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Although the electric strength of vacuum gap under various voltage conditions has been discussed in many papers,
research on this subject is still ongoing. The first stage of our investigations was examining the prebreakdown
state of vacuum gap under ac voltage excitation. Field electron emission in short vacuum gap (0-2 mm) and
microdischarges in long vacuum gap (over 10 mm) were analyzed. Field electron emission current was measured
with an unbalanced hv bridge. Next, using voltage-current characteristics analysis, the parameters of field electron
emission were obtained. The microdischarges phenomenon was monitored with a multichannel pulse-height
analyzer. The relation between breakdown voltage and the parameters characterizing prebreakdown phenomena
was then determined. Finally, the characteristics of electric strength under ac (50 Hz), switching impulse
(250/2500 I~S) and lightning impulse (1.2/50 #s) voltages were obtained. The investigations were carried out with
Cu-Cr contacts in a wide range of interelectrode distance (0.5-12 mm).
I
In order to determine the relations between breakdown voltage
and the parameters characterizing the prebreakdown state, the
iO
following procedure was repeated : voltage was raised from zero
to a preselected value, at which the parameters of prebreakdown
state could be taken; then voltage was raised until breakdown
occurred. After that, voltage was decreased to zero and the pro- 5
cedure was repeated. Further details about experimental pro-
cedure can be found in refs 3-8.
0
3. R e s u l t s and d i s c u s s i o n 500 600 700 000 900
The investigations were carried out in a wide range of inter- Figure 2. Breakdown voltage Ubas a function of electric field enhancement
electrode gap (from 0.5 to 12 mm). We were looking for relations factor J3. Interelectrode distance equal to 1.5 mm : Ub = 145013 062 [kV]
between breakdown voltage and the chosen parameters char- at r '~= 0.75.
acterizing the prebreakdown stage of the vacuum gap. The inves-
tigated relations were approximated using the simple regression
method with a few basic functions (linear, power, reciprocal,
voltage U, causing a field electron emission current equal to
exponential, logarithmic) and finally the function characterized
10-6 A. The relation Lib = f(U~) was approximated by a linear
by the greatest coefficient of determination r 2 was chosen.
function. The coefficient of determination r 2 was very high in the
Figure 1 presents the dependence of breakdown voltage Ub on
investigated relationship.
Figure 2 presents one chosen typical characteristic of break-
35 down voltage Ub as a function of field enhancement factor /L
This characteristic was obtained by the power function (in some
kV Ub i //
cases the linear approximation was also effective).
30 On the basis of the charge distributions and the content of
channels obtained during pulse-height analysis, we can choose
from among the other parameters, total charge Q transferred by
25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
microdischarges in count time, and the number of pulses N in
count time 6,7
In Figure 3 we see the relation of breakdown voltage to the
number of pulses counted within 60 s and in Figure 4 the depen-
20
dence of breakdown voltage upon total charge Q transferred
by microdischarges in the same time is shown. These relations
/ . . . . . . . .
were described by mathematical functions and determination
15
coefficients,
Figure 5 presents the comparison of breakdown voltage of the
vacuum chamber (internal--between electrodes, external--at the
10 surface of the envelope) under ac, LI, SI conditions for elec-
trodes set to a nominal distance of 12 mm. Mean values of
breakdown voltage are shown, dispersion of these results was in
the range of 1 5%. Such small values of dispersion were achieved
because the chamber was well prepared by the conditioning pro-
cess (conditioning by several hundred ac and impulse voltage
Ue
0 I I E I i t i i I t h i I breakdowns). Using the impulse factor k~, defined as the ratio of
5 iO i5 kV 20 impulse voltage to ac voltage in the same conditions, we notice
Figure 1. Relation between breakdown voltage Ub and voltage Uecausing its little changes for internal strength (k~ = 1.2-1.3) and bigger
field electron emission current of 10-6 A. Interelectrode distance equal changes for external strength (k~ = 1.3-1.7). The increase of
to 1 mm: Ub = 1.55Ue+7,7 [kV] at r 2 = 0.97. impulse breakdown voltage of positive polarity in vacuum and
566
KSiodla and WZiomek: Electric strength of v a c u u m gap
. . . . . . . . . . . . i'"
kV IUb. j . : ! 300
250
200
150
50
0
20 AC LI(-) Sl(-) Sl(+) LI(+)
150 I I
300 , , , p , , , [ , , , i , i , r r , r l l l ~ -
kV Ub
kV ub
IQB
200 .... i
....N-....
x'" ~ LI(+)
50 .......... ............. ...............
100
! 'x / /
"
.+- L I ( - )
~-
ST(+)
ST(-)
." ~ AC
X
0 J I r N d
0 ~ ~ J I ~ ~ ~ J , r ~ P J , t F r ~ ~ I ~ J z
ze 1oo looo 10000 loeeee
0 2 4 6 8 10 mm 12
Figure4. Breakdown voltage Ub as a function of number N of impulses.
The impulses were counted before breakdown during 60 s at voltage 45 Figure 6. Breakdown voltage (ac, LI, SI) as a function of interelectrode
kV (peak value) : Ub = 145 N -0'47 [kV] at r 2 = 0.96. distance d for a vacuum interrupter immersed in oil.
567
K Siodla and W Ziomek: Electric s t r e n g t h o f v a c u u m g a p
1.B i ~ i i i i i ~ i [ i i i I i ~ i ] i 4. C o n c l u s i o n s
0 R 4 6 8 10 mm 1R
Figure 7. Impulse factor k~ as a function of interelectrode distance d for References
internal strength for vacuum interrupter (immersed in transformer oil).
~R V Latham, High Voltage Vacuum Insulation. The Physical Basis.
Academic Press, London, New York, Sydney (1981).
2G A Mesyats and D J Proskurovsky, Pulsed Electrical Discharge in
Vacuum. Springer, Berlin (1989).
lightning and switching impulse voltages the exponent b is in 3H Moscicka-Grzesiak, K Siodla and W Ziomek, Vllth lnt Syrup on
the range of 0.2-0.35, and factor a varies from 142 to 149, at High Voltage Engn9, Dresden, Germany (1991).
determination coefficient r 2 = 0.85-0.95. For ac voltage b = 0.4, 4K Siodla, XIVth Int Symp on Discharges and Electrieal Insulation in
Vacuum, Santa Fe, USA (1990).
a = 88 and r 2 = 0.95. Such values of the determination co- sW Ziomek and H Moscicka-Grzesiak, 19901EEE Int Symp on Electrical
efficient, so close to unity, mean that the presented dependence Insulation, Toronto, Canada (1990).
of breakdown voltage on electrode distance is very strong. 6W Ziomek and H Moscicka-Grzesiak, Xth Int Conf on Gas Discharges
In Figure 7 the impulse factor k~ vs gap distance is presented. and Their Applications, Swansea, UK (1992).
7W Ziomek and H Moscicka-Grzesiak, XVth Int Symp on Discharges
We see that this factor has got a similar run for all kinds of impulses and Electrical Insulation in Vacuum, Darmstadt, Germany (1992).
with values above 1.5 for distances less than 2 mm and less than K Siodla and P Zubielik, XVth Int Symp on Discharges and Electrical
1.3 for nominal gap equal to 12 mm. Insulation in Vacuum, Darmstadt, Germany (1992).
568