Introduction To HV

High Voltage Engineering
Module Overview
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The history of High Voltage Engineering probably begins with Benjamin Franklin and his
famous experiment with a kite in a thunderstorm in 1752 when the link between lightning
and electricity was first established. It is a moot point that little was known about electricity
then and so there was little with which to compare sparks produced at the end of strings
attached to kites! Galvani wasn’t old enough to make frogs legs jump when connected to a
rudimentary battery. Volta described his electrochemical battery, his ‘voltaic pile’, in 1800.
This is generally accepted to be the first source of continuous current electricity – but
clearly it was not a High Voltage device! Static electricity was known, however, and amber
rods rubbed with cats’ fur could produce High Voltage sparks. There is some evidence too
that experiments with generators of static electricity had begun in the 18th century. Martinus
von Marum in Holland (1784) clearly developed sparks of several tens of kilovolts with a
rudimentary static generator.
The development of one of the main areas of High Voltage Engineering, the Electricity
Supply system, awaited Michael Faraday and his discovery of Electromagnetic Induction in
1831 and, much later, Thomas Edison, who invented the tungsten filament lamp in 1878.
These developments motivated Ferranti in 1891 to light London’s West End thanks to a
supply circuit which contained all the elements of a modern power system: a generating
station (in Deptford), a HV transmission system (a 10kV oil impregnated paper insulated
cable), a HV transformer and a low voltage distribution system. Even then, it was recognised
that the large scale transmission of electric power was only feasible at High Voltages. Today
the UK has a transmission system operating at 275kV and 400kV. Lightning remains a
problem for the operation of power systems and the control of surges due to lightning
phenomena is itself an important branch of High Voltage Engineering.
Electrostatics too has developed into an important branch of High Voltage Engineering.
Many industrial processes depend on the fact that when charge (usually electrons) attaches
itself to particles (for example: of paint, sand grains, ash), they will experience a force in an
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electric field which can be used to deposit those particles on an earthed surface (in paint
spraying, sandpaper manufacture and the electrostatic precipitator which removes particles
of ash from a flue gas stream in a Power Station.) Each of these applications requires
voltages between about 30kVDC and 100kVDC. Uncontrolled static build up is also a well
known hazard and the subject area of High Voltage Engineering could also, arguably, include
static control.
The third branch of High Voltage Engineering is that of particle acceleration. This branch
probably commenced with the work of atomic physicists intent on atom smashing in the
1930s. Cockroft and Walton built a high direct voltage transformer, rectifier, capacitor
circuit in the Cavendish Laboratories then for nuclear physics experiments. Now, it or very
similar circuits are used in televisions (~20kV) and X-ray machines (~100kV depending on
the energy required) for accelerating electrons. Robert van de Graaff built his electrostatic
generator at M.I.T. in Boston in 1936 for ion acceleration. Many such generators have
subsequently been built capable of many MV (though they are limited to small current
applications). They have seen duty in a wide variety of applications, including high energy
machines used for X-raying large steel castings, for ion physics experiments and many in
lightning demonstrations! The pioneering work on ion acceleration though has led directly
to the ion implanter, a device which is at the heart of semiconductor chip manufacture.
Depending on the ion species required to be implanted in a silicon wafer, ions having
energies from 60keV to over a million keV are required.
This then is the topic of Electrical Engineering termed High Voltage Engineering. This text
addresses the subject under 6 main chapter headings:
• Electric field theory and High Voltage structure design

• Generation of High Voltages
• Measurement of High Voltages
• Electrical insulating materials and breakdown theory
• Applications of electrical insulating materials
• Lightning and switching overvoltages protection
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Introduction to High Voltage
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How to use this distance learning material
Each chapter in this module forms a complete unit. Students should ensure that they complete all
the material in each unit before moving onto the next. Each unit contains a brief introduction and a
set of learning objectives. These learning objectives are the principle aims of the unit and the
examination in High Voltage Engineering will be designed to assess the student’s knowledge of
these objectives. In the main text there are worked examples which students should carefully study
before attempting the problems which follow. Detailed solutions to these tutorial questions are
provided.
For each of the Units 1 to 6, a separate assignment sheet will be issued (see Appendix A). Students
should complete these assignments and return them to the course administrator. These
assignments count towards the final assessment in the module and provide the student the
opportunity to practice the new calculation techniques they have developed as well as provide the
University staff with information on how students are coping with the technical material in the
module.
Details of the times of the final examination in Electrical Power Systems are available from the
course administrator. A sample examination paper is included in Appendix B.
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High Voltage Engineering

• Electric field theory and High Voltage structure design

How to use this distance learning material

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