IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-22 No.

1, February 1987 87

PARTICLE-INITIATED BREAKDOWN CHARACTERISTICS OF CONICAL

INSULATOR IN N2 GAS AND N2/02 MIXTURE UNDER DC VOLTAGE

M. Hara, K. Adachi, H. Tobata

Department of Electrical Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

M. Akazaki

Department of Energy Conversion Engineering

Graduate School of Engineering Sciences
Kyushu University, Japan
and F. L. Mao
Xibei Electric Power Research Institute
Xian, The People's Republic of China

ABSTRACT
Particle-initiated breakdown characteristics of conical
spacers were investigated experimentally in N2 and 79% N2/21%
02 gas mixture to provide fundamental parameters determining
the breakdown voltage of a dielectric spacer contaminated by
metallic particles. Experimental results show that the break-
down voltage of a particle-contaminated spacer increases with
the value of 190-
1, while in contrary that of the clean spacer
decreases with the value of 190-G|
in the region of e of
0<j90-Oe<60 degrees where the spacer angle 0 is defined as the
angle between the spacer surface and the anode plane electrode.
With a given spacer the breakdown voltage reveals the minimum
value (MBDV) when a particle was placed very near the anode in
N2/02 mixture, and on or very near the electrodes in N2 gas.
At the particle conditions giving the MBDV, the corona stabi-
lization effect is less effective. The MBDV decreases with de-
creasing in the gas pressure and the wire particle diameter.
The critical particle length beyond which the breakdown voltage
is lowered by the particle depends on the spacer shape. Analysis
of the MBDV to include a minimum electric field necessary for
discharge propagation along the spacer surface and the effect of
the field enhancements due to particle on a cylindrical spacer
shows fairly good agreement with the experimental results.

1. INTRODUCTION shape so that no flashover takes place along the spacer

Dielectric strength in compressed-gas insulated trans-
mission lines is definitely affected by the flashover
performance of a spacer supporting the conductor inside
a grounded casing. Especially, the presence of a metal-
lic particle on the spacer produced often the weakest
point for the insulation in the gas-filled lines. An
optimum shape of spacer has been studied by many re-
searchers from the viewpoint of higher withstand volt-
age in clean conditions [1-3]. According to them, one
can control the field along the spacer surface by using
internal grading electrodes or choosing a desired spacer
surface [1-3]. But the optimum shape in clean condi-
tions conflicts with that under particle contamination.
From the practical viewpoint, an attempt to find an
optimum or better spacer shape for particle contamina-
tion has been done by trial and error [4,5]. Funda-
mental parameters predominating the flashover perform-
ance in the presence of a metallic particle on the
spacer, however, have not been found systematically.
In the present paper, as the first step of a study on
the fundamental parameters determining the flashover
performances in the presence of a metallic particle on

0018-9367/87/0200-0087$01 .00 @3 1987 IEEE

as IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-22 No.1, February 1987

the spacer, the influence of a metallic particle on
conical spacers placed between parallel-plane elec-
trodes upon the breakdown voltage was investigated ex-
perimentally in N2 gas and 79% N2/21% 02 mixture. The
shape and size of the particle and the profile of the
spacer were changed widely. The obtained results are
discussed on the basis of the discharge threshold field
strength and the electric field necessary for the dis-
charge propagation along the spacer surface.
2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP AND PROCEDURE
The experiments were carried out in a test cell fill-
ed with commercially pure N2 gas as non-attaching gas,
or with 79% N2/21% 02 mixture modeling dried air as
weakly attaching gas at room temperature which were
introduced to the desired pressure P after being evac-
uated to about 100 Pa. A system consisting of two
parallel-plane electrodes bridged by a spacer, 20 mm
height, was placed in the test cell and dried by sili-
cagel to avoid the effect of humidity on the breakdown
voltage.
The spacers used were the cylindrical and conical
shape insulators of acrylic acid resin shown in Fig. 1,
where the spacer angle e is defined as the angle
surface and oriented in the direction of tangential
component of electric field on the spacer. As pointed
by Blankenburg [6] and Laghari et al. [7], the break-
down characteristic of insulating spacers in gaseous
surroundings is seriously affected by the existence of
a microgap between the electrode and the edge of the
spacer. The final polish of the bottom and top sur-
faces, therefore, was carefully carried out to avoid
predischarges in the microgap. The spacer efficiencies
of clean cylindrical spacers were 98% in N2/02 mixture
and 99.5% in N2 gas, respectively. During the course
of the experiments, the spacer was checked and it was
verified that there was no damage on the surface due to
discharge. The spacer was replaced with a new one if
any defect was found.
The diameter, length, and location of the particle
were changed to find the most severe condition with re-
spect to the particle contamination and denoted as ¢, 1
and d respectively.
The applied voltage is dc and was raised at the rate
of about 0.3 kV/s until breakdown. Approximately 2 min
intervals were allowed between breakdowns to obtain re-
producible measured values. Six breakdown voltages
were measured at a given experimental condition and the
mean breakdown voltage with respective maximum and mini-
mum values are illustrated as a point with vertical bars
in the Figures. After each experimental run at a given
particle location, the spacer surface was cleaned with
soft tissue saturated with ethanol to remove surface
and bulk charges, and was dried. Prebreakdown current
was observed on Tektronix 7633 oscilloscope, connected
to a measuring resister of 1 or 10 kQ so that the pulse
with small amplitude could be detected and the number
of electrons included in each corona pulse could be
estimated respectively. A complete set of results is
reported here at atmospheric gas pressure and results
at other pressures are explained briefly in Section 3.4.

3. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
3.1 Effect of Particle Location on Breakdown Voltage
(a)
(a) N2102 Mixture
The onset voltage of the first corona pulse for each
experimental run scattered very widely and was relative-
negstive plane ly lower than that of the successive one or of the self-
a ."15a A. maintaining corona. The successive corona pulses were
irregular if they appeared, or were not observed some-
times at atmospheric pressure until breakdown when the
particle length was shorter than a few millimeters.
}e. ; Typical current pulses observed with a particle of 5 mm
length are shown in Fig. 2.
The first pulse is a single smooth pulse, but the
successive pulses consist of large amplitude pulses and
dimension in mm
small amplitude pulse trains. As previously clarified
(b) by an experiment with a floating conducting particle in
air [8], the successive pulse is a superposition of a
Fig. 1: Arrangement of electrodes, spacer and positive streamer pulse and Trichel pulses appearing at
metallic parttcle and the measuring circuit the both ends of the particle. The first corona pulse
of prebreakdown current. R=1 or 10 kQD, C may be produced by self-suppressing corona due to
(stray capacity)=135 pF, S: surge absorber. charges deposited on the spacer.
(a) measuring circuit, (b) arrangement.
Typical characteristics of the breakdown voltage VBD
and the lowest onset voltage of the first corona pulse
between the cone surface and the anode plane el ectrode . VCF in each particle location are shown in Fig. 3 where
It was varied from 30 to 150 degrees. The narrow end a particle with 5 mm length and 0.18 mm diameter is
of the cone in diameter. A single particle
was 15 mm attached on the cylindrical spacer in the atmospheric
of copper wire with hemispherical caps was attached gas and %d is 100[d/(20-l)]. The breakdown voltage is
firmly by a thin adhesive insulating-tape on the spacer minimal (MBDV) when the particle is placed very near the
Hara et al.: Particle-initiated breakdown in gas under dc voltage 89

(a) 200pA/div, 2is/div (b) 200lA/div, 2ps/div (a) 5uA/div, 2ijs/div

Fig. 2: Prebreakdown current in N2/02 mixture.
1=5 mm, p=0.18 mm, d=13.5 mm, 0=90, P=100 kPa.
(a) first corona pulse (V=20.0 kV), (b)
successive corona pulses ((V=25.0 kV).

(b) 200vA/div, 2us/div

au I - /al
2
/ - 2
'v
2 --
' ' Li
L/ 1=5mm , f=0.18mm
a x o :mean value of VBD
ffi O 10¢ x :measured lowest value of VCF
t- 0t
50
1 ..
100 (c) lOvA/div, 50iis/div
0
% d [%] Fig. 4: Prebreakdown current in N2 gas. 1=5 mm,
4=0.18 mm, 0=90. (a) corona current from particle
Fig. 3: VBD and VCF as a function of particZe contacting with electrodes (d=0 mm, P=100 kPa,
location in N2/02 mixture. V=13.0 kV), (b) current pulse from particle away
from the electrode at about atmospheric pressure
(d=13.5 mm, P=100 kPa, V=16.0 kV), (c) current
anode. The MBDV is called "minimum breakdown voltage" pulse from particZe at high pressures (d=7.5 mm,
for the particle-contaminated spacer. At this particle P=700 kPa, V=45.0 klJ).
condition the corona stabilization effect is less ef-
fective. If the particle is in contact with the anode,
the breakdown voltage increases due to the corona sta- increases with the applied voltage. After the particle
bilization effect. Breakdown voltage also increases is placed away from the electrode, a rarely appearing
gradually as the distance between the particle and the corona pulse has a single smooth shape at atmospheric
anode electrode increases, but exhibits a small drop pressure as shown in Fig. 4(b), but becomes similar in
very close to the cathode. The onset voltage of the shape to that in N2/02 mixture at higher pressure as
first corona pulse shows a low value when the particle shown in Fig. 4(c). The corona pulse observed in es-
is attached to either one of electrodes. It is argued sentially non-attaching N2 gas is due to the quenching
that a stable corona is not observed at the particle effect of charges deposited on the spacer surface fdr
location giving MBDV if the particle length is shorter the corona extension.
than about 10 mm.
Although the active glow corona is developed from a
When the particle length, the gas pressure, and the particle in contact with the electrode, the corona sta-
spacer shape were changed, the general behavior of the bilization effect is not a pronounced as the results of
breakdown voltage remained as in Fig. 3. experiments in non-uniform field gaps, and the minimum
breakdown voltage appears when the particle is in con-
(b) N2 Gas tact with or very near the electrodes, Fig. 5. The
breakdown voltage for a particle in contact with the
When the particle is in contact with either electrode, cathode (GMBDV) is lower than that for a particle in
the steady current by glow corona as shown in Fig. 4 (a) contact with the anode (6MBDV). When the experimental
90 IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-22 No.1, February 1987

illustrated at the RHS of the spacer and those with

particle of 5 mm length at the LHS of the spacer in
Fig. 6. In the absence of the particle, the breakdown
voltage decreases gradually, and reaches a minimum at
190-0 =45 degrees and thereafter increases as the value
of 190-01 increases. The present angle dependency is
similar to that reported by Saegusa [9] who had experi-
mented by using spacers of ebonite, paraffin, sulphur,
porcelain, or bakelite in dried air. In the region of
0 of 0<19-0 1<20 where the breakdown voltage decreases
with 190-0e, almost all of flashovers take place along
the spacer surface. But about half of the flashovers
appear away from the cylindrical spacer i.e. 6=90. As
:2I the value of 190-01 increases beyond 30 degrees the per-
2' iuuIrd
r=N
a) :31 UK
x 1X5mm , f=O.18mm centage of flashover occurence along the spacer surface
decreases gradually and becomes zero at 190-01=60 de-
(D @ o :mean value of VBD
grees even if the spark is triggered at a triple junc-
E 0 &:onset voltage of glow corona c tion of gas, insulator, and electrode.
JiL x:measured lowest value of VCF When longer particles were attached, the MBDV becomes
the lowest at 0=90 and increases monotonically with
o 50 100 190-61. When the length of attached particle, however,
is shorter than about 0.5 mm, the angle dependency of
% d [7a]
breakdown voltage tends towards that for the clean
spacer. The sparks triggered by a particle of 5 or 10
Fig. 5: VBD and VCF as a function of particZe mm which is placed near the anode propagate along the
Zocation in N2 gas. spacer surface if 190-el is smaller than 115 degrees,
but a part of them takes a shortcut through gas as
condition on the particle length, the gas pressure and 190-el increases further.
the spacer shape were changed, the general behavior re- (b) N2 Gas
mained as in Fig. 5.
As stated in Section 3.1, the MBDV in N2 gas appears
3.2 Effect of the Spacer Angle on Minimum Breakdown when the particle is placed on or near either electrode.
VoZtage The MBDVs were then measured for the two cases of par-
ticle locations as shown in Fig. 7. General behavior
(a) N2/02 Mixture of MBDV with respect to the spacer angle is similar to
that in N2/02 mixture, except for the sharp reduction
The MBDV in the presence of a single particle with a in the VBD of clean spacer in the region of e of
given size and the breakdown voltage in the absence of 50<0<60 degrees.
particle are shown in Fig. 6 as a function of the spacer
angle. The spark paths observed without particle are 3.3 Effect of PartieZe Diameter and Length on
Breakdown Vo Z tage
(a) Effect of ParticZe Diameter
Since the lowest breakdown voltage in the presence of
longer particles appears at 8=90 degrees as shown in
Figs. 6 and 7, the effect of particle diameter of 0.05
to 2.5 mm was investigated by using the cylindrical
spacer. For any particles used here, the breakdown volt-
age characteristics with respect to the particle loca-
30_A tion showed the similar variation to those shown in
Figs. 3 and 5 for N2/02 mixture and N2 gas respectively.
O Il..=5 _ 1 ,
=0.18m The difference between the MBDV and the maximum break-
down voltage in the presence of the particle, however,
decreases with the particle diameter because the
corona stabilization effect becomes less effective at
1=10mm 4=0.18mm larger diameters of the particle which is placed at
locations other than very near the anode. The MBDV with
a given particle length decreases with decreasing in the
30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150
particle diameter as shown in Fig. 8, independently of
5mm particle e [degree] spark paths the kind of gases. In the present experiment, a critical
particle diameter giving the lowest MBDV is not found
10/0%} 21
4j21% 49% 21% \10%0} clearly, but it exists necessarily since the breakdown
100X 100%B7% 1001 Sl&9X/ 1% / § voltage of the clean spacer, i.e. ¢=0, is about 58 kV
for both gases.
0=32' 600 900 120° 1480
(b) Effect of ParticZe Length
Fig. 6: MBDV as a function of spacer angle and the
occurence percentage of spark path for each spacer A thin particle which gives the low breakdown voltage
in N2/02 mixture. and is hardly damaged by the sparkover was used to find
Hara et al.: Particle-initiated breakdown in gas under dc voltage 91

L--j

Z:.
Cl
im
X:
co
(D az

[mm]
(a)

30.
(a)

20~

P=lOOkPa
co M o~~~~~~=900
2:
10
I §: (D MBDV
I : i) MBDV
---:calculated according to
30 the streamer criterion

20 UA I I
2e
(K=7.3)
(I 1; 3

1=5mm , p=0.18mm (b)

ol I I Fig. 8: MBDV as a function of particle dicaneter.
30 45 60 75 90 105 120 135 150
(a) MBDV in N2/02 mixture, (bJ MBDVs in N2 gas.
5mm particle e [degree]
0% \ loo% 10 4% %
spacer, the critical length is longer and the MBDV is
100% 7i,21% 9%3% always higher than those of cylindrical spacers.
8=320 600 900 1200 1480 For shorter particles there was larger scatter in the
(b) MBDV in each experiment run, and as stated in Section
3.1, no regular corona pulse appeared in an atmospheric
Fig. 7: MBDV as a function of spacer angle and the N2/02 mixture. For particles longer than about 10 inm,
occurence percentage of spark path for each spacer however, corona discharge could be intermittently main-
in N2 gas. (a)JMBDV, (b) GMBDV. tained even if the particle condition provided the MBDV.
3.4 Pressure Effect on Breakdown Voltage
the effect of the particle length on the MBDV at atmos-
pheric gases as shown in Fig. 9. As expected from many When the pressure increases, corona discharge appears
studies [11-13] on the effect of the electrode surface relatively stably on the longer particles in N2/02 mix-
roughness upon the gas breakdown, the reduction in the ture even if the particle is placed near the anode. The
MBDV in the presence of the particle appears as the drop of breakdown voltage with a particle near the cath-
particle length exceeds a critical value which depends ode shown in Fig. 3 is more clearly recognized at higher
on the spacer angle, and increases with the particle pressures but the MBDV appears with a particle near the
length. As compared with the critical particle length anode as well as at the atmospheric pressure. The VBD
and the MBDV for the cylindrical spacer, the critical increases with the gas pressure and the slope depends
length is shorter and the MBDV is lower in the region slightly on the pressure and the particle location as
of smaller particle size-and higher in the region of shown in Fig. 10. In N2 gas, the measured slope of VBD
longer particle size when-a particle is attached at the against the pressure is smaller than that in N2/02
narrow end of a conical s-pacer. In contrary, when a mixture.
particle is attached at the wide end of a conical
5-3o IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Val. EI-22 No.1, February 1987

: 80
azI
c
co
~;
A6

1 [n]
(a)
P [kPa]
(a)

UU
inn-r 1- . -
anode(Particle condition
. I
Particle near or on
a&:9=60° giving 0®MBDV)
0:e=900
80f_ v :0=120'
Particle contacting with cathode
a: (Particle condition
G aMBDV)
0 60 giving
A
:0e=600
c0
40 _- 0:8=900

/z Y ¢~~~~~=0.1 8mm
20 _ - -
-:calculated according to
the streamer criterion
K=7 .3
0 200 300 400 500 600 700
1 [mn] 100

(b) P [kPa]
fin.
UV
6=900 N2
(b)
L -S% P=1 OOkP)a
=60C rni Fig. 10: Breakdown voltage as a function of gas
X=0 .1 8m
pressure. (a) VBD in N2/02 mixture, (b) VBD in
N2 gas.
40 -
0-
The pressure tendency of VBD does not coincide with
01
30 that observed in particle-initiated breakdown in the
absence of spacers where the breakdown voltage shows
the saturation with the SF6 gas pressure [15].
20- Particle location

1. DISCUSSION
10 4. 1 Discharge Mechanism
'>zz/-/zZ/, sR~~~~
believed from the observation of the prebreak-
O i i | _It is

down current on the oxcilloscope that the discharge

0.1 0.2 0.5 1 2 5 10 20
mechanism in the presence of a metallic particle on an
1 [mm] insulating spacer in N2/02 mixture is essentially the
same as that with a floating metallic particle in air,
(c)
which has been studied by the authors [8]. That is,
Fig. 9: MBDV as a function of particZe of particZe the discharge preceding breakdown consists of the pos-
length. (a) MBDV in N2/02 mixture, (b) SMBDV in itive streamer corona, and the Trichel pulse corona
N2 gas, (c) GMBDV in N2 gas. from both sides of the particle. According to analysis
Hara et al.: Particle-initiated breakdown in gas under dc
of corona pulses from a 5 mm particle positioned at
d=13.5 mm on the cylindrical spacer under an app]lied
electric field of 11.5 kV/cm, the number of electtrons
in a single streamer pulse and Trichel pulse weree about
2.64X109 and 6.29X107 respectively. When a prolaate
spheroidal particle with charge Q is placed in a uni-
form field Eo, the electrical field strength alorng the
particle axis is given by
-arctanh a2bb2
x2
a 2 b2X2
+ gap side of the particle can be estimated by using the
arcta - b a2- b2
a2 a2
(1)
+ -~ Q JX (a-n)dx
4qc0(x2- a2+ b2)
where a is the major semi-axis, b the minor semi-axis
of the particle, and x the distance from the particle
tip. If the present particle having Z mm length and ro
mm tip radius is simulated by the spheroid with major-
axis of 2a and tip radius ro, then a and b are express-
ed by a=l/2 and b=/vZirO. Using Eo, measured values of
the number of electrons in a corresponding corona pulse
and Eq. (1), the values of the first and second terms
at x=O in Eq. (1) become 221.6 and 169.2 kV/cm for the
streamer pulse, and 221.6 and 4.0 kV/cm for Trichel
pulses, respectively. This means that the perturbation
of electric field by charges flowing into the particle
reaches tens of percent for the streamer and a few per-
cent for Trichel pulses at the particle tip.
According to the observation of corona appearance by
a naked eye in N2/02 mixture at atmospheric pressure,
the corona discharge bridged a gap between the anode and
the particle placed near the anode, except for the par-
ticle conditions giving the MBDV. As the particle ap-
proaches a critical distance to the anode the streamer
corona becomes unstable and eventually produces break-
down just after corona appearance when the particle
length is shorter than about 10 mm. This event may be
due to the interaction of coronas via the particle.
Srivastava et al. [13] proposed the breakdown model in
the case of a floating metallic particle in SF6 in which
the first stage of breakdown appears between a shorter
gap between the particle and the electrode and a spark
bridges the remainder of the gap at the second stage
without the existence of a stable corona. In the pres-
ent conditions in N2/02 mixture, a corona discharge
presented before breakdown except for a critical gap
between the particle and the anode. At only the criti-
cal gap giving the MBDV, the model by Srivastava et al.
can be applied. This is consistent with the phenomenon
in the case of a floating particle in air as examined
previously by the authors [8]. This breakdown process
allows one to estimate the MBDV without considering the
corona stabilization.
In N2 gas, the stable corona producing a steady cur-
rent appears and the MBDV-occurs as the particle is in
contact with or is very close to the electrodes. Since
the difference between the corona inception voltage and
the MBDV is small, even if the corona discharge is
relatively active, the estimation of the MBDV can be
done approximately by neglecting the corona stabiliza-
tion.
voltage 93
4.2 Discharge Threshold Field and Critical Field
Strength for Discharge Propagation
Factors determining the MBDV are considered here. In
order to establish a complete breakdown, the following
two successive events should materialize: the discharge
incepts at the main gap side of the particle after the
microgap between the electrode and the particle is link-
ed by a conducting discharge and a spark bridges over
the main gap. As stated in Section 4.1, Srivastava's
model can be applied at the particle conditions giving
the MBDV and the discharge inception voltage at the main
streamer criterion on the particle protrusion on the
electrode, i.e.
= K (2)
where, XO is the particle tip and X is the position
giving cx=q for N2/02 mixture and 20-Z for N2 gas. Cal-
culating the electric field around the particle by the
charge simulation method and using
a =
2. 2X104 (EP - 2. 44X10-4) 2 2.44x10 -4<<5. oXi -4
P
p
P
= 5.0x102.75 (EP -2.44X10-4)Y75 5.Oxl0-4<E . 2xlO3
P
2t= 17.7 (E)-7. 25xl10 1.2xl0-3<-2. 5 xl0- 3
P P
=102x101 exp{-2.7lx1O-3/Q)} 2.5X10
at =1.102X10-1
p
3<E (3)
for N2/02 mixture [12] or
p =6.6Xl0-2 expf-2.15xl0-3/(E) 3. OX104 <-2. OX10-3 (4)
for N2 gas [11] and the value of K which was chosen so
that the calculated breakdown voltage fitted to the meas-
ured one in the gap without spacer, the discharge thresh-
old voltages were obtained according to Eq. (2) and are
illustrated by dotted curves labeled a in Fig. 11. The
curves show good agreement with the corresponding meas-
ured values at shorter particle lengths, but at longer
particle lengths the calculated ones from the discharge
inception conditions are fairly lower than the measured
ones.
The mean breakdown field strength EBD was obtained
from Figs. 6 and 7 according to
EBD -`
VBDIfl2/sine-0.l 1) , [kV/cm] (5)
where 1 is the particle length in mm and VBD the break-
down voltage in kV, illustrated in Fig. 12. It is worth-
while to note that the EBD for a relatively large par-
ticle is reasonably independent of the spacer angle and
the particle length, and depends on the kind of gas and
the polarity of electrode near the particle. On the
other hand, the EBD for small particles, or no particle,
depends strongly on the spacer angle. This indicates
that the minimum electric field necessary for propaga-
tion of discharge along the spacer surface is determined
by the tangential component of electric field on the
spacer surface. The mean values of the critical field
strength in the range of 0 of 65<e<115 degrees where dis-
charge takes place along the spacer surface are about
9.5, 9.2 and 7.O kV/cm for positive discharges in N2/02
mixture, positive and negative discharges in N2 gas
94 IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-22 No.1, February 1987

Du
[__-~..~ a:calculated according to the
streamer criterion(K=10)
50 _ b:calculated by using E00
§:experimental
40

)._
30
a'
2/21 %02
-1C:
20
79%N
P=1OOkPa 0-.
a'
6=90' b _
10 _=0;181
J?
0.1 0.2
1 1
0.5 1 2 5
I
10
Ao
2I20
1 [nun]
(a)
e [degree]
79%N2/21 %02 N2
0:1=0 (clean spacer) * :1=0 (clean spacer)
7:1=5mm v:1=5mmr; near or on anode
&:1=10mm * :1=lOmm; near or on anode
v :1=5mm; contacting with cathode

Fig. 12: Mean value of tangential component of

2:GMBDV breakdown electric field along the spacer surface.
30a

significant differences. A possible explanation for

20 b-i i this measured result is as follows. When the value of
P=100OkPa 0 is changed over a wide range, the breakdown voltage
0=900
under no particle conditions is considered to be deter-
10 4=O.l18nu b-2 mined by three main factors; (1) the onset voltage of
discharge at the triple junction of the narrow end of
the spacer, (2) the mean field strength for maintaining
0.5 the discharge propagation along the spacer surface, and
0 0.10.2 1 2 5 10 20
(3) the mean field strength for discharge propagation
1 [nin] in gas which may be triggered at an unavoidable micro-
defect on the edge of the spacer base. The numerical
(b) computation of electric field along the spacer surface
indicates that the highest and lowest field strengths
Fig. 11: Comrparison of calculated and measured occur at the narrow end and the base of conical spaces,
values of VBD. (a) VBD in N2/02 mixture, (b) respectively. The field strength near the narrow end
VBD in N2 gas. increases with decreasing 0.In the present experi-
mental results, the first factor would predominate in

respectively. The breakdown voltages were reversely

calculated by using these critical values and were il-
lustrated by broken lines labeled b in Fig. 11. The
curves show good agreement with the measured values and
are above the calculated discharge inception voltages
at larger particles. At smaller particles the voltage
for the discharge propagation is lower than the dis-
charge inception voltage. The relationship between
both calculated voltages requires that the corona dis-
charge can appear at longer particles at the conditions
giving the MBDV; this is supported by corona observa-
tions.
In the case of a clean spacer, EBD is always higher
than the value in the presence of the larger particles,
and decreases with the value of 190-0e and tends to a
certain value at large 190-01. According to examina-
tion of Figs. 6 and 7, although the breakdowns for 0=32
and 148 and about a half part of breakdowns for 0=90
without particles appear in the insulating gas, the
breakdown voltages for 0=32, 90 and 148 degrees shows
the region of 190-01<30
but in 190-el>30
the second and
third factors are considered to appear. That is, the
breakdown voltage at 0=90 is nearly equal to one in gas
since no field enhancement at the triple junction exists.
While the lower breakdown voltages at 0=32 and 148 may
be ascribed to field enhancement by a microdefect at the
sharp edge of the spacer base, unavoidable in mechanical
treatment, and may be nearly equal to the breakdown
voltage of triggered parallel-plane gap in gas. This
conjecture for 0=32 and 148 was supported by an addi-
tional experiment with a parallel-plane gap with a micro-
arc trigger source.
It is again argued from the above discussion that the
MBDV for 190-01<30 is determined from the discharge in-
ception conditions for the clean spacer or the contam-
inated spacer by smaller particles and from the dis-
charge propagation conditions for the contaminated
spacer by larger particles.
Hara et al.: Particle-initiated breakdown in gas under dc voltage
4. 3 Pressure and ParticZe Diarmeter Effects
In the presence of a free conducting particle, the
microdischarge threshold voltage between the particle
and the electrode has no pronounced pressure depend-
ency in air [14] and the complete breakdown voltage
shows a complex pressure dependency in electronegative
gases [15]. This is the reason why the breakdown volt-
age is determined by two factors: the particle motions
and the discharge mechanisms.
In the case of a fixed particle giving the MBDV, the
corona stabilization effect is less effective as stated
in the earlier Section, the pressure and particle diam-
eter dependencies of the MBDV may be estimated accord-
ing to Eq. (2). The dotted lines in Figs. 8 and 10 are
calculated values on the base of the streamer criter-
ion. The calculated value shows relatively good agree-
ment with the measured MBDV except for the case of a
very thin particle in Fig. 8. The discrepancy for the
very thin particle may be due to the following: one
is a very high electric field strength at the particle
tip where the Eqs. (3) and (4) would not be valid and
the other is the charge deposited near the particle
tip on the spacer which suppresses the discharge propa-
gation more effectively than for the case of thicker
particles, because of the short distance between the
particle tip and the spacer surface.
From comparison of calculated VDB and the measured
MBDV in Fig. 10 the corona stabilization effect is
believed to appear slightly at 400 to 700 kPa of
N2/02 mixture.
s. CONCLUSIONS
Particle-initiated breakdown characteristics of coni-
cal insulators were investigated experimentally in N2
gas and N2/02 mixture under dc voltage. The most sig-
nificant features of the breakdown characteristics are
as follows:
(1) When the location of a particle was changed on a
conical spacer, the minimum breakdown voltage (MBDV)
appeared for the particle very close to the anode elec-
trode in N2/02 mixture, and contact with or very close
to the anode or cathode electrode in N2 gas.
(2) Under the particle conditions giving the MBDV, the
corona stabilization is less effective.
(3) The breakdown voltage of a clean spacer or a con-
taminated spacer by particles shorter than about 0.5 mm
decreases with the value of 190-el, while under con-
taminated conditions by larger particles the breakdown
voltage increases with 190-01, i.e. the cylindrical
spacer shows the lowest flashover voltage.
(4) The reduction in MBDV by a particle appears beyond
a critical particle length which depends on the spacer
shape.
(5) The MBDV decreases with decreasing in the particle
diameter.
(6) There is a critical field strength necessary for
the discharge propagation, and which is independent of
the spacer shape and depends on the discharge polarity
and gas. The critical values for positive discharge in
N2/02 mixture and positive and negative one in N2 gas
were 9.5, 9.2 and 7.0 kV/cm respectively.
(7) At shorter particles, the discharge threshold field
strength is higher than the field for discharge
95
propagation and the breakdown voltage is determined by
the discharge threshold conditions, and at larger
particles the relationship reverses.
6.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mr. F. L. Mao is a visiting research fellow at Kyushu
University from China.
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965 IEEE Transactions on Electrical Insulation Vol. EI-22 No.1, February 1987

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