. Through experiments, the minimum detectable defect sizes were determined for different curvature radius values. The results show the limitation of the power-frequency PD test and the need to use of the LI withstand test as supplementary assessment on site. Two calculable constraints of defect detectability were proposed to extend the results to GIS equipment at other voltage levels. The results clarify the cause of dielectric failure without any warning and provide technological guidance for manufacturing and installation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SF6 is widely used in the gas-insulated metal-enclosed switchgear or the corona-stabilized gas spark switch applications as a gas dielectric. It is generally believed that the discharge characteristics are only related to the electric field distribution and gas molecular density; however, the electrode chemical reactions can indeed markedly affect the SF6 discharge characteristics in the extremely inhomogeneous electric fields under the steady-state voltage. In this study, we used a needle-plane electrode system to build an extremely inhomogeneous electric field and examined the discharge characteristics within it including U-p characteristics, corona appearance, and corona current. We also analyzed the micro-region characteristics of the electrode surface, including the surface morphology, elemental composition, and chemical state to fully qualitatively determine the role of the electrode chemical reactions in discharge behavior. We found that the N-shaped U-p curve widens, the filamentous leader channels disappear, and the corona current drops suddenly as the duration of the electrode chemical reactions increases. Varying the surface morphology, elemental composition, and chemical state was observed on the electrodes of different polarities through micro-region analysis. The metal fluoride or metal sulfide film on the electrode surface may serve as a resistive coating due to its low electrical conductivity, which obstructs the leader discharge while enhancing the streamer discharge, suppressing the transition from the streamer to leader discharge and altogether significantly altering the discharge characteristics. The resistive coating produced is the primary cause of the electrode chemical reaction effects on the discharge characteristics, primarily as it depresses the transition from the streamer to leader discharge. The results presented here may provide useful guidelines for further research on SF6 discharge under inhomogeneous electric fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The standard lightning impulse (LI), defined as a smooth full lightning impulse voltage having a front time of 1.2 ?s and a time to half-value of 50 ?s, obtained from field observation, has remained unchanged from IEC Ed. 1 in 1962 through to Ed. 3 in 2010. LI test plays an important role in the equipment design and insulation defects detection. In order to evaluate the reasonability of the standard LI waveform from the point of insulation characteristics, breakdown characteristics of GIS under LI with different wavefront times Tt and wavetail times Tt were studied. Those experimental results show that the LI waveform parameters have little influence on the breakdown characteristics of a sound GIS equipment, but have great influence on the GIS equipment with defects. For a highly inhomogeneous electric field, with the wavefront time increasing, the 50% breakdown voltages U50% have remarkable change and the U50%?Tt curve tends to be U-shaped. The 50% breakdown voltages decrease significantly with the increase of impulse wavetail time, especially when wavetail time is in the range of 1.5 to 15 ?s, but the difference of the values decreases after 15 ?s. Ignoring the generating possibility in the field for the large series inductance and load capacitance, a LI with wavefront time in the range of 0.2 to 0.7 ?s is proposed in the field for it may increase the probability of detecting insulation defects. Finally, the polarity reversion phenomenon and critical radius phenomenon, observed from the breakdown characteristics, can be explained by the migration and diffusion of space charges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the application of SF6/N2 in power equipment such as GIS and GIL, the breakdown characteristics of SF6/N2 in varying electric field non-uniformity under standard lightning impulse were studied in this paper based on a lightning impulse experimental platform. The research indicates that the reversal of polarity effect appears in SF6/N2 gas mixtures. That is, when the pressure is relatively low, the 50% breakdown voltage under positive polarity is lower than which under negative polarity. When gas pressure reaches the critical pressure, the situation would be opposite. The augment of SF6 mixing ratio or decrease of electric field non-uniformity would both result in the decline of the critical pressure. Meanwhile the change of polarity effect with SF6/N2 is later than that with pure gas with the increase of electric field non-uniformity. In addition, the phenomenon of critical radius of SF6/N2 gas mixtures was found. The critical radius reduces with the increase of gas pressure and is smaller under positive lightning impulse than negative. And the phenomenon of critical radius with pure gas is more obvious than that with gas mixtures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The failure of polymeric solid insulation under transient voltages is closely associated with space charge. In this study, DC and AC field dependent conduction characteristics of epoxy resin were investigated using the space charge limited current and high voltage broadband dielectric spectrum methods. The breakdown voltages (BDVs) were examined over a wide range of DC voltage ramp rates. The results reveal a threshold effect of AC conduction loss below 600 Hz with respect to the electric field. By analyzing charge migration laws, a mobility distribution was deduced, with an upper limit of 10 − 9 m 2 V − 1 s − 1 , which is much higher than the measured DC mobility of 10 − 14 m 2 V − 1 s − 1 . A multi-mobility bipolar charge transport model was proposed by introducing the obtained mobility distribution. Compared to the single-mobility model, high-mobility carriers induce larger unblocked space charge currents for high dv/dt voltages, leading to lower values of BDV, which is consistent with experiment results. As the voltage ramp rate decreases, both simulation and experiment demonstrate higher BDVs due to the field shielding effect of homocharges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free particles formed in the discharge process or equipment aging severely threaten the operation security of GIS, which draws great attention of researchers. However, seldom research focuses on disc-type particle, which is the majority of shaped particles in practical GIS. In this paper, an elliptic coordination system is built for obtaining the theoretical lift-off electric field of disc-type particles, and experimental system and observation system are established for studying motion behavior and discharge characteristics of metal particles. Results show that for spherical particles, while the distance between two particles d<9rs, the downward force caused by impurities on electrodes can be neglected; for wire-type particles, as lengths of particles increase, lift-off electric fields and probabilities of Firefly tend to be larger. Besides, lift-off electric fields grow exponentially with the increases of radius. When length of particle exceeds 3 mm, the gap between practical values and theoretical values becomes larger with the decrease of radiuses; for disc-type particles, with the increase of radiuses, dispersions of lift-off electric field becomes larger; the difference between practical and theoretical values broadens with the fall of radiuses. Besides, lift-off electric fields of disc-type particles are higher than that of wire-type particles with same qualities and with the increase of radius, probabilities of Firefly increase in an unapparent speed in comparison to wire-type particles; in the end, discharge processes in SF6 gap are illustrated. When particles are close to the bottom electrode, the lower end of particles will breakdown first. Then the top end of particles will form streamer discharge. With the continuous development of streamer, the gap will eventually breakdown. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discharges in liquid obey time effect, pressure effect and scale effect. Traditional formulas are usually applied in a narrow range to keep the formula form consistent with Martin?s formula. In this paper, we have developed a new empirical formula for the electric strength of transformer oil depending on pulse duration, hydrostatic pressure and gap geometry in form Εbr = κe at-beff Ρ/,sub>spl gamma/ A>sub>-Β d-ϵ to be applied in a wider range. In this formula, the time dependent pressure effect is represented by constant γ, which can be expressed as γ=ape -bpt-c>peff . Time effect, area effect and distance effect are represented by e at-beff, Β and ϵ, respectively. For transformer oil, κ=0.42, a=0.53, b=0.23, ap=0.14, bp=0.93, cp=0.41, Β=0.1 and ?=0.25?0.06, with Ebr, teff, P, A and d in MV/cm, μs, MPa, cm2 and cm, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Follow Phenomenon, defined as a series of continuous breakdowns or withstands without sufficient time lag of successive applied voltages, is observed during the research of SF6 discharge characteristics under lightning impulse. Follow Phenomenon of SF6 gas plays a decisive role for the insulation recovery time between continuous discharges, but little relevant research has been reported before. In this work, Follow Phenomenon as a function of gas pressure, time lag of applied voltages in quasiuniform and non-uniform field, under positive and negative lightning impulse is studied. It is found that, when the time lag t=1 min, Follow Phenomenon is more obvious under positive lightning than that under negative lightning, and it becomes more pronounced under larger pressure; as time lag t increases, the increasing speed of Follow Phenomenon with pressure becomes lower. When time lag t=5 min, the measure uncertainty influenced by Following Phenomenon could be avoided when P⩽0.2 MPa in quasi-uniform field and P⩽0.3 MPa in non-uniform field. As pressure rises, a longer time lag is needed to eliminate the influence of Follow Phenomenon. At the end, analysis is made which shows that Follow Phenomenon is caused by the detachment of negative ion formed at previous discharge processes and by ?the Sweeping effect? of effective initial electrons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new method was introduced to evaluate and analyze synergistic effect including negative synergistic effect of SF₆/N₂ gas mixtures breakdown voltage. This method provides an intuitional comparison among different degree of synergistic effect through a simple equation of the normalization coefficient h. The disadvantages of traditional method, which fails to evaluate negative synergistic effect and would be inaccurate when breakdown voltages of the two gas compositions are close, are overcome via the method. In this paper, a typical example of the above is shown to analyze synergistic effect and abnormal negative synergistic effect of SF₆/N₂ gas mixtures in non-uniform electric field under lightning impulse. Meanwhile the validity of the normalization coefficient h with the synergistic effect of SF₆/N₂ gas mixtures under various voltage conditions and electrodes in references was verified. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Previous studies indicate that cellulose bridges in oil-pressboard insulation are self-generating, and can influence the characteristics of partial discharges (PDs) under DC voltage. In this letter, further experiments based on an optical-electric experimental platform were conducted to determine the generating sequence between cellulose bridges and PDs, and to provide visual evidence of bridges' effects on PD process. The results show that the generation of cellulose bridges can be divided into three stages, which can be finished at a DC voltage lower than PD inception voltage (Updiv). With the increase of the applied DC voltage, the generating time of the first bridge decreases. In addition, by using shadow photographic method, a bridge-triggered discharge in oil was observed. Further analysis indicates that cellulose bridges generate gaseous paths to discharges in oil due to its high conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the breakdown properties of three C 4 F 7 N binary gas mixtures under lightning impulse and the reduction of dielectric strength in the presence of insulation defects. The 50% breakdown voltage (U 50%) of three C 4 F 7 N binary gas mixtures in a quasi-uniform electric field is observed to determine the basic dielectric strength, which has the ranking C 4 F 7 N/Air ≈ C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 > C 4 F 7 N/N 2. A coefficient S E is introduced to quantitatively describe the sensitivity of dielectric strength to electric field inhomogeneity. The S E of different gas medium can be ranked as SF 6 < C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 < C 4 F 7 N/Air < C 4 F 7 N/N 2 , indicating that C 4 F 7 N mixed with nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or dry air is less capable of tolerating insulation defects than SF 6 , which merits consideration in insulation designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To study corona discharge in air, it is important to measure the electric field in the discharge space, which is directly related to the corona discharge process. In this paper, we present a method for measuring the electric field with electro-optical modulation. This method uses space laser modulation based on Bi4Ge3O12 (BGO) crystals, and we suggest using the dual optical path difference method to improve the measurement performance. The measurement error is analyzed from theory, including the measurement error of a highly inhomogeneous electric field and the error due to theoretical approximation. In system calibration, the system noise and the dual optical path difference method were analyzed. The dynamic linear range is determined, and measurement effectiveness in the severely nonuniform electric field is verified by comparison with a finite element numerical simulation. We measured the electric field in Trichel pulses under negative dc voltage and found electric field pulses. These measurement results show that the characteristics of Trichel pulses are directly related to the electric field. Therefore, this method can provide strong support for the study of corona discharges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nanosecond single-pulse voltage was employed here to generate a large-volume discharge between the wire-plane electrodes in nitrogen. In order to find out the effect of pulse polarity on the propagation of a large-volume discharge, both the positive and negative pulses were applied to the wire-plane electrodes, respectively. Images presented here reveal that the discharge channels are more homogeneous under the negative pulse, and the propagation speed of the discharge channels is faster under the positive pulse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) might withstand ac/lightning impulse (LI) superimposed voltage caused by lightning intrusion or switching operation during operation. When there are insulation defects, the breakdown probability is greatly increased, which threatens the safety of GIS and needs to be further studied. In this study, the discharge characteristics of two typical insulation defects, including a metallic protrusion on bus bar and foreign matter attached to insulator, under ac/LI superimposed voltage were studied, and the influence of superimposed phase, polarity, and ratio was investigated. It was found that, under a quasi-uniform electric field, the superimposed breakdown voltage (${U}_{s}$) was the same as the LI breakdown voltage (${U}_{\text {LI}}$). However, when there were insulation defects, ${U}_{s}$ was significantly affected by the superimposed phase and polarity. For the metallic protrusion, the most critical condition was an −LI superimposed at $\varphi =90$ , with ${U}_{s}$ decreasing by 11% relative to ${U}_{\text {LI}}$. For the metallic particle attached to insulator, when an +LI was superimposed at $\varphi = 0^{\circ }$ or −LI at $\varphi = 180^{\circ }$ , ${U}_{s}$ decreased most, by as much as 19.6% relative to ${U}_{\text {LI}}$. Finally, the validation test was performed in a 110-kV GIS with insulation defects and ${U}_{s}$ was 7%–14% lower than ${U}_{\text {LI}}$. The results showed that, under a proper superimposed phase and polarity, ${U}_{s}$ could be significantly lower than ${U}_{\text {LI}}$ of GIS with insulation defects, indicating the great potential of the ac/LI superimposed voltage test for the high-sensitive detection of GIS insulation defects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epoxy resin (EP) is a typical and widely used insulating material for medium-frequency transformers (MFTs). The dielectric loss of EP is one of the key variables in the design and operation of MFT. In this article, six types of epoxy/anhydride systems are prepared, and the dielectric loss of MFT is calculated by finite element method (FEM) analysis based on broadband dielectric spectroscopy measurements. The material dependence of the dielectric loss of MFT is investigated using dielectric spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations over a wide temperature and frequency range. The results show that the variation of dielectric loss with output power is attributed to the temperature characteristics of the imaginary part ($\varepsilon ^{\prime \prime }$) of complex permittivity. Compared to the dielectric loss at no-load state, the one at rated power is reduced by 5–10 W. The anhydride hardener containing benzene ring or a methyl substituent has an inhibitory effect on dielectric loss, and the EP cured by methyl nadic anhydride (MeNA) has the lowest dielectric loss (16.2 W) at rated power. The dielectric loss and overload characteristics of MFT are closely related to the $\beta $ -relaxation and $\alpha $ -relaxation of EP, respectively. The acid anhydride curing agent containing benzene ring or a methyl substituent reduces the temperature corresponding to the $\beta $ -relaxation peak by more than 50 °C compared to the one without. The increased rigidity of the chain segment of EP makes the $\beta $ -relaxation move to the low-temperature side, which is beneficial to suppress the dielectric loss. This article not only serves as a bridge among dielectric loss of MFT, dielectric spectroscopy, and molecular structure of EP but also lays a solid foundation for the selection of insulating materials for MFT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Free metallic particles are the main factor inducing flashover incidents and threatening the safety of gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) and gas-insulated transmission line (GIL) devices. Acoustic diagnosis is widely used to detect free metal particles due to its high sensitivity, but it generally fails under multiple particle conditions because of the overlap of acoustic signals. This paper proposes a new method of acoustically recognizing multiple free metallic particles. The pattern of Δt-Normalized N that can be used to distinguish single/multi-particles is determined first. Second, each particle's neighboring collision signals are extracted from raw data by the established physical relation between adjacent collision signals. Wire, lamellar, and spherical free metal double-particles’ mass values are calculated as per the numerical connection between adjacent collision signals. The geometry of the particles is assumed to be known, so the density of the spherical particles can be effectively estimated. The proposed method is validated in a scale concentric hemisphere platform. The results of this work may provide a workable reference for GIS free metal multi-particle monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the influence of surface charges is quantitatively analyzed based on the study of surface charge distribution under DC voltage and flashover characteristics of insulators under superimposed voltage of DC and lightning impulse. It is found that when DC and impulse voltage are in the same polarity, surface charges weaken the electric field along the insulator surface and flashover voltages under superimposed voltage increases. When DC and impulse are in the opposite polarity, surface charges enhance the electric field along the insulator surface, and flashover voltages will decrease. The calculation results of the electric field along the flashover path show that the changing rate of the maximum field strength is approximately equal to the changing rate of flashover voltage, which proves that the influence of surface charges on flashover characteristics of insulators mainly depends on their distortion of the electric field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric field is one of the key parameters to study the charge dynamics for corona discharge. To study the motion characteristics of space charge in different corona modes of ac corona, electrooptic (EO) modulation technique was used to obtain the electric field in corona space. This article focuses on the time-varying characteristics of electric field for ac corona discharge modes. The step phenomenon is observed and the evolution characteristics of electric field for corona modes, from the Trichel pulses to the stable glow, are obtained. It was found that the background field could not remove the space charge generated by the discharge completely within half a cycle, which directly proved the existence of retained charge. And it is proposed that the continuous and fast rising electric field is the characteristic of positive glow in ac corona, which may be an effective method to judge the positive glow. Additionally, electric fields at different spatial locations were studied. The electric field step at the migration zone is suppressed, and as the space charge density increases, the suppression phenomenon becomes more obvious. This article provides more information on the physical mechanisms of the ac corona modes and gives support for the research of corona plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The N-curve of SF6 describes the relationship between the AC breakdown voltage in an extremely inhomogeneous electric field and pressurized SF6 gas. It is directly dependent on the electric field distribution, which is determined by the gas gap, curvature radius, and background electric field. An increase in gap distance, a decrease in curvature radius, and relatively weak background electric field are all conducive to corona stabilization. The electrode curvature radius is the determining factor in the positive glow corona (PGC) discharge quenching pressure. The breakdown voltage dominated by the streamer mechanism can be estimated accurately by calculating the electric field based on the Deutsch assumption and combining it with the SF6 static field breakdown criterion. The proposed method is applicable to the estimation of N-curves in gaps with varying field distributions. The work presented in this paper may support further quantitative research on the discharge mechanism of strongly electronegative gas dielectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to bushings with lower voltage levels, the ±1100 kV converter valve‐side bushing has thicker radial insulation and longer axial insulation resulting in a more uneven temperature distribution and more severe electric field distortion, especially under high‐ambient‐temperature and high‐current conditions. Improving the distribution of the electro‐thermal coupled field of the bushing is critical for the safe operation of converter transformers. This study discusses the distribution of electro‐thermal coupled field of a typical bushing and proposes a new method to evaluate the conductivity of multiple capacitor layers under inhomogeneous axial temperatures. The effects of four bushing designs are investigated as per the adjustment of the capacitor screen structure, the replacement of the current‐carrying structure, and the modification of resin‐impregnated paper material. The results show that merely adjusting the capacitor screens is not feasible due to size limitations. By decreasing heat accumulation, adopting a single‐tube structure and increasing the thermal conductivity of resin‐impregnated paper material can reduce electric field distortion to a certain extent. Unlike the other three methods, hierarchically controlling the material resistance effectively balances the internal and external electric fields. Simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of these methods to improve the distribution of the electro‐thermal coupled field in the bushing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wavefront time T f of lightning impulse plays an important role in the detection of insulation defects in metal enclosed gas insulated switchgear (GIS). Usually, a rod-plane electrode system with different geometric parameters is adopted to simulate local field enhancements in GIS. But, for GIS, the defects may occur on the high-voltage electrode which can not be properly simulated by a rod-plane electrode. To research the influence of waveform parameters on actual defects in GIS, cylinder-plane, coaxial cylinder, and basin-type insulator with a conductive protrusion, were used in this study. A generating system of double-exponential impulses with wavefront times in the range of 0.08 to 15 μs and wave tail times of approximately 50 μs was used to simulate different impulse test waveforms based on a fully enclosed oil-immersed Marx generator. The results show that for the cylinder-plane gap with a protrusion, when the gap distance of the needle tip to the plane is constant, increasing the length of the needle decreases the 50% breakdown voltage. Comparing with the insulation characteristics of rod-plane gap, the U 50 %-T f curves of the cylinder-plane electrode with needle defects thereafter no longer show a U shape as the rod-plane electrode, but increase with an increase in the wavefront time. The difference can be explained by the shielding effect of the cylinder electrode on the defect, which changes the electric field distribution of the gap. The U 50 %-T f curves of GIS bus with different voltage levels and basin-type insulator with surface conductive defect also show the similar increase trend. For V-t characteristics of GIS bus with different voltage levels, we find that the higher the voltage level, the more obvious the trend of the V-t characteristic bathtub curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gas-solid interface is generally considered to be the weakest part in gas-insulated systems. The flashover voltage of a gas-solid interface is difficult to predict because it involves an extremely complex physical process affected by multiple factors. In this paper, we employ the support vector regression (SVR) method based on mass data on the features of the electric field that are indicators of the flashover voltage. We cast 48 kinds of epoxy resin post insulators as samples, and 61 features are extracted to characterize the surface electric field distribution and the flashover voltage under standard lightning impulse voltage. Four indicators that may be useful in predicting the flashover voltage were obtained; the maximum electric field along the surface of the insulator (E max), the normal electric field components of E max (E n_Emax), the maximum gradient of the surface tangential electric field component (E t_gm), and the integral of the area in which the E value exceeds x% of E max along the insulator surface (V t60). We establish an SVR flashover voltage prediction model with these four features, whose average deviation is 7% in 10,000 predictions. It is expected that this study may provide a reference for the continued study of the gas-solid surface flashover mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the characteristics of the streamer discharge development between the dielectric-coated sphere-plane electrodes in water. In order to study the streamer propagation mechanism, the factors such as polarities, water conductivity, and ambient pressure were taken into consideration. Experimental results demonstrate that the water conductivity and amplitude of applied voltage both have a great influence on mean velocity and brightness of the streamer. When the ambient pressure decreases from 0.1 to 0.0065 MPa, the pressure has little influence on the mean velocities of the streamer in both distilled and tap water for fast streamer. The existence of dielectric coating causes a lower initiation voltage of the streamer for negative polarity than that for positive one. Also, the 10% breakdown voltage (U10%) is decreased by 20% under the pressure of 0.0065 MPa than that under the pressure of 0.1 MPa in distilled water, while the U10% is almost the same under different pressures in tap water. Based on the analysis of the discharge images and current waveforms as well as the above experimental results, it can be concluded that the streamer propagation is composed of the generation of the microbubbles and the discharge in the bubbles. For subsonic streamer, the generation of the bubbles is more likely a thermal process, whereas for supersonic streamer, the ionization and dissociation of water molecules in high electric field are involved in the bubble generation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma pattern transition in a symmetric hybrid structure cavity device at micrometer scale is researched through microplasma interaction in intervening microchannel between adjacent cavities while manipulating electric field strength. Plasma distribution reconfiguration in central (objective) cavity is observed when sidearm (donor) cavities are ignited. As long as coupling effect occurred by modulating the electric field strength in the sidearm cavities, stable plasma pattern transition in objective cavity is obtained, exhibiting plasma pattern split from one circular spot (initial pattern) to two small circular spots (transited pattern), along with plasma peak emission intensity displacement over 100 μm to its equilibrium position. The shape of transited plasma patterns are depending on the coupling effect from sidearm cavities. The two circular spots unsymmetrically distributed if either donor cavity is ignited, and the ratio of average emission intensity between the two plasma spots is over 30%, however, which is less than 4% if coupling symmetrically occurred. The electrical and optical properties of central microplasma are also modulated, that the breakthrough voltage is decreased by 22% and emission intensity is improved by ∼30%, by means of plasma coupling. The microplasma pattern formation at micrometre scale and manipulation of the electrical properties in microscale cavity implies significant value in the application of plasma transistor and signal processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using 1 MV Marx generator and a 220 kV GIS bus, an experiment platform has been established, and a stainless steel needle is applied to simulate spike defect, so as to study the influence of pressure, wave front time and electric field on 50 % breakdown voltage (U50) and voltage-time (V-t) characteristics of SF6 gas gap with existence of a spike defect on the bus of GIS under double exponential impulse voltage. When wave front time is short, 50% breakdown voltage of the SF6 gap hardly changes with various pressures, and U50%-P curve turns to be a hump shape when wave front time increases. However, pressure has no significant effect on V-t characteristics. The slope of V-t characteristics curve is negative when wave front time of applied voltage is short (0.08~0.9μs), and it will turn to be positive when wave front time becomes longer (several ~15μs). A new method to fit these V-t characteristics curves under impulse voltage with longer wave front times is proposed. It is found that 50 % breakdown voltage decreases almost linearly with the increase of electric field non-uniformity factors (f), and V-t characteristics cluster with valley-like profile have been drawn at different f. Dispersion of V-t characteristics cluster reduces and the flat region expands with the increase of f, and minimum value of breakdown voltage of SF6 gap with spike defect under impulse voltage, which is of guiding significance for engineering, can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The excitation dynamics and self-oriented plasma coupling of a micro-structure plasma device with a rectangular cross-section are investigated. The device consists of 7 × 7 microcavity arrays, which are blended into a unity by a 50 μm-thick bulk area above them. The device is operated in argon with a pressure of 200 Torr, driven by a bipolar pulse waveform of 20 kHz. The discharge evolution is characterized by means of electrical measurements and optical emission profiles. It has been found that different emission patterns are observed within microcavities. The formation of these patterns induced by the combined action between the applied electric field and surface deactivation is discussed. The microplasma distribution in some specific regions along the diagonal direction of cavities in the bulk area is observed, and self-oriented microplasma coupling is explored, while the plasma interaction occurred between cross adjacent cavities, contributed by the ionization wave propagation. The velocity of ionization wave propagation is measured to be 1.2 km/s to 3.5 km/s. The exploration of this plasma interaction in the bulk area is of value to applications in electromagnetics and signal processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the experimental results from the appearance of three discharge modes in a special geometry as a function of applied negative voltage pulses. The geometry is a four-gap pseudospark one with a gap distance of 4 mm, a metallic hollow cathode, and an anode. The applied pulsed voltage Up varies from −20 to −80 kV. The pulse shape is a rectangular one with a pulsewidth of 50 ns and a rise time of 4 ns. There is no breakdown at Up < 27 kV, and at Up > 27 kV, a pseudospark discharge starts, which transforms at Up > 45 kV into a surface discharge. The working gas is dry air at a constant pressure of 13 Pa. Using these parameters, electric field simulations of the triple point junctions are conducted and time-integrated pictures of the different discharge modes are presented. When the gas pressure is increased from 13 to 35 Pa, the voltage range of the pseudospark discharge mode grows from 13 to 65 kV. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A positive streamer in a strong electric field in air at 1-atm pressure is investigated with particle-in-cell/Monte Carlo collision method including a photoionization model. The simulation results of streamer discharge in parallel plate air gap with and without the photoionization model are compared. It is shown that the seed electrons produced by photoionization generate secondary avalanches which lead to the formation of the streamer. No streamer is observed without photoionization model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alumina filled epoxy resin is important insulating material, which discharge characteristics are greatly determined by its material properties. In this paper, the surface flashover characteristics of the epoxy resin with various alumina contents (250- 400 phr) in 0.4 MPa SF6 are studied. The short-term and long-term withstand voltages and the application times are measured, and then the V-T characteristics are compared accordingly. The withstand voltage of the epoxy resin with certain alumina content decreases exponentially with time and the long-term withstand voltage is about 20-30% lower than the short-term withstand voltage. The discharge damages to alumina filled epoxy resin material are also studied through the carbonization traces and the microcosmic damage patterns. It is found that the epoxy resin with 350 phr alumina has the lowest short-term and long-term withstand voltages and most serious carbonizations according to the experimental results. The ?wormholes? formation in the discharge and its effect in the flashover process are analyzed and discussed based on the carbonation traces and the microcosmic patterns. It is found that the flashover paths shift from creeping-discharge-based to bulk-breakdown-based due to wormholes effect with the increase of alumina content and the critical alumina content is about 300-350 phr. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

• A novel heat pipe current-carrying tube of the bushing is proposed. • The proposed heat pipe structure can homogenize the electro-thermal distribution. • Temperature rise test was carried out for verifying the multiphysics simulation model. Converter transformer reliability and efficiency is dependent on resin impregnated paper (RIP) valve-side bushings. High hot spot temperature (HST) and uneven electro-thermal coupling field drive the accident rate of RIP valve-side bushings above acceptable levels even with 50% reduced transmission power. This paper proposes a novel heat pipe current-carrying tube of RIP valve-side bushing in converter transformers. The main principle centers on the phase-change effect of the working fluid, which is optimized for enhanced thermal conductivity and uniform temperature distribution. A novel heat pipe current-carrying tube is designed for the ±800 kV RIP valve-side bushing; a multiphysics simulation model considering the electro-thermal-fluid coupling field is established accordingly. The electric field distribution and temperature distribution are obtained under different currents and ambient temperatures. The simulation results are validated by comparison against temperature rise test results. The result shows that the use of heat pipe current-carrying tube can significantly reduce the HST of the valve-side bushing, balance the electro-thermal coupling field, and increase the transmission power of converter transformer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]