PE448

High Voltage Engineering

Lecture9: Discharges in non-uniform fields &
Influence of various factors on breakdown voltages

Dr. Shahid Alam

Assistant Professor
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering
Sciences and Technology
Non-uniform field gap

1
Ionization by electron impact: electron avalanche

2
Different types of discharges

3
Streamer mechanism

4
Streamer mechanism

5
Mid-gap streamer

6
Streamer breakdown in a non-uniform gap

7
Influence of polarity on breakdown voltage:
𝑽𝒃𝒅 (+rod) < 𝑽𝒃𝒅 (-rod) (Space charge effect)

8
Influence of polarity on breakdown voltage:
𝑽𝒃𝒅 (+rod) < 𝑽𝒃𝒅 (-rod) (Space charge effect)

9
Corona

10
Corona

11
DC corona: Polarity effect

12
Breakdown voltages: Influence of
various factors

o Influence of electrode shape

o Influence of voltage waveform
o Influence of voltage polarity
o Influence of atmospheric conditions

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Influence of electrode shape:
Degree of field uniformity
Field factor (f) = 𝐸𝑚𝑎𝑥 /𝐸𝑎𝑣𝑔
o Uniform fields: E = 𝑈 𝑑
o Quasi-uniform fields:
If field factor, f = Emax/Eav ≤ 5, the field is quasi-
uniform and the discharge phenomenon will be
somewhat close to uniform field gap.
o Non-uniform fields:
If f>5, then the field is non-uniform.

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Influence of electrode shape on 𝑽𝒃𝒅
Shape Symmetry Field Break-down
strength
Sphere-Sphere Symmetrical Uniform Highest

Rod-Rod Symmetrical Non- Moderate

uniform
Rod-Plane Asymmetrical Non- Lowest
uniform
Let,
Vb = Breakdown voltage for uniform fields
Vs = Breakdown voltage for non-uniform fields
then,
Vs = Vb / fi
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Influence of electrode shape on 𝑽𝒃𝒅 cont.

 Since the positive breakdown always takes place

before the negative, so we study positive
breakdowns mostly.
Let Vx50 = V50 value of any air gap configuration
Vr-p50 = V50 value of rod-plane air gap
K = gap factor (depends on geometry)
then,
Vx50= K Vr-p50
Where K, depending on various gap configurations,
varies between 1-1.75.
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Influence of atmospheric conditions
The breakdown strength of an air gap is dependent on prevailing
ambient conditions in the laboratory such as temperature, pressure and
humidity. Thus, to obtain comparable test results, measured voltages
have to be corrected to normal conditions. These are:
o Temperature, 𝑇0 = 20 °C
o Pressure, 𝑝0 = 1013 mbar = 760 mmHg = 1.01325*105 Pa
o Humidity, ℎ0 = 11 g/𝑚3

If the flashover voltage is U(t, p, h) at a temperature T, pressure p and

humidity h then, corresponding voltage in normal conditions is U(𝑡0 , 𝑝0 , ℎ0 )
1
U(𝑇0 , 𝑝0 , ℎ0 ) = U(T, p, h) f
𝛿
The factor 𝛿 is the so-called relative air density (RAD).

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Influence of atmospheric conditions cont.
The factor 𝛿 can be calculated using

𝑝 𝑇0 𝑝 (273 + 20)
𝛿= =
𝑝0 𝑇 760 (273 + 𝑡)

where p is expressed in mmHg and t in °C.

The factor f is dependent on the humidity. The humidity has less

influence for flashovers in a sphere gap, where the electric field is
more homogeneous. According to standards the factor f can be
neglected for sphere gaps. The error introduced is in any case less
than 2 to 3%.

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Influence of atmospheric conditions cont.

Temperature ↑ Mean free path ↑ Pressure ↓ RAD ↓ B.D. Voltage ↓

Temperature ↓ Mean free path ↓ Pressure ↑ RAD ↑ B.D. Voltage ↑

Note : Increase in T causes an increase in mean free

path. So increase in T has same effect as decrease in P.

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