The simultaneous measurement of light and current pulses in liquid dielectrics

Abstract

It is well established that light pulses are emitted during prebreakdown in liquid dielectrics [1,2,3]. These light pulses have been associated with the growth of negative streamers under divergent field conditions. Several attempts have been made to measure current pulses associated with the streamer growth. In two cases, current and light observations were correlated, however, in the case of Nelson, dc voltages were used[2,4]. Yamashita used transformer oil and 5 mm gaps under impulse conditions. To correlate streamer growth, light emission, and current pulses, it is of interest to use simple liquids to examine, simutaneously, the emission of light and prebreakdown current under non-uniform field conditions. In the following section, the experimental conditions used for this study are described. This is followed by a presentation of the results. In the last section, the significance of these results is discussed.