2020 The 5th International Conference on Power and Renewable Energy
Design and Experimental Research of Enclosed Gas Insulated DC High Voltage
Generator
Yongxiang LI, Zhixiang LIU, Tao JIN, Yanpeng LI, Shen ZHANG
State Grid of Shanxi Electric Power Research Institute
Taiyuan Shanxi 030001, China
e-mail:syliyongxiang@163.com
Abstract—The high voltage testing device are employ a
closed SF6 gas-insulated structure, and integrate the
charging transformer, double-voltage capacitor, filter
capacitor, high-voltage rectifier silicon stack and other
components into a closed gas-insulated tank. The electric
field simulation of testing device are analyzed to check
its insulation design requirement by using the finite
element method. At the same time, the gas insulated DC
high voltage generator are studied and the performance
test of testing device are carried out which the testing
results are meet the standard requirements. The testing
item contain the high-voltage side current measuring
device test, the high-voltage side voltage measuring
device test, the short-term stability test of output voltage,
the withstand voltage and polarity conversion test, etc.
The testing device are realized which the volume
reduced 60%, the weight reduced 27% and the field
assembly time reduced 40% which it compared with the
traditional testing equipment.
Keywords-gas insulated; DC high voltage generator; electric
field simulation; performance test
I. INTRODUCTION
The global energy internet is a strong smart grid with
ultra high voltage grid and global interconnection. In recent
years, the ultra-high voltage power grid has been rapidly
developed with the advantages such as the large transmission
capacity, the long distance, the low energy consumption, the
less land occupation and good economy, etc. Which it is put
forward the higher requirement for the on-site test, operation
and maintenance of the high voltage primary equipment [1,2].
The insulation fault may exist or occur which directly
affect the safety running of electrical equipment due to the
installation process, the operating conditions and the
environmental conditions, etc. So the high voltage test is an
important method to check whether the equipment are
damaged during the transportation, installed debugging and
operation [3-7]. It is difficult to transport and install on-site
due to the increasing volume and weight of ultra high voltage
equipment and testing device. Some on-site tests of ultra
high voltage equipment are difficult to carry out. Such as the
ultra high voltage arrester (integral) DC withstand voltage
test and ultra high voltage converter transformer DC
withstand voltage test, etc.
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Therefore, a new type of gas insulation high-voltage test
device are researched. on the one hand, greatly reduces the
volume and the weight, the transportation and the installation,
to improve the working efficiency and ensures the field test
requirement of ultra high voltage equipment; On the other
hand, the enclosed gas insulated structure improves the
reliability of test device and reduces the influence of the
external environment. In the theoretical analysis, some
research institution have been studied on the transient
process of short circuit discharge and charging of DC
generator, simulation of electric field of the ±1600kV DC
generator, the natural vibration characteristics of DC voltage
generator, etc. However, there are few research and related
reports on DC high voltage generator applied to ultra-high
voltage field by consulting relevant documents.
In view of the problem, the high voltage testing device
are employ a closed SF6 gas-insulated structure, and
integrate the charging transformer, double-voltage capacitor,
filter capacitor, high-voltage rectifier silicon stack and other
components into a closed gas-insulated tank. The electric
field simulation of testing device are analyzed to check its
insulation design level. At the same time, the performance
test of the test device are carried out which the testing results
are meet the standard requirements. The testing item contain
the high-voltage side current measuring device test, the high-
voltage side voltage measuring device test, the overall
withstand voltage and polarity conversion test, the ripple test
of the output voltage, the short-term stability test of the
output voltage, etc.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of electrical principle circuit for DC high
voltage generator.
II. DESIGN OF GAS INSULATED DC GENERATOR DEVICE
A. Working Principle
The DC high voltage generator are generate adjustable
voltage signal through voltage regulator, which it is boosted
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by transformer and output to voltage doubling rectifier uniformity coefficient will be very large without any voltage
current (the diode D and capacitor C, AC protective resistor equalization measures. The non-equivalent voltage
R1, DC protective resistor R2,), so the DC voltage are equalization parameters configuration method are proposed
obtained through the voltage doubling rectifier circuit. The through the numerical simulation and experiment. The non-
schematic diagram of electrical principle circuit for the DC equivalent voltage equalization parameters configuration
high voltage generator is shown in Fig.1. method reduce the non-uniformity coefficient of the high
voltage rectifier silicon stack and improve the voltage
B. Technique Parameters Requirement utilization rate.
The gas insulated DC high voltage generator are designed
which meet the the field DC withstand voltage testing of
converter transformer and arrester for 500kV and above. So
it can also be used in testing of DC withstand voltage of
arrester, the insulator string, the casing for 500kV and below.
The technical parameter requirement of gas insulated DC
high voltage generator are shown in Tab.1.
TABLE I. TECHNICAL PARAMETER REQUIREMENT OF GAS INSULATED DC
HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATOR

Project Parameter index

Output voltage rating/kV ±1200kV
Output current rating/A 20mA
Ripple factor ≤3%
Output voltage stability ≤1%
Under the 1000kV positive and
Umpolung negative polarity switching
time≤120s
Under the ±1200kV 20mA long
Working time
running 30min Figure 2. Circuit and internal structure of gas insulated DC high voltage
Voltage increase rate 0～1200kV，≯60S generator.

Insulation mode SF6 /0.15 MPa

D. Electric Field Simulation Analysis
1) Mathematical model
C. Integral Structure Design
The solution boundary of model are added under the
The gas insulated DC voltage generator are employed the model established, and assumed the boundary potential to be
single-sided triple-voltage loop structure and modular design zero. Since the power frequency field belongs to quasi-static
by considering the requirement of transportation, installation field, it can be treated by solving electrostatic field. The
and assembly, etc. It mainly contain of filter capacitor, electric field intensity along the surface of DC high voltage
grading ring, rectifier silicon stack, double voltage capacitor, generator shall meet the requirement in the solution domain
etc. The circuit and internal structure schematic diagram of Ω.
gas insulated DC high voltage generator are shown in Fig.2. E   (1)
As seen from the Fig.2, B is a charging transformer, C1 is
225kV double voltage capacitor, C2-C6 is 450kV filter    
capacitor, D is high voltage rectifier silicon stack[8]. The ( r )  ( r )0 (2)
x x x x
filter capacitor and double voltage capacitor adopted the dry-
type capacitor with small volume and light weight. The two Where: φ is the potential φ(x, y); εr is the relative dielectric
ends of testing device are fixed by grading ring to shielded constant.
electric field and withstand the 0.5g acceleration or The electrode boundary layer and artificial boundary is
deceleration. The shell of testing device design the umbrella shown as follow.
skirt to increasing the creepage distance along the surface
and can be used under the conditions of high climate and  |  uG ( s )
1
(3)
humidity. Where: uG is the function distribution of boundary Γ1; s is
The high voltage rectifier silicon stack are consist of a the position vector.
plurality of circuit boards connected in series. A plurality of
diodes, capacitors and resistors are welded in series on the The dielectric interface of Γ2 is shown as follow.
circuit boards. The polarity conversion adopts a one-point
synchronous conversion structure to ensure consistent 1   2
 (4)
polarity conversion. The terminal voltage are seriously  1  2
uneven due to the influence of the ground capacitance and 1 n   2 n
high voltage terminal capacitance. The voltage non- Where: n is the external normal vector of boundary.

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 The finite element method are discreted the solution connection, transmission and overall sealing performance of
domain to realize the approximation of actual continuous testing device to meet the requirement of design.
physical quantities. Which it set the number of node are n,
node potential variables are φi and the shape function are Ni,
which the potential φ are shown as follow.
n
   Nii (5)
i 1
2) Simulation result analysis
The simulation model of the gas insulated DC high
voltage generator are established by finite element method
and set the 1200kV DC excitation voltage at the output of the
model to simulate the full voltage running during calculation
and analysis[8]. The Newton-Rapson method are adopted to
solve the non-linear algebraic equations of node potential.
The convergence number of Newton-Rapson equation is set
to 20, the error range is 1%, the potential function employed
the second order approximate polynomial, and the
convergence gradient is 10-8. The distribution of electric Figure 4. Field assembly drawing of test equipment.
field in gas insulated DC high voltage generator is shown in
Fig.3. As seen from Fig.3, the high field strength of the gas- B. Construction of Experimental System
insulated DC voltage generator is concentrated near the The performance test of the test device are carried out
voltage output terminal under the rated working condition. according to relevant technical standards. The testing item
the highest field strength is 2.24kV/mm, the field strength contain the high-voltage side current measuring device test,
value is low and distributed in a small area and the the high-voltage side voltage measuring device test, the
distribution is relatively uniform, meeting the design overall withstand voltage and polarity conversion test, the
requirements of insulation structure. ripple test of the output voltage, the short-term stability test
of the output voltage, etc [9-13]. The Test wiring diagram of
test equipment is shown in Fig.5.

Figure 5. Test wiring diagram of test equipment.

(a)potential distribution (b)field strength distribution
Figure 3. Distribution of electric field in gas insulated DC high voltage
generator.
III. DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE TEST OF TESTING
DEVICE
A. Research and Development of Prototype
The gas insulated DC high voltage generator are
developed through the above design and simulation
calculation in this paper. The internal situation and prototype
are shown in Fig.4. The manufacturing and assembling
components is strictly controlled, adopted the installation
method from bottom to top, ensured that the internal
C. Testing data analysis
1) High voltage side current measuring device test
The test output terminal is connected to load resistance,
and a DC ammeter is connected in the high voltage current
loop. To check the difference between the current value of
the high voltage side current device and the current value of
the DC ammeter at 20%, 40% rated output current and 20mA
maximum current respectively to slowly increase the output
current. The measurement results are shown in Fig.6. As
seen from the Fig.6, the measurement uncertainty of the high
voltage side current measuring device are not be more than
0.5%, which it meets the standard requirements.

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Figure 6. The measured value, display value and uncertainty of current
measurement at high voltage end of test equipment.
2) High voltage side voltage measuring device test
The output end of testing device is connected to the DC
high voltage measuring device through a current limiting
resistance. To check the difference between the voltage value
of the high voltage side voltage measuring device and the
voltage value of the DC high voltage generator at 50kV,
100kV and 150kV respectively to slowly increase the output
voltage. The measurement results are shown in Fig.7. As
seen from the Fig.7, the measurement uncertainty of DC high
voltage generator are not be more than 0.5%, which it meets
the standard requirements.
Figure 7. The measured value, display value and uncertainty of high
voltage terminal voltage of test equipment.
Figure 8. Output voltage ripple waveform.
3) Ripple test of output voltage
The ripple test of output voltage for the gas insulated DC
high voltage generator are carried out under the output
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voltage 254kV and output current 9.6mA. The output voltage
ripple waveform is shown in Fig.8. The ripple coefficient of
the test device is 2.8% (the standard requirement is less than
3%) through calculation, which it meets the standard
requirement.
4) Withstand voltage and polarity conversion test
The testing device are slowly increase the output voltage
from the voltage below 10% under the no-load condition.
When the output voltage are greater than or equal 75% rated
voltage, so increase the voltage slowly, which the output
voltage reach the rated output voltage and sustainable 10min.
The polarity conversion (the voltage are negative polarity)
are carried out which the voltage elevation method is the
same as above. The standard requirement are no flashover,
breakdown and other other abnormal phenomena on the test
device, and the polarity conversion time is below or equal to
120s.
5) Short-term stability test of output voltage
The output of gas insulated DC high voltage generator is
connected with the resistance divider, and the output voltage
is slowly increased to the rated output voltage and
continuously running for 5min. Under the rated voltage, the
test device measures the short-term maximum voltage and
minimum voltage, and the short-term stability is less than 2%,
which it meets the standard requirements.
6) Discharge Test
The output of testing device is connected to the high
voltage analog capacitor (the capacitance of the analog
capacitor is more than or equal to 0.003μF) through the
current limiting resistor, and put a discharge ball gap in
parallel on the high-voltage capacitor. The DC voltage of the
external capacitor and discharge ball gap are applied to
adjust the gap of discharge ball gap, and make the ball gap
breakdown and discharge for 5 times under the 60% rated
output voltage. All function and performance of gas
insulated DC high voltage generator are normal, which it
meets the standard requirements.
IV. CONCLUSION
The high voltage testing device are employ a closed SF6
gas-insulated structure, and integrate the charging
transformer, double-voltage capacitor, filter capacitor, high-
voltage rectifier silicon stack and other components into a
closed gas-insulated tank. The electric field simulation of
testing device are analyzed to check its insulation design
level. The performance test of the test device are carried out
which the testing results are meet the standard requirements.
The testing device are realized which the volume reduced
60%, the weight reduced 27% and the field assembly time
reduced 40% compared with the traditional testing
equipment. In addition, the test scheme of testing device
adopts horizontal transportation and vertical use, and is
formed by butt joint of two insulated tanks. It can be seen
that the working efficiency and field testing problem of ultra-
high voltage equipment are improved and solved.
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