On the modeling of the production and drift of carriers in cyclohexane

Abstract

The modeling of the mechanisms of generation, loss, multiplication and transport of charge carriers is vital for the simulation of the prebreakdown process in dielectric liquids. Unfortunately, there is a lack of suitable coefficients to describe the electron generation and transport of carriers in liquids, which hinders the development of numerical models with sufficient predictive power. In this paper, the drift-dominated continuity equations for electrons and ions are coupled with Poisson's equation in order to simulate the carrier production and drift in the liquid phase under positive and negative voltages in cyclohexane. The estimations of the model are compared with measurements of current-voltage characteristics and Trichel current pulses reported in the literature for needle-plane configurations. In the analysis, the electron generation mechanisms suggested for dielectric liquids are analyzed and discussed. It is found that estimations based on the Zener equation for field-dependent molecular ionization do not agree with measurements for negative sharp points. It is also shown that the proper estimation of the electric current in the liquid phase should consider a field-dependent attachment term as well as the electrohydrodynamic movement of the liquid.