INSULATION CO-ORDINATION

EE

IMPULSE GENERATOR
Name : Weerasinghe W.M.S.
Index No : 060526V
Field : EE
Date of Sub : 16/12/2009


Instructed By: Prof. Rohan Lucus
CALCULATIONS:

C
S
Surge Capacitance - 3F
C
0
Shunt Capacitance - 0.25F/6 =0.042F
R
1D
Internal Damping Resist. - 15
R
1
Charging Resistance - 20k
R
OUT
Wave Tail Resistance - 2k


Efficiency
By potential divider action we are able to find the maximum possible value of the output
voltage e,

93.3% 0.933
003 . 042 . 0
042 . 0

O S
S
C C
C


Stored Energy at Maximum Voltage

Maximum Voltage

kV E
C C
C
V E
O S
S
280
003 . 0 042 . 0
042 . 0
300
max
max max

Maximum Energy

J P
E C V C P
O S
6 . 2007
2
1
2
1
max
max max max

Wavefront time
If we consider from 30% to 90% wave front measurement


s 18.15 T
10 003 . 0 10 2 933 . 0 3.243 T
C R 3.243 T
r
6 3
r
O OUT r

Wavatail time


.623ms 0 T
933 . 0
10 042 . 0 10 0 2 0.693
T
C R 0.693
T
r
6 3
r
S OUT
r

DISCUSSION

High impulse generators are being used for testing purposes in electric power equipment
against lightning and switching surges. There are two kinds of impulse generators, Single Stage
Impulse Generator and Multistage Impulse Generator. Normally for practical purposes multi stage
impulse generator is generally preferred.
High impulse voltages can be achieved using multi stage impulse generators. Numbers of
capacitors are used to create a higher impulse. This impulse is coming through single stage impulse
generator. Capacitors are connected in parallel at first to charge up. After that they are connected in
series to add up their voltages to create the high voltage impulse. Changing the number of capacitors,
we can get the required high voltage value. But there is a limit of added series capacitances in practical
uses.








Capacitor C
1
is charged using an external circuit and for R
2
small resistor is used while using an
large resistor for R
1
. In impulse generators there are two major ways of operation. First one is
uncontrolled operation. Here the maximum charged voltage of the capacitor C
1
is higher than the
breakdown voltage of the gap. Therefore here we cannot have a controlled operation.
Second method is known as the controlled operation. Here the maximum capacitive voltage is
kept little lower than the breakdown voltage. Excessive voltage is provided using a third sphere gap.
Here we can have a controlled operation.
According to the sphere gap distance the air will break down when the voltage difference
between the spheres reach a certain level (30kV/cm). Sudden change in the voltage between the
spheres will cause the voltage in several places in the circuit. The capacitors will hold the voltage till
they discharge according to the RC characteristics (at charging process it may take several seconds but
discharging may occurs in micro seconds).

Trigatron gap
A trigatron gap is a type of triggerable spark gap switch designed for high current and high
voltage. To switch the device, a high voltage pulse is delivered to the triggering electrode. This ionizes
the medium (air) between it and corona is produced at a relatively low voltage causing it to spark over
to the earthed electrode.










The Power supply of impulse generator

This consists of a high voltage step-up transformer with a rectifier assembly connected to form
a full wave bridge circuit. So it does not require any capacitors for voltage doubling. The circuit uses
compensated selenium rectifiers which are selected to withstand high current surges, voltage reversals
and flashovers.

Wavefront and Wavetail times


















In impulse generators we normally do not change the capacitor values hence the efficiency.
Therefore when we need to change the wave form style, we can do it by varying the resister values.
R
1
is responsible for the rate of rise of the wave front while R
2
is responsible for the wave tale time.
Wave front can be analyzed with R
1
open circuit and wave tail can be analyzed by short circuiting
R
2
.

.
Wavefront time
10% to 90% or
30% to 90%

Wavetail times


OBSERVATIONS:
Sphere gap(cm) Voltage (V) Average voltage
2 2.5,2.3 2.4
2.5 4,4 4
3 6,5.5,6 5.8
3.5 10,9.8,9.8 9.9
4 14,13.5,14 13.8
4.5 18,18,17.5 17.8


Wave shape