Impulse breakdown characteristics of the plane-to-plane electrode system with a needle-shaped protrusion in SF6

This paper presents the impulse pre-breakdown and breakdown characteristics of the plane-to-plane electrode system with a needle-shaped protrusion in SF₆ gas. The breakdown voltage–time (V–t) characteristics and the breakdown voltage–gas pressure (V–p) characteristics of a highly non-uniform SF₆ gas gap under positive and negative lightning impulse voltages are investigated in the pressure range between 0.1 and 0.5 MPa. The pre-breakdown developments are examined by the corona current and light emission measurements with high time resolution. As a result, the dielectric strengths versus time-to-breakdown of SF₆ gas gap under positive lightning impulse voltages were nearly independent of the gas pressure. The first streamer corona was initiated at the tip of the needle electrode, and the streamer corona pulses developed with a stepwise propagation. The discharge paths were zigzag, and the branches of the discharge channel for positive polarity were created. On the other hand, the leader channel in the negative polarity was thicker and brighter than that in the positive polarity.     

微机电系统微尺度间隙的脉冲击穿特性

利用微机电系统(MEMS)工艺制备了5~40 m间隙的金属铝薄膜电极,测取了不同间隙下施加纳秒方波脉冲时的击穿电压,得到击穿电压和平均场强随电极间隙的变化规律,研究了脉宽、极性对击穿电压的影响,结合击穿后微电极扫描电镜观察结果讨论了其击穿机理,并与相同试样在直流下的结果进行了对比。研究表明:击穿电压随微间隙距离的增大而增大,击穿场强则随着间隙的增大迅速减小;与直流同间隙的击穿电压相比,脉冲作用下的击穿电压并不像宏观尺度下那样高出很多;试样击穿机理应为流注理论。在脉冲作用下,阳极出现了分层熔化现象,由于作用时间很短,阳极表面并未出现类似于直流击穿时留下的坑洞;阴极则出现了溅射沉积现象,只是沉积物质相对较少。     

Probe Measurements of Parameters of Streamers of Nanosecond Frequency Crown Discharge

Investigations of the parameters of single streamers of nanosecond frequency corona discharge, creating a voluminous low-temperature plasma in extended coaxial electrode systems, are performed. Measurements of the parameters of streamers were made by an isolated probe situated on the outer grounded electrode. Streamers were generated under the action of voltage pulses with a front of 50–300 ns, duration of 100–600 ns, and amplitude up to 100 kV at the frequency of 50–1000 Hz. The pulse voltage, the total current of the corona, current per probe, and glow in the discharge gap were recorded in the experiments. It was established that, at these parameters of pulse voltage, streamers propagate at an average strength of the electric field of 4–10 kV/cm. Increasing the pulse amplitude leads to an increase in the number of streamers hitting the probe, an increase in the average charge of the head of a streamer, and, as a consequence, an increase in the total streamer current and the energy introduced into the gas. In the intervals up to 3 cm, streamer breakdown at an average field strength of 5–10 kV/cm is possible. In longer intervals, during the buildup of voltage after generation of the main pulse, RF breakdown is observed at Е_av ≈ 4 kV/cm.     

大气压空气中重复频率纳秒脉冲气体放电模式研究

利用上升沿100ns、脉宽150ns的单级磁压缩纳秒脉冲电源,通过电压电流测量和放电图像拍摄实验,研究了大气压空气中极不均匀电场结构重复频率纳秒脉冲气体放电的放电模式。结果表明纳秒脉冲气体放电存在三种典型的放电模式:电晕放电、弥散放电和火花放电。施加的脉冲电压幅值对放电模式影响显著,随着电压幅值的增加,放电依次经历电晕、弥散和火花放电。固定电压幅值时,放电可能同时存在两种模式。重复频率加强了放电强度,弥散放电的激发电压随重复频率的增加变化不大,但火花放电的激发电压随着重复频率的增加而降低。因此降低重复频率有利于在较大电压范围获得大气压空气弥散放电。     

Pulsed corona discharge driven by Marx generator: Diagnostics and optimization for NOx treatment

A compact, repetitive Marx generator with an external trigger is constructed and coupled with a wire-to-plate corona reactor for a positive pulsed corona discharge studies. The reactor resistance and capacitance behavior during the pulse was observed. It was found that the reactor's capacitance increases three times during the pulse due to the streamer propagation from anode to grounded electrode. Using the time development of the capacitance and resistance during the pulse and the reactor inter-electrode distance, the streamer velocity has been calculated to be 1 × 10⁶ m/s, for system arrangement presented in this work. As an indicator of chemical activity of pulsed corona, ozone production was measured. Emission spectroscopy measurements in the UV region were performed to detect species that appear in the discharge and to determine vibrational and rotational temperatures, which are found to be 3200 K and 340 K respectively. As a measure of pollution control potential of the constructed pulsed corona system, NO oxidation efficiency was investigated and compared with results presented in literature. It was shown that pulsed corona systems with significantly longer pulse durations are competitive with several times shorter pulse duration systems, which implies that chemical efficiency of secondary streamers is comparable with efficiency of primary streamers.     

The impulse dielectric behavior of N2 gas in sphere-plane gap

The focus of this work has been on the pre-breakdown phenomena and the breakdown characteristics of N₂ gas in a sphere-plane gap under various impulse voltages. Both electrical and optical experimental investigation methods were used. Following parameters were considered: gas pressure range from 0.2 to 0.6 MPa, electric field utilization factor of the electrode configuration 71%, positive and negative impulse waveforms with the rise time of 500 ns, 1.2 μs and 180 μs. The observed discharge processes before the breakdown through the light emission images by the ICCD camera are in good agreement with the streamer mechanism. Under both polarity stresses, discharges are initially concentrated around the tip of the sphere and later pointing towards the earth electrode. However, negative streamers are thinner and more diffuse. As expected, the breakdown voltages for negative polarity are lower than those for positive polarity regardless of the gas pressure and shape of the applied impulse voltage. The breakdown voltage is increased with shortening the rise time of pulse waveforms. As a substitute for SF₆, N₂ gas under pressures above 0.3 MPa can reach the standard rated withstand voltage for 24 kV C-GIS.     

Characteristic of a negative corona discharge in active media of Xe(6p−5d) and eximer lasers

The article contains results of a study of electric and optical characteristics of a negative corona discharge in a “needles-grid” electrode system in the mixtures He/Xe and He/Xe(Kr)/HCl, which are used in periodic pulsed electric-discharge Xe(6p−5d), XeCl, and KrCl lasers. The corona discharge was ignited in a multielectrode system whose length is commensurable with the length of the active medium of the lasers. Voltage-current characteristics, radiation spectra of the discharge plasma, and the dependences of the radiation intensity of atomic spectral lines and the band λ=308 nm of XeCl (B-X) on parameters of the corona discharge are studied. For the mixture He/Xe the corona discharge exists as a spatially homogeneous discharge that is intermediate between corona and glow discharges and is transformed into an anode streamer at higher charge voltages. Collisional purification of the 6p states of the Xe atom by helium was observed. In the mixture He/Xe/HCl the corona discharge is ignited in the form of individual generation zones and a dark external region and can be used in electric systems for pumping the active media of XeCl and KrCl lasers. Uzhgorod State University, 46, Pidgirna St., Uzhgorod, 294000, Ukraine. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 65, No. 2, pp. 205–210, March–April, 1998.     

气体介质对多间隙气体开关电晕均压与自击穿特性的影响

快脉冲直线变压器型驱动源(FLTD)是近年来快速发展的新型脉冲功率源技术,多采用多间隙气体开关作为开关器件。电晕均压措施有利于提升开关击穿性能,但不同气体中电晕放电有显著区别。本文首先研究了空气中针电极对单间隙电晕放电特性的影响,确定了电晕针电极的尺寸,之后研究了N2,CO2,SF6/N2混合气体、C4F7N/N2混合气体中的电晕放电特性,研究了电晕均压6间隙气体开关击穿电压及其稳定性随气体种类和气压的变化规律。实验结果表明,N2中电晕电流较大且不稳定,空气中电晕电流比N2中低,且电晕放电较为稳定,微量强电负性气体加入会极大降低电晕放电电流。当采用空气和N2作绝缘介质时,气体开关击穿电压随气压升高线性增加,但存在低值击穿,微量强电负性气体混合N2可显著提升击穿电压的稳定性。1%SF6/99%N2混合气体在0.18 MPa时,击穿电压约为197.33 kV,标准偏差占击穿电压比例为1.50%,1%C4F7N/99%N2混合气体在0.15 MPa时,击穿电压约为190.42 kV,标准偏差为0.55%。这表明,微量环保替代气体C4F7N与N2的混合气体对于提升多间隙气体开关击穿电压稳定性有显著作用。     

Abnormal Polarity Effects of Streamer Discharge in Propylene Carbonate under Microsecond Pulses

Propylene carbonate(PC) has a great potential to be used as an energy storage medium in the compact pulsed power sources due to its high dielectric constant and large resistivity. We investigate both the positive and negative breakdown characteristics of PC. The streamer patterns are obtained by ultra-high-speed cameras. The experimental results show that the positive breakdown voltage of PC is about 135% higher than the negative one, which is abnormal compared with the common liquid. The shape of the positive streamer is filamentary and branchy, while the negative streamer is tree-like and less branched. According to these experimental results, a charge layer structure model at the interface between the metal electrode and liquid is presented. It is suggested that the abnormal polarity effect basically arises from the electric field strength difference in the interface between both electrodes and PC. What is more, the recombination radiation and photoionization also play an important role in the whole discharge process.     

环形电极单间隙电晕放电伏安特性

基于用于直线变压器型驱动源的多间隙气体开关结构,提出一种环形放电间隙与电晕针并联的气体火花间隙。通过测量间隙耐压过程中电晕放电的伏安特性,研究了气体介质、气压、电晕极性、电晕针长度以及针尖对应电极结构等因素对伏安特性的影响。结果表明:以空气为绝缘气体,负极性电晕可获得较稳定的伏安特性;改变电晕针长度和针尖对应电极结构可方便地实现对电晕放电伏安特性的调节以满足开关要求。     

A high-current rail-type gas switch with preionization by an additional corona discharge

The characteristics of a high-current rail-type gas switch with preionization of the gas (air) in a spark gap by an additional corona discharge are investigated. The experiments were performed in a voltage range of 10–45 kV using a two-electrode switch consisting of two cylindrical electrodes with a diameter of 22 mm and a length of 100 mm and a set of laterally located corona-discharge needles. The requirements for the position and size of the needles are defined for which a corona discharge is ignited before a breakdown of the main gap and does not change to a sparking form, and the entire length of the rail electrodes is efficiently used. The fulfillment of these requirements ensures stable operation of the switch with a small variation of the pulse breakdown voltage, which is not more than 1% for a fixed voltage-pulse rise time in the range from 150 ns to 3.5 μs. A short delay time of the switch breakdown makes it possible to control the two-electrode switch by an overvoltage pulse of nanosecond duration.     

Gas spark switches with increased operating life for Marx generator of lightning test complex

A new design of gas spark switches with an increased operating life and stable dynamic characteristics for the Marx generator of the lightning test complex has been developed. The switches are characterized by the following parameters in the mode of operation: voltage up to 80 kV, discharge current up to 50 kA, flowing charge up to 3.5 C/pulse. An increased operating life is achieved by using torus-shaped electrodes with increased working surface area and a trigger electrode in the form of a thick disk with a hole located between them. Low breakdown delay time and high stability of breakdown voltage under dynamic conditions are provided by gas preionization in the spark gap using UV radiation of an additional corona discharge in the axial region.     

纳秒脉冲气体放电机理探讨

 经典Townsend机理和流注理论是气体放电研究的基础,但在解释纳秒脉冲气体放电时均存在一定缺陷。基于经典气体放电理论,探讨纳秒脉冲气体放电机理,分析流注理论判据在纳秒脉冲气体放电中的有效性,解释纳秒脉冲下电子逃逸现象和基于电子逃逸的快速电离波击穿理论,仿真计算高能快电子的逃逸过程。结果认为基于高能量快电子的逃逸击穿将是可能解释纳秒脉冲下气体放电现象的依据。     

Investigation of a single dielectric barrier discharge in submillimeter air gaps: Uniform field

The characteristics of a single discharge in 0.01–0.2-cm air gaps are investigated under atmospheric pressure between the metal electrodes and in the presence of a polymer barrier on one of the electrodes. The experimentally determined surface charge density distributions are satisfactorily described by a 2D Gaussian function with the proposed parameters. In the uniform field, the breakdown voltage weakly depends on the presence of a dielectric barrier. At the same time, the change from the positive to negative polarity of the metal electrode leads to a manifold increase in the discharge current and in the surface charge. The breakdown occurs under considerable overvoltage; the estimates indicate the streamer mechanism of the breakdown.     

Study of streamer development in high-pressure electric discharge: Applications to excimer lasers

This work represents a study of the streamer formation in plasma for XeCl excimer laser at high pressure. It is based on a longitudinal mono-dimensional model of the cathodic zone. In this model, we show the possibility of the streamer development in the cathodic sheath and its propagation during the phase of plasma formation. The model gives the space and time evolution of the electron density and the discharge electric field in the presence of the streamer. The obtained results clearly indicate that, for conditions close to experiments for 50–100 ns laser pulse durations and electron power deposition in the MW/cm³ range in a 300 cm³ chamber, the streamer instability, related to the sheath evolution, patently appears. The drift velocity reaches a typical value of about 10⁸ cm/s.     

气流对微秒脉冲滑动放电特性的影响

脉冲电源驱动的滑动放电能够在大气压下产生高能量、高功率密度的低温等离子体. 为了研究微秒脉冲电源在针-针电极结构中产生滑动放电的特征, 本文采用电压幅值为0–30 kV, 脉冲宽度约8 μs, 脉冲重复频率为1–3000 Hz的微秒脉冲电源, 通过测量电压、电流波形和拍摄放电图像, 研究了微秒脉冲滑动放电的电特性. 实验结果表明, 随着施加电压的增加微秒脉冲滑动放电存在三种典型的放电模式: 电晕放电、弥散放电和类滑动放电. 不同放电模式的电压、电流波形和放电图像之间差异显著. 脉冲重复频率对微秒脉冲滑动放电特性有影响, 表现为当气体流量较小(2 L/min)时, 类滑动放电的放电通道随着脉冲重复频率的增大逐渐集中, 而当气体流量较大(16 L/min)时, 类滑动放电的放电通道随着脉冲重复频率的增大逐渐分散. 不同气流下重复频率对滑动放电特性的影响与放电中粒子的记忆效应和气流的状态有关.     

Cathode-sheath driven low-speed aerodynamic flow actuation using direct-current surface glow discharges

Flow actuation by a continuous/pulsed, direct-current (DC) surface glow discharge is explored. The discharge comprises an array of pin electrode pairs flush mounted on a dielectric actuator surface that lies adjacent to stagnant air. Strong electrostatic fields produced in the cathode sheath region of the discharge provides a motive force on the ions which in turn drag the background gas resulting in directed air flow from the anode to the cathode. The induced flow velocity is estimated by particle image velocimetry (PIV) at 10 Hz with TiO₂ seeding. For a pulsed DC discharge with peak power of 5 W per electrode pair, the induced flow velocity reaches peak values of about 1.7 m/s which is comparable to dielectric-barrier discharge (DBD) or corona discharge actuators. The actuation effect quantified by the magnitude of induced velocity increases as the pulse frequency increases from 0 to 1 kHz. The actuation effect decreases for further increase in frequency above 1 kHz. Decreased actuation effect at high frequency is accompanied by structural change in the discharge. At fixed frequency of 1 kHz, flow actuation effect is highest for a square wave pulse with a duty cycle of 50% indicating that pulsed DC discharges produces better actuation than continuous DC with a corresponding reduction in energy consumption.     

DC discharges in atmospheric air for bio-decontamination – spectroscopic methods for mechanism identification

Three types of DC electrical discharges in atmospheric air (streamer corona, transient spark and glow discharge) were tested for bio-decontamination of bacteria and yeasts in water solution, and spores on surfaces. Static vs. flowing treatment of contaminated water were compared, in the latter the flowing water either covered the grounded electrode or passed through the high voltage needle electrode. The bacteria were killed most efficiently in the flowing regime by transient spark. Streamer corona was efficient when the treated medium flew through the active corona region. The spores on plastic foil and paper surfaces were successfully inactivated by negative corona. The microbes were handled and their population evaluated by standard microbiology cultivation procedures. The emission spectroscopy of the discharges and TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) absorption spectrometric detection of the products of lipid peroxidation of bacterial cell membranes indicated a major role of radicals and reactive oxygen species among the bio-decontamination mechanisms.     

Influence of wire mesh electrodes on the volume and surface characteristics of dielectric barrier discharge of atmospheric pressure helium

The dielectric barrier discharge of helium in a 6 mm gap at atmospheric pressure was studied. In this paper, the influence of electric field distribution on the uniformity of DBD is analyzed theoretically and verified by experiments. The experimental results show that the mesh electrode produces a local enhancement effect by affecting the electric field and then produces corona discharge, which provides seed electrons for the subsequent discharge process. The effects of mesh diameter and size on discharge uniformity and stability are analyzed, the electrode structure parameters are optimized, the method of a segmented electrode is proposed, and the discharge process and charge distribution are studied. The electrical diagnosis results of plasma technology show that the segmented mesh electrode reduces the breakdown voltage of DBD and increases the charge deposition.