Dielectric Strength of Different Gases in GIS

Denis Denissov, Heinz Rebholz, Wolfgang Köhler, Stefan Tenbohlen

University of Stuttgart, IEH, Pfaffenwaldring 47, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
E-mail: Denis.Denissov@ieh.uni-stuttgart.de

Abstract: SF6 is a gas with excellent dielectric Therefore the present study compares the breakdown
properties and is commonly used in gas-insulated characteristics of these gases and their mixtures in case
equipment. However it has the high global warming of clean boundary surfaces as well as for the particle
potential. Thus, the development of new gases or gas contaminated.
mixtures for GIS, GIL is strongly desired. For
dimensioning the gas insulated systems the support INTRINSIC STRENGTH OF GASEOUS
insulators (spacers) are of special interest. DIELECTRICS
Contaminations on the insulator surface can cause field
distortions and may lead to a significant reduction of the Under normal conditions, i.e. with no energy applied
breakdown strength. To reduce the amount of used SF6, from outside, there are practically no free electrons to
the gases CO2, N2 and dry air are examined as possible carry a charge in a gas. Only in the presence of a free
substitutes for SF6 at pressure range from 0.1 to 1 MPa. electron, which is needed to produce an avalanche, the
Their behaviour under AC and LI stresses is breakdown can succeed. Depending on the number of
investigated. The study compares the breakdown free electrons in the gas, after a certain voltage the
characteristics of these gases and their mixtures in case sudden change of electric conductivity takes place. This
of clean boundary surfaces as well as for the particle drastic change of dielectric properties results in
contaminated. A short introduction into the theory of gas immediate drop of the applied voltage, which is called
discharge is given as well. an electrical breakdown in a gas.

Key Words: dielectric strength, gas mixtures, GIS, Besides the cosmic and the earth radiations a few more
spacers, particle contamination. mechanisms can generate free electrons needed to build
the avalanche. These are:
INTRODUCTION • field emission,
• photoelectronic emission,
Pure SF6 has excellent insulating and arc-quenching • thermoemission.
properties. Therefore it remains the main HV insulation An initial electron available in a gas volume is
medium in gas-insulated equipment nowadays. However accelerated by electric field and travels his mean free
there are some serious concerns about its future path until the collision with a neutral molecule.
employment from the ecological point of view. The Depending on the kinetic energy gained between
global warming potential of SF6 is considered to be at collisions the electron can either be attached to the
least 23.900 CO2 equivalents [1]. So SF6 has been molecule or another free electron can be released. In
classified on the Kyoto conference on climate change pure SF6 electron attachment leads to formation of stable
among the greenhouse gases. And its emission in the negative ions, which in turn can recombine with existing
atmosphere ought to be reduced. Therefore one positive ions (ion-ion-recombination). Electron
intensively looks for the possible environmentally detachment can be caused by one of the following
friendly substitutes now. Many efforts have been taken processes:
to investigate the insulation properties of nitrogen and • auto detachment,
air under higher pressures. It is known, that pure • photo detachment,
nitrogen would end up in uneconomical designs of • collision detachment.
GIS/GIL to sustain the required insulation level. Using In the presence of electric field the collision detachment
N2/SF6 mixtures, with a small amount of SF6, the or impact ionization plays the major role in generating
dielectric strength of N2 can be significantly increased. free electrons [2].
Even now, N2/SF6 mixtures are used in GIL with up to
95% nitrogen. However, N2/SF6 mixtures are subjected Depending on the distribution of electric field in a
to the heavy influence of conducting particles with discharge gap two different breakdown mechanisms can
increasing gas pressure, as well as with decreasing SF6 be distinguished, they are: streamer breakdown in case
amount. of uniform fields and streamer-leader breakdown in case
of highly non-uniform fields.
Breakdown in uniform fields insulation and may reduce the reliability of the GIS. In
GIS with its moving contacts the appearance of metallic
At exceeding the gas-specified critical field strength the particles is inevitable. Conductive particles produce
attachment-detachment processes reach a point from plenty of charge carriers by means of the intensive
which the ionization dominates (effective ionization partial discharge activity. New particles will lie on the
coefficient αeff > 0). Now the electron avalanches can spacer’s surface along the field lines and further distort
shape, and the number of charge carriers grows an applied field. Due to considerably higher dielectric
exponentially. When the ion concentration at the head of constant of a spacer material in comparison to one of
the avalanche exceeded 108 a steep rise in current, insulated gas the field strength rises locally on the
known as a streamer, happened and breakdown of the surface already when the particle only approaches to the
gap in uniform filed followed [3]. On account of the spacer. The reason for that is so called proximity effect.
electron-to-ion mass ratio the electrons travel faster to It becomes evident that due to the surface contamination
anode and leave slow ions at the place of their field distortions can appear and badly reduce the
formation. That leads to the alteration of field in the gap dielectric strength of the whole arrangement [5].
and yields in further excitation processes at avalanche’s
head. When the streamer reached the opposite electrode EXPERIMENT DETAILS
it was heated instantaneous and thermally ionized.
Finally the streamer breakdown occurs by means of this Test setup
highly conductive “kanal”.
A modified part of a commercial 420kV GIS was used
Breakdown in highly non-uniform fields as a test chamber, inside of which the experimental
electrodes arrangement was installed. This arrangement
For non-uniform fields with a negative impurity or an contains two aluminium plates as HV and ground
electrode additionally the electron production by means electrodes (1,2) as shown in Fig.1. It can host up to 12
of the field emission from metallic surface must be taken spacers (5) shielded by specially shaped electrodes
into account [4]. Since the critical field strength in the (3,4). Each test spacer can be selected pushing out a
gap is confined by the divergent field characteristic there pneumatic controlled piston (7). A cylindrical solid
is no more prerequisite to further constant grow of the insulator of 25 mm diameter and 45 mm height is
avalanche. So the pure streamer breakdown is employed as a spacer model. It is made of epoxy resin
prevented. On the contrary the combined discharge filled with aluminium oxide (Al2O3). To simulate the
mechanism consisting of the streamer and a consequent possible particle contamination (6) in GIS a 4 mm long
leader is involved here. A slightly conductive streamer NiCr-wire (Ø 0,2 mm) is attached to the surface with
region turns into a dissociated, highly conductive leader silicon in the middle of the spacer. The test chamber can
(precursor mechanism). This effect reveals especially be filled with a gas at the pressures up to 1,4 MPa. In
under transient voltage stresses. In the case of slowly the present work the pressure range between 0,1-10 MPa
changing stresses like operation AC voltage the corona is investigated.
stabilization effect prevails.

Influence of gas pressure on breakdown process

The decisive impact on formation of initial electrons has

a mean free path, an imaginary average distance
between collisions. The higher is the density of a gas,
the shorter mean free path is. So in the same field at high
pressures the electron gains less kinetic energy between
collisions; that leads to the increase of dielectric
strength. The surface roughness of electrodes acts in the
opposite way, so that at the pressure range between 0,7-
0,9 MPa no more linear increase of breakdown voltage
is possible.

Flashover along the boundary gas/solid body

In order to achieve a satisfactory dielectric strength in Fig. 1 Test setup with model spacer
GIS, the surfaces of support insulators (spacers) have to 1. HV electrode; 2. grounded electrode; 3, 4. specially
be correspondingly dimensioned. Spacers usually shaped electrodes; 5. model spacer; 6. particle; 7. piston.
represent critical weak points within the whole
Generating and measuring test stresses Hereinafter we will characterize the electric strength of a
gas by its flashover field strength. So one can easily
The overall test system is schematically shown in Fig.2. compare the measurements with the results of other
Voltage stresses can be produced either by a GIS experiments on a similar geometry. The flashover field
encapsulated HV test transformer (380 V/510 kV, 50 strength EF can be calculated from the measured
Hz), or by an eight-stage Marx’ impulse generator with flashover voltage UF using a constant factor kF:
standardized LI stress of 1,2/50 µs up to 800 kV. The EF = kF ×U F . (1)
impulse voltage was normally increased from
approximately 50% of the expected flashover voltage in The geometry-dependant factor kF for the arrangement
10% steps until flashover occurred. The AC voltage was described above was found to be 0,224 cm-1[6]. Local
raised with a rate of 6 kV/s. To prevent multiple field distortions brought with a particle contamination
breakdowns during the AC test a protective relaying are not considered in kF.
turns off the voltage on primary side of the transformer
immediately after succeeded breakdown. Transient LI Influence of surface roughness
stresses are measured by means of a capacitive HV
divider and AC voltages using a capacitive filter on the Local rise of the field stress cased by the surface
primary side. roughness of the electrodes can result in essential
reduction of the streamer breakdown voltage. This field
rise cannot be found analytically, so only evaluation of
its influence can be done. In the test arrangement the
electrodes with the average roughness height of 1,2 µm
are employed, i.e. no impact on breakdown behaviour is
expected [7].

To keep the roughness height below 10 µm during the

experiments the electrodes was regularly polished.
During the LI stress some tracks of the breakdown
occasionally remain on the electrode surface as a result
of a particle burnout. A typical picture is shown in Fig.4.
Various tracks of previous tests have to be cleared to
avoid additional PD sources. Thus, the independency of
single tests is provided.

Fig.2 Test setup

Field distribution along the spacer

Field configuration impacts significantly on the gas

discharge process. A simulation shown in Fig.3
demonstrates the referenced potential distribution along
the spacer model.
100% Fig.4 Breakdown tracks on the electrode

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Test realization

To determine the mean flashover voltage UF,m and the

correspondent field strength EF,m a series of 12 separate 5mm
spacer models was stressed per each test case. All values
of flashover field strengths are referenced to the
0% calculated peak values of applied voltages with the
Fig.3. Potential distribution along the spacer inherent confidence interval of 95% according to normal
distribution. Gas pressures marked on the graphs below curves for CO2 and for the air in distorted fields do not
correspond to absolute pressures in MPa. rise anymore after 0,6 MPa, which is a consequence of a
stabilization corona.
Flashover field strength under AC stress
Flashover field strength under LI stress
Flashover field strengths (with no contamination) in the
following insulated gases: N2, CO2 and compressed air During the LI stress with positive polarity a surface
vs. gas pressure are shown in Fig.5. Electric strength of charge accumulates on the particle contaminated spacer
the arrangement rises steadily with increasing pressure. surface, once the PD-inception voltage exceeded and no
Carbon dioxide and compressed air shows nearly no breakdown occurred.
difference in their electric strengths. Nitrogen on the
contrary stays far below them over the whole pressure
range.

Fig.7 Flashover field strength vs. pressure for N2, CO2

and compressed air (with particle contamination)

The results for this case shown in Fig. 7 prove again the
Fig.5 Flashover field strength vs. pressure for N2, CO2 similarity in CO2 and air flashover behavior. However
and compressed air (no particle contamination) there is some increase in the flashover strength due to
existent surface charge. Further investigations on this
In the case with the metal particle contamination a point are necessary.
significant reduction of breakdown voltage (up to 50%)
can be observed in the Fig.6. The extent of reduction Electric strength of SF6/N2-mixtures
depends in general on the voltage type and on the field
distribution in the gap [8]. The electric strength of SF6/N2 mixture where SF6 takes
5% of the volume is shown in Fig.8.

Fig.6 Flashover field strength vs. pressure for N2, CO2 Fig.8 Flashover field strength of 95%N2+5%SF6 gas
and compressed air (with particle contamination) mixture vs. absolute pressure [9]

From direct comparison of Fig.5 and 6 follows that CO2 It can be seen that the SF6-contained gas mixtures
demonstrates the highest reduction of the electric experience essential reduction of their electric strength
strength in slightly non-uniform fields. Moreover the in the presence of particle contamination. The SF6/N2-
mixture demonstrates more than 50% decay of its REFERENCES
dielectric properties under AC voltage stress at higher
pressures. [1] IPCC, “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change”, 1999.
Compressed air and CO2 vs. 5%SF6+95%N2 and [2] Olthoff J.K.; Van Brunt R.J.; Wang Y.; Champion
1%SF6+99% CO2 mixtures R.; Doverspike L.: “Collisional Electron
Detachment and Decomposition Rates of SF6, SF5
and F-SF6.” J. Chem. Phys. 91, 1989.
[3] Pedersen A.; McAllister W.; Crichton G.C.;
Vibholm S.: “Formulation of the streamer
breakdown criterion and its application to strongly
electronegative gases and gas mixtures”. Archiv für
Elektrotechnik 67, Springer Verlag, 1984.
[4] Dietrich K.J: „Untersuchungen zur
Durchschlagentwicklung in einer schwach
inhomogenen Anordnung in SF6 bei
Beanspruchung mit Blitzstoßspannung“.
Dissertation RWTH Aachen, 1985.
[5] Tenbohlen S.: „Der Einfluß dielektrischer
Oberflächen auf die Durchschlagsentwicklung in
einer störstellenbehafteten SF6-Anordnung“.
Fig.9 Flashover field strengths in compressed air, CO2 Dissertation RWTH Aachen, 1997.
and 5%SF6+95%N2 under AC stress with particle [6] Schurer R.: „Der Einfluss von Störstellen auf
contamination vs. pressure Stützeroberflächen auf die elektrische Festigkeit
von Isolieranordnungen in SF6-isolierten Anlagen“.
CONCLUSIONS Dissertation Universität Stuttgart, 1999.
[7] Mosch W.; Hauschild W.:
The presented tests in different gaseous dielectrics „Hochspannungsisolierungen mit SF6.“, VEB
determine the flashover field strength of the given Verlag Technik, Berlin 1979.
arrangement. As anticipated the flashover voltage along [8] Sudarshan T.S.; Dougal R.A.: “Mechanisms of
clean surface of spacers generally increases with rising surface flashover along solid dielectrics in
gas pressure. compressed gases”: A review. IEEE Trans. On
Electr. Insul. El-21, Nr5, 1986.
Among all tested gases CO2 revealed the highest [9] Moukengue I.: „Beeinflussung der elektrischen
sensitivity to particle contamination. In case of positive Festigkeit von N2/SF6- und Luft/SF6 Isolationen
lightning impulse voltage stress CO2 and the air show durch Metallpartikel auf der Stützoberfläche“,
few differences in dielectric behaviour over the whole Dissertation Universität Stuttgart, 2001.
pressure range.

Pure nitrogen has the lowest electric strength among

considered gases. The strong reduction of its dielectric
properties comparing to the air, which contains about
80% of nitrogen, has to be examined further. Adding a
little amount of SF6 to these gases results in a noticeable
increase of the breakdown field strength.

If the employment of the pure SF6 insulation and its

mixtures will be legally forbidden in the future,
compressed air or carbon dioxide insulations present
themselves as possible substitutes. However higher
pressures together with an increased impact of the
contamination on the insulation performance has to be
overcome in the design of future apparatuses.