Influence of vapor bubbles initiated by steady heating on the breakdown of liquid nitrogen

by
T.P. Hong, P.E. Frayssines, O. Lesaint, F. Aitken and F. Devaux

This paper was presented in 2003 at the International Conference on Electrical Insulation and
Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP), Albuquerque, USA. Complete paper reference:

T.P. Hong, P.E. Frayssines, O. Lesaint, F. Aitken and F. Devaux, “Influence of vapour bubbles
initiated by steady heating on the breakdown of liquid nitrogen”, Int. Conf. on Elec. Insul. and
Diel. Phen., CEIDP, IEEE publication n° 03CH37471, pp. 313- 316, Albuquerque (USA),
October 19-22, 2003.
Influence of vapor bubbles initiated by steady heating on the breakdown of liquid nitrogen
T.P. Hong1, P.E. Frayssines1, O. Lesaint1, F. Aitken1 and F. Devaux2
1
LEMD, CNRS & University Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France
2
Alstom T&D, Saint-Ouen, France

Abstract: This paper presents an experimental study of
the influence of vapor bubbles on breakdown in liquid
nitrogen. Vapor bubbles are initiated by creating a small
hot spot at the surface of an electrode. The behavior of
vapor bubbles is first investigated by visualization,
versus power dissipated by the heater, pressure and
electric field. When breakdown occurs in the presence
of bubbles, it is due to formation of either a vapor
bridge between the electrodes (at low pressure), or a
vapor layer on the hot spot (at high pressure). The
results are discussed in comparison with gas breakdown
fields obtained from the Paschen’s law.
Introduction
In present and future applications of high temperature
superconductors (transformers, current limiters, etc)
liquid nitrogen (LN2) is used both as cooling and
insulating liquid. The proper design of the insulation is
very important to ensure reliability of the device under a
variety of adverse conditions, including rare events such
as overvoltage, hot spots, bubbles or particles. The
presence of vapor bubbles in LN2 is much more
probable than in other classical insulating liquids at
room temperature, since LN2 is close to boiling
conditions. The presence of bubbles may have a large
impact on the insulation, since a lower breakdown field
is expected in the gas compared to liquid. The problem
was previously studied in LN2 and in liquid Helium
(LH) [1,2]. It was reported that an increase of
hydrostatic pressure constitutes a good way to increase
the breakdown voltage in the presence of bubbles, by
impeding their formation, and increasing the breakdown
field of the gas.
The present paper reports experiments carried out to
observe the shape of vapor bubbles in LN2 under DC
and AC fields, in order to establish correlation between
measured breakdown voltage and the Paschen law of
gaseous nitrogen.
An electrode system shown on figure 1 was
designed to produce vapor bubbles in a nearly uniform
electric field. The copper electrodes of curved shape,
7 cm in diameter, are separated by a 2 mm gap distance.
A 1.1 mm hole is drilled in the middle of the ground
electrode, and a small heater (a thick film resistor) is
fixed behind with epoxy resin (see enlarged schema on
figure 1). Heat is carried from the heater to the liquid by
a thin copper rod. The small size of the hot spot in
contact with LN2 (0.7 mm diameter) is favourable to
obtain a good stability and reproductibility of vapor
bubble formation. Visualization of bubbles was carried
out with a CCD camera. To obtain good images of
moving bubbles, the light source used was a
stroboscope with a short light flash duration (3 µs), and
adjustable frequency.
HV
Electrode
surface
Heater
0.7 mm
copper rod 6 mm
Epoxy resin
Figure 1: Shape of electrodes used to produce vapor bubbles in a
high field region, and enlarged schematic view of the heater.

Experimental
Experiments were done with a special high voltage
cryostat already described in [3]. This equipment allows
us to carry out measurements at voltages up to 200 kV,
in LN2 at constant temperature (77 K) and variable
pressure (up to 0.5 MPa).
Bubble behavior
Photographs 2 to 4 show the behavior of bubbles,
together with the influence of heater power (Pe),
hydrostatic pressure (P), and electric field (E) indicated
on each picture.
 HV ground
electrode electrode

Hot spot
location

a) c)
2 mm Figure 3: Effect of a dc electric field on bubble behavior with
constant pressure (P=0.1 MPa) and heating (Pe=0.7 W).

b)
Figure 2: Effect of hydrostatic pressure on bubble formation with
zero electric field and constant heating (Pe=4.2 W). a)

b)
a)

b)
Influence of P and Pe. With a steady electrical power
Pe dissipated by the heater, bubbles appear above some
threshold power, increasing with pressure: 0.7 W at
0.1 MPa, 1.6 W at 0.4 MPa. This is logical, considering
the saturated pressure curve of LN2. Figure 2a shows
c)
Figure 4: Effect of hydrostatic pressure on bubble behavior with a
constant dc field (E=20 kV/mm) and heating (Pe=3.4 W).
bubbles initiated with a large heater power (Pe=4.2 W),
compared to the threshold initiation power (0.7 W).
Large bubbles (diameter >1 mm) develop on the hot
spot, then detach and move up under the effect of
Archimedes forces and liquid flow between the
electrodes. The lifetime of bubbles is large since LN2 is
in boiling conditions (77 K, 0.1 MPa).
When the pressure P is raised (figure 2b), the
volume of bubbles on the hot spot decrease (from
14 mm3 at 0.1 MPa, to 2 mm3 at 0.4 MPa with
Pe=4.2 W), as well as their initiation frequency
(typically 50 to 10 Hz). After detachment, bubbles
quickly disappear while they move up. Indeed, LN2 is
now far from boiling conditions (77 K,0.2 MPa), and
vapor bubbles initiated on the hot spot are not any more
stable while they move up in the cold liquid at 77 K.
The power actually used to form bubbles (calculated
from bubble size and initiation frequency), is only a
small fraction of the input power Pe (less than 25%).
Most of power Pe is dissipated via conduction and
convection in LN2, and in surrounding solid materials.
phenomena, but to see how bubble shapes observed in
breakdown conditions (i.e. at high electric field) may
explain the breakdown voltages measured.
Breakdown measurements
Breakdown measurements were carried out under ac
and dc voltage, versus pressure P and heater power Pe.
With P and Pe fixed, the ac (or dc) voltage was raised
from zero up to breakdown. The breakdown voltage was
noted, and this process was repeated 10 times in each
conditions, in order to obtain the average value of
breakdown voltage.
Figure 5 shows a typical set of results obtained
under ac with Pe=4.2 W. The results are expressed as
the crest value of the applied voltage.
AC breakdown voltage (kV)
80

Influence of electric field E. At the threshold initiation 70

power without field (figure 3a), bubbles of small sizes
(<<1 mm) are generated. When a dc field is applied 60
(E=10 kV/mm, figure 3b), bubbles stay longer in
50
contact with the heater surface before detachment, their
size increases, and they tend to elongate in a direction 40
parallel to the electric field. At higher values of the
electric field (20 kV/mm), a stable cylindrical “vapor 30
bridge” is formed between electrodes (figure 3c). It may Pe=4.2W
remain in this position for a very long time (up to 20
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
several ten minutes), depending on pressure P and Pressure (MPa)
power Pe. If E is raised at higher values, breakdown Figure 5: ac breakdown voltage versus pressure for a constant heater
occurs within this vapor bridge. Figure 4 shows the power Pe=4.2 W (linear voltage ramp 2 kV/s).
effect of raising the pressure P in conditions where a
vapor bridge is formed at atmospheric pressure (figure An increase of the breakdown voltage versus
4a). At 0.22 MPa (figure 4b) its length is reduced, its pressure is clearly seen on figure 5. Figure 6 shows a
shape becomes conical, and it is stable for a long time. typical set of results obtained when the heater power is
At higher pressure, only a “vapor layer”, some 0.1 mm changed at constant pressure (0.3 MPa). The influence
in thickness, remains on the hot spot. of heater power on breakdown voltage Vb is small: Vb
Under ac field (50 Hz), the global behavior of decreases by about 20% when Pe is multiplied by 6.
bubbles is nearly identical. In addition, the stroboscopic 80
AC breakdown voltage (kV)

observation shows a vibration of the bubble interface at 75

the frequency of the applied voltage. 70

These observations are in agreement with previous 65

experiments made by Hara in similar conditions [1]. 60

These authors showed by analytical calculations that 55

electrostatic forces tend to “attach” bubbles to 50

electrodes, and elongate them in the direction of the 45

P=0.3MPa
40
field as observed in figures 3b and 3c. At higher 0 1 2 3 4 5

pressure, when the vapor phase is not any more stable at Heater power Pe (W)

77 K, the shapes observed (figures 4b and 4c) result
from a complex equilibrium between mechanical forces,
electrical forces, heat transfer, phase transition
(evaporation close to the hot spot, condensation at the
interface with surrounding cold liquid). The purpose of
this paper is not to give a detailed account of these
Figure 6: ac breakdown voltage versus heater power for a constant
pressure P=0.3 MPa.
Under ac, breakdown measurements are rather
reproducible. Under dc, the variations of Vb versus Pe
and P are similar, but the scatter of measurements is
larger. Also, values of Vb with identical (P, Pe) considering that breakdown in the gas layer is able to
conditions are lower than under ac voltage. Since ac is trigger breakdown of the whole gap. With an estimated
more representative of practical applications than dc, we gas thickness about 0.2 mm, the breakdown voltage of
will mainly consider and discuss ac results in this paper. the vapor layer is obtained from the Paschen curve, and
the electrode voltage required to induce gas breakdown
Discussion and conclusion (indicated on fig.7) is calculated taking into account the
permittivity of LN2 (1.42).
Figure 7 summarizes ac breakdown measurements
obtained with various (P, Pe) conditions. The Table 1: physical and electrical properties of gaseous
correlation with bubble behavior allows us to Nitrogen.
distinguish two extreme simple situations: Pressure P (MPa) 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
A - from 0.1 to 0.2 MPa, a stable “vapor bridge” Boiling temperature 77 84 88 91 94
(figure 3c and 4a) can be observed prior to breakdown; Tb (K)
B - at high pressure (0.4 and 0.5 MPa), a “vapor Gas density at Tb 4.6 8.9 12.7 16.4 20.6
layer” (figure 4c) exists on the hot spot before (mg.cm-3)
breakdown. Paschen voltage (kV) 25 45 61 72 92
In situation A, the breakdown voltage can be (P, Tb, 2 mm gap)
compared to the Paschen voltage of gaseous nitrogen Paschen voltage (kV) 8.5 14.5 20 25.7 30.2
(P, 300 K, 2 mm gap)
with the following conditions: gas pressure =
hydrostatic pressure P, gas temperature = boiling
temperature (Tb) at pressure P, distance = 2 mm. The Increasing the pressure from 0.1 to 0.5 Mpa has a
Paschen law describes variations of the breakdown lower benefitial effect in measurements (breakdown
voltage versus gas density x distance. Table 1 gives voltage is nearly doubled) than predicted from the
values of the gas density at (P,Tb), and the Paschen law (breakdown voltage multiplied by about 4).
corresponding Paschen voltage in a 2 mm gap. These Various hypotheses can be proposed to explain this
values are indicated on figure 7 (star symbols) for behaviour. At high pressure when the vapor is confined
0.1 MPa<P<0.2 MPa. In table 1, values of Paschen on the hot spot, one may expect an average gas
voltage at room temperature (300 K) versus pressure are temperature substantially higher than Tb, which in turn
also included. These values at 300 K are about 3 times reduces the gas density and breakdown voltage. At
lower than at Tb, due to the difference of gas density. A 0.5 MPa, a moderate increase of gas temperature (120 K
low gas temperature has clearly a benefitial effect on instead of 94 K) is able to explain the measured
insulation in the presence of bubbles. Density of breakdown voltage (70 kV) lower than the 108 kV value
gaseous N2 at Tb is of course higher than at room predicted from Paschen’s law. In the “vapor bridge”
temperature, which results in a favourable effect (much observed at lower pressure, the average gas temperature
higher breakdown voltages at low temperature). is expected to be closer to the boiling temperature.
AC breakdown voltage (kV)
110 Acknowledgements
100
90 The authors wish to acknowledge the Alstom T&D
80 company which supported this work.
70
60 References
50
[1] M. Hara, T. Kaneko, K. Honda, „Dc electrical breakdown of
40 Pe=0.7W saturated liquid helium at 0.1Mpa in the presence of thermally
30 Pe=1.5W induced bubbles“, Cryogenics, vol.27, pp.567-576, 1987.
Pe=2.7W
20 [2] M. Hara, D.J. Kwak , M. Kubuki, “Thermal bubble breakdown
Pe=4.2W
10 Paschen characteristics of LN2 at 0.1Mpa under ac and impulse electric
0 fields”, Cryogenics, vol.29, pp.895-903, 1989.
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
Pressure (MPa) [3] P.E. Frayssines, O. Lesaint, N. Bonifaci, A. Denat, S. Lelaidier
and F. Devaux, “Prebreakdown Phenomena at High Voltage in
Figure 7: Summary of breakdown measurements under ac, and Liquid Nitrogen and Comparison with Mineral Oil”, IEEE
comparison with breakdown voltage predicted from the Paschen law. Trans. on DEI, Vol.9, pp.899-909, 2002.

At 0.4 and 0.5 MPa a thin vapor layer is present on Author address: O. Lesaint, LEMD/CNRS, 25 Avenue
the hot spot. The breakdown voltages indicated on des Martyrs, 38042 Grenoble, France. Email:
figure 7 with a star symbol are calculated by lesaint@grenoble.cnrs.fr