Abstract
The present paper investigates the breakdown characteristics—breakdown voltage, with breakdown occurring on the rising edge of the applied HV impulses, and time to breakdown—for gases of significance that are present in the atmosphere: air, N2 and CO2. These breakdown characteristics have been obtained in a 100 µm gap between an HV needle and plane ground electrode, when stressed with sub-µs impulses of both polarities, with a rise time up to ~50 ns. The scaling relationships between the reduced breakdown field Etip/N and the product of the gas number density and inter-electrode gap, Nd, were obtained for all tested gases over a wide range of Nd values, from ~1020 m−2 to ~1025 m−2. The breakdown field-time to breakdown characteristics obtained at different gas pressures are presented as scaling relationships of Etip/N, Nd, and Ntbr for each gas, and compared with data from the literature.
Highlights
Breakdown Characteristics of Air, N2Fast breakdown processes in gases are the subject of intensive experimental and theoretical investigation, and computer modeling
The following gases have been selected for investigation of their breakdown properties in the present work: “zero grade” air, CO2, and N2
The present work is focused on the systematic investigation of the impulsive breakdown characteristics—the breakdown voltage and time to breakdown, of the major gases present in the atmosphere, air, N2 and CO2, with breakdown occurring on the rising edge of the applied HV impulses
Summary
Fast breakdown processes in gases are the subject of intensive experimental and theoretical investigation, and computer modeling. There exists an urgent need for the high-voltage community to contribute to addressing the impact on global warming attributed to the usage of potent greenhouse gas(es) such as SF6 , by substituting these gases in high-voltage systems containing gases with a lesser environmental impact [8,9] These factors have resulted in significant interest in further information on the breakdown properties of gases present in atmospheric air—nitrogen and carbon dioxide—in shorter inter-electrode gaps stressed with different high-voltage impulses, including impulses with sub-μs front times. The increasing interest in miniature plasma and high-voltage systems has heightened the need for further experimental investigation of the impulsive breakdown properties of the gases present in the atmosphere, in sub-mm inter-electrode gaps stressed with short, high-voltage impulses with sub-μs front times. Ration; (b) photograph of the gramophone needle tip with ~80μm radius under the microscope
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