High Voltage

Engineering
Prepared by: Dr/ Shaymaa Ahmed
CHAPTER (2): GENERATION OF HIGH TESTING VOLTAGES

• An electric power system consists of four principle components:

• a. The generating stations: The generating stations are the power stations, which
produces the electrical power.
• b. The transmission lines: The transmission lines are the connecting links
between the generating stations and the distribution system
• c. The distribution system: A distribution system connects all the individual loads
in a given locality to the transmission lines.
• d. The loads (utilization system): Every component consumes power is called
load.
 Voltage Classification of LV, MV and HV

• LV: 220 V to 1000 V

• MV: 3.3kV to 66kV
• HV: 110kV to 220kV
• EHV: 275kV to 800kV
• UHV: 1000kV or 1600kV
 High voltages scopes (applications):
• 1. For transmission of large amounts of power to decrease the losses.
• 2. Electron Microscopes
• 3. In x-ray equipment for medical and industrial applications.
• 4. Particle accelerators
• 5. In laboratories of nuclear research
• 6. For testing equipment and insulators in laboratories.
 GENERATION CLASSES OF HIGH
VOLTAGES
• 1. Direct voltage
• 2. Alternating voltage
• Transient (impulse) voltage
 GENERATION OF HIGH DC VOLTAGES
• The Need for High DC Voltages
• It is mainly required in research work in the area of applied physics (accelerators, electron
microscopy, etc.).
• For testing equipment related to HVDC transmission systems.
• It is used in electro medical equipment (X-rays).
• It is used in industrial applications.
• Is required for HVDC transmission over long distances.
 Half-wave rectifier circuit
• Rectifier circuits for producing high DC voltages from AC sources may be half-
wave, full-wave, or voltage doubler type circuits.
• A commonly used half-wave rectifier circuit is shown in next Fig. a. For many
applications, a supply with a large amount of ripples is not acceptable since it
produces hum in the output.
• Connecting a large capacitor in parallel with the load will reduce the ripple. This
capacitor is called smoothing capacitor. In the circuit in next Fig. a, the leakage
reactance of the transformer and the small internal impedance of the diodes can
be neglected during conduction.
Fig. a) Half-wave rectifier circuit, b) Output voltage from rectifier
• The rectifier must have a peak inverse voltage rating of at least 2Vmax
and the diode should be selected to withstand this voltage.
• The value of the capacitor C is chosen such that the time constant RLC is
at least 10 times that of the period of the AC supply.
• Figure 2.14-b shows the details of the output dc voltage of the half-wave
rectifier circuit. The output voltage V does not remain any more constant
if the circuit is loaded. During one period, T=1/f of the ac voltage a
charge QC is transferred to the load RL, which is represented by:
• I is therefore, the mean value of the dc output iL(t), and v(t) the dc voltage which
includes a ripple as shown in Fig. b. It may be easily seen now that v(t) varies
between
• Vmax ≥ v(t) ≥ Vmin ; Vmin = Vmax – 2(δV)
• The charge QC is also supplied from the transformer within the short conduction
time tc = at of the diode D during each cycle. Therefore, QC also equals to

• Then δV is easily found from the charge QC transferred to the load, and therefore
 Full-wave rectifier circuit
• A full-wave rectifier circuit is shown in next Fig. In the positive half cycle, the
diode D1 conducts and charges the capacitor C, while in the negative half cycle
diode D2 conducts and charges the capacitor C. Therefore, each diode is conducting
for one half-cycle with a time delay of T/2. The transformer requires a center tapped
secondary with a rating of 2V.
• The maximum voltage produced in this rectifier circuit is approximately equal to
half the peak value of the ac voltage of the HV transformer secondary.
• Thus single-phase full-wave rectifier circuits can be used for HV applications only
if the high tension winding of the transformer is earthed at its midpoint and if the dc
output is single-ended grounded.
• The supply input voltage (sinusoidal) and the output voltages of both the half-wave
and full-wave rectifier circuits are given in Fig. for the purpose of comparison.
Fig. Full-wave rectifier circuit using center-tapped transformer.
 Fig. Input and output waveforms of half and full wave rectifiers Input sine wave, b) output with half-wave rectifier and
condenser c) Output with full-wave rectifier, d) Vmax, Vmean, and ripple voltage dV with condenser of a full wave rectifier.
• Both the half-wave and full-wave rectifier circuits produce dc voltages less than the
ac maximum voltage.
• Also, ripple voltage or voltage fluctuations are present. This ripple voltage δV is
larger for half-wave rectifier than that for a full-wave rectifier, since the discharge
period in the case of half wave rectifier is larger as shown in Fig. b or Fig.b.
• It should be mentioned that the ripple voltage δV depends on:
• (a)The supply voltage frequency f.
• (b)The time constant RLC.
• (c) The reactance of the supply transformer XL.
• For half-wave rectifiers, the ripple frequency is equal to the supply frequency and
for full-wave rectifiers, it is twice that value. The ripple voltage is to be kept as low
as possible or within a reasonable limit with the proper choice of the output filter.
 Approximate value of smoothing capacitor
• With n pulses per second, the time interval between voltage peaks = 1/n sec.
• This is nearly equal to the capacitor discharge time for small values of ripple voltage. Let the
main dc load current = Idc A.
• The charge of the capacitor QC is given by:
• QC = capacitance in Farads x voltage change
• = C ∆V Coulombs.
• The charge of the capacitor QC is also given by:
• QC = Idc x t
• where Idc = current in amperes and t = time in seconds.
• The charge given to load = charge lost by capacitor between charging pulses.
• Hence, the design value of the capacitance can be calculated for a certain dc output current
(Idc) and a certain amount of ripple voltage (DV).
• Example 2.5
• Estimate the size of a suitable smoothing capacitor for the following duty when a full-wave
rectifier is used; Vdc = 400 kV, ripple voltage = 3% of Vdc, load resistance = 5000 kW,
frequency = 50 Hz.
• Solution
• Voltage is changing from 400 kV + 3% to 400 kV – 3%
• i.e., from 412 kV to 388 kV.
• Hence DV = 24 kV.
Example 2.6
A load is to be supplied with 50 mA at a mean voltage of 285 kV using a full-wave
rectifier. The peak value of the ac supply is 300 kV and the frequency is 50 Hz. Calculate
the approximate size of a suitablesmoothing capacitor.
Solution

/
Discharge during this period = Idc x time = 50 x 10-3 x 0.01 = 0.5 x 10-3 C
Mean dc voltage = 285 kV
Peak voltage = 300 kV
Change in voltage from mean to maximum = 15 kV.
By symmetry, the change from mean to minimum voltage is = 15 kV.Total (peak-to-peak)
voltage = 30 kV.

 C 3 0 1 0 3   0 .5 1 0 3
0.5𝑥10−3
𝐶= 3
= 16.67𝑥10−9 𝐹 = 16.67 𝑛𝐹
30𝑥10