32 Husain ot: Dielectric Behavior of Insulating Materials under Liquid Nitrogen E. Husain, M. M. Mohsin, A. Masood, M. U. Zuberi ani M. Shahzad Alam Department of Electal Engineering 2.41 Calege of Eapnccing ad Teclogy Alans Main Univer ‘ae, 00 ABSTRACT Measurements were made to assess the ac breakdown voltages in liguid nitrogen (LN,) with different electrode configurations such as sphere-sphere, needle-needle, hhemisphere-hemisphere, plane-plane, sphere-needl, ete. Experimental results re- ‘eal thatthe breakdown voltage isa function of electrode geometry and gap length. This study also addresses the effect an the breakdown strength of solid insulating materials under LN, environment with a sphere - sphere electrode configuration, In this paper special emphasis has been attributed to the effect om loss index of a variety of dielectrics dipped in LN,. The measured values of breakdown strength and loss index have been compared with those obtained under atmospherie condi- tion. The study reveals that the breakdown strength of cellulosic materials like pa- per or pressboard increases manifold while the loss index decreases significantly ‘when dipped in LN, with variations of the order of 50% to 9. However, for im- pervious non-cellulosic materials like Perspex (acrylic glass) or presspahn the in- ‘crease in breakdown strength is not that pronounced and the decrease in loss in- Dielectric Behavior of Insulating Materials under Liquid Nitrogen dex is of the order of 2 to 30%. 1 INTRODUCTION HE discovery of high temperature superconduetiviy CHTSC) in 1986, sparked a feesh interest in research in this area so that they are put to industrial applications [1-4] In practical HITSC devices, equipment and systems, use of liquid nitrogen (LN,) as a coolant as well as an insulating medium is essential. A lot of work has already bbeen done to investigate various aspects of LN, and solid insulating materials at eryogenic temperatures regarding their electrical, mechanical, thermal, general properties, ageing effect, and radiation resisiance [5-10]. However full-fledged technology is yet to he developed. A study has been carried out to evaluate the (br down voltage of LN, and its dependence on various elec- trode configurations, (i) breakdown strength of different solid dielectrics immersed in LN; and (ii) loss index of different solid dielectrics immersed in LN. The data pre- seated in this paper and the earlier results [11] will eon- bute to the understanding of the dielectric properties, particularly the loss index of soli insulating materials in LN;, This might lead to the selection of the desired char- acteristics and insulating materials to be used for insulat- ing high temperature superconductors, om 1 December 201, fl orm 19 Ap 202 2 EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP 2.1 AC BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE IN LN, Figure 1 shows various electrode geometries used for the breakdown voltage measurements in LN;. Different combinations of electrodes such as sphere-sphere, sphere-needle, needle-needle etc. were used for obtaining, the breakdown voltage of LN, with gap lengths varying from 1 t0 $ mm. 2.2 BREAKDOWN STRENGTH OF SOLID. DIELECTRICS IMMERSED IN LN, Figure 2 shaws the schematic of a sphere-sphere elee- trode configuration mounted in a cryostat vessel with the test sample sandwiched between them. Both spherical electrodes were 12.5 mm in diameter. The electrodes used Were made of brass. They were polished, buffed and cleaned with benzene and ethanol. While handling care was taken to keep the electrode surfaces untouched and free from seratches, dust and other impurities. The elec~ trodes were mounted horizontally in a cryostat vessel and were cleaned and dried before each set of measurements, ‘The applied voltage was 50 Hz. ac obtained from 150 kV, 30 KVA testing transformer which is discharge free up to 100 KV. The breakdown voltages were measured with an accuracy of +3%. 1070-9878/1/S17.00 © 2002 IEEEIEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation PLANE NEED 19.8 149 (| a 10.6 14 TIP. RADIUS —¥ 87.5 MICROMETER SPHERE HEMI SPHERE 12.9 13.7 |a.0| Figure 1. Various electrode geometries for breakdown vlage men suyement ia LN, (crsions ia 2.3 MEASUREMENT OF LOSS INDEX OF ‘SOLID DIELECTRICS IMMERSED IN LN, Figure 3 shows the three-clectrode system as described 12] to measure the loss index of various dielectrics. Such an arrangement gives rise to 2 uniform electric field n the measuring gap and ensures that the measured loss is accurate, The electrode surfaces were made of brass and were treated as described above fo obtain a mirror finish. The electrodes were mounted vertically in a eryo- stat vessel and were cleaned and died before each set of measurements. The capacitance, dissipation factor and the resistance of the dielectrics were measured using a LCR data bridge (Forbes Tinsley Co, Ltd.) with an accuracy of ‘40.1%. The bridge has a capability of eliminating he ef- fects of stay eapacitances, 2.4 SAMPLE PREPARATION Non-cellulosie dielectric samples were used without any treatment. Cellulosic solid diclectris used as samples were treated under vacuum (100 Pa) at 100°C, for 48 bh. ‘The Vol. 9, No. 6, December 2002 93 Donest vse! Figure 2. Schematic isgram of 12Smm speresphete eacrodes ‘ovntedia's epost vee 120mm dia. —y nn 4 | 100mm dia | unguarded 1] electrode guarded olactrode a Figure 3. Three clecode gstem wed to investigate the feltive etmitviy and low tangent mple thickness was measured at some randomly dis- buted 20 points, spread all over the sheet area with a imicrometer having a least count of 0.0 mm, The average Of the 20 measurements was taken as the average thie ness of the sample 25 TREATMENT OF THE CRYOSTAT VESSELS. Initially, the cryostat vessels used for the above experi ments were cleaned with LN;. After a thorough cleaning, the cryostat was filled with LN, with a purity of 99.9% until the electrode assembly was completely filed. Mea- surements were initiated only after bubbling in the LN, ‘completely stopped and the temperature of the liquid in the cryostat stabilized. The temperature was measured Us- ing a Chromel-Alume! thermocouple, which is suitable for a temperature range of —200°C to 1370°C with an accu- racy of £0.°C.oe ue | jure 4. Breakdown voltage of LN vs gap length for diferent sfectode contigurations 3. RESULTS Figure 4 shows the variation of the ac breakdown volt- age in LN; with gap length for different electrode config: trations. Eack point on the curve represents an average cof 20 breakdown measurements, For clarity, the devia- tions in measurements are not shown in Figure 4 but for ‘most of the measurements the standard deviation was £24 KV. However for the needle - needle electrode ge- fometry the standard deviation was found to be ‘The experimental values, reported earlier [8] are in agreement with values reported in [13] for needle - plane electrode configuration using de, The breakdown strength of solid diclectries measured at room temperature (27°C t0 29°C) and when immersed in LN, are given in Table 1 and Figure 5, The reported breakdown strength is the average value of 24) measure- ments with a standard deviation of +2.7, The results are ‘quite in agreement with the measurements as in [9,10], Figures 6 to 14 illustrate the measured relative permit- tivity and los index of various dielectrics immersed in LN, These values are compared with the relative permittivity and Joss indices for the same set of dielectrics at room temperature, Bach bar chat ia representation of the a¥- erage values of ten samples of each dielectric tested in LN; and in air. The standard deviations in all measure: Husain ef al: Dielectric Behavior of Insulating Materials under Liquid Nitrogen :| Kall Figure §. Comparison of se Breaksown srength of varios oid Electr in LN, nd sr using 128 mm spac electeodes. Sam ple numbers are eificd in Table me ments were £0.24 for the relative permittivity and £009 for the loss index 4 DISCUSSIONS 4.1 AC BREAKDOWN STRENGTH OF LN, ‘The highest breakdown strength of LN, was found 10 be 29 kV/iam for plane-plane electrodes: configuration, ‘while the minimum strength observed was 9.6 kV/mm for needle-needle configuration (Figure 4). The other combi nations of electrodes yiekded intermediate values of electric strength depending upon the field condition. It appears that the breakdown strength values obtained are rnomintrinsic to LN, and are averaged by the presence of ionic impurities and very fine particles of ice, which may {get introduced during the filling up of the cryostat. Iti ‘observed that, in LNy also, the breakdown strength goes oon decreasing as the gap length increases, for example for plane-plane electrodes the breakdown strength decreases Irom 29 kV/anm to 18 kV/nvm when the gup length changes from 1 mm 10 5 mm. This effect is most pronounced in the case of the necdle-needle configurttion. Hence it can be inferred that the ac breakdowa strength of liquid nitro: ‘gen depends not only on gap length but also on the elec trode geometry, a phenomena commonly observed in pases and other liquid dielectris (15) Table 1. AC eakdown seegth of various sli lec fn LN and in sit using 125 mm sper elects rakown Stengih ‘Breakdown Stengib at Sample Insalating at Room Temperate Crogenie Teriperatre Number Materia “eviaa) ‘Gymay T “Gauon wpe 4 0 2 Epic ape 7 4 5 at paper 5 s 4 Poles in ss % 5 Lenina paper » io 6 "Twek a Ss 7 arise poper 9 2 3 ‘pakelte 5 2 5 Min shee % & 0 Minx D ss 1 PvCtipe ss Persp y 36 cable PVC 0 8