Decomposition characteristics of SF6 under thermal fault for temperatures below 400°C

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the decomposition characteristics of SF6 under thermal fault, which can further improve the method of using SF6 decomposed components to diagnose inner insulation status of SF6 insulated equipment. Hence, the thermal fault simulation system of SF6 electrical equipment is designed and serials of experiments are conducted. It initially gets SF6 thermal decomposition characteristic for temperature below 400°C. Then it analyzes decomposed component species and their generation regularity, determines the main characteristic component of SF6 thermal decomposition and chooses the key component to represent fault severity. The result shows that: SF6 begins to decompose obviously at 300°C and the main decomposition components contain CO2, SO2F2, SOF2, SOF4, SO2 and H2S; the improvement of fault temperature will promote the decomposition of SF6, but the formation regularity of each decomposed component is different; H2S is the special component only appears when thermal fault proceeds to some degree (above 360°C). Hence, decomposed components and their formation regularity can be used to diagnose the SF6 equipment thermal fault. H2S can be used as the key component to represent fault severity.