Electric breakdown

in liquids and
solids

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Insulating liquids

mineral oil
esters and synthetic hydrocarbons
silicones and fluorinated oils
chlorinated and phosphate fluids
electronegative fluids (refrigerants)
liquified elemental gases

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Liquid properties of significance

Transformers

Capacitors

Cables
Switchgear
Bushings
Electronics

high breakdown strength, low losses, high

electrical resistance, resistance to partial
discharges, chemical and thermal stability,
cooling properties.
resistance to partial discharges, high
inception voltage, low losses, low viscosity,
gas absorbing properties.
electrical and gassing characteristics.
carbon formation and extinguishing.
electrical and thermal properties.
electrical and thermal properties, fire
resistance.

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Breakdown in liquids
electron initiated
impurity initiated
factors influencing
breakdown in technical
liquids
- humidity and impurity content
- polarity and duration of voltage
- shape and roughness of
electrodes
- temperature and pressure
- liquid volume

Influence of pressure on electric strength of

transformer oil in a weakly non-uniform field.

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Breakdown in liquids
At ambient temperature and pressure the following
intrinsic breakdown values have been measured:
hexane
benzene
mineral oil

130 kV/mm
110 kV/mm
200 kV/mm (depends on viscosity)

Liquified gases also show high intrinsic strength:

liquid oxygen
liquid nitrogen

240 kV/mm
170 kV/mm

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Breakdown in liquids

Influence of water content on breakdown

strength of transformer oil containing
cellulose fibres (1.4 mmg/l) with reference Breakdown strength of transformer oil for
to a pure and dry oil.
different types of voltages.
Department of Electric Power Engineering

Breakdown in liquids

Influence of temperature on breakdown

strength of dry (1) and humid (2)
transformer oil.

Influence of oil content (size effect) on

breakdown strength of transformer (50 Hz).
Department of Electric Power Engineering

Breakdown in solids
Different mechanisms
- intrinsic (electronic)
- thermal
- partial discharges
- water treeing
- electochemical ageing
Conduction processes
cannot be neglected
(>105 V/cm)
External and internal sources of conduction electrons: (a) Fowler-Nordheim
emission, (b) Shottky emission, (c) Poole-Frenkel effect.
Department of Electric Power Engineering

Intrinsic breakdown in solids

Temperature dependence of dc
breakdown strength in quartz crystal (1)
and quartz glass (2).

Temperature dependence of dc
breakdown strength in polyethylene.

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Thermal breakdown in solids

Heat generation by
conduction

dielectric losses 0 E

ac thermal breakdown voltage

PVC (high loss) - 50 to 100 kV
oil/paper (low losses) - about 750 kV
PE (extremely low losses) - up to 5 MV

Heat balance in an insulating system

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Partial discharge breakdown

PDs cause slow deterioration
of solid insulating materials
PDs are the most frequent
cause for breakdown in ac
insulating systems
PDs cause dischargeinduced physical-chemical
reactions on void walls:
- temperature increase
- reactions and wall erosion
- space charge injection

Possible defects causing partial discharges

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Ageing of electrical insulation

ageing processes in insulating materials may have either
physical or chemical nature
thermally activated chemical reaction

K = exp(Wk / kT )
Montsinger formulated in 1930 so called 10(8) C rule
[L = Aexp(-BTc)]
Later Dakin assumed that changes in a physical
property P should be related to the concentration C of
an important chemical constituent of the insulation
Department of Electric Power Engineering

Thermal ageing
end-point principle

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Thermal ageing
temperature index TI

L = L0 exp(W A / kT )
The temperature index TI is the
temperature in C (derived from
the endurance characteristics) for
which the expected life time
should be equal to 20 000 hours.

Department of Electric Power Engineering

Electric ageing

L( E ) = kE

L( E ) = A exp( BE )
Department of Electric Power Engineering

Multi-factor ageing

L(T , E ) = L0 exp( B(1 / T ))( E / E0 )

Department of Electric Power Engineering