XVth International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering

University of Ljubljana, Elektroinštitut Milan Vidmar, Ljubljana, Slovenia, August 27-31, 2007 T4-250.pdf

Breakdown in air and along a porcelain insulator under positive switching impulse voltages
L.A. Lazaridis 1* , P.N. Mikropoulos 1 and C .A. Stassinopoulos 1
1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, High Voltage Laboratory, Thessaloniki, 54124, GREECE
*Email: lal@auth.gr

Abstract: Results are presented concerning discharge
development and breakdown in air and along a
porcelain insulator in a short rod-plane gap under
positive switching impulse voltages. Discharge
propagation and breakdown probability distributions
were obtained. The times taken for the discharge to
cross the gap and for breakdown were measured and the
corresponding instantaneous voltages were calculated.
The gap was overstressed so as to study the dependence
of the discharge characteristics on the crest of the
applied voltage. I n the presence of the insulator the
discharge consists of a “surface ” and an “air”
component. At voltages causing 50% breakdown
probability only the “air” component traverses the full
gap and breakdown occurs always in free air. The
“surface” component hinders the development of the
“air” component resulting in the voltages required for
the discharge to cross the gap and for breakdown to be
higher in the presence of the insulator than in air alone.
For higher applied voltages the “surface” component
becomes able to cross the full gap and breakdown may
occur also along the insulator’s surface; both the arrival
of the discharge at the plane and breakdown occur at
shorter times and at lower voltages than in air alone.
This paper comments on discharge characteristics
and breakdown in air and along a porcelain insulator in
a short rod-plane gap under switching impulse voltages;
available experimental data in literature for such
configuration is minimal.
2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
2.1. General arrangement
The gap consisted of a cylindrical brass rod with a
diameter of 1.6 cm hanging over an earthed aluminium
plane (100 cm x 200 cm) placed 80 cm above the floor
of the laboratory. The tip of the rod was conical forming
an angle of 36 o. The gap clearance was 12 cm. A
cylindrical glazed-porcelain insulator (diameter 4.5 cm,
height 12 cm) could be inserted parallel to the rod
electrode, bridging the gap (Fig. 1).
A two-stage Marx generator was used to produce
positive switching impulse voltages of standard wave
shape (220/2100μs), stressing the rod with the plane at
ground potential. A Meek and Collins probe [7]
positioned at the centre of the earthed plane enabled the
oscillographic monitoring of the electric field in the gap.

1 INTRODUCTION
Thorough investigation on surface dielectric strength
of insulators in air is of considerable fundamental and
practical interest where external insulation is concerned.
Therefore, flashover along an insulating surface has
been subject of numerous projects; results are in detail
reviewed, to its time, in [1]. In a uniform field set-up
streamers are propagating faster along an insulating
surface than in air alone though a higher ambient field is
required for them to propagate stably; also, higher fields
are required for breakdown in the presence of an
insulator than in air alone [2]-[3]. In non-uniform field
configurations under standard lightning impulses the
breakdown voltage is lower in the presence of an Fig. 1: Experimental arrangement.
insulator than in air [4]-[5]. However, the opposite is
true under impulses of 1.2/2500 μs waveshape though 2.2. Measurement procedures
positive corona streamers were able to cross the full gap The processes of discharge propagation and
at lower applied voltages in the presence of an insulator breakdown were clearly distinguishable; there was
than in air [6]. Apparently, the field configuration and always a short time interval between the arrival of the
the impulse waveshape are important in determining the discharge at the plane (designated by tar in Fig. 2) and
surface dielectric strength of an insulator. breakdown (designated by tb in Fig. 2).

1

(a) Air
(b) Porcelain
t ar tb ta r tb
Fig. 2: Oscillograms of the electric field at the earthed plane in
air and in the presence of the insulator at voltages causing
100% breakdown [100mV/div, 50μs/div].
It was found that both the probability of the
discharge to cross the gap and of breakdown increases
with increasing applied voltage. Thus, multiple-level
tests [ 8] were performed in order to obtain breakdown
probability distributions and, in an analogous way,
probability distributions of the arrival of the discharge at
the plane. 20 impulse shots were applied per voltage
level at time intervals of 30 s, at gradually increasing
applied voltages Up. The probability distributions were
found to be linear when plotted on normal probability
paper hence, the voltages referring to 50% probability
for the discharge to arrive at the plane Uar50 and for
breakdown U50 together with the corresponding
standard deviations σ were computed.
At each impulse shot from the oscillograms of the
electric field at the plane (Fig. 2) the time taken for the
discharge to cross the gap, time to arrival tar , and the
time to breakdown tb were measured; the corresponding
instantaneous voltages, Uar and Ub respectively, were
calculated after cross referencing the times with the
impulse waveform. For these discharge characteristics,
the mean value and the corresponding σ per voltage
level were calculated. Finally, the gap was overstressed
with applied voltages higher than those causing 100%
breakdown so as to study the dependence of the
discharge characteristics on the applied voltage.
All the voltages were corrected to standard air
density, δ = 1 , by assuming a linear dependence upon δ,
the latter as defined by IEC [8]. Absolute and relative
humidity were roughly constant during the experiments,
11.5g/m3 and 70% respectively.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Fig. 3 shows the probability distributions of the
discharge arrival at the plane and of breakdown both for
air alone and in the presence of the insulator. For the
same applied voltage, the probability for the discharge
100
Arrival Air
90 Arrival Porcelain
Breakdown Air
80
Breakdown Porcelain
70
Probability (%)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Applied Voltage Crest (kV)
Fig. 3: Discharge arrival and breakdown probability
distributions; fitting curves were drawn according to Normal
distribution.
to cross the full gap and also for breakdown is higher in
the case of air alone than in the presence of insulator.
The corresponding 50% arrival and breakdown voltages
are higher in the presence of the insulator than in air
alone; these values are listed in Table 1.
Table 1: 50% arrival and breakdown voltages together with
the corresponding σ(%)
Uar50, kV U50, kV
Air 66.2 (4.6%) 69.1 (2.8%)
Porcelain 71.5 (5.0%) 76.8 (4.5%)
Fig. 4 depicts the variation of the time to arrival and
to breakdown with the applied voltage crest for air and
in the presence of the porcelain insulator; the
corresponding variation of the instantaneous arrival and
breakdown voltages are shown in Fig. 5. Both in air and
in the presence of the insulator the discharge arrives at
the plane at times during the front duration of the
applied impulse, decreasing with Up. The time to
breakdown decreases sharply with Up, from values near
to the crest to shorter values during the wavefront of the
impulse voltage. Consequently, the instantaneous
voltages increase with Up approaching asymptotes at
high Up values (Fig. 5). The presence of the insulator
has minimal effects on the times (Fig. 4) and the
instantaneous voltages (Fig. 5) at low Up values , taking
into account the corresponding σ, however, when the
gap is overstressed both times to arrival and breakdown
are shorter, the corresponding instantaneous voltages
are lower, when compared to the case of air alone.
The effects of the insulator bridging the gap on the
discharge characteristics are also shown in Figs. 6 and 7
by taking into account the relative stress factor Up/U50.
Both times taken for the discharge to cross the gap and
for breakdown are shorter in the presence of the
insulator; this is true for the full Up/U50 variation (Fig.
6). For values of Up/U50 around unity the instantaneous
voltages are higher in the presence of the insulator yet,
this reverses itself for higher Up/U50 values (Fig. 7).
2
 350 110
Arrival Air Arrival Air
Time to arrival & Time to breakdown (μs)

Arrival Porcelain

Inst. Arrival & Breakdown Voltages (kV)

Arrival Porcelain
300 Breakdown Air
100 Breakdown Air
Breakdown Porcelain
Impulse Front Duration Breakdown Porcelain
250

90
200

150
80

100

70
50

0 60
60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
A pplied V oltage C res t (kV ) Relative Stress U p/U50 (p.u.)
Fig. 4: Times to arrival and to breakdown as a function of the Fig. 7: Instantaneous arrival and breakdown voltages as a
applied crest voltage; the straight line represents the front function of the relative stress Up/U50 ; vertical bars represent σ.
duration of the impulse voltage, vertical bars represent σ.

110
Arrival Air 4 DISCUSSION
Inst. Arrival & Breakdown Voltages (kV)

Arrival Porcelain

100 Breakdown Air In the present configuration the arrival of the

Breakdown Porcelain
discharge at the earthed plane was not a sufficient
criterion for breakdown either in air alone or in the
90
presence of the porcelain insulator. There were several
cases of the discharge reaching the plane without
80 following breakdown and whenever breakdown
occurred there was always a time interval between the
70 phases of discharge arrival at the plane and breakdown.
Both in air and in the presence of the porcelain insulator
the discharge crosses the gap through the development
60
60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 of a rudimentary leader propagating with successive
Applied Voltage Crest (kV) leader coronas (Fig. 2). As was shown also before [9],
Fig. 5: Instantaneous arrival and breakdown voltages as a in the presence of the insulator the initial coronas appear
function of the applied voltage crest; vertical bars represent σ. earlier, under lower voltages and with smaller
350
associated charge when compared with the case of air
Arrival Air alone. However, the later stages of the discharge
Time to arrival & Time to breakdown (μs)

Arrival Porcelain
300 Breakdown Air development from being similar in both cases at applied
Breakdown Porcelain
Impulse Front Duration
voltages around U50 they are strongly modified in the
250
case of insulator when the gap is overstressed.
200
From Fig. 4 it is evident that at applied voltages
around U50 in the presence of the insulator both times to
150 arrival and breakdown (Fig. 4) are comparable, taking
into account the corresponding σ, to those found in air
100
alone whereas at voltages higher than U50, when the gap
50
is overstressed, they become significantly shorter.
Analogously, the instantaneous voltages from being
0 comparable in both cases at voltages around U50 they
0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6
Relative Stress U p/U50 (p.u.)
1.8 2.0
become lower in the presence of the insulator compared
Fig. 6: Times to arrival and to breakdown as a function of the with air when the gap is overstressed (Fig. 5). These can
overstress factor Up/U50 ; the straight line represents the front be explained by the fact that in the presence of the
duration of the impulse voltage, vertical bars represent σ. insulator the discharge consists of two components; a
“surface” component propagating along the insulator
In the case of air and under high applied voltages the surface and an “air” component propagating in free air.
relatively big scatter in the values of the instantaneous Photographical evidence is given in Fig. 9 a where the
arrival voltage (Figs. 5 and 7) is caused by the fact that two components of the discharge are clearly visible.
in some of the impulse applications the first corona was At voltages around U50 only the “air” component
sufficiently large for its streamers to be able to cross the traverses the full gap and breakdown occurs always in
full gap. This never occurred in the presence of the free air (Fig. 9b) . However, the “surface” component
insulator. hinders the development of the “air” component forcing

3

Fig. 9: Photographic envelope of the discharge in the presence
of the porcelain insulator;
a) withstand case, 77kV
b) breakdown in free air, 81kV
c) breakdown along the insulator’s surface, 102kV.
it to follow a path in the gap more oblique, away from
the insulator surface, and eventually longer in length
than that in the case of air alone. These result in the
voltages required for the discharge to cross the gap and
for breakdown to be higher in the presence of the
insulator than in air and also in bigger scatter in their
values (Table 1).
This hindering effect of the “surface” component on
the “air” component of the discharge at applied voltages
around U50 may also explain the lesser probability for
the discharge to cross the gap and for breakdown in the
presence of the insulator than in air alone (Fig. 3) and
the higher instantaneous arrival and breakdown voltages
in the presence of the insulator than in air alone at
relative stress (Up/U50) around unity (Fig. 7). However,
when the gap is overstressed the “surface” component,
being more vigorous owning to the higher field values
in the gap thus also energy offered, becomes able to
cross the full gap and breakdown may occur also along
the insulator’s surface (Fig. 9c) . Under these conditions,
both the arrival of the corona streamers to the plane and
breakdown occur at shorter times (Figs. 4 and 6) and at
lower instantaneous voltages (Figs. 5 and 7) compared
with the case of air alone.
These results are in agreement with those found in
[2] concerning streamer propagation along insulating
surfaces. There a streamer system was found to
propagate with a “surface” component that travels faster
than that in air alone and an “air” component with a
propagation velocity smaller than that in air alone due to
a hindering effect by the “surface” component. This was
true for all insulating materials studied with the
exception of the glazed ceramic where only one
component was detected to traverse the full gap; its
propagation velocity under stability field was
approximately equal to that in air alone but for higher
fields equal to that of the “air” component of the
streamer system observed with the other insulating
materials. The existence of a volume part of the
discharge, along with a surface part, was observed also
by Timatkov et al. [10] in a similar configuration with
the present though the applied impulse voltages were
different. Finally, Gallimberti et al. [6] working with
voltages around U50 in a similar non-uniform field set-
up found also that in the presence of an insulator
breakdown occurs through a leader channel originating
from the corona stem which develops in free air repelled
by the charge on the insulator surface.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In a short rod-plane gap under switching impulse
voltages the presence of a cylindrical glazed - porcelain
insulator bridging the gap, results in lesser probability
for the discharge to cross the full gap and for breakdown
when compared to the case of air alone.
In the presence of the insulator the discharge
consists of a “surface” component propagating along the
insulator surface and an “air” component propagating in
free air. At applied voltages causing 50% breakdown
probability only the “air” component traverses the full
gap and breakdown occurs always in free air. The
“surface” component hinders the development of the
“air” component resulting in the voltages required for
the discharge to cross the gap and for breakdown to be
higher in the presence of the insulator than in air alone.
For higher applied voltages the “surface” component
becomes able to cross the full gap and breakdown may
occur also along the insulator’s surface; both the arrival
of the discharge at th e plane and breakdown occur at
shorter times and at lower voltages than in air alone.
6 ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Mr. L. A. Lazaridis wishes to thank the Greek State
Scholarships’ Foundation for the support provided by a
merit scholarship.
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4
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