362 Kasten et al.

: Partial Discharge Measurements in Air and Argon at Low Pressures

Partial Discharge Measurements in Air and Argon at Low

Pressures with and without a Dielectric Barrier
Donald G. Kasten, Xin Liu, Stephen A. Sebo
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, U.S.A.

Dennis F. Grosjean
Innovative Scientific Solutions, Inc.
2766 Indian Ripple Road, Dayton, OH 45440, U.S.A.

and Daniel L. Schweickart

Air Force Research Laboratory
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH 45433, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT
Partial-discharge (PD) characteristics in air and argon under low pressures down
to 13.3 Pa (0.1 Torr) and 60 Hz ac energization are studied in an energized
needle-plane electrode arrangement. The electrode configuration, vacuum cham-
ber, facilities, and electrical connections for the experimental setup are described.
Two cases are studied for each of two gases, air and argon, with 20 mm spacing
between the two electrodes: (1) with and (2) without a Teflon 䊛 cap (dielectric bar-
rier). Results for the four series of experiments and analysis of the discharge cur-
rent pulse waveforms are presented. Topics discussed are the typical waveforms of
the discharge current pulses at different pressures, and discharge current pulse rise
time vs. pressure relationships.
Index Terms — Partial discharges, experimental setup, inception voltage, par-
tial discharge current pulse waveform, rise time.

1 INTRODUCTION cal insulation, leading to breakdown and effectively short-

ening the operating life of a system. PDs are generally
M ANY aerospace flight vehicles, such as advanced
aircraft and reusable launch-to-orbit systems, expe-
rience a wide range of operating pressures during their
considered to be localized, transient electrical gas dis-
charges within a void or crack or at a pocket at an inter-
flight profiles. The reliable performance of the electric- face in an insulation structure. The gas at such locations
power-system components and subassemblies of such ve-
hicles under sub-atmospheric operating conditions are im-
portant to in-flight reliability and vehicle longevity. There-
fore, characterization of the performance and behavior of
the electrical insulation in such equipment during expo-
sure to low-pressure environments is extremely important.
Figure 1 w1x depicts how the atmospheric pressure envi-
ronment varies with the altitude above sea level.
Partial discharges ŽPD., as well as corona and glow dis-
charges, are some of the phenomena that can occur in the
gaseous medium adjacent to solid insulation, prior to solid
insulation failure. These types of discharges can be the
‘‘silent killer’’, causing accelerated degradation of electri-

Figure 1. Standard atmosphere pressure vs. altitude above sea level

Manuscript recei®ed on 23 October 2004, in final form 4 January 2005. w1x.

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
breaks down long before the dielectric strength of the solid
insulation is reached. PDs are undesirable in that they
eventually lead to deterioration, degradation, and perma-
nent damage Že.g., erosion. of the section of the insulation
in proximity. Some of the principal factors that can influ-
ence PDs and other such discharges are the pressure of
the gaseous environment and gas composition, the magni-
tude and frequency of the applied voltage, the electrode
arrangement and geometry, and the properties, condition,
and age of the insulation.
In general, discharge-degradation effects under atmo-
spheric-pressure conditions in air are well known w2x. The
degradation process caused by PD is both chemical and
physical in nature. The actual failure mechanism may have
electrical, mechanical, chemical, or thermal manifesta-
tions. The discharge process is erratic, and the sequence,
phase, magnitude, rise time, and waveform of the PD
pulses change during the process. PD measurements are
standardized, for example, in IEC 60270 w3x. Specialized
test systems have been developed to detect and character-
ize PD in electrical equipment at atmospheric pressures.
The sea-level normal atmospheric pressure is 101.3 kPa
Ž760 Torr..
For utility or terrestrial applications, numerous tests are
performed during the manufacturing process of high volt-
age components and insulation systems. Examples of
properties that are measured are the dielectric-withstand
voltage, insulation resistance, and dielectric loss. The PD
test is one of the essential quality control andror perfor-
mance monitoring measurements to verify the integrity of
the insulation system.
Although the behavior of electrical insulation in a low-
pressure environment has been the subject of numerous
studies, no adequate PD testing standards exist for low
pressures. Some studies are related to airborne-equipment
high-voltage specifications and tests w4x. Next-generation
aerospace vehicles, however, will employ voltages much
higher than the traditional 28 V dc or 120r208 V, 400 Hz
ac power, e.g., 270 V dc or 400 V, 20 kHz ac voltages w5x.
The combination of higher operating voltages and high
altitude flight profiles point to some serious concerns with
respect to the on-board electrical insulation systems. As a
result, the existing specifications available for power
equipment manufacturers will require review and revision
for application in low pressure environments. In addition,
appropriate qualification test procedures will be needed
for the design of new equipment in order to ensure high
operational reliability.
For low-pressure applications, it is anticipated that PD
testing on power equipment would be an equally valuable
tool for evaluation of insulation integrity as it currently is
for terrestrial equipment. Numerous devices for measur-
ing PD activity at atmospheric pressure are presently
available on the market. However, these devices were not
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Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 363
designed with the unique requirements of detecting low-
pressure PD, as explained below.
It is recognized that the physical phenomena that deter-
mine the collision-dominated nature of electrical dis-
charges at low pressure influence the inception and tem-
poral characteristics of the PD events. Hence, detection
systems typically tuned to detect specific frequency ranges
for terrestrial equipment can be ineffectual for detecting
the PD events at low pressure. Later in this paper it is
shown that the frequency content of low-pressure PD is in
a range that is significantly lower than that of atmospheric
pressure PD. The experiments described in this paper
were performed to demonstrate these physical phenom-
ena and to characterize PD and similar discharge events
that may develop at sub-atmospheric pressures. To this
end, a needle-plane electrode arrangement and vacuum
chamber were designed to provide a controlled environ-
ment for demonstrating the variations in discharge tempo-
ral characteristics as a function of the conditions of the
gaseous media.
This paper reports the discharge behavior of a needle-
plane electrode system with a 20 mm gap distance, sub-
jected to power-frequency high voltage:
䢇 for pressures in the range of 13.3 Pa to 101.3 kPa Ž0.1
to 760 Torr.
䢇 with and without a dielectric ŽTeflon . barrier between
the electrodes
䢇 in air and argon Žargon was selected for reference
purposes because it is an inert, non-attaching gas..
2 BACKGROUND
One of the definitions of partial discharge ŽPD. in IEEE
Std 100 w6x is given as a ‘‘localized electric discharge re-
sulting from ionization in an insulating system when the
voltage stress exceeds the critical value. This discharge
partially bridges the insulation between electrodes’’. The
definition of PD is given in IEC 60270 w3x as ‘‘localized
electrical discharge that only partially bridges the insula-
tion between conductors and which can or cannot occur
adjacent to a conductor’’.
The definition of corona in a gas is given in w6x as a
‘‘discharge with slight luminosity produced in the neigh-
borhood of a conductor, without greatly heating it, and
limited to the region surrounding the conductor in which
the electric field exceeds a certain value’’. The definition
of corona in w3x is as follows: ‘‘Corona is a form of partial
discharge that occurs in gaseous media around conductors
which are remote from solid or liquid insulation. Corona
should not be used as a general term for all forms of PD’’.
In case of partial discharges, a glow is visible in a por-
tion of the gap but the glow does not completely bridge
the gap. Although a current flows in the remainder of the
gap, it is in the form of displacement current or signifi-
cantly lower current density and ‘‘breakdown’’ does not
363
364 Kasten et al.: Partial Discharge Measurements in Air and Argon at Low Pressures
occur. At low pressures with voltages above the partial
discharge inception voltage, however, the probability of
breakdown in the entire gaseous gap is high.
In this paper the term PD is applied to a broader range
of discharges than those normally characterized by the
classical definition of PD w2, 3, 6, 7x. Since the focus of
this investigation is to characterize the temporal nature of
these discharge events, they are referred to as PD in the
broadest sense to include gap closure.
Papers reporting discharge tests at low pressures w8᎐12x
describe experiments with a variety of electrode sizes,
shapes, and spacings, i.e., for various electric-field config-
urations. Also, a variety of gases was used for the experi-
ments described, e.g., room air, Ar, N2 , He, and SF6 . The
detection criteria ranged from visual appearance of the
glow through the observation of pulses on an oscilloscope
to the use of a PD detector.
Karady et al. w8x described corona-inception-voltage ex-
periments, with pressures maintained in a vacuum cham-
ber in the range of 13.3 Pa to 1.3 kPa Ž0.1 to 10 Torr.. The
60 Hz ac voltage magnitudes applied were up to 2000 Vrms .
The gas used was room air. The electrode arrangement
was a cylindrical metal wire Žcopper, aluminum or steel.
parallel to a grounded horizontal aluminum plane. The
discharge detector used was a commercially available de-
vice. Several Paschen-type plots are shown for various wire
sizes and wire-plane spacings. The authors concluded that
the electric power distribution systems for aerospace vehi-
cles must be designed carefully to prevent the occurrence
of corona discharges in the pressure range of 13.3 Pa to
1.3 kPa.
The frequency characteristics of corona discharges at
low pressures are described by Lewis w9x. The range of
pressures was from 8 to 933 Pa Ž0.06 to 7 Torr.. The 60
Hz ac voltage magnitudes applied were up to about 1000
Vrms and the gas used was room air. The electrode ar-
rangement was two parallel wires, one energized and the
other grounded. Waveforms of the corona current pulses
were monitored and analyzed by an oscilloscope at vari-
ous pressures. The main conclusion of the thesis is that a
strong 17 kHz component of the corona current wave-
forms was predominant in the lower pressure range for
the wire-wire electrode arrangement of bare copper wires.
Experiments covering much lower pressures are re-
ported by Okubo et al. w10x for non-uniform electric-field
conditions. The range of pressures was from 1.3 =10y4 to
133.3 Pa. A positive dc ramp voltage was applied up to
about 10 kV. The gases used were He, Ar, and air. A
needle, rod, cone, or sphere was used as the energized
electrode; the grounded electrode was a flat disc. The dis-
charge inception voltages were measured by an RC detec-
tor with 10 pC sensitivity. The discharge inception voltage
and the electric field were analyzed for various gases and
electrode arrangements. One of the conclusions of the pa-
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per is that the critical value of ŽE irp. for discharge incep-
tion, where E i is the electric field strength and p is the
pressure, depended on the gas medium, but was indepen-
dent of the non-uniformity of the electric field.
James et al. w11x described PD properties in voids in
epoxy covering the pressure range of 13.3 Pa to 101.3 kPa.
The 60 Hz ac voltage magnitudes applied were up to about
8 kVrms . The gases used were N2 and SF6 . The PD detec-
tor was a commercial system. The paper shows several
Paschen-type plots for these two gases for two different
void sizes. A conclusion of the paper was that electric field
enhancement in large voids is difficult to determine since
the field is non-uniform.
Breakdown experiments at low pressures with dc-shifted
sinusoidal voltages are reported in a recent paper by Kir-
kici and Koppisetty w12x. The pressure range was from 26.6
to 400 Pa. The frequency range of the ac component of
the applied dcqac voltage was from 12 to 30 kHz. Helium
and a point-point electrode arrangement were used. An
oscilloscope was utilized to measure the discharge cur-
rent. The paper contains plots of the helium breakdown
voltage vs. pressure at three different frequencies with
breakdown voltages up to about 400 Vpeak . The discharge
process is analyzed. The main thrust of the study was the
analysis of discharge starting voltage as a function of the
frequency of the applied voltage.
3 DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIMENTAL
SETUP
3.1 VACUUM CHAMBER AND GAS FLOW
SYSTEM
Inside dimensions of the cylindrical acrylic vacuum
chamber are 89 mm diameter and 254 mm height. To re-
duce the effects of outgassing of the acrylic chamber, a
flow of high-purity gas was maintained. Gas sources were
‘‘zero’’ air ŽH 2 O - 3 ppm, total hydrocarbon content -
1 ppm. and Grade-4.8 argon Ž99.998% purity. from com-
mercially available K-size cylinders. Figure 2 is a photo-
graph of the vacuum chamber. The vacuum pumping sys-
tem consisted of a molecular-drag pump backed by a di-
aphragm pump. From outgassing data of w13x, the flow rate
of 0.338 Pa-m 3rs Ž200 standard cm3rminute. should main-
tain a gas purity level of - 100 ppm of outgassing prod-
ucts. Because of limited pumping throughput at very low
pressures, the flow rate was - 0.338 Pa-m 3rs and the gas
impurity level ) 100 ppm at pressures - 213 Pa Ž1.6
Torr..
The experimental arrangement, shown in Figure 3, was
a needle-plane electrode system. The needle electrode was
a No. 7 stainless-steel sewing needle, with a diameter of
0.7 mm and a tip radius of about 70 ␮ m. These needle
dimensions are comparable to those of the needle elec-
trodes used by Okubo et al. w10x. The needle electrode
was energized; and the bottom electrode Ža cylindrical
plane. was grounded through a 50 ⍀ resistor Žsee Section
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Figure 2. Photograph of vacuum chamber.
3.3.. The aluminum Ž7075 alloy. plane electrode has a di-
ameter of 50.8 mm and a thickness of 12.7 mm, and
rounded edges of 6.35 mm radius. A Teflon 䊛 cap was
placed over the plane electrode for some of the tests to
provide a dielectric barrier. The barrier was cylindrical in
shape, with an overall height of 50 mm, an outside diame-
ter of 70 mm, a side-wall thickness of 5 mm, and a base
thickness Žcovering the electrode plane. of 2.5 mm. A lin-
ear-motion feedthrough manipulator was connected to the
bottom plane electrode for adjusting the gap distance be-
tween the two electrodes; although the gap distance was
maintained at 20 mm for all experiments reported here.
3.2 ELECTRIC SYSTEM
A schematic circuit diagram of the electric system of
the PD test setup is shown in Figure 4. Two 240 V vari-
Figure 4. Circuit diagram of PD experimental setup.
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Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 365
Figure 3. Electrode arrangement with dielectric barrier.
able transformers together with an isolation transformer
were used as the voltage source. The output of the second
Ždouble-stage. variable transformer was connected to the
low-voltage terminals of a 7.6 kV high voltage trans-
former. The resolution for the range of voltages reported
here is 0.5 to 1.0 %. A 270 k ⍀ current-limiting resistor
was connected in series downstream of the 7.6 kV trans-
former to protect the equipment from large surge currents
in the event of a sparkover. A long, corona-free conductor
was used to connect to the needle electrode Žthe upper
electrode.. The plane electrode Žthe bottom electrode. was
connected to the viewing resistor Žsee Section 3.3..
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366 Kasten et al.: Partial Discharge Measurements in Air and Argon at Low Pressures

3.3 MEASUREMENT SYSTEM

The measurement system connection, shown in Figure
4, follows Figure 1b of IEC 60270 w3x. The voltage of the
needle electrode was measured using a commercial 1000:1
resistive voltage divider with a digital multimeter. ŽIn this
paper all PD-inception voltage values are given in units of
the calculated peak value of the applied sinusoidal volt-
age.. The coupling device, a 50 ⍀ non-inductive current-
viewing resistor, with a flat frequency response up to 7.5
MHz, was connected between the bottom plane electrode
of the vacuum chamber and ground. The output of a sec-
ond resistive voltage divider, as well as the voltage across
the 50 ⍀ viewing resistor were observed on a 200 MHz, 1
GSrs digital oscilloscope. In this manner, the current pulse
waveform and its phase relationship with respect to the 60
Hz exciting voltage waveform could be observed. A 100
pF gas capacitor was used as a coupling capacitor; it could
be connected to the test circuit or disconnected from it.
Shielded cables as short as possible were used for the test
circuits.
4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Four series of tests were conducted: Ž1. air with dielec-
tric barrier present, Ž2. air with no dielectric barrier, Ž3.
argon with dielectric barrier present, and Ž4. argon with
no dielectric barrier. The electrode system Žneedle-plane .
and the electrode spacing Ž20 mm. were the same for the
four series. For one of the two series for each gas, the
dielectric barrier, described in Section 3.1, was placed over
the grounded plane electrode. For the other test series,
no dielectric barrier was used. ‘‘Positive PD’’ refers to a
PD pulse that occurs with the needle electrode at a posi-
tive potential referenced to the plane electrode. ‘‘Nega- Figure 5. Typical current pulses at discharge inception for 9.3 kPa
Ž70.0 Torr., in air, no dielectric barrier. a, 10 msrdiv time scale, with
tive PD’’ refers to the PD pulse that occurs with the nee- limited digitizing rate; b, 0.5 msrdiv time scale. The upper trace is
dle electrode at a negative potential. the voltage across the 50 ⍀ viewing resistor showing the discharge
current pulse; the lower trace is the voltage across a 1000:1 divider,
The variations of the discharge current pulse wave- showing the applied voltage waveform.
forms, and discharge current pulse rise time dependence
with pressure were examined. The discharge current pulse
zero-to-peak and rise times Ž10-90%, defined in Section
4.2. were obtained, and the corresponding approximate 4.1 PD CURRENT PULSE WAVEFORMS
frequency component of the pulses was estimated. AT VARIOUS PRESSURES
The purpose of these tests was to determine the tempo- One of the goals of this work is to identify representa-
ral characteristics of the discharges that occur at low pres- tive discharge current pulse waveforms at inception. It
sures in various gas environments. The magnitude of the should be noted that the data presented in this paper are
discharge current pulses is determined not only by the dis- solely for the conditions noted above. It should be consid-
charge mechanism within the electrode gap but also by ered representative of a more general set of low-pressure
the source voltage and the electric circuit elements. conditions. Three cases Ža, b, c. are discussed below.
A number of tests covering a wide range of pressures Ža. As an example, without the dielectric barrier and for
were conducted with two electric circuit connections. One pressures up to about 9.3 kPa in air, ‘‘single’’ discharge
connection incorporated the 100 pF coupling capacitor current pulses appeared close to the negative maxima of
Žsee Figure 4.; in the other case the coupling capacitor the applied voltage wave, for voltages at or above incep-
was removed. There was negligible difference between the tion. This is illustrated by Figure 5. The duration of the
appropriate discharge current pulse waveforms monitored pulse in Figure 5 is approximately 3 ms, slightly less than
in the two circuit connections. Waveforms reviewed below a quarter cycle of the 60 Hz source voltage; thus the wave-
were taken with the coupling capacitor in the circuit. form shown represents a sustained discharge. It was extin-

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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 367

guished because the source voltage is reduced to a level
that was insufficient to maintain the discharge.
Žb. For pressures in the range of 9.7᎐20 kPa in air with-
out the dielectric barrier, the discharge current pulse
waveforms at inception differed from the lower-pressure
cases. Instead of a ‘‘single’’ Žsustained . discharge pulse, a
pulse train of relatively low amplitude pulses was ob-
served. The pulses also appeared close to the negative
maxima of the applied voltage wave. Example waveforms
are shown in Figure 6.
Also, for pressures in the range of 9.7᎐20 kPa, an in-
crease in the voltage by a few percent above inception
resulted in pulse waveforms differing from those observed
at inception. They were similar to the ‘‘single’’ discharge
current pulse waveform shown in Figure 5, and their am-
plitude was larger than that of the initial discharges shown
in Figure 6. It appears that a sustained, ‘‘single’’, dis-
charge developed at the higher voltage.
Žc. For pressures in the range of 20 to 80 kPa, the dis-
charge current pulse waveforms observed were similar to
those shown in Figure 6. In this pressure range, however,
increasing the voltage well above the discharge inception
voltage level did not change the waveform, though it in-
creased the pulse magnitude. In other words, no ‘‘single’’
Žsustained . discharge current pulses were detected even at
doubling of the inception voltage.
Figure 7 contains a representative set of waveforms for
various pressure ranges, obtained for a needle-plane elec-
trode system with a 20 mm gap distance, at 60 Hz ac ener-
gization, without a dielectric barrier on the bottom elec-
trode, and in air. The magnitude and duration of the
waveforms shown in Figure 7 vary with pressure and ap-
plied voltage. The 2nd and 4th columns are related to
conditions shown in Figure 5. The 3rd column represents
conditions shown in Figure 6.
In the top area of Figure 7, the pressures and corre-
sponding altitudes above sea level are shown, based on
w1x. The waveforms shown in the main area of Figure 7 are
arranged for easy comparison related to vertical ŽmVrdiv.
and horizontal Žtime. scales. In the bottom area, for a spe-
cific pressure, the discharge inception voltage, rise time,
and zero-to-peak time are given. As indicated above, it is
anticipated that additional waveforms will be identified as
the electrode arrangement, gap distance, energization lev-
els and waveforms, and gas constituents are varied.
It is important to note that the pressure Žand altitude .
values indicated in Figure 7 are for a specific spacing, and
the pressure values will likely increase as the gap spacing

Figure 6. Typical current pulses at discharge inception for 9.7 kPa Ž72.5 Torr., in air, no dielectric barrier. a, 5 msrdiv time scale, with limited
digitizing rate; b, 0.5 msrdiv time scale; c, 10 ␮ srdiv time scale; d, 50 nsrdiv time scale. The upper trace is the voltage across the 50 ⍀ viewing
resistor showing the discharge current pulse; the lower trace is the voltage across a 1000:1 divider, showing the applied voltage waveform.

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368 Kasten et al.: Partial Discharge Measurements in Air and Argon at Low Pressures

Figure 7. Typical discharge current pulses for a wide range of sub-atmospheric pressures in air for 20 mm needle-plane electrode spacing, no
dielectric barrier.

is decreased below 20 mm. Sets of waveforms can also be
presented for experiments in air with a dielectric barrier,
and for argon, with and without dielectric barrier. Work is
continuing in order to compile a more complete set of
waveforms.
4.2 DISCHARGE CURRENT PULSE RISE
TIME AS A FUNCTION OF PRESSURE AT
DISCHARGE INCEPTION
To analyze the relationship between the frequency con-
tent of the discharge current pulses and the pressure at
discharge inception, the rise times of the first pulses were
determined. ‘‘First pulse’’ refers to either a single pulse or
the first one of a group of consecutive pulses at irregular
intervals, or the first pulse in a pulse train with pulses at
regular intervals. The dominant Žmajor. peak of the first
pulse is used, except where noted, even if there is a minor
peak before the major peak.
To characterize the dirdt on the front of a discharge
current pulse, various time concepts can be used, illus-
trated in Figure 8. The time required for the pulse to in-
crease from 10 to 90% of its maximum value is called ‘‘rise
time’’, t r w6x. The rise time is less, of course, than the
‘‘zero-to-peak time’’, t zp , the time interval between the ac-

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Figure 8. Time concepts to characterize the front of a discharge

current pulse.

Figure 10. Zero-to-peak time vs. pressure, with dielectric barrier,

tual zero and the instant when the signal has reached its for air Žo. and argon Žx.; all negative pulses.
crest value. Finally, the ‘‘ virtual duration of wavefront’’
Žor virtual front time, t f . for current waves is 1.25 times
the rise time defined above w6x.
In general, the rise time Ž10 to 90%. of a common pulse
often follows almost exactly the rising edge of a sinusoidal
waveform. In fact, the rise time is almost exactly 30% of
the period of the sinusoidal waveform. This can give an
indication of the dominant frequency component of the
discharge current pulse. As an example, a 100 ns rise time
would generate a brief 3 MHz transient w14x. The relation-
ship often used by instrumentation manufacturers is Žrise
time. = Žfrequency. s 0.35. This expression would give
3.5 MHz for a 100 ns rise time. If the virtual duration of
the wavefront, 125 ns, would be used instead of the rise
time in the same equation, the result would be 2.8 MHz.
It should be noted that consideration of the width of Figure 11. Zero-to-peak time vs. pressure, no dielectric barrier, for
air, single pulses Žo., air, pulse trains ŽU .; and argon Žx.; all negative
the PD pulse is necessary for identifying the complete fre-
pulses.
quency content of the pulse. The rising edge only repre-
sents the dominant frequency component of the wave-
form. Discharge current pulse zero-to-peak times for the four
series of experiments are summarized in Figures 9-12. The
results show a combination of several test series.
Comparing Figures 9 and 10 Žillustrating the measure-
ments with the dielectric barrier on the plane electrode.,
it can be seen that for both air and argon, most of the
zero-to-peak times Žand as a consequence, rise times as
well. were shorter for positive pulses ŽFigure 9. than for
negative pulses ŽFigure 10. at comparable pressures. In
other words, positive pulses have higher frequency con-
tent than the negative pulses for comparable pressures. In
most cases the zero-to-peak times Žand rise times. of the
first pulses for argon were longer than those for air at
equivalent pressures. This is valid for both positive and
negative pulses.
Figure 11 shows results of measurements in the absence
of the dielectric barrier. Figure 12 compares the zero-to-
Figure 9. Zero-to-peak time vs. pressure, with dielectric barrier, for peak time vs. pressure in air, for negative pulses, with and
air Žo. and argon Žx.; all positive pulses. without the dielectric barrier. In the case of the dielectric

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370 Kasten et al.: Partial Discharge Measurements in Air and Argon at Low Pressures
Figure 12. Zero-to-peak time vs. pressure, for air, with dielectric
barrier Žx.; and without dielectric barrier, single pulses Žo., and pulse
trains ŽU .; all negative pulses.
barrier present, these times Žand the rise times as well.
generally decrease with increasing pressure. If there is no
dielectric barrier in place, for pressures over 9.7 kPa Ž72.5
Torr., the zero-to-peak times related to the first pulses of
pulse trains illustrated in Figure 6 are significantly shorter
than the case of single pulse Žsustained . discharges. This
pressure corresponds to an altitude of about 15 km w1x.
The rise times of pulses in pulse trains are in the range of
tens of nanoseconds. If the pressure is between 1.33 and
13.3 kPa, the rise times of the ‘‘single’’ discharge pulses
are much longer, as discussed above, in conjunction with
Figure 5.
According to w15x, the Townsend-type discharges have
small magnitudes, while streamer-type discharges have a
larger peak value. From the experimental results, it ap-
pears that the introduction of the dielectric barrier on the
bottom electrode changed the length of the discharge path,
Figure 13. Significant times of discharge current pulses between
1.33 and 13.3 kPa Žbetween 15 and 30 km altitudes ., no dielectric
barrier, for air.
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which could result in the change of the dominant process,
from Townsend-type to streamer-type discharges.
The longest significant times for discharge current
pulses in air, without dielectric barrier, were found in the
1.33 and 13.3 kPa pressure range. That pressure range
corresponds to an altitude range of about 30 to 15 km w1x,
respectively. Figure 13 illustrates the three significant
times, the zero-to-peak time, rise time, and virtual front
time values, for discharge current pulses between 1.33 and
13.3 kPa, no dielectric barrier, for air. The rise times Žq
symbols in Figure 13. are in the range of about 900 to 300
␮ s. Using the Žrise time. = Žfrequency. s 0.35 equation,
the corresponding frequency component of the discharge
current pulses is then in the range of 400 to 1200 Hz.
4.3 IMPORTANCE OF THE RISE TIME VS.
PRESSURE RELATIONSHIP
A literature review of commercially available detection
systems was performed. Manufacturers of this equipment
generally specify either the lowest frequency of PD signals
detected, typically in the range of 40᎐150 kHz, or the low-
est cut-off frequency of their PD signal-filtering system,
typically between 20 and 50 kHz. As was shown above,
however, the estimated dominant frequency component of
discharge current pulses is much lower at low pressures
than at atmospheric pressure, as low as 400 to 1200 Hz.
Commercially available PD-detection equipment is de-
signed for the detection and measurement of the higher
frequency PD pulses that occur at atmospheric pressure.
Thus, more appropriate PD-detection equipment and
quantification systems are needed for insulation inspec-
tion at low pressures.
5 DISCUSSION
This investigation has provided a baseline of represen-
tative data, characterizing the temporal nature of the low
pressure PD event. This is necessary to enable the goal of
developing PD testing and diagnostics for evaluating the
insulation integrity of electrical power-system components
that must operate reliably in a low pressure environment.
The experimental series with air, no dielectric barrier
present, showed sustained discharges below 9.7 kPa Ž72.5
Torr.. In the pressure range of 9.7᎐20 kPa, intermittent
short discharges were found at discharge inception volt-
ages, but sustained discharges were observed at voltages
above inception. Above 20 kPa, only intermittent short
discharges were found even when the applied voltage was
significantly higher than the inception voltage. It appears
that, for the conditions described here, 9.7 kPa represents
a threshold value at which there is a transition from sus-
tained discharges to intermittent short discharges. This ef-
fect is also reported by Okubo w10x where the threshold
pressure is termed the ‘‘critical pressure’’.
The distribution of the electric field strength over pres-
sure ŽErp. can be calculated in the needle-plane elec-
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Figure 14. Erp vs. distance from the tip of the needle on axis, for
needle-plane electrodes, for air, no dielectric barrier, at various pres-
sures.
trode arrangement for dc w16᎐18x and low-frequency ac
Žincluding 60 Hz. from the approximation
2Vd
EŽ x. s Ž 1.
ln Ž 4 drr . d Ž 2 x q r . y x 2
where V is the applied voltage, d is the electrode gap
distance, r is the needle tip radius and x is the distance
from the tip of the needle. For the conditions of the pre-
sent work, r is about 70 ␮ m and the needle shape is as-
sumed to be a hyperboloid. Fields calculated from the an-
alytical solution of Horwath w18x differed from those using
Ž1. by less than 0.5 %.
A family of Erp plots is shown in Figure 14 to illustrate
the Erp distribution at several selected pressures. At any
location on axis across the 20 mm gap, Erp decreases with
the increase of the pressure. The voltage used for the cal-
culation of Erp is the calculated peak value of the mea-
sured rms inception voltage. Erp values corresponding to
the transition region of 9.7 to 13.3 kPa are bracketed by
dotted lines. Following w10x, a ‘‘critical Erp’’ value at 9.7
kPa and at 20 mm gap distance is about 1.8E-6
kVrmmrPa. It appears that if an Erp curve at a given
pressure is fully above the critical Erp value over the en-
tire gap distance, only sustained discharges can be found
at inception. If, however, a curve is intersected by the
‘‘critical Erp’’ value, some intermittent short discharges
may be expected at inception. It should be pointed out
that this phenomenon is based upon statistical, collision-
dominated processes and prediction of an absolute value
for ‘‘critical Erp’’ is not possible.
Figure 15 shows the calculated Erp for the experimen-
tal conditions of the present work. The three-dimensional
plot represents the Erp vs. distance, on axis, from the tip
of the needle over a wide range of pressures of 13.3 Pa to
26.7 kPa.
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Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 371
Figure 15. Three-dimensional view of Erp vs. distance from the tip
of the needle, on axis, for air, for needle-plane electrodes, no dielec-
tric barrier, at various pressures.
When considering aerospace applications, pressure re-
lates to altitude and E relates to gap voltage and distance.
Conceivably, the effect observed at 9.7 kPa Žabout 16 km
altitude . and 20 mm gap may also be observed at 19.4 kPa
Žabout 12 km altitude . and 10 mm gap. As discussed above,
non-uniformity of electrodes Žor gap geometry. might in-
fluence this relationship. However, the exact relationship
is beyond the scope of the present work.
The variations in discharge current waveforms are the
result of variations in the dominant processes of the dis-
charge. Generally speaking, gas breakdown is initiated
when the local electric-field strength is sufficiently high to
effect electron multiplication Žrapid increase in electron
number density.. At atmospheric pressure, a gas discharge
is generally unstable because the electron mean-free-path
is small, resulting in significant gas heating at an electric-
field magnitude sufficient to effect breakdown. However,
at low pressure, the neutral-gas temperature can be much
lower than electron temperature and a stable ‘‘glow’’ dis-
charge can occur over a long path length and in a rela-
tively large volume. That is, a full gap breakdown is much
more readily attained at pressures where electron mean-
free-paths are long Žbut not longer than the dimensions of
the gap.. It is interesting to note that discharges in He at
atmospheric pressure can display relatively long rise times
w19, 20x.
Electrical conduction within a gaseous dielectric in-
volves a complicated interaction of non-linear charged-
particle processes and an applied electric field. A dis-
charge is initiated by the electric field, but once break-
down occurs, the impedance of the gaseous gap is domi-
nated by the processes within the gap. The transition from
low-magnitude, long-rise-time Townsend-type discharges
to high-magnitude, short-rise-time streamer-type dis-
charges has been reported earlier w7, 21x. At atmospheric
pressure, commercial PD detectors are able to capture the
occurrence of discharges because both discharge types
371
372 Kasten et al.: Partial Discharge Measurements in Air and Argon at Low Pressures
have rise times much less than 1 ␮ s at high pressures.
However, discharges with much longer rise times that can
be found at low pressures are out of the detection capabil-
ities of the same commercially available PD detectors.
Aerospace equipment is designed to operate without Žor
with minimal. discharge activity, making discharge-detec-
tion equipment an important asset in the determination of
the suitability of equipment to perform its functions.
6 CONCLUSIONS
F ROM these test results, the following con-
clusions were drawn:
䢇 The waveforms of the discharge current pulses at dif-
ferent pressures were analyzed. Based on the experiments
discussed above, several typical waveforms of the first dis-
charge current pulses in the pressure range of 13.3 Pa to
101.3 kPa were identified.
䢇 The rise times Žand zero-to-peak times. were longer
for negative discharge current pulses than for positive un-
der the same pressure, which means that the negative
pulses have lower frequency content than the positive
pulses under the same pressure. This is valid for both air
and argon.
䢇 The rise times of the first discharge current pulses for
argon were longer than those for air at the same pres-
sures. Therefore, the positive and negative pulses for ar-
gon have a lower frequency content than those for air un-
der the same pressure.
䢇 PD-detection equipment marketed commercially at
the present time is typically not specifically manufactured
to detect low-frequency discharge current pulses at low
pressures. Such equipment is designed for the detection
and measurement of high-frequency discharge current
pulses at atmospheric pressure. Thus, the modification of
presently available PD-detection equipment Žspecifically,
their filters, frequency response, and pattern recognition
algorithm. and quantification systems is needed for insu-
lation inspection at low pressures.
䢇 The most significant conclusion is that the frequency
content of discharge current pulses is much lower at low
pressures than at atmospheric pressure. For example,
based upon rise-time measurements at low pressures Že.g.,
at 1.3 to 13.3 kPa., the approximate frequency content of
the discharge current pulses is much lower than that at
atmospheric pressure.
When validating electrical components for in-service
applications, it is important Ž1. to test these components
at conditions as near to operational conditions as possible,
and Ž2. to have a standard set of procedures and guide-
lines. Therefore, the thrust of a follow-up effort will be to
provide guidance to industry through the development of
preliminary test standards and to design equipment that
can be commercialized for use by manufacturers in vali-
dating their components.
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The optimum pressure for testing of aerospace compo-
nents is dependent upon the intended operational envi-
ronment. Certainly, equipment must operate reliably at the
pressure that corresponds to the altitude of normal system
operation. For space systems, the vacuum of space is gen-
erally sufficient to assure the absence of discharges. How-
ever, if the equipment is expected to operate during as-
cent or descent, PD could occur at particular altitudes.
The range of pressures that is most favorable to discharge
inception is dependent upon possible gap spacings. It is
expected, however, that pressures down to about 6.7 kPa
Ž0.05 Torr. Žabout 67 km altitude w1x. will present difficul-
ties to most equipment.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Authors gratefully acknowledge the SBIR Program of
the Air Force as the funding source of this project, under
Contract F33615-03-M-2376.
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