CHAPTER 3
CONDUCTION & BREAKDOWN IN Mardianaliza Othman
LIQUID DIELECTRIC
TOPIC OUTLINE
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Classification of Liquid Dielectric
3.3 Characteristics Of Liquid Dielectrics
3.4 Conduction And Breakdown In Pure Liquid
3.5 Conduction And Break Down In Commercial Liquids
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3.1 INTRODUCTION
Liquid dielectrics are used mainly in HV cables and capacitor for
filling up of transformers, circuit breakers etc.
Act as heat transfer agents in transformer
The most important factor that affects the electrical strength of an
insulating oil, is the presence of water in the form of fine droplets
in the oil. Dielectric strength of oil reduces more sharply if it
contains impurities in addition to water.
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ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT USING LIQUID
DIELECTRIC
Power capacitor
Power transformer Switchgear
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3.2 CLASSIFICATION OF LIQUID DIELECTRIC
Transformer Oil (mineral oil)
Silicone Oil
Synthetic hydrocarbons
Chlorinated Hydrocarbon
Ester
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3.2.1 TRANSFORMER OIL
The cheapest and the most commonly used in power apparatus
Almost colorless liquid consisting of a mixture of hydrocarbons
Gradually ageing process, when the liquid in a transformer is subjected to prolonged
heating at high temperature of about 95 °C
With time the oil becomes darker due to formation of acid and resins, or sludge in the
liquid.
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3.2.2 SILICONE OILS
As alternative to polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) but they are
expensive
At a temperature 150 °C they exhibit high long-term thermal
stability
Resistant to chemicals and oxidation, even at higher
temperature
They can be used at higher temperatures than transformer oil
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3.2.3 SYNTHETIC HYDROCARBONS
Polyolefins are the dielectrics of choice for application in power cables
Over 55% of synthetics hydrocarbons produced worldwide today are
Polyolefins.
The most commonly use olefins are polybutylene and alkylaromatic
hydrocarbons.
The general characteristics are very similar to mineral oil.
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3.2.4 CHLORINATED HYDROCARBONS
Produce Askarels and Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)
Excellent electrical properties but in recent years their has
been banned throughout the world, because they pose serious
health hazards
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3.2.5 ESTERS
currently two types of synthetic esters are being used are
Organic ester and phosphate ester.
Organic ester have: high boiling point, high fire point, good viscosity-
temperature relationship, used extensively in capacitors.
Phosphate ester have: high boiling point, low flammability, used in
transformers (in hazardous areas)
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3.3 CHARACTERISTICS OF LIQUID DIELECTRICS
1. Electrical Properties
2. Heat Transfer Characteristic
3. Chemical Stability
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3.3.1 ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
i. The electrical properties are essential in determining the dielectric performance of liquid
dielectric are:
Capacitance per unit volume or relative permittivity
Resistivity
Loss tangent ( tan d) or power factor
Ability to withstand high dielectric stresses
Permitivities of most the petroleum oils vary from 2.0 to 2.6 and Silicone oils from 2.0 t0 73
Resistivities used high voltage application more than 1016 ohm-meter
Power factor, determine power loss and is an important parameter in cable and capacitor. In
case transformer, the dielectric loss in the oil is negligible when compared to copper and iron
losses. Pure and transformer oil, power factor have very low power factor varying 10-4 at
20°C and 10-3 at 90°C . 12
ii. Dielectric Strength
is the most important parameter. Its depends on the
atomic and molecular properties of the liquid itself.
In practical the dielectric strength depends on
• The material of the electrodes
• Temperature
• Type of applied voltage
• Gas content in the liquid.
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3.3.2 HEAT TRANSFER CHARACTERISTICS
The main factors that control the heat transfer are thermal
conductivity (K) and Viscosity (v)
Heat transferred mainly by convection. Under natural atm
cooling condition convection (N) is given by
N f [ K AC / v]
3 n
K = thermal conductivity ; A = Coefficient of expansion
C = specific heat per unit volume, v = kinematics
viscosity ;n = 0.25 - 0.33
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3.3.3 CHEMICAL STABILITY
Insulating liquid are subjected to thermal and electrical stresses in the
presence of materials like oxygen, water, fibers and etc.
These will cause degradation of the liquid which can result in corrosion,
impairment of heat transfer, increased dielectric losses, discharge and arcing.
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3.4 CONDUCTION AND BREAKDOWN IN PURE
LIQUIDS
Fig 3.3 shows the characteristic of conduction current-electric field
in a hydrocarbon liquid. The curve has three distinct regions.
EET413 HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING 16
CONT….
At very low fields, the current is due to the dissociation (penceraian) of ions. With
intermediate fields, the current reaches a saturation value, and at high fields the
current generated because of the electron emission from the cathode gets multiplied
in the liquid medium by a Townsend mechanisms.
The current multiplication also occurs from the electrons generated at the interfaces of
liquid and impurities.
The breakdown voltage depends on the field, gap separation, cathode work-function
and the temperature of the cathode. In addition, the liquid viscosity, liquid
temperature, the density and the molecular structure of liquid also influence the
breakdown strength of liquid.
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CONT….
The breakdown strength is more if the dissolved (terlarut) gases
are electronegative in character (like oxygen).
Similarly the increase in the partial pressure of oxygen
evolved and the liquid hydrostatic pressure will increase the
breakdown strength in n-hexane as shown in Fig 3.4 and 3.5
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3.5CONDUCTION AND BREAKDOWN IN
COMMERCIAL LIQUIDS
Commercial insulating liquids are not chemically pure and have
impurities like gas bubbles, suspended particles etc. These
impurities reduce the breakdown strength.
When breakdown occurs in these liquids, additional gases and gas
bubbles are evolved and solid decomposition products are formed.
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CONT
The breakdown mechanism depends on the nature and condition of the
electrodes, the physical properties of the liquid and the impurities and gases
present in the liquid.
In general the breakdown mechanisms are classified as follows
a ) Suspended Particle Mechanism
b) Cavitation and Bubble Mechanism
c) Thermal Mechanism
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FORMULA
EXAMPLE
In an experiment for determining the breakdown
strength of transformer oil, the following observations
were made. Determine the power law dependence
between the gap spacing and the applied voltage of
the oil.
Gap spacing (mm) 4 6 8 10
Voltage at 88 135 165 212
breakdown (kV)
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SOLUTION
The relationship between the voltage and gap is normally
given as
V Kd n
Our objective is to find out values of K and n. Substituting
values of two observations , we have
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SOLUTION
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