A- I
THE ROLE OF SPACE CHARGES IN PD-PROCESSES
Rainer PATSCH and Farhad BERTON
Institute of Materials & Diagnostics in Electrical Engineering
University of Siegen, Germany
ABSTRACT
For many years, PD-analyses have been a widely used
tool in the condition monitoring of electric equip-
ment. Over the years, many tools have been developed
in the aim to characterise the empirical data. Usually
fiequency distributions of accumulated data are consid-
ered and displayed as purely descriptive +qn-patterns.
The usually comparatively broad distributions of the
phase angles of occurrence are supposed to be a result
of a statistical scatter in the discharge process.
The carehl analysis of the sequence of discharges in
different high voltage apparatuses revealed that in many
cases a systematic shift of the phase angles of wcur-
rence with a periodicity of a few cycles of the applied
voltage occurs. The reason for this is a build-up or
modification of local space charges by every partial
discharge pulse. These space charges generate an addi-
tional local electric field that superimposes on the field
generated by the externally applied voltage. The paper
shows that taking these phenomena into account, the
discharge process reveals to be highly deterministic and
can be described by a model involving only a few
physically relevant parameters.
BASIC PHYSICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Within a dielectric a local voltage distribution exists that
is determined by capacitive and ohmic field grading.
In dependence on the frequency of the voltage applied
to the dielectric, the one or the other effed is predomi-
nant. If the local electric field in a small region is higher
than the electric strength of the dielectric material in this
region a local breakdown - a partial discharge - oc-
curs. This breakdown generates a small avalanche of
charge carriers that may or may not lead to a local
degradation of the material. Not depending on the actual
situation i.e. degradation or not, the partial discharge
modifies the local field distribution and leads to a tiny
drop of the voltage at the external connections of the
object under test. The monitoring of the partial dis-
charge is done by the measurement of the external cur-
rent that is needed to restore the voltage across the
specimen that had been present before the partial dis-
charge.
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The charge carriers of the tiny local avalanche producc
an additional electric field that superimposes on the
field generated from the external voltage. The local
breakdown stops as soon as the local electric field is too
small to maintain the avalanche mechanism. The next
discharge may occur in the same half wave of the ap-
plied voltage when this diminution of the local electric
field has been compensated by an externally induced
increase of the local electric field, and the local electric
field again exceeds the local electric strength. In some
cases a decrease of the field modifying influence of the
local space charge with time occurs and has to be taken
into account also. The diminution of the local electric
field in one polarity of the applied voltage is equivalent
to an increase of the local electric field in the opposite
polarity of the applied voltage. A partial discharge in
this half wave of the applied voltage will occur at a
lower voltage than without the local space charges.
Hence not the absolute value of the applied voltage is a
characteristic parameter in partial discharge processes
but the voltage change needed to trigger the next
discharge. It is obvious that - except for the absence of
local space charges - the phase angle of Occurrence
cannot be taken as a representative parameter for the
discharge process.
SHIFT OF PHASE ANGLES OF OCCURRENCE
If the sequence of discharges is looked at in detail, in
many cases a systematic shift of the phase angles of
occurrence is found. After a few cycles of the applied
voltage a reset occurs and -with or without a discharge
fieetime interval inbetween-the shift starts again [l-31.
12) I
gt
0
110
-
~~
210 310 410 510
tin ms
Fig. 1: Time differences between consecutive discharges on
the surface of an aluminium nitride (AlN)-cooling device
(used in semiconductorpress-packs)
This phenomenon occurs as well with small specimens
in the lab as well as with commercial apparatuses as e.g.
power transformers etc. as long as the applied voltage is
not so high that non-correlated discharge pulses from
many different defects occur simultaneously.
Even with snrface discharges on inorganic insulating
materials the influence of surfhce charges can be found.
Fig. 1 shows the time intervals At between consecutive
discharges if AIN-cooling devices are tested between
metallic electrodes in air. Under these experimental
conditions at low voltages two discharge pulses per
cycle of the applied 50 HZ AC-voltage occur.
The sequence of the time intervals At between consecu-
tive discharges displays a very interesting behaviour.
After a few discharge pulses with time differences of
about 10 ms, a polarity influence occurs. Different time
intervals occur in dependence whether the voltage dif-
ference between consecutive discharges is positive or
negative. The time differences before negative dis-
charges are longer than time differences before positive
discharges. Interestingly this lasts only for a few dis-
charges. After that for three or four discharges the
symmetric behaviour returns again. After that the non-
symmetric behaviour starts again and so on. The expla-
nation for this must be a shift of the initially symmetric
AC-voltage load by local electric DC-fields due to
charges on the ALN-surfaces. These charges are not
permanent or e.g. monotonously increasing with time,
they appear for some cycles and disappear again.
If under the application of a 50 Hz AC-voltage partial
discharges occur every 10 ms, the magnitude of the
local electric field that is necessary for the ignition of
the discharge is the same for both polarities. This im-
plies also that the local electric field at the defect is
symmetric.
If the time difference to the consecutive discharge in the
opposite polarity of the applied voltage is smaller than
10 ms, the corresponding voltage change is smaller than
the change in the opposite direction (if the discharges
occur in the inclining part of the voltage curve). Since
the local electric field necessary for the ignition of the
discharge is unchanged, the local electric field must
have been modified compared to the geometrically
determined field due to the external voltage. This is
done by local charges generated by the previous dis-
charge. The interesting finding is that these surface
charges build-up and disappear within a few cycles of
the applied 50 Hi voltage.
MODIFICATION OF THE LOCAL ELECTRIC
FIELD
In electric equipment in most cases partial discharges
modify the local electric field around a defect and hence
change the ignition conditions. This may occur either in
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a reversible way as in the case shown in Fig. 1, or in an
irreversible way. The last mentioned effect leads to an
ageing of the electric equipment. The first mentioned
effect leads only to an apparent scatter of the phase
angles at which the discharges occur.
E,. tM
-1B
Fig. 2: Sequence of discharge pulses, external voltage and
additional electric field of the space charges generated by
the discharge process in a commercial hv-transformer
Fig. 2 shows a typical sequence of discharge pulses, the
external voltage curve and the additional electric field
AE, generated by the local space charges built-up by the
discharge pulses. Partial discharges occur always when
the superposition of the local electric field generated by
the external voltage and the local space charge field
exceeds the local electric strength of the dielectric. The
local electric strength is indicated by dotted lines. In one
graph the absolute values for the local electric strength
are identical for both polarities. If the electric strength is
polarity dependent even in discharge free intervals a
local space charge exists. The superposition of the space
charge field on the initially symmetric AC-field gener-
ates the local electric field that is responsible for the
partial discharge process.
Another example of a sequence of discharges is shown
in Fig. 3. This graph contains also the discharge pulse
polarities and a reconstruction of the local electric field
produced by space charges generated or modified by the
discharge pulses. In this case a change of the local space
charges must have occurred in the region of the voltage
maxima even without externally measurable partial
discharges.
-1B ; IO m P
I
ut
toma
Fig. 3: Discharge pulses, external voltage and reconstruction
of the space charge field in the stator of a motor
EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT
Usually an equivalent circuit with three capacitors and a
spark gap F is used for the discussion of partial dis-
charge phenomena. Since this equivalent circuit is not
sufficient for the treatment of the space charge phenom-
ena discussed, Fig. 4 shows an extended equivalent
circuit.
P periments. This concept includes also the time depend-
A
Fig. 4: Equivalent circuit for the description of partial
discharge processes if local space charges are of impor-
tance
The capacitance C4 produces the voltage drop that mod-
els the opposing electric field generated by the space
charges. The resistor & characterises the decay of this
space charge with time. The time constant zqis given by
r4= &C4. The resistor Rsis needed to simulate any
local space charge built-up that may OCCUT without ex-
ternally measurable discharges. Such a behaviour has
been found in some cases 141.
- El(t) = Eo(t) + AEq(t); zq- = 0.5 cycles; ?q' =5 cycles
, - ~ electric field E&) according to external voltage U(t)
________ electric field AEq(t) according to space charges
Fig. 5: Physical model for the simulationof pd pulse sequencesand relevant diagnosticparameters
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MODEL FOR THE SIMULATION OF PD-
PROCESSES
Based on only three physically relevant parameters (the
initiation field of the local avalanche, the field reset by
the space charge generated by the discharge, and the
time constant for the decay of this space charge), a
numerical simulation model of the partial discharge
process was worked out [5, 61 and successhlly applied
to generate patterns similar to those found in the ex-
ent decay of space charges generated by the partial
discharges. The time constants: T are characteristic for
the dielectric and may be different for positive and
negative space charges. Fig. 5 demonstrates the under-
lying concept and displays the change of the local elec-
tric field as a consequence of the partial discharge proc-
ess. Typical measurement parameters of the Pulse Se-
quence Analyses (PSA) - a diagnostic tool for partial
discharge analyses based on the aforementioned concept
- such as AU and At are indicated also. The relevance of
these parameters is obvious. Fig. 6 shows AU-plots of
measurements of three different laboratory specimens
and of the results of corresponding numerical simula-
tions and the numerical parameters used.
DISCUSSION OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
In the past it has been shown that as a consequence of
local space charges generated by the discharge pulses in
many cases (in contrast to a broad scatter of the phase
angles of occurrence) only a few definite voltage dif-
ferences between consecutive discharges occur and that
this can be efficiently used for defect characterisation
[7, 81. For a needle in polyethylene it has been shown,
that under specific conditions field modifying space
charges can be generated also without detectable dis-
charges [4].

Fig. 6: Scatter plots of measured (top) and simulated dis-
charge sequences for different types of defects and parame-
ters used in the numerical simulation for a) point to dielectric,
b) electrode bounded cavity and c) electrical treeing; the
arrows indicate the sequence of data points
For the electrical treeing process the phenomena before
and after the generation of the hollow tree-channels
were examined in detail [9]. In this case the initial par-
tial discharge pulses are characteristically different
ftom those after the tree-channel generation. Nearly all
discharges have a positive pulse polarity. This is a
direct proof of the existence of a negative space charge
in front of the needle tip.
In a few cases single negative discharge pubes occur
in the decline of positive half waves of the externally
applied voltage. In these cases positive space charges
must have been created in the surrounding of the needle
tip that level off the positive electric field, probably by
the extraction of electrons fiom the dielectric without
externally measurable partial discharge pulses, leaving
behind positive immobile 'ionic' space charges. The
partial discharges generated under these conditions may
be 'bursts' of electron avalanches, injecting electrons
into the positive space charge region near the needle tip.
A detailed analysis of the pulse shape of these dis-
charges revealed differences to the commonly found
discharge pulses.
After the generation of hollow channels the discharge
process changed into the commonly found behaviour.
Fig. 7 demonstrates some of the differences.
CONCLUSIONS
Careh1 analyses of discharge pulse sequences reveal
that local space charges play a decisive role in partial
discharge processes. Based on these effects the Pulse
Sequence Analysis was developed that allows a better
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insight into the phenomena during partial discharge
generation. Especially the use of combinations of se-
quence correlated parameters allows a much better
insight into the underlying physical processes, including
the influence of local space charges.
REFERENCES
[l] Patsch, R.; Hoof, M.; Reuter, C.: Pulse-Sequence-
Analysis, a Promising Diagnostic Tool. ISH'93, Yokohama,
Japan, (1993), IV, 157-60
[2] Patsch, R.; Hoof, M.: Pulse-Sequence-Analysis, the Phys-
ics behind. Int. Workshop on E1'93 & 25. Symp. on
E.I.Mat., Nagoya, Japan, (1993), 111-4
[3] Hoof: M.; Patsch, R.: Analyzing Partial Discharge Pulse
Sequences - A New Approach to Investigate Degradation
Phenomena. ISEI'94, Pittsburgh, USA, (1994), 327-31
[4] Patsch, R; Berton, F.; Jung, J.: Space Charge, Local Elec-
tric Field and Partial Discharges. DMMA2000, Edinburgh,
UK, (2000), 519-22
[5] Hoof, M.; Patsch, R.: Characteristics of Partial Discharge
Pulse Sequences during Electrical Treeing in Polyethylene.
ISH'95, Graz, Austria, (1995), p. 5606
[6] Patsch, R; Hoof, M.: Physical Modeling of Partial Dis-
charge Patterns. ICSD'98, Sweden, (1 998), 114-8
[7] Hoof, M.; Patsch, R.: TE-Impulsfolgen-Analyse,eine neue
Methode zur Untersuchung dielektrischer Schadigungs-
Mechanismen. ETG-Fachtagung '95, Esslingen, Germany,
( 1999, 1 17-22
[8] Hoof, M.; Patsch, R.: Pulse-Sequence-Analysis: A New
Method to Investigate the Physics of PD-Induced Ageing. LEE
Proc. Sci. Meas. Technol., vol. 142, (1995), 95-101
[9] Berton, F.; Patsch, R: The Role of Space Charges in PD-
Processes. APTADM'OI, Wroclaw, Poland, (2001)
Prof Dr. Rainer Patsch
Inst. of Materials & Diagnostics in Electrical Engineering
fax.: +49-271-740-2290, tel: -2299
e-mail: patsch@,wed.et-infuni-siegen.de
-~C
31 : I I 31 I
40
-1
,
' e+' .:+
0-2
-3-8 -4 0 4 8
U(", In kV
--2 -1 0 1 2 --2 -1 0 1 2
AU(".i)' *$".I, *U(".i)' At(".l)
Fig. 7:Diagrams of selected parameters of the last 200 discharge
pulses before a), and the following 200 discharge pulses after b)
the apparent change in the discharge process in electrical treeing
in polyethylene