FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN ELEKTRIK

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

TUTORIAL (MEP 1553)

Insulation Diagnostics
______________________________________________________________________________

1) A specimen of insulation has a capacitance of 1000 pF and a loss tangent

of 0.00001 at 50 Hz.

a) Derive a parallel RC circuit that will model the specimen at 50 Hz.

b) Derive a series RC circuit that will model the specimen at 50 Hz.
c) Over a range of 5 - 500 Hz, sketch a graph of effective capacitance and
loss tangent, as functions of frequency for both of those circuits.

2) A 20 kV, 50 Hz Schering bridge has a standard capacitance of 106 µF. In a

test on a bakelite sheet balance was obtained with a capacitance of 0.35
µF in parallel with a non-inductive resistance of 318 Ω, the non-inductive
resistance in the remaining arm of the bridge being 130 Ω.

a) Determine the equivalent series resistance and capacitance and the

power factor (p.f.) of the specimen.
b) Determine p.f. and the equivalent parallel resistance and capacitance.

(Ans: 0.429Ω, 259µF, 0.035, 259µF, 351Ω, 0.035)

3) A 33 kV, 50 Hz high voltage Schering bridge is used to test a sample of

insulation. The various arms have the following parameters on balance.
The standard capacitance 500 pF, the resistive branch 800 Ω and branch
with parallel combination of resistance and capacitance has values 180 Ω
and 0.15 µF. Determine the value of the capacitance of this sample, its
parallel equivalent loss resistance, the dissipation factor and the power
loss under these test conditions.

(Ans: 112.5pF, 3339MΩ, 0.00848, 0.326W)

4) An insulating material has a relative permittivity of 2.8 and a conductivity

of 10-14 S cm-1. Both of these values are believed to be independent of
frequency. To check this, measurements are to be made on a sample of the
material of thickness 0.01 mm and cross-sectional area 100 cm2.
Determine the values of loss tangent that you would expect at frequencies
of 10 Hz and 100 Hz.

1
 (Ans: 0.00064, 0.000064)

5) It is required to set up a Schering bridge to make measurements at 200 Hz

on samples of insulation that have capacitances in the range 200 - 500 pF
and loss tangents of up to 0.02. The fixed components that are available
are a loss-free standard capacitor of 300 pF and a standard resistor of 0.1
MΩ. Deriving any formulae used, determine what other components are
required for the bridge circuit.

6) Following measurements are made to determine the dielectric constant

and complex permittivity of a test specimen:

The air capacitance of the electrode system = 50 pF

The capacitance and loss angle of the electrodes with specimen = 190 pF
and 0.0085 respectively.

Determine the specific heat generated in the test specimen due to

dielectric loss. The electric field is 40 kV/cm at 50 Hz.

(Ans: 1436 W/m3)

7) A balanced Schering bridge ABCD has AB, a standard capacitor of 100 pF

with loss angle 2 x 10-4 radian; BC, a 1300 Ω resistor in parallel with a 24
pF capacitor; CD, a 1000 Ω resistor; DA the test object. Deriving any
formulae used, determine the capacitance and loss angle of the test object.
The frequency is 1000 Hz.
(130 pF; 3.96 x 10-4)

8) A sample of solid insulation has a thickness of 15 mm and a cross-

sectional area of 100 cm2. It contains a void of thickness 0.3 mm and
cross-sectional area 5 mm2. An alternating voltage is applied between two
parallel conducting plates on other side of the sample.

The void is filled with a gas that will breakdown at an electric field strength
of 65 kV/cm, and when a partial discharge occurs, the voltage across the
void falls to zero.

Determine;

a) the inception voltage for partial discharges.

b) the electric field strength in the solid insulation.
c) the discharge magnitude in the void.

2
 d) the amplitude of the voltage pulse produced across the sample by a
partial discharge.
e) the apparent discharge magnitude.

9) Show that for a solid insulating material of relative permittivity εr,

containing a cylindrical air-filled cavity of depth t, which is small in
relation to the thickness T of the dielectric that;

 
 εr 
Eg = Ed  
1 + t (ε r − 1) 
 T 

where Eg is the stress on the void and Ed is the stress in the solid
dielectric.

10) A sample of impregnated paper (εr = 3.5) of thickness 2 mm is placed

between large parallel-plate electrodes. A cylindrical air-filled cavity 2 mm
in diameter and 0.05 mm deep, with its axis at right angles to the
electrodes is located in the centre of the dielectric. A sinusoidal alternating
voltage is applied between the electrodes. The breakdown voltage Vo of the
gas is; Vo = 24 ⋅ d + 6 ⋅ d 0.5 where d is the length of the gas gap in cm. Vo is
in kV and applies for uniform field breakdown.

Determine the discharge inception stress in kV/mm and the discharge

energy.

11) The circuit diagram for the Schering bridge is shown in Figure Q11. Both
ends of the sample and the standard capacitor are connected to the high
voltage side of the bridge. A standard capacitor used in the circuit has
losses and can be represented as a capacitance (C2) and resistance (r2) in
series.

a) Show that at balanced condition, the capacitance and the resistance

of the sample are;

R4  R C R
C = C2 ; r =  r2 + 4 4  3
R3  C 2  R4

3
 b) Prove that the loss tangent of the sample is given by the loss tangent
of the standard capacitor added with the loss tangent as measured for
a loss-free standard capacitor.

C standard
sample C2 capacitor
with losses
r r2
AC
Supply
R4

R3
C4

Figure Q11

12) A sample of impregnated paper (εr = 3.5) of thickness 2 mm is placed

between large parallel-plate electrodes. A cylindrical air-filled cavity 2 mm
in diameter and 0.05 mm deep, with its axis at right angles to the
electrodes is located in the centre of the dielectric. A sinusoidal alternating
voltage is applied between the electrodes.

The Paschen curve for air is as follows;

pd (mm Hg.mm) 15 30 45 60 75 90 105

V (kV peak) 0.34 0.52 0.68 0.81 0.93 1.03 1.13

a) Determine the discharge inception stress in kV/mm in the dielectric for a

pressure of 500 mm Hg.

b) Calculate the discharge energy.

c) If the pressure in the void is increased three times, calculate the

inception voltage.