Statistical design of large UHV electrodes in air

Prof. W. Mosch, Dr.-lng.Habil., M. Dietrich, Dr.-Ing., E. Lemke, Dr. Sc.Techn., and W. Hauschild, Dr. Sc.Techn.
Indexing terms: Discharge (electric), Breakdown and gas discharges, Arcing

Abstract: The large electrodes of UHV testing equipment are usually designed on the basis of the optimisation of their electric fields. But it is necessary to consider the inception of the streamer and leader discharges. The paper deals with basic models of the statistics of the streamer and leader inception. Examples for the design of UHV electrodes are given.

Introduction

The design of the electrodes for testing equipment in air becomes more important, and more difficult, the higher the voltage to be generated. For instance, at voltages between 4 and 5 MV it is possible to cause breakdown in airgaps of the order of 100 m. [1]. To generate these voltages, the switching-impulse generator need not be higher than 30 m if the electrodes are optimised. The optimisation must consider both the technological problems of manufacturing and economics. Experience shows that the application of well controlled electrode systems delivers optimised solutions. Such electrode systems are obtained by shielding the main electrode at the highest potential by surrounding them with control electrodes [2, 3]. Such control electrodes at different potential can be optimised with respect to the electric field distribution (Fig. 1) and the utilisation of material.
60
70

inception voltages. This problem is closely related to the stochastic processes of streamer formation and streamerleader transition. The stochastic nature of these processes leads to the well known area effects, and also, although superposed by physical phenomena, to time effects. Hence, practically applicable models must be related to the volume time concept, as, for example, used by the Les Renardieres Group [5] for airgaps or Boeck [6] for SF 6 insulations. In this paper, such models for both the streamer formation and the streamer-leader transition are described.
2 Streamer inception

For streamer inception, the generation process of primary electrons, as well as the formation of the electron avalanche to its critical size, has to be considered. Both processes are dependent on the field strength and, therefore, related to space and time. This shall be described by a general space co-ordinate v within the totally available space Vn and the time co-ordinate t within the investigated time interval Tn. The electron generation can be described by a primary electron rate [7-9], i.e. ne = ne(v, t). The avalanche formation is stochastically modelled by a birth-and-death process of free electrons [7, 10, 11]. Such a model delivers the number of electrons N(v, t), and the probability pc(v, t) that the critical number nc, necessary for the streamer inception, is reached if n0 electrons start at a certain point (v0, t0) in the space Vn and the time Tn (critical avalanche probability):
pc(v, t) = p\ max N(v, t) = no/N(v = v0, t = t0) = n0 \
UVn, T,)

(1)

Fig. 1
(b)

Potential lines of a single electrode (a) and an electrode system

The numbers are relative voltages in per cent. a UIS = 3MV;ft Ua = 4.3 MV

Nevertheless, each single UHV electrode with an area of about 100 m2 or more must be designed. This should be done on the basis of the calculation of the streamer and leader inception voltage. Therefore, the electric field computation, which is the classic tool for the design of electrodes [4], must be completed by the calculation of these
Paper 4924A (S3), first received 6th January and in revised form 12th July 1986 Prof. Mosch and Dr. Lemke are with the Section of Electrical Engineering, Dresden Technical University, Dr. Dietrich and Dr. Hauschild are with VEB Transformatoren und Rontgenwerk, Herman Matern, Belrieb des VEB Kombinat Aulomatisierungsanlagenbau, Overbeckstrasse 48, DDR-8030, Dresden, East Germany

For simple special cases, e.g. uniform fields or coaxial cylinders, eqn. 1 can be solved [7, 10] using ionisation and attachment coefficients; but for this semi-empirical consideration it is sufficient to assume a general (time- and space-dependent) critical avalanche probability pc(v, t). The whole breakdown process is the connection between the primary electron generation and the avalanche process which can be modelled by an inhomogeneous Poisson process as described in Reference 7. The intensity (or hazard rate) of this process is for the given space {Vn)
k(K,t)=\\\pc(v,t)ne(v,t)dv
(Vn)

(2)

or, more generally,

MP, t) = pe(v, t)njiv, t)

(3)
547

IEE PROCEEDINGS,

Vol. 133, Pt. A, No. 8, NOVEMBER

1986

On the other hand, the hazard rate is generally related to the corresponding distribution function F(v, t) by
l{v, i) = dF(v, t)/dv dt 1 - F(v, t) (4)

(An)

F*(EiS)

A0T0 Jo JJ

t)) da dt

(9)

Therefore the distribution function of streamer inception field strength EiS(Vn, Tn)* is given by

With eqn. 8 and one reference function F0(EiS), recalculated for Ao = 100 cm2 and To = 100 /is, from many experiments, the distribution functions for switching-impulse

1 - exp

t))dvdt\

(5)

For large UHV electrodes in air, the volume effect of the streamer-inception field strength can be reduced to an area effect [11]. Additionally, the application of the aforementioned Poisson process offers the possibility to introduce an empirically determined intensity (hazard rate) X(Et^a, t)) for a small area element Ao and a well defined, short stressing time To. Consequently, the area-time effect, which means the extrapolation from (Ao, To) to (An, Tn) for any field strength distribution on the surface of the UHV electrode and any time curve of the stressing voltage, can be calculated by F( jS (A, Tn)) =
1 - exp " [ I l(EiS(a,
o

t)) da dt

(6)

With the empirical intensity obtained from a known reference distribution

X{EiS{a, t)) = log e [l - F0{EiS{a, t))] (7)

=30 streamer inception field strength EiS,kV/cm Fig. 2 Distribution function of the streamer inception field strength (schematically) (i) Large UHV electrode (A,, TJ, F,(Ea) (ii) Extremely disturbed electrode (A,, To) (iii) Extremely clean electrode (An, To) (iv) Recalculated reference distribution function (Ao, To), FO(EIS)

=10

one obtains the so-called generalised enlargement rule [11] for extrapolations Fn(EiS,An,Tn))
1 exp

T (A )
n

voltage (one stress) and for alternating voltage (with 20 kV/s continuous increase to breakdown) were calculated (Fig. 3) and compared with measurements [12]. There is a remarkably good agreement between calculation and measurement. If the streamer-inception voltage UiS is of interest, a

" f\og f {l JJ
e

- F0(EiS(a,

t))}dadt\

(8)

The intensity X, in eqn. 6 or 7, or the reference distribution function F0(lS), in eqn. 8, are calculated or measured for a uniform field with the area Ao and a stressing time To. For given values of An, Ao, Tn, To and measured Fn(EiS), it is also possible to use the inversion of eqn. 8 for the determination of F0(EiS). The generalised distribution function of the streamerinception field strength of large UHV electrodes in air is an additive mixing distribution as shown in Fig. 2 (curve i). The limiting curves can be measured for electrode surfaces extremely polluted by water drops, ice or other strong defects (curve ii), and for very clean electrodes (curve iii). The behaviour of UHV electrodes under normal laboratory conditions is determined by the wide region between the two limiting curves. This region is strongly influenced by the area of the electrode {An) and the stressing time (Tn) as well as by the cleanliness of the environment. Only for this region of low probabilities is the reference distribution F0(EiS) of interest (curve iv). In this region also, eqn. 8 can be simplified to
* This is the maximum field strength on the electrode, which is assumed as undisturbed, at the streamer inception.

0.0001 18

20 22 2A 26 28 30 streamer inception field strength Eis,kV/cm Fig. 3 Calculated and measured streamer inception field strength for a toroid-to-plane arrangement calculated for SI 250 x 2500 calculated for AC (50 Hz)

IEE PROCEEDINGS, Vol. 133, Pt. A, No. 8, NOVEMBER 1986

geometric coefficient cG describing the relationship between the voltage and the maximum field strength has to be included into the reference distribution function F0(iS(a, t), cG). Eqn. 8 obtains the form

UiS. It should be mentioned that this phenomenon, observed at very large electrodes, is different from the leader formation in strongly nonuniform field. There a leader is initiated only by several streamer discharges following each other. In this case, the leader-inception FJLUa) = voltage UiL is much higher than the streamer-inception voltage UiS [5]T iA r i C " fl Taking into account the stochastics of the streamer to -F 0 ( I S (fl,t),c c )}dadtl ~ exP TT leader transition, the critical streamer length lSc has to be A \_ o 'o Jo JJ (10) considered as a random quantity. Based on experimental studies on large-scale UHV electrodes stressed by AC voltand eqn. 9 becomes ages up to 3.2 MV (peak value), as well as SI voltages up to 5 MV, it has been found that the distribution function T (11) of the critical streamer length Fr(/S(.(a, t)) can be approx\ " f f F0(E^a, t), cG) da dt Fn(UiS) = imated by a Gaussian function with the parameters Jo JJ H = 3.5 m and a = 0.5 m. Because the streamer to leader transition is determined 3 Streamer to leader transition by the stochastics of the streamer discharges, so the leader inception probability is determined by both the streamer If a streamer discharge is initiated at the inception voltage inception probability and the probability that the UiS, the extension of the streamer zone ls can be estimated based on the potential distribution <p(x) in the electrode maximum streamer length /Sm exceeds a crticial value ZSc. Consequently, the reference distribution function of the arrangement. According to Reference 3, the following maximum field strength for the streamer inception F0(EnS), formula can be used as well as the distribution function for the critical streamer UiS - <p(x = length Fr(lsc) a r e decisive for the distribution function of (12) the leader inception voltage F(UiL). With a geometric coefficient kG, describing the relation Here q>(x = ls) is the potential at the distance x = ls from between the voltage and the extension of the critical field the HV electrode, where a space-charge-free field is conregion, the leader-inception voltage can be expressed by sidered. s is the average streamer gradient, which can be assumed to be 4.5 kV/cm for positive streamers. r i jr. rr Starting from random streamer-inception points P, at FJLUu) = 1 - exp loge the HV electrode, the streamer length along every field line L^o'oJo JJ o can be estimated for a given starting voltage UiS for the streamers. This procedure results into a critical field x {1 - F o ( j s (a, t), cG)Fr(lSc(a, t), kG)} da dti (13) region, as shown in Fig. 4. For low probabilities and the assumption that the streamer-inception voltage is significantly lower than the leader inception voltage (UiS < g UiL, F0(EiS ~ UiL) = 1), a relationship similar to that of eqn. 9 is obtained: 1

Fr(lSc,kG)dadt

(14)

For electrodes with very large radii of curvature, there is the effect that, at relatively low field strengths (around 10 kV/cm), the extension of the critical field region is larger than the critical streamer length. If the electrode is disturbed, e.g. by a water drop, a streamer can ignite and directly transit into a leader at such low field strengths that
JLUu) = FJLUa). Conclusions

(15)

Fig. 4 Critical field region for the streamer discharge for a toroid electrode at a given inception voltage of U& = 1.8 MV

If the streamer inception voltage UiS increases, the extension of the critical field region becomes longer and longer. Comprehensive studies showed that, finally, a leader discharge is formed at a critical condition [5], i.e. if the maximum extension of the streamer zone /Sm exceeds a critical value /Sc [13]. In this case, the leader inception voltage UiL corresponds to the streamer-inception voltage
IEE PROCEEDINGS, Vol. 133, Ft. A, No. 8, NOVEMBER 1986

With respect to the safe operation of UHV and HV testing equipment, leader discharges at their electrodes cannot be allowed in any circumstances. The minimum criterion for the design of electrodes is, therefore, a relationship between the maximum output voltage Um0 of the equipment and a certain quantity of the leader-inception voltage UiLq calculated by eqn. 13, e.g. with a breakdown probability of q = 0.01,
UUJOI > Um0 (16)

If the electrode must be free of partial discharges (PD),

549

instead of UiLq the PD inception voltage, which is practically identical with the streamer-inception voltage UiSq (eqn. 10), has to be used. The optimum design of large electrodes, based on the numerical calculation of their electric fields, requires the calculation of both the streamer- and the leader-inception voltage, as described earlier in the paper. But, depending on the conditions of the electric field, the following cases should be differentiated: {a) For a slightly nonuniform field strength distribution and an unpolluted surface of the electrodes, the streamer reaches the critical length for the leader inception (/Sc) directly from its own inception. Consequently, the whole process is determined by the streamer inception. In eqn. 13, Fr(lso ka) = 1 is valid and this equation is identical with eqn. 10, this means UiS = UiL. As the breakdown voltage Ub is determined by the further development of the leader, direct breakdown without stable leader is also possible, this means UiS = UiL = Ub. (b) For the same field strength distribution, but with an electrode surface polluted by water layers, ice, dust or strong roughness, at U = UiS a streamer does not always reach the critical length lSc, and the leader-inception voltage must be calculated according to eqn. 13. (c) For extremely polluted electrodes and for more non-. uniform field-strength distributions, the streamer may never reach the critical length lSc at its inception. The leader inception is independent of the streamer inception (therefore, F0(EiS, cG) = 1 can be assumed) and is controlled by the voltage-dependent streamer length. For calculations eqn. 14 can be used. (d) For extremely large electrodes, which are strongly polluted, the inception of the streamer will lead to its direct growth to the critical length lSc and the leader inception. Because of UiL = UiS (eqn. 15) the critical voltage again has to be calculated according to eqn. 10. The practical design procedure starts with choosing the principle of the shielding (field control, Fig. 1) and of the main geometric parameters of the electrode. Then the electric field is calculated numerically although the inception voltages UiS and UiL (eqns. 10 and 13) are determined by computer. If multisegment electrodes (polygon electrodes) [14] are used, then the field enhancement on the single plates must be considered. The calculated values are compared with the maximum output voltage (eqn. 16); if the design criterion is not fulfilled, the geometry of the electrode must be improved and the cycle of computation is repeated up to an optimum design. For 'indoor testing equipment', the electrodes are not strongly affected by environmental influences; therefore a breakdown process according to case {a) can be assumed. The low probabilities of the streamer-inception voltages, important for design, are advantageously determined on the basis of eqn. 11. As an example, Fig. 5 shows the multisegment electrodes (diameter 2.8 m) of a direct voltage indoor generator for 2 MV [15]. For 'outdoor testing equipment', the influence of disturbances like rain, ice, corrosion, etc. on the electrodes cannot be neglected; therefore streamers cannot be avoided, but their transition into leaders should be prevented. The leader inception according to the case (c), or for large UHV generators according to case (d), is used for the design of the electrodes. On this basis, the controlled electrodes (Fig. 1) of large outdoor testing equipment were designed: Fig. 6 shows the electrode system of an impulse generator for a cumulative charging voltage of 7 MV [16]. The diameter of the big rings is 11 m with a tube diameter
550

Fig. 5

Multisegment electrodes at a direct voltage generator for 2 MV

Fig. 6 Impulse voltage generator for 7 MV Maximum output switching impulse voltage = 4.3 MV

IEE PROCEEDINGS, Vol. 133, Pi. A, No. 8, NOVEMBER 1986

Model of an alternating voltage cascade transformer for 3 MV

of 1.1 m. Fig. 7 shows the electrode systems of an alternating voltage cascade transformer for 3 MV RMS, which is now under manufacture. The electrodes with a total area of about 1700 m2 and a tube diameter of 1.5 m must be guaranteed for safe operation for continuous peak voltages up to 4.2 MV. 5 References

1 WATERS, R.T.: 'Breakdown in nonuniform fields', IEE Proc. A, 1981, 128, (4), pp. 319-325 2 MOSCH, W., LEMKE, E., ENGELMANN, E., and DIETRICH, M.: 'Dimensioning of screening electrodes for UHV tests equipment based on a critical streamer intensity'. 3rd Int. Symp. H.V.Eng., Milan, 1979, paper 52.04

3 LEMKE, E., MOSCH, W., DIETRICH, M., and SPIEGELBERG, J.: 'Dimensioning of electrodes in air for ultra high voltages'. 4th Int. Symp. H.V.Eng., Athens, 1983, paper 44.01 4 MOELLER, J., STEINBIGLER, H., and WEISS, P.: 'Feldstarkeverlauf auf Abschirmelektroden fur ultrahohe Spannungen'. 1st Int. Symp. H.V.Eng., Munich, 1972, pp. 36-42 5 LES RENARDIERES G R O U P : 'Research on long air gap discharges at Les Renardieres', Electro, 1972, (23), pp. 53-157; 1974, (35), pp. 49-156 and 1977, (53), pp. 31-153 6 BOECK, W.: 'Volumen-Zeit-Gesetz beim StoBspannungsdurchschlag von SF 6 ', ETZ Archiv., 1975, 96, pp. 300-305 7 HAUSCHILD, W , SPECK, J., SCHWARZ. J., and DIGMAYER, M.: 'Zum EinfluB stochastischer Prozesse auf das zeitliche Durchschlagverhalten schwach inhomogener Felder im SF 6 ', Z. Elektr. Informations & Energietechnik, 1982, 12, (4), pp. 289-318; (S), pp. 385-403 8 HUTZLER, B., RIQUEL, G., and BERGER, G.: 'Applicability of the critical volume concept at high pressures'. 4th Int. Symp. H.V.Eng., Athens, 1983, paper 31.07 9 DIEDERICH, K.J.: 'Inception times and formation time lags of predischarges in SF 6 '. Ibid., Athens, 1983, paper 31.10 10 HAUSCHILD, W.: 'Statistical aspects of the electrical breakdown in SF 6 and air'. ICPIG XVII, Budapest, 1985, invited paper 11 HAUSCHILD, W., and MOSCH, W.: 'Statistik fur Elektrotechniker' (VEB Verlag Technik, Berlin, 1984) 12 DIETRICH, M.' 'Dimensionierung von groBflachigen Elektroden fur Hochspannungs-Priifanlagen mit Abgabespannungen im Megavoltbereich'. Thesis, 1982, Dresden Technical University 13 MOSCH, W., LEMKE, E., and BURGER, W.: 'Zur Dimensionierung von Abschirmelektroden fur Priifanlagen sehr hoher Spannung'. 2nd Int. Symp. H.V.Eng., Zurich, 1975, pp. 560-564 14 HAUSCHILD, W., DIETRICH, M , SCHUFFT, W., and SCHWAB, H.: 'Teller-Segmentelektroden fur Hochspannungspriifanlagen'. Electrie, 1983, 37, (4), pp. 189-192 15 FRANK, H., HAUSCHILD, W., KANTELBERG, J., SCHWAB, H., and SPIEGELBERG, J.: 'HVDC testing generator for short-time polarity reversal on load'. 4th Int. Symp. H.V.Eng., Athens, 1983, paper 51.05 16 DIETRICH, M., FRANK, H., and KUCERA, J.: '7-MV-FreiluftImpulsspannungsgenerator fur das Hochstspannungspriiffeld des Instituts fur Energetik in Prag', Elektrie, 1981, 35, (7), pp. 343-345

IEE PROCEEDINGS,

Vol. 133, Pt. A, No. 8, NOVEMBER

1986