Electrical Tree Initiation and Growth in Silicone Rubber under Combined DC-Pulse Voltage

Electrical tree is a serious threat to silicone rubber (SIR) insulation and can even cause breakdown. Electrical trees under alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) voltage have been widely researched. While there are pulses in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables under operating conditions caused by lightning and operating overvoltage in the power system, little research has been reported about trees under combined DC-pulse voltage. Their inception and growth mechanism is still not clear. In this paper, electrical trees are studied under several types of combined DC-pulse voltage. The initiation and growth process was recorded by a digital microscope system. The experimental results indicate that the inception pulse voltage is different under each voltage type and is influenced by the combined DC. The initial tree has two structures, determined by the pulse polarity. With increased DC prestressing time, tree inception pulse voltage with the same polarity is clearly decreased. Moreover, a special initial bubble tree was observed after the prestressing DC.

[1]  Y. Sekii,et al.  DC tree and grounded DC tree in XLPE , 2005, CEIDP '05. 2005 Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, 2005..

[2]  P. Pfluger,et al.  A model for space charge injection in dielectrics , 1985, Conference on Electrical Insulation & Dielectric Phenomena - Annual Report 1985.

[3]  Narain G. Hingorani.  Transient Overvoltage on a Bipolar HVDC Overhead Line Caused by DC Line Faults , 1970 .

[4]  Shengtao Li,et al.  Investigations of electrical trees in the inner layer of XLPE cable insulation using computer-aided image recording monitoring , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[5]  T. Tanaka,et al.  Nanocomposites-a review of electrical treeing and breakdown , 2009, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine.

[6]  Chenghong Zhou,et al.  A study of temporary overvoltage at HVDC rectifier stations , 2011, 2011 IEEE Electrical Power and Energy Conference.

[7]  Y. Liu,et al.  Electrical treeing test of DC cable XLPE insulation under DC voltage and high temperature , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Dielectrics (ICD).

[8]  Rudi Kurnianto,et al.  Some Fundamentals on Treeing Breakdown in Inorganic-filler/LDPE Nano-composite Material , 2006 .

[9]  M. Saltzer,et al.  DC field distribution around an HVDC cable termination , 2015, 2015 IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP).

[10]  Ling Zhang,et al.  Electrical Trees and Their Growth in Silicone Rubber at Various Voltage Frequencies , 2018 .

[11]  George Chen,et al.  Review of high voltage direct current cables , 2015 .

[12]  B. Du,et al.  Effects of direct fluorination on space charge accumulation in HTV silicone rubber , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[13]  Allan Greenwood,et al.  Effects of Charge Injection and Extraction on Tree Initiation in Polyethylene , 1978, IEEE Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems.

[14]  Boon-Teck Ooi,et al.  DC overvoltage control during loss of converter in multiterminal voltage-source converter-based HVDC (M-VSC-HVDC) , 2003 .

[15]  D. Auckland,et al.  Mechanical aspects of electrical treeing in solid insulation , 1996 .

[16]  B. X. Du,et al.  Space charge behaviors of PP/POE/ZnO nanocomposites for HVDC cables , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[17]  G. Teyssedre,et al.  Feature article - Polymeric HVDC cable design and space charge accumulation. Part 2: insulation interfaces , 2008, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine.

[18]  Simon M. Rowland,et al.  Electrical tree growth in epoxy resin under DC voltages , 2016, 2016 IEEE International Conference on Dielectrics (ICD).

[19]  C. Laurent,et al.  Optical emission due to space charge effects in electrically stressed polymers , 1997 .

[20]  P. Notingher,et al.  Space charge and electric field in thermally aged multilayer joints model , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[21]  G. Stevens,et al.  Dynamic bipolar charge recombination model for electroluminescence in polymer based insulation during electrical tree initiation , 1995 .

[22]  B. Du,et al.  Effects of mechanical stress on treeing growth characteristics in HTV silicone rubber , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[23]  John C. Fothergill,et al.  Electrical degradation and breakdown in polymers , 1992 .

[24]  J. Zha,et al.  Improvement of space charge suppression of polypropylene for potential application in HVDC cables , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[25]  Y. Saito,et al.  On the Mechanism of Tree Initiation , 1977, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation.

[26]  Rui Liu,et al.  Temperature dependence of DC electrical tree initiation in silicone rubber considering defect type and polarity , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[27]  N. Shimizu,et al.  Electrical tree initiation , 1998 .

[28]  G. Teyssedre,et al.  Polymeric HVDC Cable Design and Space Charge Accumulation. Part 1: Insulation/Semicon Interface , 2007, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine.

[29]  B. X. Du,et al.  Tree characteristics in silicone rubber/SiO2 nanocomposites under low temperature , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[30]  B X Du,et al.  Effect of ambient temperature on electrical treeing characteristics in silicone rubber , 2011, IEEE transactions on dielectrics and electrical insulation.

[31]  B. Du,et al.  Effect of low temperature on tree characteristics in silicone rubber with different power frequency , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[32]  Yi Yin,et al.  Effect of temperature on space charge detrapping and periodic grounded DC tree in cross-linked polyethylene , 2016, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[33]  Ying Liu,et al.  Electrical tree growth characteristics in XLPE cable insulation under DC voltage conditions , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[34]  Jun Hu,et al.  Evaluation of polypropylene/polyolefin elastomer blends for potential recyclable HVDC cable insulation applications , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[35]  Liu Ying,et al.  Electrical tree initiation in XLPE cable insulation by application of DC and impulse voltage , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation.

[36]  M. Kosaki,et al.  Treeing of Polyethylene at 77K , 1977, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation.

[37]  A. Yelon,et al.  Nucleation of Electrical Tress in Polyethylene , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation.

[38]  M. Ieda,et al.  DC Treeing Breakdown Associated with Space Charge Formation in Polyethylene , 1976, IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation.

[39]  R. Hill,et al.  Modelling charge injection and motion in solid dielectrics under high electric field , 1993 .

[40]  Feng Guo,et al.  Effect of DC Prestressing on Periodic Grounded DC Tree in Cross-Linked Polyethylene at Different Temperatures , 2017, IEEE Access.

[41]  Yuanxiang Zhou,et al.  Electrical tree initiation in silicone rubber under DC and polarity reversal voltages , 2017 .