Tutorial 1: Conduction and Breakdown of Gas

1. Explain the difference between photo-ionisation and photo-electric emission.

2. Explain the term' 'electron attachment". Why are electron attaching gases useful for
practical use as insulators when compared to non-attaching gases.
3 Describe the current growth phenomenon in a gas subjected to uniform electric fields.
4 Explain the Streamer theory of breakdown in air at atmospheric pressure.
5 What is Paschen's law? How do you account for the minimum voltage for breakdown
under a given *p x d' condition?
6 The following table gives the sets of observations obtained while studying the Townsend
phenomenon in a gas. Compute the values of the Townsend's primary and secondary
ionization coefficients from the data given.

7 A glow discharge tube is to be designed such that the breakdown occurs at the Paschen
minimum voltage. Making use of the following Figure, suggest the suitable gap distance and
pressure in glow discharge tube when the gas in it is (a) hydrogen, (b) air.

8 What will the breakdown strength of air be for small gaps (1 mm) and large gaps (20 cm)
under uniform field conditions and standard atmospheric conditions?

9 In an experiment in a certain gas it was found that the steady state current is 5.5 x 10-8 A
at 8 kV at a distance of 0.4 cm between the plane electrodes. Keeping the field constant
and reducing the distance to 0.1 cm results in a current of 5.5 x 10-9 A. Calculate
Townsend's primary ionization coefficient a.
 Tutorial 2 Conduction and Breakdown of Liquid

1 Explain the phenomena of electrical conduction in liquids. How does it differ from that in
gases?
2 What are commercial liquid dielectrics, and how are they different from pure liquid
dielectrics?
3 What are the factors that influence conduction in pure liquid dielectrics and in
commercial liquid dielectrics?
4 Explain the various theories that explain breakdown in commercial liquid dielectrics.
5 What is "stressed oil volume theory", and how does it explain breakdown in large
volumes of commercial liquid dielectrics?
6 In an experiment for determining the breakdown strength of transformer oil, the
following observations were made. Determine the relationship between the gap spacing
and the applied voltage of the oil. Plot the graph.
 Tutorial 3 Conduction and Breakdown of Solid

1 What do you understand by "intrinsic strength'* of a solid dielectric? How does

breakdown occur due to electrons in a solid dielectric?
2 What is "thermal breakdown" in solid dielectrics, and how is it practically more
significant than other mechanisms?
3 How does the "internal discharge" phenomena lead to breakdown in solid dielectrics?
4 What is a composite dielectric and what are its properties?
5 How do the temperature and moisture affect the breakdown strength of solid dielectrics?
6 What are the advantages of using plastic film insulation over the paper insulation?
7 What are the properties that make plastics more suitable as insulating materials?
8 A solid specimen of dielectric has a dielectric constant of 4.2, and tan 8 as 0.001 at a
frequency of SO Hz. If it is subject to an alternating field of 50 kV/cm, calculate the heat
generated in the specimen due to the dielectric loss.
9 A solid dielectric specimen of dielectric constant of 4.0 shown in the figure has an
internal void of thickness 1 mm. The specimen is 1 cm thick and is subjected to a voltage
of 80 kV (rms). If the void is filled with air and if the breakdown strength of air can be
taken as 30 k V (peak)/cm, find the voltage at which an internal discharge can occur.

10 A coaxial cylindrical capacitor is to be designed with an effective length of 20 cm. The

capacitor is expected to have a capacitance of 1000 pF and to operate at 15 kV, 500 kHz.
Select a suitable insulating material and give the dimensions of the electrodes.
 Tutorial 4 Generation of High Voltage and Currents
1. Explain with diagrams, different types of rectifier circuits for producing high d.c.
voltages.
2 Why is a Cockcroft-Walton circuit preferred for voltage multiplier circuits ? Explain its
working with a schematic diagram.
3 Give the expression for ripple and regulation in voltage multiplier circuits. How are the
ripple and regulation minimized ?
4 Why is it preferable to use isolating transformers for excitation with cascade transformer
units, if the power requirement is large ?
5 Explain the effect of series inductance on switching impulse waveshapes produced.
6 A Cockcroft-Walton type voltage multiplier has eight stages with capacitances, all equal
to 0.05 pF. The supply transformer secondary voltage is 125 kV at a frequency of 150 Hz.
If the load current to be supplied is 5 mA, find (a) the percentage ripple, (b) the
regulation, and (c) the optimum number of stages for minimum regulation or voltage
drop.
7 A 100 kVA, 400 V/250 kV testing transformer has 8% leakage reactance and 2%
resistance on 100 kVA base. A cable has to be tested at 500 kV using the above
transformer as a resonant transformer at 50 Hz. If the charging current of the cable at 500
kV is 0.4 A, find the series inductance required. Assume 2% resistance for the inductor to
be used and the connecting leads. Neglect dielectric loss of the cable. What will be the
input voltage to the transformer?
8 An impulse generator has eight stages with each condenser rated for 0.16 μP and 125 kV.
The load capacitor available is 1000 pF. Find the series resistance and the damping
resistance needed to produce 1.2/50 μs impulse wave. What is the maximum output
voltage of the generator, if the charging voltage is 120 kV?
9 An impulse current generator has a total capacitance of 8 pF. The charging voltage is 25
kV. If the generator has to give an output current of 10 kA with 8/20 μs waveform,
calculate (a) the circuit inductance and (b) the dynamic resistance in the circuit.
10 A 12-stage impulse generator has 0.126 pF condensers. The wave front and the wave tail
resistances connected are 800 ohms and 5000 ohms respectively. If the load condenser is
1000 pF, find the front and tail times of the impulse wave produced.
 Tutorial 5: Insulation Coordination & Earthing System

1. What are the causes for switching and power frequency overvoltages ? How are they
controlled in power systems ?
2. What is a surge diverter ? Explain its function as a shunt protective device.
3. What is meant by insulation co-ordination ? How are the protective devices chosen
for optimal insulation level in a power system ?
4. Define "surge impedance" of a line. Obtain the expressions for voltage and current
waves at a junction or transition point.
5. With suitable illustrations, explain how insulation level is chosen for various equipment
in a sub-station.
6. Why is grounding very important in a h.v.laboratory? Describe a typical grounding
system used.
7. A 3-phase single circuit transmission line is 400 km long. If the line is rated for 220 kV
and has the parameters, R = 0.1 ohms/km, L = 1.26 mH/km, C = 0.009 nF/km, and G = O,
find (a) the surge impedance and (b) the velocity of propagation neglecting the resistance
of the line. If a surge of 150 kV and infinitely long tail strikes at one end of the line, what
is the time taken for the surge to travel to the other end of the line?
8. A transmission line of surge impedance 500 ohms is connected to a cable of surge
impedance 60 ohms at the other end. If a surge of 500 kV travels along the line to the
junction point, find the voltage build-up at the junction?
9. An infinite rectangular wave on a line having a surge impedance of 500 Q strikes a
transmission line terminated with a capacitance of 0.004 pF. Calculate the extent to which
the wave front is retarded?
10. An underground cable of inductance 0.189 mH/km and of capacitance 0.3 μF/km is
connected to an overhead line having an inductance of 1.26 mH/km and capacitance of
0.009 nF/km. Calculate the transmitted and reflected voltage and current waves at the
junction, if a surge of 200 kV travels to the junction, i) along the cable, and ii) along the
overhead line.