ECE 665 - Spring 2020

High Voltage Engineering Applications

Generation of High DC Voltages

S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 HVDC Transmission
AC power needs to be
converted at this HV levels
for economical transmission

Specially designed
transformers for
converter stations

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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 HVDC Transmission
Some recent projects

https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxjQkDDP1mXWo6uco/wiki/List_of_HVDC_projects.html
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 HVDC System – Converter Station
A view of a converter station showing the rectifier
(converter) switches)

1A = 6.25  1018 Currents of magnitudes of 100s to 1000A is common in these

power converter stations. The switches used for converting
electrons flow per second. AC into DC must allow and interruption of such high
magnitudes of currents.

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 Generation of DC Voltages
A high-voltage, direct current (HVDC) transmission system is used
for the bulk transmission of electrical power, in contrast with the more
common alternating current (AC) systems. With the renewable sources
added to the grind on a constant basis, HVDC links are becoming
necessary for the system.
In this section, generation of DC voltages for testing power equipment
and other industry applications are covered. The required high voltages
are generated using unique rectifier circuits (converting from AC to DC).
Also, the electrostatic generators used in the generation of extremely
high voltage DC for other applications are discussed.

References:
Chapter 2 – Generation of High Voltages, “High Voltage Engineering - Fundamentals”, 2nd
Edition, E. Kuffel, W. S. Zaengl, and J. Kuffel, Newnes, 2000.

Reference Material 1: Manual for Sames Generator

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 High DC Voltages
High DC voltages are required in applications like:
 Insulation tests on AC power equipment
 Insulation tests on converter station equipment
 Charging of Impulse generators
 Pure and applied physics research
 Instrumentation
 Electrostatics applications
Some examples:
Electroplating, electro photography, x-rays and electron beam
generation, spray painting, electron micrographs, etc.

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 High DC Voltages
Generation of High DC Voltages:

 Rectifier Circuits
 Half wave and Full wave Rectifiers
 Voltage doublers
 Voltage multipliers (cascade circuits)

 Electrostatic Generators
 Van de Graaff Generator – Belt driven type
 Felici’s (Sames) Generator – Rotating drum type

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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 Rectifier Circuits
Half wave rectifier circuit

Ripple for a half wave rectifier (HWR) = I/2fC,

and for a full wave rectifier (FWR) = I/4fC,

where I is the load current, f the supply

voltage frequency. Ripple is halved for a FWR
compared to that of a HWR.

Full wave rectifier circuit

In a full-wave rectifier diodes D1 and D2

conduct during the positive half-cycle and
D3 and D4 conduct during the negative
half-cycle. Since the conduction takes
place during both half-cycles, the output
rectified voltage is much smoother than
that of the half-wave rectifier. Further, the
ripple factor for a full-wave rectifier is
lower than that for a half-wave rectifier.
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 HV Transformer – Rectifier Circuits
Transformer – Rectifier resonant circuits are used to energize electrostatics
precipitators (ESP) that require HV DC. The current requirements of these
generators is much larger than those used in HV insulation testing work.

(a) Series resonant circuit and (b) Parallel resonant circuit.

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 HV HWR – Circuit Analysis
As per the international standard, the arithmetic mean
value of a DC voltage is defines as:

The ripple is defined as:

Charge Q transferred to the load during one period is:

αT is the Or, the magnitude of charge delivered by the capacitor

conduction
period

the charge transferred during the interval, α T is:

CV = Q
Half-wave Rectifier Circuit:
(a) Topology and (b) Voltage and Current
Waveforms

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 High Voltage Low Current DC Generators
Voltage Doubler Circuit

Input AC

 When the potential at point A is negative, diode

D1 conducts, charging C1 to Vmax. With polarity
as marked.

 When the potential at A rises (from –Vmax to 0),

the potential at M swings to +Vmax.

 Since C1 holds Vmax; D2 is forward biased, and it

conducts, charging C2 to +2Vmax with respect to
ground, when potential at A reaches Vmax.

 For very high voltages, voltage multiplier Cockcroft-Walton voltage doubling

circuit
circuits are used.
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 Cockroft – Walton Multiplier Circuit
 Bottom most stage: It is a
voltage doubler circuit.
 Capacitors on the left (boxed
using red lines) form the
Oscillating Column, where the
potential changes with input AC.
 Capacitors on the right (boxed
using green lines) form the
Smoothing Column, where the
voltage is “relatively” constant
with respect to ground potential.
 With n number of stages, the
output voltage is 2Vmax  n,
without any load.
Doubler circuit
 The diodes and capacitors are
rated for a maximum of 2Vmax.

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 Multiplier Circuit Analysis

A B Voltage waveforms at different

A voltage doubler circuit.
stages when the generator is not
loaded (I = 0).
The bottom most stage of a multiplier is a voltage
doubler circuit.
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 Multiplier Circuit Analysis – Ripple factor, V
Load
HV HWR – Circuit Analysis
current, I

If no charge is transferred during T from the

smoothing column stack via D1’ D2’..Dn’ to the
oscillating column, the peak-to-peak ripple is

But, just before the time instant t2 , diodes D1’ D2’ ..Dn’
Test transfer the charge q to upper levels in addition to
Object supplying the load; hence, the total ripple will be:

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 Multiplier Circuit Analysis
Definition of voltage drop when the generator is loaded.
Load
current, I

The output voltage generated depends on

the number of stages, load current, and
the charge lost during charging and
discharging cycles of all capacitors.

Output voltage, V0max, and the total voltage

drop, V0 are given below. Where, n, f and I
are the number of stages, frequency of
input AC, and the load current,
respectively.
Test
Object

Vomax  2 nVmax - Vo

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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 Multiplier Circuit Analysis – considering only two stages
Load  The oscillating column capacitors C1
current, I and C2 are charged when the
diodes D1 and D2 are conducting.
D1
 The charge is then transferred to the
smoothing column capacitors, C1
and C2 when the diodes D1 and D2
C1 C1 are conducting.
D2 Test  When a test object is connected to
Object
the generator terminals, C1 and C2
discharge into the load (test object).
C2 C2  The output voltage generated
depends on the load current, and the
charge lost during charging and
discharging cycles of all capacitors.
 Thus, when the generator is loaded,
I > 0, there will be both the ripple on
the voltage, and the voltage drop.

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 Multiplier Circuit Analysis – Voltage drop

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 Multiplier Circuit Analysis – Voltage drop

V2 + V1 = 2q/C + 5q/C = 7q/C = 7I/f C

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 Multiplier Circuit Analysis – Voltage drop
Refer to the text for derivations
To find the voltage drop due to lost charge, consider the
following analysis:
Charging of capacitors: the capacitor Cn will only be
charged to a voltage of:

as Cn has lost a total charge of nq during a full cycle before

and Cn’ has to replace this lost charge. The subsequent
capacitors are also charged accordingly.

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 Multiplier Circuit Analysis – Voltage drop

By doubling Cn′ voltage drops can be reduced; hence,

For the above case, with n  4, the output voltage can be

approximated as:

The output voltage corresponding to the optimum

number of stages, nopt is given as:

Definition of voltage drop and ripple

when the generator is loaded.

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 Cockroft – Walton type Generators
The manual shows
the generic ripple
values for the
Glassman 4kW and 8
kW models as
follows:

Better than 0.1% RMS

of rated voltage at full
load up to 125 kV.
Better than 0.05%
RMS for 150 kV and
higher.

HV DC Generator: 900kV/10mA UW-HVEL 300kV/20mA DC Generator

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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 Compact HV DC Generator
Cross’ Power Supply

 Output Voltage: 1 MV; variable

from 0.1 to 1 MV continuously
 DC current: 4 mA minimum and
28 mA maximum
 Stored energy: ~ 100J
 Operating environment: SF6 >
60psi; and temperature < 35 oC.
 Voltage ripple:  2kV
 Size: 40 x 28 x 36 inches
 Weight: ~ 150 kg.

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 Compact HV DC Generator
Cross’ Power Supply

US Patent 5631815 Cross et al.,

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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 Compact HV DC Generator
Cross’ Power Supply

Each board is rated for 12.5 kV

Stacked boards

24 US Patent 5631815 Cross et al., S. Jayaram, ECE UW

 Compact HV DC Generator
Cross’ Power Supply

Completed Assembly

Stacked boards with

25 compensating capacitors
S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 High DC Voltages
Generation of High DC Voltages using
Electrostatic Generators
 Belt-driven Electrostatic Generators

- Van de Graaff Generator.

 Rotating drum type Electrostatic Generators

- Sames (Felici’s) Generator.

If the charge is mechanically displaced against

the force, the potential of the charge will
increase and the work done will be converted
into electrical energy.

Basis of operation of Electrostatic Generators

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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 Corona Discharges
+ +

Local ionization leads to

_ _ charge injection

DC Corona visual

Point electrode at
negative (-) potential

Point electrode at
positive (+) potential

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 High DC Voltages

 Charges are generated by

means of corona and
sprayed on to an insulating
surface (belt or drum).

 Charges are moved

against the electric (static)
field using mechanical
force.

 As the work is done, the

potential rises with the
energy converting from
one form to another.

Belt driven Van de Graaff Generator

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 Electrostatic Generators
Belt driven Van de Graaff Generator
 The potential of the HV terminal
V = Q/C; where, Q is the
stored charge, and C the
capacitance of the terminal to
ground. The potential rises at a
rate: dV/dt = I/C
 The Charging current, I = S b v;
where S is the surface charge
density, b is the belt width, and v
is the belt velocity.
 Equilibrium is established when
the charging current is equal to
the discharging current.
 Discharging current = leakage
Van de Graaff Generator current + load current.

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 Belt-driven Electrostatic Generators

 These type of belt driven

generators suffer from low
currents, (100s of micro-amps).
 A self-inducing arrangement can
be added to double the current.
This can be achieved by
maintaining the upper pulley at a
potential higher than the HV
terminal.
 Thus opposite polarity changes
can be sprayed on the down going
belt, to raise the rate of charging.

Van de Graaff Generator

Shortcomings: Limited current output due to the limitations in belt speed,
vibrations, and grading the electrical field.
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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 High DC Voltages

25-MV electrostatic tandem accelerator (Oak Ridge

National Laboratory)
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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 Drum type Electrostatic Generators
Sames (Felici) Generator

Cross sectional view

1- Stator, 2-Insulating rotor, 3-Ionizer, 4-Contacts, 5-Auxiliary
generator, 6-Load and 7-Insulating core

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S. Jayaram, ECE UW
 Drum type Electrostatic Generators
Sames (Felici’s) Generator

Working principle: The insulating rotor is driven at high rpm by a motor. Ions from an
exciter are sprayed onto the rotor at the charging poles. Transfer of charge takes place by
means of thin blades placed a short distance from the rotor.
Current rating is still low. ~ 5 to 10mA @500kV.
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S. Jayaram, ECE UW