IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No.

1; February 2017 583

Investigations on Charge Trapping and De-trapping

Properties of Polymeric Insulators through Discharge
Current Measurements
N. Haque, S. Dalai, B. Chatterjee and S. Chakravorti
Electrical Engineering Department
Jadavpur University
Kolkata 700032, India

ABSTRACT
It is generally accepted that formation and accumulation of space charge in polymeric
insulation is a critical issue in the design of high voltage electric systems, as it leads to
insulation degradation and premature failure under high voltage surges and polarity
reversals. Even at service stress level, accumulation of space charge may cause electro-
thermal aging. The insulation degradation and aging is reflected in the trapping and de-
trapping characteristics of the insulation, making it a useful aging marker. Space
charge measurement methods are frequently used for trapping and de-trapping
analysis. However, estimation of charge trapping and de-trapping behavior is very
difficult due to the involvement of material properties and also partly due to the fact
that proper measurement of space charge is itself a very complicated issue, requiring
very sophisticated experimental arrangement and signal processing techniques.
Moreover, application of these methods is limited to polymeric insulations of certain
geometries (planar or radial). In this paper, the charge trapping and de-trapping
behavior of low density polyethylene (LDPE), a widely used polymeric material for
electrical insulation purpose, have been investigated employing a direct method based
on the discharge characteristics obtained after the sample was stressed for short
durations. A relationship is established between the de-trapped charge and the
extracted charge measured from the discharge current. From this relationship a
relative distribution of trapped charges across different trap depths was obtained. It
was noticed that the trapped charge distribution is of exponential nature in the trap
depth range of 0.93-1.11 eV. The presented method facilitates direct estimation of trap
distribution independent of the insulation geometry. It was also observed that the
trapped charge is highly dependent on the applied field.
Index Terms — Charge trapping, de-trapping, discharge current, image charge, trap
depth, polymeric insulators.

1 INTRODUCTION
The performance of polymeric materials as electrical
insulation in High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) systems is
closely related to the formation of space charge and its
dynamics in the insulation [1]. Accumulation of space charge
leads to over-stressing of part of the insulation, and may cause
premature failure [2]. A proper understanding of the physical
processes responsible for space charge accumulation or
‘charge trapping’ would be certainly beneficial in the design
of electrical apparatus under high dc stress. These processes
are very complicated as they are related to microstructure
nature of polymers. With thermal and electrical aging the
microstructure nature is further modified, which further affects
Manuscript received on 12 July 2016, in final form 18 October 2016,
accepted 23 October 2016. Corresponding author: N. Haque.
the trapping and de-trapping processes [3, 4]. It has been
demonstrated that charge trapping and de-trapping processes
parameters i.e. trap distribution, trap depth, are very sensitive to
aging of insulation. Therefore evaluation of these parameters
becomes very important for diagnostics of polymeric insulation.
Since 1980s, the advent of sophisticated non-destructive
methods of space charge detection facilitated the measurement of
spatial distribution of space charge inside a charged specimen.
These techniques included Pulse Electro-Acoustic Method (PEA)
[5-7], Pressure Wave Propagation method (PWP)[8-10], thermal
wave propagation (TWP) [11] etc. Consequently, investigations
on charge trapping and de-trapping have received significant
attention. To investigate charge trapping and de-trapping
processes, the sample was electrically stressed and then kept in
short circuit condition over a period of time. During this short
circuit period, the net amount of charge stored in the sample was
measured using the space charge measurement techniques (most

DOI: 10.1109/TDEI.2016.006154

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 584 N. Haque, et al.: Investigations on Charge Trapping and De-trapping Properties of Polymeric Insulators
notably PEA and PWP method) and from that, charge trapping
parameters, such as trapped charge, trap depth or trap energy ,
distribution of traps are calculated. However, in both PEA and
PWP methods, the space charge distribution is calculated through
transfer function and signal de-convolution analysis. In PEA
method the space charges in the specimen are disturbed through
an externally applied pulse electric field, thereby simulating an
acoustic wave in the sample. This acoustic wave signal is detected
through a transducer placed on an electrode and from that
information regarding space charges are deciphered through
proper transfer function analysis. A reverse principle is applied in
PWP method. The sample containing space charges are
mechanically perturbed through an acoustic wave generated
through mechanical transducer or laser pulses. Under the effect of
this wave, the permittivity of the compressed dielectric changes,
and thereby an open circuit voltage (or short circuit current) is
produced between the electrodes. This electrical signal is further
analyzed through transfer function analysis for space charge
estimation. In both methods, the measured signal is usually very
low and proper de-noising also becomes very important for
accurate estimation of space charges. Therefore, although space
charger measurement techniques have significantly contributed to
charge trapping and de-trapping investigations as the method of
space charge measurement is itself indirect (through acoustic
signals) and hence the interpretation and analysis of the obtained
signals remain a critical issue. Another difficulty with these
measurement techniques is they are mostly applicable on thin
dielectric samples of planar geometry. Although PEA method has
been used for space charge measurements in cables [10], for
complex irregular insulation structures its application becomes
very difficult. For example, it is very difficult to perform space
charge measurement on an aged polymeric insulator used in
transmission line. For such type of insulation structures, trapping
and de-trapping analysis remains a challenge. Therefore, a direct
method of charge trapping and de-trapping will certainly be more
convenient from the prospect of insulation diagnosis as compared
to indirect methods.
For direct estimation of charge trapping parameters, Isothermal
Surface Potential Decay has been another popular choice[11-12].
In this method, the dielectric specimen is charged through corona
charging, and then the surface potential decay of the sample is
recorded throughout a period of time. Charge trapping parameters
i.e. trap depth, trap density are estimated from the surface
potential decay measurement. However, such method cannot be
directly employed in electrical insulation systems of other than
planar geometry. It is very difficult to arrange an experimental
set-up for corona charging of radial geometry insulation i.e.
cables. For these reasons, a simple low complex direct method
which can be employed for charge trapping investigations in
electrical insulations of arbitrary shape or geometry will be highly
beneficial for physicists, engineers and industry professionals.
In this work, a new experimental method has been developed
for charge de-trapping investigation in dielectrics. The developed
method is based on carrying out subsequent discharges from a
stressed dielectric sample at different time instants, after the
voltage is removed. The sample was kept open-circuited for a
time interval between two subsequent discharges. Then, from the
discharge current associated with each discharge the amount of
extracted charge is calculated. In this way, charge extraction
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characteristics were obtained. From this characteristics, the
relative distribution of trapped charge across different trap depths
or trap energy levels are directly evaluated. The presented method
does not depend on the use of transfer function or signal
processing tools and can be applied to electrical insulation of any
geometry. In this work, LDPE samples are used as polymeric
insulation specimen.
The paper is organized in the following sections. In the next
section, the basic theory behind charge trapping and de-trapping
is discussed. In the experiment section, details of the experimental
set-up developed for obtaining the charge extraction
characteristics of a charged dielectric sample is discussed. In this
work, LDPE samples of thickness 120 µm were stressed at
different voltage levels at room temperature. In the results section,
the important parameters related to charge trapping process are
evaluated from extracted charge-time profile. A continuous
distribution of trap depth along with trapped charge was obtained.
Finally, conclusions are made from the obtained results on the
feasibility of the proposed method in the investigation of charge
trapping and de-trapping mechanisms in polymeric insulation.
2 THEORY OF CHARGE TRAPPING AND
DE-TRAPPING
2.1 CHARGE INJECTION AND TRAPPING
Charge carriers can be introduced in a solid insulating
material mainly by two means-(a) through charge injection
(electron or hole) from electrodes and (b) ionisation of the
dielectric material. From experimental evidence it has been
found that under high electric stress, charge produced due to
ionization is almost negligible as compared to charge injected
in additive free polymers [24]. The charge injection process is
mainly controlled by Schottky injection and electron
tunnelling process. Now, in a polymeric material such as
LDPE, due to the non-homogeneity present in the molecular
crystal structure of the polymer, there exist several localized
‘defects’. These defects can be of physical or chemical nature.
Physical defects are mostly caused by local disorders in the
molecular structure [14], but chemical defects are mainly
caused by chemical impurities acquired during manufacturing.
Altogether, these defects give rise to amorphous regions in the
polymeric material. In these regions, during high voltage
application the injected carriers get ‘trapped’, as these sites
have larger electron affinity than the host material [15,16].
This process is referred as ‘charge trapping’. These trapping
sites have energy level between the conduction band and
valence band. The trap energy or trap depth is defined as the
difference of electron affinity of the trap site (EAtrap) and the
overall material (EAref). This can be expressed as, [16]
Et  EAtrap  EAref (1)
If trap energy is positive for a defect site, then an electron
will prefer to stay in that trapping site and will not contribute
to the conduction process. Thus, overall, the trapping process
can be understood as a process of energy storage in which
charges are confined to specific sites preventing them to
contribute to electrical conduction. The trapping sites vary in
material according to its trap depth and capture cross section.
Depending upon trap depth, the traps can be classified as
shallow traps or deep traps. Shallow traps correspond to
 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 1; February 2017
mainly physical defects in the material, and have trap depth
less than 0.5 eV. Deep traps are mainly caused by chemical
impurities, and have values higher than 0.5 eV. In this work,
the focus has been given on deep traps.
2.2 CHARGE DETRAPPING PROCESS
Once, the charged carrier is trapped, it can also ‘de-trap’ or
escape from the trapping site in presence or absence of electric
field provided it gains sufficient energy. The trapped carrier
can gain energy through a number of mechanisms [17] i.e.
photon assisted de-trapping, phonon assisted de-trapping or
thermal de-trapping, electron tunnelling and impact
ionization. However, in present study, only phonon assisted
de-trapping or thermal de-trapping is considered as the
samples were not subjected to any photon bombardment and
the applied field in experiments is insufficient to carry out
impact ionization electron tunnelling processes. In thermal de-
trapping process, the trapped carrier receives energy from
lattice vibrations, thereby causing it to de-trap. The released
carrier can be further re-trapped by another trapping site. The
process is repeated continuously and the charged carriers
‘hop’ from one site to another in the direction determined by
the electric field. This forms the basis of ‘hopping’ mechanism
of charge conduction in polymers.
The time t taken by a trapped carrier to thermally de-trap is
given by,
1 At normal conditions, a dielectric sample containing space
t (2)

where, Γ is the thermal de-trapping rate constant , which can
be given as,[18]
 Et
  N c vth c exp( ) which produces an electric field equal to the mean internal
kT
 Et
or,   v exp( ) (3)
kT
where, v  N c vth c (4)
v is the attempt to escape frequency , Nc is the effective
density of states in the conduction band given by
2me kT 3 / 2
N c  2( ) (5)
h2
me is electron mass, vth is the thermal velocity of carriers,
given by
3kT 1 / 2
vth  ( ) (6)
me
 c is the capture cross-section of the trap, k is Boltzmann's
constant, and T is temperature.
From equations (2) and (3) it is observed that the trap
releasing time t is highly dependent on the capture cross
section (  c ) and trap energy Et. From experimental evidence
it was found that for deep traps (Et>0.8 eV) capture cross
sections in LDPE vary in the range of 10-16 to 10-18 m2 [19].
Taking the value of  c at 10-16 m2, the variation of trap release
time (t) is depicted in Figure 1. It was observed that as the trap
depth is varied from 0.95 to 1.05 eV, the de-trapping time
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585
varies from 21 s to 972 s. Thus, depending upon the trap
depth, this trapped charge may remain for several hours to few
days, thus contributing to localized field enhancement. This
localized field enhancement leads to partial discharges, thus
favoring degradation mechanism [20]. Therefore, in the
present work the focus is given on trapped charge estimation
in mainly deep traps.
1.3
1.2
Trap depth (eV)
1.1
1
0.9
0.8
0
10 10
1
10
2
10
3
10
4
Time (s)
Figure 1. Variation of de-trapping time with trap depth.
2.3 THEORETICAL MODEL OF CHARGE
EXTRACTION UNDER SHORT CIRCUIT
CONDITIONS
charges will have a positive internal field. However, under
short circuit conditions, the net electric field across the
dielectric sample will become zero. It can be explained by the
appearance of a negative charge layer on the positive electrode
electric field but of opposite polarity, thereby making the net
effective field across the sample zero. As a result, there should
be one (for unipolar charge injection) or two (for bipolar
charge injection) zero field lines inside the sample [21]. This
case is depicted in Figures 2a and 2b. Figure 2a depicts a
typical space charge distribution and the corresponding
internal electric field distribution in a dielectric specimen.
When this specimen is short circuited, a negative charge layer
appears on the positive electrode to make the effective field
zero. As a result, the effective electric field across the
specimen is redistributed and zero field lines appear. This case
is depicted in Figure 2b, demonstrating two zero field lines
(AF1 and CF2). It can be observed from Figure 2a and 2b, that
under the effect of electric field the positive charges in the
region OA and the negative charges in region CD will quickly
move towards the electrodes and will be absorbed. Charges
lying outside the zero field planes will move towards the
middle of the sample and recombine.
Now, the image charge induced by space charge on the
electrode at any instant under short circuit condition will be
calculated. Let, the case of positive charges are considered
first. Let ρ(x) is the volume charge density distributed from
x  0 to x  d .
This volume charge distribution can be approximated by an
equivalent surface charge density of  eq . The value of  eq is
given by [22]
 586 N. Haque, et al.: Investigations on Charge Trapping and De-trapping Properties of Polymeric Insulators

d r Now, Let the short circuit is removed. The dielectric sample

 eq   (7) is open circuited now. In this situation, a portion of the trapped
d charge  (x ) will be de-trapped in a time interval Δt due to
d
thermal de-trapping processes. Let this de-trapped charge is
Where,     ( x)dx (8)
denoted as  de trapped .
0

and r is the centroid of the distributed positive charge. The zero field planes will continue to exist in the sample
Equation (7) can also be written as, under this situation. Most of  de trapped will quickly move
towards the disconnected positive electrode under the effect of
Or,  eq  cdx (9)
electric field, but it will not be extracted as the positive
where, electrode is open circuited. Now, if the sample is again short
circuited this released charges will quickly disappear from the
d r
c (10) sample. This portion of  de  trapped is termed as  released . A
d
small fraction of  de trapped which lies outside the zero field
This  eq induces  i on the electrode surface [22].
plane will drift further inside the specimen, and will be finally
 i   ex (11) lost. Now, if the injected charges are very close to the
electrodes, then the zero field lines will also be very close to
the electrodes and it can be assumed that nearly all the injected
Charge density/Electric field(Normalized)

1 charges are enclosed by the zero field lines. Under such

assumption the fraction  de  trapped which all recombine can
0.5
be ignored and,
0  de trapped   released (12)
The summation of positive charge density across the
thickness of the sample will change from  to   .
-0.5

Charge density
-1 Electric field d

0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1     (  ( x)   released )dx (13)
Thickness(Normalized)
0
(a)
The net de-trapped charge Qde trapped can be expressed as,
Electric Field/Charge density (Normalized)

0.8 Charge density during

Qde trapped  A(   ) (14)
F1 short circuit condition
0.6
Electric Field Similarly, the equivalent charge density projected on the
0.4
positive electrode surface will change from  eq to  eq
 where,
0.2
C
 eq  c dx
D
0
O A
(15)
-0.2

-0.4
As a result, the image charge density in the positive electrode
-0.6
F2
will also change to  i  . The change in image charge density
-0.8
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
Thickness (Normalized)
0.7 0.8 0.9 1
 i is given by,
(b) 
Fig.2a. Typical space charge distribution and internal Electric field inside  i   i   i  c(    ) (16)
the dielectric field due to space charges only. 2b. Internal Field
distribution under short circuit conditions. Because of  i and  released , a net current I rel will flow
According to equation (9)  eq is obtained by weighting all the from the positive electrode. By integrating I rel , net extracted
charges by their respective ratios (d-x)/d onto the surface x=0. charge Q is obtained.
It should be noted that the negative charges located near the t
negative electrode will also induce a small amount of positive Q   I rel (t )dt (17)
charge on the electrode. However, as the negative charges are 0
very far from the positive electrode compared to the positive
charges, their induction effect is negligible and therefore, This Q can be expressed as a summation of de-trapped
ignored in present study. charges and change in image charge,

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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 1; February 2017
Q  cA(    )  Qde trapped (18)
From equation (14) and equation (18),
Q  Qde trapped (1  c ) (19)
2.4 ESTIMATION OF TRAPPED CHARGE AND TRAP
DEPTH FROM EXTRACTED CHARGE
In section 2.2 it was discussed that after a trapped carrier
is released, it may be re-trapped by other trapping sites.
However, if the charge injected is very close to electrode,
then, under short-circuit conditions, it can be safely assumed
that the de-trapped carrier is absorbed by the nearby
electrode without getting re-trapped, as the transit time and
the distance covered by the charge is very small. If the
dielectric specimen is stressed for very short duration, i.e. 1-
2 minute, then it can be safely assumed that the space charge
distribution stay very close to the electrodes. Such
assumption is also strongly backed by experimental
evidences [23, 24]. In such conditions if the charges are
extracted from the sample by short circuiting the electrodes,
then charge re-trapping of de-trapped carrier can be ignored.
Carrier re-trapping has also been in a number of
investigations [25-28] for the sake of simplicity of the
analysis.
Let, after the sample was short circuited, the amount of
charge released from the sample was measured at time
instances of t1, t2, t3....tn. The amount of charge released in
the intervals of Δt1 (0 to t1), Δt2 (t1 to t2), Δt3 (t2 to t3).... Δtn
(tn-1to tn) are Q1,Q2,Q3....Qn respectively. From equation (17)
it is observed that the net released charge is proportional to
the actual de-trapped charge Qde trapped through
proportionality constant (1  c) , c is the centroid of the
positive charge distribution in the dielectric specimen,.
Therefore, Q1 , Q2 ...Qn will be proportional to de-trapped
1 2 n
charge Qde trapped , Qdetrapped ...Qdetrapped through
proportionality constants c1 , c2 .....cn . The values of
c1 , c2 .....cn can be evaluated through space charge mapping
techniques [5-9], as they are dependent on the shape of the
charge distribution inside the specimen . However, the
present work focuses on the possibility of de-trapping
analysis of arbitrary insulation geometry where the space
charge mapping techniques cannot be applied. From
experimental investigations on thin planar dielectric samples,
it has been observed that during charge de-trapping process
the basic shape of the charge distribution remains almost
constant [26]. Therefore, in this work the values of
c1 , c2 .....cn has been assumed constant to a certain value. In
such case, although the exact amount of de-trapped charge
cannot be calculated, but a relative distribution of trapped
charges can be obtained. From the time at which particular
amount of charge is extracted, the corresponding trap depth
can be evaluated.
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587
Applying equations (2) and (3), trap release time tn can be
directly correlated with trap depth Etn as, [29]
1
tn 
 Etn
v exp( )
kT
or, Etn  kT ln(vtn ) (20)
The value of v depends on effective density of states N c ,
carrier thermal velocity vth and capture cross-section  c
(equation (4)). Out of them, N c and vth are constants. The
value of capture cross-section is independent of trap energy
[22]. If capture cross section  c is kept fixed to a particular
value, then, from the values of t1,t2...tn different values of trap
depth Et1,Et2...Etn can be evaluated. The charge Q1 is basically
proportional to the charges de-trapping from traps having trap
depth upto Et1. The charge Q2 is released in interval Δt2, which
ranges from time instant t1 to time instant t2. Time t2
corresponds to trap depth Et2. Now the charges residing within
trap depth Et1 has already been released by time t1. Therefore
the charges released in time interval Δt2 must have been
resided in traps having trap depth between Et1 and Et2.
Similarly, charge Q3, which is released in Δt3 corresponds to
the charges resided in traps having trap depth between Et2 and
Et3. In this way, a continuous distribution of charge vs. trap
depth will be obtained upto Etn..This obtained information can
lead to significant understanding of trapping and de-trapping
process. This forms the basis of the approach taken in this
paper.
3 EXPERIMENTAL ARRANGEMENT
In the present work, a simple, yet effective system has been
developed in the laboratory to measure the time dependent de-
trapped charge. The developed system is based on
measurement of extracted charge from the dielectric specimen.
The schematic of the experimental set up is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Schematic of the charge measurement system for estimation of
trapped charge.
The experimental process can be described through the
following steps.
(i) At first the sample under test (SUT) is charged by the
HVDC source through R1. The switch S1 is used to connect or
disconnect the sample to the voltage source.
 588 N. Haque, et al.: Investigations on Charge Trapping and De-trapping Properties of Polymeric Insulators

(ii) The sample is disconnected from source using switch S1 4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
and is discharged through RVar using switch S2. RVar has a
4.1 DETERMINATION OF TRAP DEPTH AND
variable value.
TRAPPED CHARGE
(iii) Switch S2 is opened for a certain time interval. Now, as
Charge extraction measurements were carried out on thin
the traps are depopulated, the charges are released and they
commercially available Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE films)
accumulate on the electrode surface, but as switch S2 is open
using the experimental set-up discussed in the previous section.
circuited they are unable to be discharged. As de-trapping
The thickness of the LDPE films was approximately 120 µm. The
process continues inside the sample, considerable amount of
samples were stressed using aluminum electrodes having
charges are accumulated under the effect of internal electric
diameter of 50 mm. The applied field was kept at 25 kV/mm and
field, on the electrode surface. Now, let at time instant t1,
the time duration was two minutes. The short duration of electric
switch S2 is closed, and as a result, these accumulated charges
stress was to ensure the injected charges remain very close to the
are released to ground through RVar. This discharge current is
electrodes, as discussed in section 2.3. After charging, the
recorded through a data acquisition system (DAq). By
experiments were carried out in the way described in section
integrating the discharge current, the net released charge is
3.From the discharge current obtained after each time interval, the
calculated. Fig. 4 shows a typical discharge waveform.
net charge released in that particular discharge was calculated.
If Iti is the discharge current measured at time instant ti, The released charge in different time intervals and corresponding
trap depths are depicted in Table 1.
then the net released Qi charge at ti can be calculated as, Table 1. Trap depth, released charge and net released charge for LDPE
t ti  t sample stressed at 25 kV/mm.
Sl. Time Time Released Net released Trap depth
Qi  I
t ti
ti dt (21) No. interval (s) charge (nC) charge (nC) (eV)
1. 10 10 0.60 0.60 0.9305
The term Δt in the upper limit of the integral in equation 2. 20 10 0.24 0.84 0.9486
(21) refers to the time period after ti by which the discharge 3. 30 10 0.16 1 0.9592
current Iti becomes almost zero. 4. 40 10 0.02 1.02 0.9667
5. 50 10 0.02 1.04 0.9725
10 6. 60 10 0.016 1.056 0.9773
7. 70 10 0.01 1.066 0.9813
8
8. 80 10 0.008 1.074 0.9848
Current (uA)

6
9. 90 10 0.008 1.082 0.9879
10. 110 20 0.02 1.102 0.9931
4 11. 130 20 0.02 1.122 0.9975
12. 150 20 0.02 1.142 1.0012
2 13. 170 20 0.016 1.158 1.0045
14. 190 20 0.016 1.174 1.0074
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 15. 210 20 0.012 1.186 1.01
Time (us)
16. 230 20 0.016 1.2020 1.0124
Figure 4. A typical discharge waveform.
17. 250 20 0.015 1.217 1.0145
18. 310 60 0.046 1.263 1.0202
The first discharge current, mentioned in step (i) was not
19. 370 60 0.036 1.299 1.0248
measured, as the transient current magnitude was quite high
20. 430 60 0.022 1.321 1.0287
and could damage the DAq. During this initial discharge the
electrodes were short circuited for a duration of 1s. Therefore 21. 490 60 0.034 1.355 1.0321
the charges released in this 1s interval, which mainly reside in 22. 550 60 0.028 1.383 1.0351
conduction band and shallow traps are not measured. The 23. 610 60 0.024 1.407 1.0378
present method measures charges residing only in the deep 24. 850 240 0.018 1.425 1.0465
traps. 25. 1090 240 0.016 1.441 1.053
In this way, the discharge characteristics of the dielectric 26. 1330 240 0.012 1.453 1.0582
sample are obtained. The approach of multiple discrete
27. 1570 240 0.01 1.463 1.0625
discharges with time intervals was adopted in present work
because of the difficulty of continuous current measurement, 28. 1810 240 0.007 1.470 1.0662
as the magnitude of this current will be very small especially 29. 2410 600 0.012 1.482 1.0737
for thick polymeric insulators (in the range of pA). Such low 30. 3010 600 0.005 1.487 1.0795
current measurements can be easily affected by external noise. 31. 3610 600 0.004 1.491 1.0843
Therefore, to make the proposed method applicable to any 32. 5000 1390 0.006 1.497 1.0928
practical polymer insulation system, this multiple discharge
33. 7000 2000 0.006 1.503 1.1016
method was adopted. In this way, the complexities of very low
34. 10000 3000 0.005 1.508 1.1109
current measurement are avoided.

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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 1; February 2017 589

From Table 1 , it was observed that the charge released in
initial time intervals were much higher than the charge
released in later stages. The net charge released in the total
time period of 10000 s was 1.5082 nC. More than 90% of the
charge was released within 600 s of the charge releasing
process. Moreover, as the experiment progressed, the amount
of released charges per unit time decreased. For this reason,
larger time intervals were taken at later stages of the
experiment to get a measurable quantity of extracted charges.
As discussed in Section.2, the net released charge is
proportional to the actual de-trapped charge in the sample. The
charges released at later stages of the experiment, correspond
trap-depth range. This observation is in well accordance with
the simulation findings of Quirke et al [10-12].
It should be mentioned, that in the analysis presented here
all traps are assumed to have same cross section, 10-16 m2,
which may not be always correct. However, measurement of
capture cross-sections is very difficult and there is very little
information available for LDPE in literature. Table 2. presents
a comparison of trap depth obtained in this work and previous
report in other investigations. It should be mentioned, that the
1
40 kV/mm field

Trapped charge (Normalized)

25 kV/mm field
to deeper traps. Thereafter, it can be concluded that deeper 0.8 Fitted curve for 40 kV/mm field
traps store much less amount of charge compared to less deep Fitted curve for 25 kV/mm field
traps. 0.6

To study the effect of electric stress, another LDPE sample 0.4

of same dimension was stressed at a field of 40 kV/mm for
duration of one minute. The released charges at different 0.2

intervals were measured from the discharge current after the

sample was discharged after each time interval. Fig. 5 depicts 0
0.94 0.96 0.98 1 1.02 1.04 1.06 1.08 1.1

the comparison of two charge release profiles obtained at Trap depth (eV)

25kV/mm and 40 kV/mm stresses. It was observed, that the Figure 6. Normalized trapped charge distribution at 25 kV/mm field and 40
net released charge from the sample stressed at 40 kV/mm was kV/mm field.
4.128 nC, much higher than the net charge released from the Table 2. Comparison of trap depth in LDPE reported by different researchers.
sample stressed at 25 kV/mm (1.508 nC). This explains that Research work Trap depth (in eV)
the charge trapping increases with increase in applied stress. Present work 0.93-1.11
Mazzanti et al [26] 0.88 -1.01
4.5 Chen et al [18] 0.85 -1.03
Rogti et al [28] 0.87-1.16
4
Watson et al [29] 0.85-1.10
3.5 40 kV/mm field Dissado et al[30] 0.68-0.94
25 kV/mm field
Charge (nC)

3
2.5
2 proven to be difficult task for researchers for quite some time.
1.5
1 in complex insulation configurations. In this paper, a new
0.5 1
10 10
2
10
3 4
10
Time (s)
Figure 5. Net extracted charge-time profile at 25 kV/mm and 40 kV/mm
field.
From the extracted charge-trap depth profile, the
normalized distribution of trapped charge at different trap
depths for 25 kV/mm field and 40 kV/mm field is calculated
using the method described in section. 2. The comparison of
these two trapped charge distribution is depicted in Fig.6.The
experimental study allowed to measure minimum trap depth
up to around 0.93 eV. It was noticed, that the amount of
trapped charge decreases almost exponentially with trap depth
in both cases. In this work, it is assumed that all traps having
trap energy in the range 0.93-1.11 eV have same cross-section,
i.e. they all posses same probability of charge capture. Under
this assumption, the trapped charge vs. Trap depth profile will
reflect the trap density distribution in the dielectric specimen.
In present study, as shown in Figure 6, obtained results
indicate exponential distribution of deep traps in the aforesaid
5 CONCLUSIONS
Measurement of trapped charge and trap depth has been
Most of the present methods (direct and indirect) require
complicated space charge measurement and are not applicable
method for direct estimation of trapped charge distribution
without performing space charge measurements is presented.
The presented method directly obtains essential parameters
related to the trapping process, i.e. trap depth and a relative
distribution of trapped charge across different trap depths from
the charge extraction characteristics of a stressed dielectric
specimen. The amount of extracted charge decreases very fast
with time, indicating non-uniform trapped charge distribution
across different trap depths. Further qualitative analysis
revealed the exponential nature of trapped charge distribution,
as deeper traps contained much lesser amount of charge then
comparatively less deep traps.
The amount of trapped charge increases with applied stress.
The method implemented for trap investigation in this work is
independent of the insulation sample geometry, as it is
concerned with only the extracted charge under short circuit
conditions. Therefore, although the experimental work in this
paper was performed on LDPE, the method is applicable for
any solid or composite dielectric insulation. i.e. cables,
polymer composite insulators, dry type transformer etc. To
measure the extracted charge, only a simple digital data

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 590 N. Haque, et al.: Investigations on Charge Trapping and De-trapping Properties of Polymeric Insulators
acquisition system was used. Through multiple discharge
measurements, the complexities of very low discharge current
measurement are avoided. The procedure can be performed at
any electrical stress in the sample and does not require
expensive instruments or complicated signal processing tools.
From the obtained relative trapped charge distribution, effect
of aging in the insulation can also be studied. In present
analysis, only positive charges (holes) were considered. By
applying negative voltage on one electrode and keeping the
other electrode to ground, similar analysis can also be
performed on negative charges (electrons). The presented
method can be useful in insulation diagnosis of polymeric
insulation systems, as obtained trap depth characteristics are
useful aging markers of the insulation.
The effect of temperature has not been discussed in this
work. Besides, the charge de-trapping is assumed to be
influenced by thermal processes only. Another noteworthy
point is, the present work does not take account of carrier re-
trapping and electron-hole recombination, as the stress
duration was kept very short to keep the injecting charges very
close to the electrodes. Future work is planned to investigate
more deeply the physics of trapping process incorporating the
effect of temperature, carrier re-trapping and recombination.
In continuation of the present work, more parameters related
to the trapping and de-trapping process and the application of
the presented method in insulation diagnostics will be
explored in future also.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The Financial support for this work has been provided by
DST, Government of India (Grant no
SB/S3/EECE/009/2014) and FIST grant of DST,
Government of India (Grant no SR/FST/ETI-362/2014)
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 IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 24, No. 1; February 2017 591

Nasirul Haq que (M’16) receeived his Bacheelor Bisswendu Chattterjee (M’12) received the
degree in electrical engineeriing from Collegee of M..E.E. and Ph.D. degrees in enggineering from
Engineering and Managemen nt, Kolaghat, Inndia Jaddavpur University, Kolkata, Inndia, in 2004
in 2012 and Master of Engin neering degree with
w andd 2009, respectiively. He is currrently working
specialization
n in high voltag
ge engineering frrom as an Assistant Professor in tthe Electrical
Jadavpur Un niversity in 2014 4. Currently, hee is Enngineering D
Department off Jadavpur
working as a junior researcch fellow in High H Unniversity, Kolkaata, India. He hhas published
Tension Laaboratory, Electtrical Engineerring moore than 40 reseaarch papers of w
which 21 are in
Department, Jadavpur Univ versity. His currrent repputed internatioonal journals. He has also
areea of interest inclludes charge trappping and de-traapping in polymeeric authoredd one book and has one US paatent in his nam me. His current
insulators and condition
c moniitoring of high voltage pow wer researchh interests includde data acquisitiion and conditioon monitoring
equuipments and traansformers. related too high voltage syystems.

Sovan Dalai received the B.E.E. in engineerring Sivaaji Chakravortti (M'90-SM'00) obtained his
from B.E. College
C (Deemeed Univ.), How wrah Ph.DD. degree from JJadavpur Univerrsity, Kolkata,
and his M..E.E and Ph.D D. degrees frrom Indiia in 1993. Hee served as the Professor in
Jadavpur Un niversity, Kolkaata, India in 20 000, Elecctrical Engineerring Departmentt of Jadavpur
2003 and 20115, respectively.. Currently he iss an University since 2003. He woorked at the
Assistant Professor
P in the Electrical Tec hnical Universsity Munich aas Humboldt
Engineering Department of vpur
Jadav Research Fellow in 1995-96, 19999 and 2007,
University. His
H areas of interest
i are pow wer resppectively. He served as Development
quality eveent detection, smart meteriing, Enggineer in Siemenns AG in Berlinn in 1998. He
conndition monitoring and signal co
onditioning in hiigh voltage systeems worked as US-NSF guuest scientist at the Virginia T Tech, USA, in
inccluding partial discharge diagnostics
d an
nd space chaarge 2003. Hee is a Fellow of Indian National Academy of Enngineering and
invvestigations. Distinguuished Lecturer of IEEE Powerr & Energy Soociety. He has
publisheed more than 1660 research pappers, has authored two books
and deveeloped three onlline courses. Hiss current fields of interest are
numericaal field computtation, conditionn monitoring off transformers,
signal coonditioning in hhigh voltage sysstems, applicatioon of artificial
intelligennce in high voltage system ms and life-long learning
techniquues. Currently, he is the Direcctor of Nationaal Institute of
Technoloogy, Calicut, Inddia.

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