Vol. 25 No.

3, June 1990

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation

453

Measurements of Partial Discharges

by Computer and Analysis of Partial
Discharge Distribution by the
Monte Carlo Method
M. Hikita, K. Yamada', A. Nakamura,
T. Mizutani, A. Oohasi2,
and M. leda3
Department of Electrical Engineering,
Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan

ABSTRACT
An attempt is made to elucidate the mechanism of partial discharge (PD) occurring in the CIGRE Method I1 (CM-11) electrode system, which is a representative closed-void model system. We developed a computer-aided PD measuring system.
This allows us to obtain phase information of all PD pulses,
together with their amplitudes, so that a statistical analysis of
these data can be discussed. Measurements of PD are made
for the CM-I1 electrode system. Effects of the pressure and
gas inside the void on the PD are examined. Taking into account the experimental results, we propose a model for the PD
mechanism. This model assumes that the statistical time lag
of discharge depends on the overvoltage and that the residual
voltage depends on the PD magnitude. A Monte Carlo simulation of the PD distribution is made on the basis of this model.
The computed results agree well with the experimental data
and the appearance of swarming pulsive micro discharges. The
physics of the model also are discussed.

INTRODUCTION

the mechanism of P D degradation, a deeper understanding of the fundamental properties of P D is essential [2].

variety of organic polymers have been used as electrical insulating materials for electric power apparatus
and cables. A large amount of work has been done on
degradation of the insulating materials caused by partial discharges (PD) occurring at various defects in the
polymer insulator itself and at the interface between electrodes and the insulating materials [l]. P D degradation
is one of the most significant factors deciding the life of
the insulation system. Much remains unknown about the
mechanisms of the P D degradation. In order to clarify

For the study of PD phenomena, various types of measurement have been used such as observation of waveform
of PD pulse, high-speed photographic measurements of
discharge column, and analysis of the discharge spectrum.
Very few attempts, however, have been made to use statistical analysis of a large volume of data on PD pulses
[31.

Computer-aided P D measurement systems enable the

0018-Q367/90/0600-453$1.00 @ 1990 IEEE

.

. ...-..

Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution by the M o n t e Carlo Method

454

Sphere Electrode
Stainless Steel Ball (@Set)
Copper Pipe (75mm,@4)

and that has considered that the sparking voltage v, of

the void gap and the residual voltage v, are simultaneously distributed. The physics of P D in our model is also
qualitatively discussed.

EXPERl M ENTAL
ELECTRODE S Y S T E M
1 illustrates the CIGRE Method I1 electrode
system, which is an improved type of CIGRE Method
I (CM-I) electrode and is expected to be accepted by CIGRE SC15 as a standard test electrode for internal PD
measurements [5]. The electrode system used had a cylindrical void of 125 pn in thickness and 3 cm in diameter.
The sample used was a board made of 1 mm thick epoxy
resin. The void was filled with dry air at atmospheric
pressure for the standard measurements. The PD inception voltage was about 4 kV of rms value. Ac voltage of
7 kV at 60 H a was applied to the test electrode through
this experiment. P D pulse amplitude distribution was
measured at a given aging time for 60 s, corresponding
to 3600 cycles, by using the developed system. In order
to examine the effects of pressure and gas content inside
a void, further measurements were made for different gas
pressures and for different ratios of oxygen and nitrogen
content in the gaseous mixture.

IGURE

Kapton (OB125nnt)

\ Plane Electrode
Stainless Steel (@to)
Figure 1.
Structure of CIGRE Method I1 electrode system.
measurement of all P D pulse amplitudes, as well as the
phase angle information, i.e., at which phase angle each
P D pulse takes place. The P D pulse amplitude distribution obtained by this method is expected to include
significant information on the P D phenomena. The measurements and the statistical analysis of the correlation
between P D pulse-height distribution and the phase angle of the applied voltage is a good prospect for a new
and useful means of PD study [3].
From this point of view, we have made measurements of
P D pulses using the CIGRE Method I1 (CM-11) electrode
system, developed a computer system, and examined the
statistical properties of partial discharges. Okamoto et
al. [4] made a simulation of P D characteristics including
the phase angle of the applied voltage. This reference
probably has been the only one concerning such P D simulation. Their model assumed Whiteheads equivalent
circuit and introduced a probability distribution of the
discharge time lag. The authors [4] approximated a sinusoidal voltage waveform as a triangular waveform because
it simplified the calculation.
In this paper, we propose a model for a P D mechanism which assumes that the statistical time lag of the
discharge is dependent on overvoltage of a void gap and
the residual voltage depends upon the charge of preceding PD. With Monte Carlo simulation of PD characteristics, the model can explain, to some extent, the P D distribution and occurrence of swarming pulsive microdischarges (SPMD) measured for CM-I1 electrode system.
There seems no other report except the present one that
has made Monte Carlo simulation of the P D distribution
with the phase angle information of a n applied voltage,

On the other hand, the CM-I1 electrode system is designed so that the wall does not influence the PD characteristics. This is one of the main reasons why CM-I1
electrode system is recognized as a standard test electrode for the evaluation of a sample against internal PD.
It has been reported that for the case of relatively low
voltage application no tree-like surface discharges took
place on the sample surface [6], and that P D occurred
over the sample surface within a radius of 2.4 to 3 mm
right below the upper electrode [7]. The electrode system
is thus considered appropriate for the fundamental study
of internal PD.
For a usual small-void system such as CM-I electrodes,
the wall surrounding a void strongly affects the internal
PD, which makes the understanding of the mechanism
more difficult.

MEASUREMENTS SYSTEM
The details of the developed computer-aided P D measuring system (CAPDMS) to accomplish the statistical
analysis of P D distribution are given below. The measuring system can record the number of P D pulses and the

Vol. 25 N o . 3, June 1990

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation

magnitude of each pulse occurring in a given period, as

well as the phase angle information, i.e., where the PD
pulse has occurred in one cycle of the applied ac voltage.

SYMBOL LIST
the capacitance of a void [F]
the capacitance seen from the discharge gap C ,

PI
the capacitances of the insulator in parallel and
in series with the void [F]
gap distance or sample thickness [m]
frequency of applied voltage [H,]
the current flowing through the resistance z of the
discharge column [A]
PD pulse amplitude distribution

=xi

n($,,q j ) , the relation between the magnitude of charge and the number of PD pulses ( q - n
characteristics)
= ( l / T ) E i n ( & , q , ) , the phase angle dependence
of average discharge occurrence density ($ - fi
characteristics) [1 /SI

= ( l / T ) E i , jn($,,qj), the averagenumberof PD

pulses occurring per s [l/s]

N / f [1 /cycle1
= d Q / d 6 the probability density function of Q ( 6 )
pressure in a void [Pa]
apparent charge [C]
= ( l / T ) C j qjn($i,q,), the phase angle dependence of average discharge current ($ characteristics) [ C / s ]
phase angle dependence of the average magnitude
of PD pulse ($ - i j / i i characteristics) [C/number]
the probability that the discharge starts at phase
6 = 6 after the gap voltage reaches v s m a t $ = 60
= ( l / T ) E i , j q,n($i,qj), the average discharge
current [C/s]
period of PD measurements
normalized gap instantaneous voltage
the peak value of the gap voltage [VI and the peak
value of the applied voltage [VI, respectively
residual voltage [VI and the minimum residual
voltage IV]
discharge inception voltage of a gap [VI
the normalized critical gap voltage at which
discharge eventually occurs at infinite time
normalized gap overvolt age
permittivities of the sample and air, respectively
[F/mI
phase angle of the applied alternating voltage
[degl
phase angle of the applied voltage at which PD
occurs [deg]
phase angle of the applied voltage for positive PD
and for negative PD at which SPMD starts to
occur, respectively
number of occurrence of discharge per unit phase
angle [l/deg]
a proportional constant relating X and A V

455

Figure 2 shows the test circuit for PD measurements.

Ac HV generated by a transformer was applied to a test
electrode system which is parallel with a coupling capacitor Ck. The PD pulses are detected across a RC detection impedance. Applied alternating voltage is divided by
1000, which is used later t o obtain the signal for the phase
information. Two signals are transmitted to the analog
to digital (A/D) converter by optical fibers to avoid electrical noise. The A/D converter holds the peak level of
each detected P D pulse and then digitizes it by 7 bits
to 128 divisions between +5 and -5 V. The signals are
transmitted to the main memory of mini-computer MELCOM 70/25 by direct memory access (DMA), giving 10
ps as the minimum time interval for data acquisition of
the system.
The A/D converter generates low level rectangular pulses with 1 ps width using the signal transmitted from the
divided applied voltage. The output pulse, used for the
phase position of the applied voltage, divides one cycle
of ac voltage into 128 time windows of the order of 1 ps.
The first time window is assigned when the applied voltage crosses 0 V from the negative to positive half cycle.
The window number a t which a PD pulse takes place,
gives the phase angle of the voltage cycle.

gas

d
6

Figure 3 shows the concept of how to acquire the PD

data by the CAPDMS mentioned above. The two dimensional array n(4,q ) is stored in the main memory as
shown in Figure 3, where n is the number of PD pulses
having occurred in phase angle 4 with a magnitude q. For
example, when a P D pulse occurs a t a phase angle 4; with
a magnitude of q j , the content of memory corresponding
to the element of the array n(di,q j ) is increased by one.
This method therefore makes it possible to measure the
phase characteristics of PD pulses for a very long period.
After taking the data in a given time, the stored data
in the main memory unit is transferred to the cartridge
disk. This measurement sequence can be automatically
repeated for the number of measurement cycles previously
set. After measurement, the data stored on the cartridge
disk are transferred to the floppy disk.
The data thus obtained are input via the floppy disk
to the FACOM M-382 in Nagoya University Computation Center, after which various types of data analysis
are made. The software developed allows one to deal
with a large volume of data and to obtain various important parameters related to PD, such as the total number
n, total apparent charge C q transferred
of PD pulses
by discharges, the phase angle characteristics, and so on.
Since CAPDMS can take phase angle information of each
P D pulse, one can draw three-dimensional graphics of the
phase angle distribution of the number and magnitude of

Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution by the Monte Carlo Method

456

FACOM

Results

M-382
T

NAGOYA UNIVERSITY

V o 1 t m et e r
0

MELCOM

Zero cross detective signal

C d = 2 OOpF
Rd=5kR
R =235R
1
R =165R
2
Cx'=2. 2pF

Cd ' =200pF

Software

Differential

Attamtor

ampDetected PD pulse signal

Figure 2. Test circuit for partial discharge measurements.

P D pulses, 4 - q - n (voltage phase angle, magnitude of
P D pulse, number of PD pulses), along with the distributions of discharge magnitude vs. number of P D pulses
( q - n), and three types of phase distributions such as
phase angle vs. pulse density (4 - f i ) , phase angle dependence of average discharge current (4 - ij), and phase
angle vs. average charge per P D pulse (4 - q / f i ) .

Phase angle is divided

into L [S 128) sections

Q)

c?
3

.-C

-8
2
>

EXP ER1M ENTAL RESULTS

4 shows a typical result of the temporal change
of the characteristics and distributions of P D for the
CM-I1 electrode system for 7 kV a t 60 Hz. The upper
Figures show 4 - q - n characteristics with the applied
voltage phase 4 along the t axis, the magnitude of P D
pulse along the y axis, and the number of P D along the z
axis. In every lower Figure of Figure 4(a) to (e), showing
4-q distribution, the high density of dots indicates a high
repetition rate of P D pulses. A sinusoidal waveform in the
Figure represents an applied voltage waveform. Figure 4
also indicates the average number of P D pulses % occurring per alternating cycle of an applied voltage and
the average discharge current G ( n A ) . At 25 h of the aging, the magnitude of P D pulses becomes smaller than
that a t 30 min of aging. As the aging time increases further, P D pulses occurring a t phase angle near 90' and
270' or later parts of the phase begin to disappear, and
both
and
decrease. No pulses with more than 10
DC. which is the minimum detection sensitivitv of charge
r
"

.d

.-V l mc0

wz

IGURE

- 7

!i

0
Phase angle of applied voltage # ( d e g )

Figure 3.
Concept of PD data acquisition to the computer memory.

for our CAPDMS, appears t o be detected a t 312 h after the initiation of voltage application. This is because
the P D pulses turned into so-called swarming pulsive microdischarnes (SPMD'I which are characterized bv much
"

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation

(I

.IO1

[PCI

Vol. 25 N o . 3, June 1990

0 [PCI

110'

45 7

0 (PC)

500

500

s =21.3/cyc ,le

100

400

QC=74.5 n A

.IO1

=11.8/cycle

=24.8 n A

Q = 6 7 . 0 nA
300

100

200

200

IO0

IO0

200

- 0

-100

-100

-200

-200

-300

-100

-400

-400

-400
-500

-500

-500

(I

[PCI

,101

300

300

200

200

I00

100

500

500
100

400

0 (PCI

*IO'

=o.o4/cycle

ij =0.04nA

- 0
L
I

-100
-200

-200

-300

-300

-400

-400
-500

-500

Figure 4.
Experimental results on temporal change of q5 - q - n a n d q5 - q characteristics of PD for CIGRE
Method I1 electrode system for applying 7 kV a t 60 Hz.
is the average number of PD pulses per
cycle, a n d
is the average charge per pulse. D a t a acquisition time T is 60 s for each figure. L is the
number of divisions of time window in one cycle.

x,

smaller charge of each pulse and much higher repetition

rate, in comparison with the ordinary PD pulses. It is

reported that SPMD take place in such electrode system

as open-void and CM-I systems when the content of gas

Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution by the Monte Carlo Method

458

a i r : Jbu'I'orr

-90

100

IO0

60

'

40

60

20
0

80

le

60

'

40

20

40

BO

'

-3

IO0

80

80

-40

40

20
0

:-20

-40

-60

-60

-BO

-80

-60
-80

-100 J

-100

Effects of gas pressure inside a void on

75 (center), and 48 kPa (right).

Figure 5.
r$ - q - n and r$ - q characteristics for dry air at 100 kPa (left),

inside a void becomes rich of nitrogen due to consumption

of oxygen by the reaction with a sample [8]. It is also seen
from 4 - q characteristics a t 30 min and 25 h that PD
occur a t phase angle of both 90 and 270", which are the
ac voltage peaks. This phenomenon can be interpreted
in terms of existence of time lag of discharge: the difference between the time when the voltage of the discharge
gap, including the void, reaches the discharge inception
voltage and the time when discharge actually takes place.
The number of P D pulses with smaller charge quantity
is larger a t 25 h than a t 20 min, although the occurrence
of PD pulses extend over the same width of the phase
region, The phenomenon is considered to result not only
from the time lag of discharge but also due to changes in
the discharge inception voltage of the gap, the residual
voltage, and the area of discharge. We will discuss this
later.

EFFECTS OF GAS PRESSURE INSIDE

VOID ON PD DISTRIBUTION
Kako et al. [9] has reported that for CM-I electrode system the gas pressure inside the closed void decreases with
increasing aging time. In order to examine the effects
of gas pressure inside a void on PD characteristics for

CM-I1 electrode, measurements were made a t 7 kV for

different gas pressures of 100, 75 and 48 kPa of dry air.
The results are shown in Figure 5. There seems to be
no distinct difference among P D characteristics for three
different gas pressures. Since discharge inception voltage
decreases with gas pressure, the phase a t which PD begins to occur shifts toward earlier phase, leading to an
increase in the average current Q as shown in Figure 5.

EFFECTS OF PARTIAL PRESSURE

RATIO OF 0, AND Nz
Izeki et al. [8] suggested that nitrogen-rich atmosphere
in a void, due to consumption of oxygen, gives rise to
SPMD. The effects of partial pressure ratio of oxygen
and nitrogen inside a void on P D distribution for the test
electrode system are also investigated. Figure 6 shows the
results for compound gas consisting of dry air and nitrogen gas with different ratios of partial pressures, 150:610,
60:700 and 20:740, corresponding to 4, 1.7, and 0.6% of
the mixture proportion of 0 2 , respectively. As can be
seen, decreasing the ratio of 0 2 / N z l decreases the number of PD pulses with larger charge quantity. When the
ratio is 20:740 ( 0 2 : 0.6%), the characteristics become to

Vol. 25 No. 3, June 1990

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation

mtro

N500/

,IO,,.

air: 150Torr
N2:610Torr

air: 60'rorr
N 2 :700Torr

( 0 2 4:% 1

( o2 : 1.7 % )

-80

-63

-c

0 tPC1

40

-90

80

10

-3

4c

-80

80

IO0

IO0

80

EO

60

-0

40

20

1,

60

40

40

20

20

-"

-20

-40

e
-40

-40

.lo1

20

-20

:740Torr

( 0 2 :0.6%)

N2

air-: Lu'l'orr

le

le

60
0

-45

0 [PCI

.IO1

IO0

80

459

-"

-20

-40

-60

-60

-60

-80

-80

-80

-100

- io0

- IO0

Figure 6.
Effects of partial pressure ratios of oxygen a n d nitrogen inside a void on 4 - q - n and 4 - q characteristics. Ratios of dry air a n d nitrogen gas are 150:610 (left), 60:700 (center), a n d 20:740 (right),
respectively.

resemble in shape with those a t 96 h as shown in Figure 4, in which SPMD took place, consistent with Izeki's
suggestion.
When the partial pressure po of oxygen is high, there
seems almost no change in the P D characteristics. The
shape of distribution begins to change when the partial
pressure of oxygen goes down to a critical value. It was
also observed that further decrease of po brought the ordinary P D pulses into SPMD. Note that the P D distribution pattern similar to that for 25 h aging time shown in
Figure 4 were observed over a relatively long period from
10 to 60 h after the initiation of voltage application. On
the other hand, no matter what the compound ratio of
dry air and nitrogen gas was, any P D distribution similar
to that a t 25 h aging time could not be observed. The
reason for that is that the degradation of the sample surface and/or the resultant residual materials affect the P D
characteristics for long time aging.

SIMULATION OF PARTIAL
DISCHARGE DISTRIBUTION
N the previous Section, we have shown P D distribution
for the CM-I1 electrode system. This Section will de-

Figure 7.
Whitehead's equivalent circuit for PD. C, is the
capacitance of a void, a n d c
, a n d c b are, respectively, the capacitances of insulation in parallel
and in series with a void.

rive the theoretical PD distribution using Monte Carlo

Actual P D pulse occurrence distribution is considered
to depend on various factors such as discharge inception voltage v, of a gap, residual voltage v,, statistical
time lag T of discharge, discharge area, leakage resistance
of a void gap, and so on. For simplicity, Whitehead's
equivalent circuit for FD shown in Figure 7 is used in our
simulation. The simulation model considers a probability

Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution by the Monte Carlo Method

460

distribution function for wa(r),w, and r. We assume that

the discharge area is constant no matter how big the discharge is and that the leakage resistance of a void gap can
be neglected. At first, some appropriate probability distribution functions are assigned to the parameters. The
simulation is done using random number which follows
the distribution function so that one can obtain various
PD characteristics such as 4 - q - n. The applied voltage
used here is sinusoidal.

100
h

50

5 -50
2 -100

Figure 8.
Relation between sparking voltage 'U. and residual
voltage ' u ~
of a gap.

-150

Figure 10.

Experimental results of various phase characteristics of SPMD at aging time of 650 h. Detection
sensitivity is 0.3 pC for measurements of SPMD.

in series with the void. Since this simulation assumes

C, = 1, Equation (2) becomes
q = v , - w,

.(3)
The FACOM Fortran SSL 11, a scientific subroutine library, is used to generate random numbers.
Figure 9.

MODEL FOR PARTIAL DISCHARGE

OCCURRENCE MECHANISM

Phase relations of various parameters concerning

occurrence of SPMD.

Throughout the calculation, we normalize the gap instantaneous voltage w when no discharge occurs as
w = sin4

(1)

Note that all voltages used in the simulation are normalized by Equation (1). The apparent charge q of discharge
is known, and given by

= C,(% - 0,)
where c, is the capacitance of a void, cmand c b are,
respectively, the capacitances of the insulator parallel and

DISCHARGE TIME LAG r

When a linearly rising voltage is applied to a discharge
gap set up between metal electrodes, there is scatter in
discharge inception voltage due to the statistical time lag.
Hayashi [lo] reported that if the probability of the discharge initiation is proportional to overvoltage Av of a
gap, the theoretical calculation agrees with experimental
results. Similarly, our simulation assumes that the number X of occurrence of discharge per unit phase angle is
proportional to overvoltage Aw.
Let v,, be the critical gap voltage a t which discharge
eventually occurs at infinite time. Suppose the gap voltage w becomes vnm at an applied voltage phase angle
q5 = 00. Noting that all voltages given are normalized

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation

l000

Vol. 25 No. 3, June 1990

461

1
w

m
J
3

J
3

e o
90

-5

180

270

360

PHRSE ( O E G I

(VI

4-9-"

a0

-0

yl

>
\

9- n
>

-80

2
I

>

- 0

40

3
-I

-2
-3

-4
-5

g a p voltage
Figure 11.

Simulation of PD distributions during a period of 3600 cycles of the applied voltage for XU = 5 . 6 lO-'/deg.
~

using Equation ( l ) , the gap overvoltage A V at q5 = 8 is

expressed by (in case of A V > 0)
A V = v(8) - vsm = sin 8 - sin eo

(4)

Let Q ( T ) be the probability that the discharge begins

to occur by q5 = 8 after the gap voltage reaches v,, at
q5 = 8 0 . The probability d Q ( 8 ) that discharge begins to

Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution b y the Monte Carlo Method

462

occur after dB from the phase

takes place, is thus given by

4 by which no discharge
(5)

When the number of occurrence of discharge per unit

phase angle X is proportional to the gap overvoltage AV,
A = XOAV

(6)

cos

cos

eo - (e

+ (e - Bo)3(sine,)
6

Approximation of Equation (9) using Equation (12) gives

(13)

Transformation of Equation (13) and replacement of Q

with U gives
Q3(sin e,)
6

--

02(cose,) - In( 1 - U )
2
XO

(15)

>

:eom

-.

-AV

11

where 0 is the time lag of discharge in unit phase, given

by
o=e-eo
(14)

where Xu is a constant and a fitting parameter to the

experimental result. Equation (5) is then rewritten as

We assume that the residual voltage v, decreases with

increasing AV. The following equation between V, and
Au is thus obtained

03(sin80) - 02(cos6,)
1- ~ X P [ M
2

Q(4,eo)

( n o
2

>

e o . ,

gap voltage
Figure 12.
Simulation of PD distributions for Xo = 5.6 x 103/deg.

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation

Vol. 25 No. 3, June 1990

c
t

160

463

- -

- 320-

m0

$-q/n

Izeki et al. [ll] measured the discharge area, and the

average values of v, and v, for the CM-I electrode system. The authors concluded that the discharge area S of
SPMD is almost the same as that of ordinary PD, and
that v, is nearly equal to v, a t the onset of SPMD. Similar
to the report, our simulation assumes that SPMD takes
place for CM-I1 electrode system not because of division
of the discharge area, but because of the decrease of time
lag of discharge leading to a decrease in A V . In this case,
v, x v, x

(16)

If v, and v, are equal and constant, regardless of phase

a t which P D occur and regardless of the polarity of PD,

where vp is the peak value of the gap voltage when no

discharge occurs (Figure 9).
As shown in the previous Section, the ordinary PD form
turned into SPMD after 150 h from the application of 7
kV a t 60 He for the CM-I1 electrode system. Figure 10
shows the experimental result of the phase characteristics
of SPMD at aging time of 650 h. Substituting the values e,+ = 345' and 8,- = 165' which are obtained from
Figure 10 one can get

v, = 0 . 3 7 ~ ~

(18)
Next, let vp be the peak value of a voltage applied between
the electrodes, one obtains from Figure 7

Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution by the Monte Carlo Method

464

large overvoltage

AV 1

small overvoltage
AV2

Figure 16.
Predicted current vs. voltage characteristics for
discharge column of PD.

+++

Figure 14.
Conceptual illustration of growth of electron avalanche for different overvoltages AV, a n d Avz,
where AV, > A V Z .

t
Figure 17.
Predicted current i a n d voltage vfp of the resistance 2 as a function of time.

Figure 15.
Simplified equivalent circuit for discharges of a
void gap. C,, is the capacitance seen from the
discharge gap C,, Z is the resistance of the discharge column a n d v , is the voltage across the
gap.

vp =
If we express

c b

and

up = 0.29Vp

c b

(C, + Cb)

c, by the simple equation

C = &S/d

(20)

where E is the permittivity, d the gap distance or the

thickness of a sample, and S is the area, then
c b

= 3.3~,S/l(mm)

(21)

C, = ~,S/125(pm)
(22)
where the relative permittivity of epoxy resin is 3.3. Using Equations (19)' (21) and (22)' one can obtain

(23)

under our experimental conditions. Since the applied

voltage in our experiments is 7 kV, Equation (23) gives
vp = 2870 V and hence v, = 1060 V following Equation (18). Paschen's curve [12] gives about l kV to the
discharge onset voltage for nitrogen in case of our experimental conditions; p = 100 kPa and d = 125 pm, that is,
the product of pd = 1.25 kPa cm. The voltage estimated
here is in good agreement with 'U, obtained above, and
also agrees with the reported breakdown voltage of 1000
V measured for 100 pm gap between metal electrodes at
atmospheric pressure in nitrogen [ 131.
From the above considerations, we assume v,, = 1000
V. In case of an applied voltage of 7 kV, the normalized
voltage ,U,'
= 0.35.

IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation

Vol. 25 N o . 3, June 1990

465

this assumption cannot explain the obtained experimental results of the P D distribution where the ordinary pulsive PD and SPMD are observed simultaneously in one
alternating cycle. This discrepancy suggests that Xu is
not constant but varies with phase angle of the alternating voltage cycle. Physically, there is a possibility that
the mixture proportion of 0 2 present in the void decreases
due to electron attachment to oxygen molecule after the
first PD pulse takes place a t the beginning of each alternating half cycle. The modified simulation, with A0
varying, is under investigation.

b
Figure 18.

A CONSIDERATION ON
PHYSICS OF PARTIAL
DISCHARGE MECHANISM

Equivalent circuit of PD considering that discharge

area is divided into a number small areas. R,
is the surface resistance of a sample, and G,, is
the discharge gap for a simulation of surface discharges along the sample surface.

MINIMUM RESIDUAL VOLTAGE v,.,;~

DISCHARGE TIME LAG

Assuming that for the CM-I1 electrode system the discharge extends up to a state corresponding to maximum
normal glow discharge, the normal glow maintaining voltage is taken as v,.,in. Because the maintaining voltage
is close to the minimum sparking voltage, which is about
300 V for nitrogen and air, we take v,,;~ = 300 V. Normalization of the voltage gives v,.~;,, = 0.1.

is a theory that for electronegative gas such as

SFG and air, transforming neutral molecules into negative ions due to electron attachment plays a n important
role in gas breakdown, in addition to the electron-impact
ionization process [14]. The theory says that equilibrium
of the two processes gives a condition for sparking discharge. Since oxygen included in air is strongly electronegative, the impact ionization coefficient of air apparently goes down due to the electron attachment. The
apparent decrease of the impact ionization coefficient is
considered to give rise to a decrease of the discharge onset
probability resulting in the statistical time lag.
For CM-I1 electrode system, as shown in the previous
Section, SPMD takes place when gas in a void is rich
in nitrogen. It is suggested that SPMD occurs through
consumption of oxygen in a void due to reaction with the
sample during long time voltage application [15]. Because
nitrogen does not suffer from electron attachment, there is
no decrease in the impact ionization coefficient, leading to
an increase of the discharge onset probability as a result
of the decrease of the discharge time lag.
We have already shown that when a small quantity of
oxygen exists in a void, a part of P D is turned into
SPMD, and further increase in the applied voltage leads
to broadening of the phase region where the discharge
form is SPMD. This phenomena can be explained as follows: Because the reaction rate of electron detachment is
much slower than that of electron attachment for oxygen,
the number of oxygen molecules (Oz), which are target
particles for electron attachment, decreases through the
transformation into O-' by several discharges occurring
a t the beginning of a discharge cycle. When the number
of oxygen molecules is small at the beginning, the reaction rate of electron detachment greatly decreases, resulting in high discharge onset probability, as a consequence

RESULT OF SIMULATION
IGURES 11 and 12 show typical results of the computed PD distributions during a period of 3600 cycles of the applied voltage for two different values of Ao.
Note that in these Figures as the magnitude of charge
V ( V )is used instead of q ( C ) . This is because in the simulation the voltage waveform is normalized as v = s i n 4
(Equation (l)),and thus q is expressed by q = U' , - v,.
(Equation (2)). On the other hand, for comparison, Figure 13 shows the measured PD occurrence distributions
a t the beginning stage of aging. Comparison of Figure 11
(A, = 5 . 6 lO-l/deg)
~
with Figure 13 indicates that our
simulation gives similar PD distribution to that obtained
by the experiments. The results of the simulation also indicate that when the parameter A 0 deciding the number
of occurrence of discharge per unit phase angle increases,
as shown in Figure 12 (A" = 5.6 x 103/deg), the various
kinds of phase characteristics computed become to resemble those of the experimental results for SPMD shown in
Figure 10.
As shown above, it is concluded that the simulation based
upon the described PD model gives a reasonable agreement with the PD characteristics a t early aging time and
also in the case of SPMD for a dry-air void system. The
simulation assumes that the coefficient A0 is constant in
one alternating voltage cycle. It is noticed, however, that

HERE

466

Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution by the Monte Carlo Method

of the change in P D form into SPMD in the later phase

region in one cycle. Because the rate of increase of overvoltage increases with applied voltage, the repetition rate
of P D increases. This leads to a prominent decrease in
number of oxygen molecules due to electron attachment,
resulting in a n increase of discharge onset probability at
earlier phases, as a consequence, the occurrence of SPMD
extends over a wider phase region. In a discharge intermission period, electron detachment proceeds. At the onset of discharge of the next cycle, the number of oxygen
molecules recovers.
In order to explain the experimental result that ordinary
P D and SPMD occur simultaneously in a half cycle of the
app!ied voltage, our simulation leads to the suggestion
that the discharge onset probability of nitrogen must be
four times higher than that of air. If one considers the
generation growth process of discharge due to electron
impact ionization, there is a possibility that the above
difference by a factor of four can be explained, since the
discharge onset probability is expected to have impact
ionization coefficient with an exponential form.
At any rate, the quantitative estimation of the decrease of
the discharge onset probability due to the electron attachment to oxygen is required with the electron detachment
process considered. Further examination is also necessary
on the assumption made in our model that the number
of occurrence of discharge per unit phase angle is proportional to the overvoltage of the gap.

RESIDUAL VOLTAGE
It is generally recognized that P D stops when a reverse
field is formed by the accumulation of charges on an insulation surface and thus discharge cannot be sustained.
However, in our model, only this consideration does not
give a satisfactory explanation to the residual voltage. AIthough including several assumptions, three attempts are
made to qualitatively explain how the residual voltage is
determined. The first two (1 and 2) consider the growth
of discharge and the third (3) considers the division of
discharge area.
(1) E X A M I N A T I O N O F v, FROM THE
GROWTH O F DISCHARGE

Suppose that P D arise from a simple electron avalanche

occurring in a gap. It is expected that as the overvoltage
a t the onset of discharge is higher, the electron avalanche
grows to a larger size until the electric field in the gap
becomes so small that electrons are unable to ionize gas
molecules. This consideration is conceptually illustrated
in Figure 14. For higher overvoltages, therefore the gap
voltage, which is the residual voltage, is thought to become smaller when electrons and ions in the gap reach
both electrodes after discharge stops.

(2) EXAMINATION OF v, FROM

DISCHARGE G R O W T H ABILITY

Let us illustrate the discharge in a void by a more simplified equivalent circuit as shown in Figure 15. In this
Figure, C,,, the capacitance seen from the discharge gap
C,, is given by
Cgr

= Cg

+ CmCb/(Cm + Cb)

(24)

and z is the resistance of discharge column and is expected to show a negative resistance characteristics as
shown in Figure 16. Well-known current vs. voltage (i-v)
characteristics of discharge channels a t low pressures for
steady state do not hold directly for temporary discharges
such as P D a t atmospheric pressure. There is however,
a possibility that the i - v g characteristics correspond
to the transition state from the former glow state to the
normal glow state. When the switch S gets closed (Figure 15), which means the onset of discharge, the current
i(t) flowing through z is expressed as

i(t)= -C,,(dv,(t)/dt)

(25)

The waveforms of i(t) and v g ( t ) are shown in Figure 17.

If one considers the growth process of discharge, the current given by Equation (25) could no longer be supplied
at a certain point and hence discharge would stop. Thus,
a t the time when the slope d i ( t ) / d t exceeds the current
growth of the discharge, the discharge stops, and the gap
voltage becomes the residual voltage. Higher overvoltage at the onset of discharge, therefore, is considered to
bring faster growth of discharge current, leading to lower
residual voltage.

(3) EXAMINATION OF v, FROM DIVISION

OF DISCHARGE AREA
Although we have so far assumed that the discharge area
is constant, it is reasonable to consider that discharge
with higher charge level makes the discharge area broader.
Let us assume now that discharge does not always occur
over an entire area below the electrode, but is divided into
a number of small areas. The equivalent circuit for P D
is illustrated in Figure 18, where R,, (n = 1 , 2 , 3 . ..) is
the surface resistance of a sample, and the discharge gap
G,, parallel with R,, is given for a simulation of surface
discharge along the direction of a sample surface. As the
overvoltage AV becomes higher, the discharge area gets
larger because the discharge along the surface direction
adds to it. Figure 18 also indicates that discharges at
many gaps C,, and C,, are more likely to occur at higher
overvoltages.
After discharges stop, charges existing in the area diffuse over an entire sample surface with the a constant determined by the product of the surface resistance of the

I E E E Transactions on Electrical Insulation

Vol. 25 No. 3, June l Q Q 0

sample and the capacitance per unit area. The diffusion

process provides all C,, and Canwith an uniform charge
distribution. The gap voltage a t steady state gives rise to
the residual voltage U,. It follows that as AV increases,
z),
apparently decreases. On the other hand, when the
repetition rate of PD is higher than the time constant T ,
the charge distribution on the sample surface is no longer
uniform. This case will give complicated influences on
the P D occurrence.
Because the overvoltage is thought to be lower with high
nitrogen concentration, the discharge area becomes small,
so that the discharge is divided into many smaller areas.
In this case, U, apparently gets closer to U,,, which gives
rise to SPMD.
As already discussed in this sub-section, if it is assumed
that the P D area is divided, we can also apply our simula
tion model by considering the apparent residual voltage.
Finally, it should be noted that the discussion we made in
this section contains several intuitive assumptions. Further detail examination including the quantitative estimation is required.

CONCLUSION
of P D were made for the CM-I1 electrode system, a representative closed-void model electrode system by using the developed computer system.
Measuring temporal change of the PD pulse distribution,
the statistical properties including the phase information
of PD characteristics were examined. Effects of the pressure and gas inside the void on the PD properties were
also examined.
Results obtained are summarized as follows:
1.As aging time increased, the PD pulses occurring a t
the slower phase and those with the greater magnitude of charges began to disappear earlier. Finally, the
PD pulses turned into the so-called swarming pulsive
microdischarges (SPMD).
2. The P D distribution began to change when the partial
pressure of oxygen present in the void went down to a
critical value. Further decrease of partial pressure of
oxygen brought the P D pulses into SPMD.
Taking into account the experimental results, a model for
the mechanism of P D was proposed. The model assumes
that the statistical time lag of discharge depends linearly
on the overvoltage and that the residual voltage depends
on the charge of PD. With Monte Carlo simulation of the
PD distribution, it was shown that the computed results
well explains the experimental data on the P D distribution and the appearance of SPMD.
The physics of the model was also discussed. Consequently, it was suggested that the electron attachment
in oxygen gas greatly influences the time lag of the discharge, and that the size and area of the discharge give
significant contributions to the residual voltage.

EASUREMENTS

467

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
HE authors are grateful to Mr. Yutaka Higashimura
of Hitachi Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd. for providing CIGRE Method I1 electrode system and to Japan
Ciba-Geigy Co. for providing epoxy resin samples. This
work was supported in part of a Grant-in Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Science
and Culture.

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Hikita: Partial Discharge Distribution b y the Monte Carlo Method

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Present address: Toshiba Corporation

Department of Electrical Engineering, Aichi Institute of

[I31 M. Kando, Very Short Gap ac Breakdown Charac- Technology, Toyota

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Manuscript was received on 11 May, in revised form 23 Oct.

1989