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EE 3092 Laboratory Practice V

BREAKDOWN
CHARACTERISTICS OF AIR
GAPS













Name
Index No.
Field
Group
Date of Performance
Date of Submission
: W.M.C.N.S.Kirinde
: 100255K
: Electrical Engineering
: G6
: 2013/08/21
: 2013/09/17
Instructed by: Mr. M.K.C.D. Chinthaka
s Name
Group Members :
A.M.M. Karunarathna 100243X
K.M.C.G. Karunarathne 100244C
I.M.M. Karunathilake 100249V
A.P.M. Kethumalika 100254G
W.M.C.N.S. Kirinde 100255K
: 2013/08/30

CALCULATIONS
Correction of observed values for standard temperature and pressure
V = Breakdown voltage at a pressure P and temperature T

= Breakdown voltage at standard pressure and temperature


= Density correction factor

Data taken,
Atmospheric pressure, P = 756.81torr
Room temperature, T = 30
Transformer Ratio = 220V / 100kV



( )
( )


( )
( )


Corrected value of breakdown voltage,


(kV)

Specimen calculation for sphere - sphere air gap breakdown,

Air gap distance = 2.5 cm
Sphere-sphere gap voltage, V = 50V
The corrected value for 50V,



Likewise, all the other calculations are tabulated as follows.




Corrected voltage values for each electrode pair vs. Air gap distance

Breakdown Voltage (kV)
Air gap distance (cm) Sphere-Sphere Plate-Plate Rod-Rod
0.5 16.991 17.464 17.936
1.0 22.656 17.464 17.936
1.5 32.097 25.016 17.936
2.0 41.064 32.568 17.936
2.5 51.921 40.120 17.936
3.0 60.416 46.729 23.600
3.5 69.385 53.336 31.624
4.0 77.409 58.529 35.400
4.5 84.962 60.889 36.345
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
B
r
e
a
k
d
o
w
n

V
o
l
t
a
g
e

(
k
V
)

Distance (cm)
Corrected voltage values vs. Air gap distance
Sphere-Sphere Plate-Plate Rod-Rod

Corrected voltage values vs. Air gap distance

DISCUSSION
HV lab arrangement
High voltage lab is consisted with 2 floors. Ground floor is where the high voltage
equipment are kept in a caged area. On the first floor, there are control panel, protection and
measuring devices. With this floor and equipment planning, the life stock has been kept
away as much as possible from the high voltage test equipment. High voltage area is covered
with a metal net cage which has been grounded. Entrance is protected by a special protective
plug. High voltage equipment can only be operated after the protective plug has been closed.

Comment upon the necessity and usefulness of safety precaution taken in conducting
the practical
Ground rod plays a vital role in the high voltage lab working as a protective plug. Its
placed at the entrance of the high voltage area. Without closing it any high voltage
equipment in the area cannot be operated. With this rod, all the stray static electric charges
are earthed. Hence, the livestock is protected from the electric shock hazards with the usage
of the ground rod.









High voltage test area is covered with a metal net cage of about 2 meters high. The lab
is designed with 2 floors. Ground floor which contains all the high voltage test equipment is
covered with the above mentioned metal mesh and all the control, protective and measuring
devices are at the 1
st
floor. All over the high voltage lab there are necessary, safety signs and
instructions as well. With these, any harm for livestock has been reduced immensely.














At the entrance, there is a safety interlocking system as well. When the test area was
opened hence the plug, the control panel will be turned off. Hence for operation of the
control panel in order to conduct a test, the door should be closed and then this protective
plug should be closed.









High voltage generators used in the high voltage lab are all protected with safety
relays for protection. After a high voltage discharge during an experiment, it automatically
discharges. Also the plug connected to the entrance door to the test arena is connected to a
safety relay which will open circuit the high voltage power supply when the door is opened.




Methods of HVAC and HVDC generation
So far HVAC generation is done because of the lesser power losses in transmission
and many other reasons. However, HVDC transmission is more economical and it is the new
trend, hence.
In HVAC systems, ability of transformers to step up and down the voltages with ease
is used here. When transmitting over long distances, it is much more efficient to do with the
intensification of voltages and currents. At the power plants AC voltage is generated and
then stepped upto higher voltage values for transmission. Cascade arrangement of
transformers is also used to step the voltage up to a higher value. Ferranti test circuit
arrangement is used with 2 transformers and an isolation transformer is used to isolate the
high voltage side from the primary side for HVAC generation.
For remote transmission, HVDC systems are less expensive and dissipates lower
power losses. For short distances, the high cost of DC conversion equipment compared to an
AC system can be overcome because of the other benefits. For HVDC generation Foster
generator is used.

Need of a 2M resistor
The voltages related with the gaseous breakdown are comparatively large, typically
about 30V/cm stress. Since the uniform increase in voltage used in the practical, it is more
probable to occur avalanche breakdown which develops over relatively long periods of time
and its typically more than 1s. The discharge current at the breakdown is suddenly
increased due to avalanche effect. The current should be controlled for the safety of the
equipment. So, this 2M resistor is used to limit the current at the breakdown.

Factors that affect the breakdown voltage of air for a given pair of electrodes
These are very important in power system protection. These relays are time graded
such that the relay nearer to the fault operates quickly before the relays nearer to the source.
These can isolate only the faulty component form the system.
For vacuum gaps less than about 1 mm, the breakdown voltage is approximately
proportional to the length, all other parameters remaining constant. This gives a constant
breakdown strength. For these small gaps, the breakdown stress is relatively high, being of
the order of 1 MV/cm. Field emission of electrons probably plays an important part in the
breakdown process.
V = k.d for d < 1 mm











The breakdown voltage of a gap increases on successive flashovers, until a constant
value is reached. The electrodes are then said to be conditioned. This increase in voltage is
ascribed to the burning off by sparking of microscopic irregularities or impurities which may
exist on the electrodes. When investigating the effect of various factors on breakdown, the
electrodes must first be conditioned in such a way that reproducible results are obtained.






The electrode surfaces form the physical boundaries between which the breakdown
finally takes place. Thus it is not surprising to find that the breakdown strength of a given
size of gap is strongly dependent on the material of the electrodes. In general, the smoother
the surface finish, the greater the breakdown voltage.

Increasing the area of the electrodes makes it more difficult to maintain a given
breakdown voltage. Thus, breakdown voltage decreases slightly with increase in surface
area. For example, electrodes of 20 cm
2
area gives the breakdown voltage across a 1 mm gap
of 40 kV, whereas electrodes of the same material of area 1000 cm2 gives a breakdown
voltage across the same 1 mm gap as 25 kV. Up to 1 mm gap, the more convex electrodes
have higher breakdown voltage than the more nearly plane electrodes even though at the
same voltage they carried a higher electric field at the surface.

The variation of the breakdown voltage with temperature is very small, and for nickel and
iron electrodes, the strength remains unchanged for temperatures as high as 5000C. Cooling the
electrodes to liquid Nitrogen temperature increases the breakdown voltage.


Method of measuring high voltage using sphere gaps
Ionization of gas molecules and the gas density affects the breakdown strength of the
gas. The breakdown voltage also varies with the gap spacing. Because of the high
consistency of breakdown voltage for uniform air gap, the sphere gap can be used as a
measuring device. Very accurate charts have prepared based on the experiments for different
diameters and distances of air gap.
Two metal spheres separated by a gas gap is used as a measuring device. Voltage
difference between two spheres is increased until a spark passes among the spheres. This
device can be used to measure the peak value of a voltage wave and for checking and
calibrating of voltmeters.

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