HIGH VOLTAGE ENGINEERING

Chapter 4 Generation of High Voltages

 Topics:
 Generation of high direct voltages
 Half and full wave rectifier circuits,
 Voltage multiplier circuits,
 Van de Graff generators,
 Electrostatic generators, examples
• Generation of alternating voltages
• Testing transformers,
• Cascaded transformers,
• Resonant transformers, examples
• Impulse voltages
 Impulse voltage generator circuits,
 Marx circuit and operation,
 Design and construction of impulse generators, examples
 Impulse current generator - control systems.
 High voltages (DC, AC, and Impulse) are required for
several applications in electrical engineering as well in
physics such as:
 HVDC transmission, Electrostatic precipitators, Electron
Microscopes, X-Ray Units, Particle Accelerators in nuclear
physics, etc. require high voltages (d.c.) of several kV and
even MV.
 High a.c. voltages of 100 kV or even more are required for
testing power apparatus rated for extra high transmission
voltages (400 kV system and above).
 High impulse voltages are required for testing purposes to
simulate overvoltages that occur in power systems due to
lightning or switching surges.
 HIGH DIRECTVOLTAGES
 It mainly used for pure scientific research work and for testing
equipment used in HVDC transmission systems.
 It is more extensively used in physics (accelerators, electron
microscopy, etc.), electromedical equipment (x-rays), industrial
applications (precipitation and filtering of exhaust gases in thermal
power stations and cement industry) ,electrostatic painting.
 Therefore, the requirements of voltage shape, voltage level, current
rating, short - or long-term stability for every HVDC generating
system may differ strongly from each other.
 The high dc voltages are generally obtained by means of rectifying
circuits applied to ac voltage.
 Voltage doubler circuits in desired number are then used in cascade
for the multiplication of the dc voltage as described below:
  Rectifier circuit

Figure 1 (a) Half Wave Rectifier Circuit (b) Full Wave Rectifier Circuit
 Half wave and full wave rectifiers are shown in Fig. 1 (a) and (b).
 In the half wave rectifier (Fig 1(a)) the capacitor is charged to Vmax, the
maximum a.c. voltage of the secondary of the high voltage transformer in
the conducting half cycle.
 In the other half cycle, the capacitor is discharged into the load.
 The value of the capacitor C is chosen such that the time constant CRL is at
least 10 times that of the period of the a.c. supply.
 The rectifier valve must have a peak inverse rating of at least 2 Vmax- to
limit the charging current, an additional resistance R is provided in series
with the secondary of the transformer (not shown here).
 A full wave rectifier circuit is shown in Fig 1(b).
 In the positive half cycle, the rectifier A conducts and charges the capacitor
C, while in the negative half cycle the rectifier B conducts and charges the
capacitor.
 The source transformer requires a centre tapped secondary with a rating of
2V.
 For applications at high voltages of 50 kV and above, the
rectifier valves used are of special construction.
 The more commonly preferred diodes for high voltage rectifiers
are silicon diodes with peak inverse voltage (P.I.V.) of 1 kV to 2
kV.
 However, for laboratory applications the current requirement is
small (a few milliamperes, and less than one ampere) and as
such a selenium element stack with P.I.V. of up to 500 kV may
be employed.
 Both full wave and half wave rectifiers produce d.c. voltages less
than the a.c. maximum voltage.
 Also, ripple or the voltage fluctuation will be present, and this
has to be kept within a reasonable limit by means of filters.
Figure 2 Input and Output Voltage wave form of Half wave and Full wave rectifier Circuit
  Voltage Doubler Circuit:
 For higher DC voltage requirement , voltage doubler or
cascaded rectifier circuit is used as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3 (a) Simple Voltage Doubler b) Cascaded Voltage Doubler

 In Voltage Doubler Figure 3 (a) the condenser C1 is charged through
rectifier R to a voltage of +Vmax with polarity as shown in the figure
during the negative half cycle.
 As the voltage of the transformer rises to positive +2Vmax during the
next half cycle, the potential of the other terminal of C1 rises to a
voltage of +2Vmax.
 Thus, the condenser C2 in turn is charged through R2 to 2Vmax.
 Normally the d.c. output voltage on load will be less than 2Vmax,
depending on the time constant C2RL and the forward charging time
constants.
 The ripple voltage of these circuits will be about 2% for RL/r ≤ 10 and
X/r < 0.25, where X and r are the reactance and resistance of the input
transformer.
 The rectifiers are rated to a peak inverse voltage of 2Vmax, and the
condensers C1 and C2 must also have the same rating.
 If the load current is large, the ripple also is more.
 Cascaded voltage doublers are used when larger output voltages are
needed without changing the input transformer voltage level.
 A typical voltage doubler is shown in Fig. 3 (b) and its input and
output waveforms are shown in Fig. 4.
 The rectifiersR1 and R2 with transformer T1 and condensers C1and C2
produce an output voltage of 2V in the same way as described above.
 This circuit is duplicated and connected in series or cascade to obtain a
further voltage doubling to 4V.
 T is an isolating transformer to give an insulation for 2V max since the
transformerT2 is at a potential of 2Vmax above the ground.
 The voltage distribution along the rectifier string R1, R2,R3 and R4 is
made uniform by having condensers C1, C2,C3 and C4 of equal values.
 The arrangement may be extended to give 6V, 8V, and so on by
repeating further stages with suitable isolating transformers.
Figure 4 (1) AC Input Voltage (2) AC Output Voltage without condenser filter
(3) Output Voltage with condenser filter

T1, T2: H V Transformer ; R1,R2,R3 & R4 : Rectifiers

C1,C2,C3: Condenser; RL: Load Resistance; T: Isolating Transformer
 Voltage Multiplier Circuit
 Cascaded voltage multiplier circuits for higher voltages are
cumbersome and require too many supply and isolating
transformers.
 It is possible to generate very high d.c. voltages from single
supply transformers by extending the simple voltage doubler
circuits.
 This is simple and compact when the load current requirement
is less than one milliampere.
Figure 5 Cockcroft-Walton Voltage Multiplier Circuit
Figure 6 Two stage Cockcroft-Walton Voltage Multiplier Circuit
Figure 7 Output Of Voltage Multiplier Circuit
 It is used when more then doubling the voltage require.
 Let Vmax be the peak value of the secondary voltage of the high
voltage transformer.
 Consider the first part of the circuit containing the diode D1, the
capacitor C1, and the secondary winding.
 During first -ve half cycle of the applied voltage, the capacitor C1
charges up to voltage Vmax & during the +ve half cycle, the diode D1
is reverse biased, the capacitor C1 will not discharge (or will not
charge up in the other direction) and the peak of this half cycle, the
point a will be at 2Vmax.
 During the following cycles, the potential at a will vary between 0
and 2Vmax,.
 Initially, capacitor C2 would be uncharged, and the voltage at b would
be zero. Thus as the voltage at a varies between 0 and 2 Vmax, the diode
D2 is forward biased, and the capacitor C2 would charge to 2 Vmax.
 Once the voltage at b has reached 2 Vmax, the voltage at a would be less
than or equal to the voltage at b.
 Thus once C2 has charged up, this diode too would be reverse biased
and the capacitor C2 would not discharge. The voltage at b would now
remain constant at 2 Vmax.
 C3 is also initially assumed uncharged. Since the voltage at a varies
between 0 and 2 Vmax, the diode D3 would initially be forward biased
for almost the whole cycle.
 Thus the capacitor C3 charges until it reaches 2 Vmax when b is 2 Vmax
and a is 0. As the voltage at a again increases to 2 Vmax, the voltage at c
increases, and thus the diode D3 is reverse biased and C3 would not
discharge.
 Now as a reaches 2 Vmax the voltage at c rises to 4 Vmax, as C3 has not
discharged.
 Thus after charging up has taken place, the voltage at c varies
between 2 Vmax and 4 Vmax. Assuming C4 also to be initially
uncharged, since the voltage at b is a constant at 2 Vmax and the
voltage at c varies between 2 Vmax and 4 Vmax initially, during most
of the cycle, the diode D4 is forward biased and C4 charges up to
the maximum difference between d and b (i.e. to 2Vmax).
 This occurs when the voltage at c is 4 Vmax and the voltage at d
would now be 4Vmax.
 As the voltage at c falls from 4 Vmax to 2 Vmax, since the capacitor
C4 has charged up it would not discharge, since there is no
discharge path. Thus once the capacitors are charged up the
voltage at d remain constant at 4Vmax.
 When the generator is used for a test, or when it is loaded, a
current is drawn from the generator, and the capacitors lose
some of their charge to the load, and the voltage falls slightly
depending on the load.
 As the voltage across any of the capacitors drops, then at some
point in the applied alternating voltage cycle, the corresponding
diode would become forward biased and charging up of the
capacitor would once again result.
 Thus when a load is connected, there would be a small ripple in
the output voltage.
Sequence Voltage Gain
Van de Graaff generator
 In electromagnetic machines, current carrying conductors are
moved in a magnetic field, so that the mechanical energy is
converted into electrical energy.
 In electrostatic machines charged bodies are moved in an electric
field against an electrostatic field in order that mechanical energy
is converted into electrical energy.
 Electrostatic generators using the principle of charge transfer can
give very high direct voltages.
 The basic principle involved is that the charge is placed on a
carrier, either insulating or an isolated conductor, and raised to
the required potential by being mechanically moved through the
electrostatic field.
Van de Graeff generator:

Figure 8 Van de Graeff Generator

 It is one of the method used to obtain very high voltages.
 However it is low current and low power output and restricted to
use a few kilowatt, and to low current applications.
 It uses an insulating belt as the carrier of charge.
 The generator consists of a low direct voltage source, with corona
discharge taking place at the positive end of the source.
 The corona formation (spray) is caused by a core like structure with
sharp points (corona spray device).
 Charge is sprayed onto the belt at the bottom by corona discharges
at a potential of 10 to 100 kV above earth and carried to the top of
the column and deposited at a collector.
 The upper electrode at which the charge is collected has a high
radius of curvature and the edges should be curved so as to have no
loss.
 The generator is usually enclosed in an earthed metallic cylindrical
vessel and is operated under pressure or in vacuum.
 The higher voltage of the upper electrode arises from the fact that
for the same charge, a smaller capacitance gives a larger voltage.
 The upper electrode has a smaller capacitance to earth on account
of the larger spacing involved.
 V = Q/C
 The potential of the high voltage electrode rises at a rate of
dV/dt = (1/C) x (dQ/dt) = I/C. (where I is the net charging
current)
 The edges of the upper electrode are so rounded as to avoid corona
and other local discharges.
 With a single source at the lower end, the belt moves upwards with
a positive charge and returns uncharged.
High Voltage AC Generation
 When test voltage requirements are less than about 300kV, a single
transformer can be used for test purposes.
 The impedance of the transformer should be generally less than 5% and
must be capable of giving the short circuit current for one minute or
more depending on the design.
 In addition to the normal windings, namely, the low voltage windings, a
third windings known as meter windings is provided to measure the
output voltage.
 For higher voltage requirements, a single unit construction becomes
difficult and costly due to insulation problems.
 Moreover, transportation and erection of large transformers become
difficult.
 These drawbacks are overcome by series connection or cascading of the
several identical units of transformers, where in the high voltage
windings of all the units effectively come in series.
 Cascade arrangement of transformers

Figure 9 Cascade arrangement of Transformers

 Figure 9 shows a typical cascade arrangement of transformers
used to obtain up to 300 kV from three units each rated at 100 kV
insulation.
 The low voltage winding is connected to the primary of the first
transformer, and connected to the transformer tank which is
earthed.
 One end of the high voltage winding is also earthed through the
tank and other high voltage end tapped to take out at the top of
the transformer through a bushing, and forms the primary of the
second transformer.
 The secondary of this transformer too has one end connected to
the tank and at the other end the next cascaded transformer is fed.
 This cascade arrangement can be continued further if a still higher
voltage is required.
 In the cascade arrangement shown, each transformer needs only to
be insulated for 100 kV, and hence the transformer can be
relatively small.
 If a 300 kV transformer had to be used instead, the size would be
massive.
 High voltage transformers for testing purposes are designed
purposely to have a poor regulation.
 This is to ensure that when the secondary of the transformer is
short circuited (as will commonly happen in flash-over tests of
insulation), the current would not increase to too high value.
 In practice, an additional series resistance is also used in such cases
to limit the current and prevent possible damage to the
transformer.
 Figure shows a basic scheme for cascading three transformers. The
primary of the first stage transformer is connected to a low voltage
supply. A voltage is available across the secondary of this transformer.
 The tertiary winding (excitation winding) of first stage has the same
number of turns as the primary winding, and feeds the primary of
the second stage transformer.
 The potential of the tertiary is fixed to the potential V of the
secondary winding as shown in Figure.
 The secondary winding of the second stage transformer is connected
in series with the secondary winding of the first stage transformer,
So that a voltage of 2V is available between the ground and the
terminal of secondary of the second stage transformer.
 Similarly, the stage-III transformer is connected in series with the
second stage transformer. With this the output voltage between
ground and the third stage transformer, secondary is 3V.
 It is to be noted that the individual stages except the upper most
must have three winding transformers. The upper most, however,
will be a two winding transformer.
 Figure shows metal tank construction of transformers and the
secondary winding is not divided. Here the low voltage terminal of
the secondary winding is connected to the tank. The tank of stage-I
transformer is earthed.
 The tanks of stage-II and stage-III transformers have potentials of V
and 2V, respectively above earth and, therefore, these must be
insulated from the earth with suitable solid insulation. Through H.T.
bushings, the leads from the tertiary winding and the h.v. winding
are brought out to be connected to the next stage transformer.
 Resonant Transformer.
 The equivalent circuit of a high voltage testing transformer consist of the
leakage reactance of the windings, the windings resistances, the
magnetizing reactance, and the shunt capacitance across the output
terminal due to the bushing of the high voltage terminal and also that of
the test object. This is shown in Fig.10

Figure 10 Resonance Circuit

 It may be seen that it is possible to have series resonance at power
frequency w x (L1 + L2) = 1/(w x C).
 With this condition, the current in the tests object is very large and is
limited only by the resistance of the circuit.
 The waveform of the voltage across the test object will be purely
sinusoidal.
 The magnitude of the voltage across the capacitance C of the test object
will be

 Where R is the total series resistances of the circuit.

 The factor 1/wCR is the Q factor of the circuit and gives the
magnitude of the voltage multiplication across the test object under
resonance conditions.
 A practical value of Q lies between 20 and 50.
 So the primary input voltage required for an output voltage is reduced
by a factor 1/Q.
 The secondary power factor of the circuit is unity.
 This principle is utilized in testing at very high voltage and on
occasions requiring large current outputs such as cable testing,
dielectric loss measurements, partial discharge measurements, etc.
 Advantages :
 It gives an output of pure sine wave,
 Power requirements are less (5 to 10% of total kVA required),
 No high power arcing and heavy current surges occur if the test
object failed, as resonance ceases at the failure of the test object,
 Cascading is also possible for very high voltage, simple and
compact test arrangement, and no repeated flashovers occur in
case of partial failures of the test object and insulation recovery.
 Disadvantages :
 Requirements of additional variable chokes capable of
withstanding the full test voltage and the full current rating.
 Transient Voltage
 Transient disturbances on a transmission system occurs due to
lightning strokes have their origin in atmospheric discharges in
which case they are called external or lightning over voltages
 Also, switching operations of various equipments/loads, which are
followed by a traveling wave of a steep wave front create transient
disturbance internally are called switching over voltages .
 However, surge voltages wave of this type reaches to a power
transformer causes an unequal stress distribution along its
windings and may lead to breakdown of the insulation system.
 Therefore, it is important to study the insulation behavior and
characteristics under impulse (surge) voltages.
 The actual shape of both kinds of over voltages varies strongly and
amplitudes may greatly exceed the peak values as compare to the
normal AC operating voltage.
 Lightning Impulse Voltage
 INTRODUCTION
 The Impulse Voltages (Lightning Voltage) is a unidirectional voltage
which rises more or less rapidly to a peak value and then decays
relatively slowly to zero.
 The rate of voltage rise of switching voltage is very slower , depends
on the operating voltage and impedance of the system.
 Standard Lightning Impulse Voltage of 1.2/50µs of different
amplitude in kV as per IEC-60-1.
 The damage and economic losses for utilities relates to the
destructive transients randomly injected by lightning’s natural forces
(cloud-to-ground flashes) into the power delivery system.
 These transient voltage have high peak voltage amplitude and
greater energy to produce high voltage across insulation of electrical
apparatus and cause damage.
  Insulation strength of equipment is
determined using Impulse Voltage
Generator.
 Impulses with front duration upto 20 µs
is considered as lightning Impulse and
those with the longer duration is called
switching impulses.
 Front time Tf of lightning Impulse voltage
is defined as 1.25(O1t1-O1t2) or
Figure 11 Lightning Impulse Voltage 1.67(O1t1’-O1t2).
 Tail time Tt is defined as time interval
between virtual origin and time at 50%
of the peak value.
 In lightning Impulse of duration Tf/Tt
(T1/T2), the allowable tolerance is ±30%
in front time and ±20% in tail time.
 1.2/50µs is a standard Lightning Impulse
Voltage.
 Tolerance allowed in peak value is ±3% .
 Switching Impulse Voltage
 The time to peak Tp is the time interval between the actual origin
and the instant when the voltage has reached its maximum value.
 Tail time T2 is time interval between actual origin and 50% of the
peak value.
 In Switching Impulse of duration Tp/T2, the allowable tolerance is
±20% and ±60% respectively.
 250/2500µs is a standard Switching ImpulseVoltage.

Figure 12 Switching Impulse Voltage

Impulse Voltage Generation
 Impulse voltage is a double exponential wave defined by the equation
V= V0 (e-αt – e-βt), where α & β are constants in µs.
 Impulse voltage is generated by two types of circuit configuration.

 Single stage generator circuit.

 Multi stage or Marx generator circuit.

 Upto 200kV single stage generator circuit is used and above that voltage level
Marx generator circuit is designed to generate Impulse voltage.

Figure 13 Single stage Impulse Voltage Generator circuit

 In order to generate a wave with the required shape, circuits
similar to that shown in Figure 13 are used.
 A capacitor C1 is charged via a current limiting resistor, Rs, from a
HV dc source.
 As the DC voltage is raised slowly the stress across the spark gap
G increases until the air in the gap breaks down.
 Capacitor C1 now discharges into the circuit consisting of C2, R1
and R2.
 The voltage appearing across the test object has the desired shape.
 The components C1, C2, R1 and R2 are chosen to give the required
front and tail times.
 It turns out that C1 >> C2 and R2 >> R1.
 Capacitor C1 will recharge via Rs and repetitive pulses will be
generated.
 Energy level of the Impulse voltage generator is given by

E = ½ C1(V0max)2

 C1 is impulse capacitance.

 V0max is peak Value of voltage across the capacitor C1.

 C2 is capacitance of test object.

 Efficiency of the Single stage generator circuit is given by

η = 1/ (1 + C2/C1 )
Different configuration of Circuits for Generating Impulse Voltage

Figure 14 Circuits for Generating Impulse Voltage

Circuit of figure 14(a)
 The wave front and the wave tail times are controlled by changing
the values of R and L simultaneously with a given generator
capacitance C; choosing a suitable value for L.
Advantage
 The advantage of this circuit is its simplicity.
Disadvantage
 The waveshape control is not flexible and independent.
 The basic circuit is altered when a test object which will be mainly
capacitive in nature, is connected across the output.
 Hence, the waveshape gets changed with the change of test object.
 Fast discharge is impossible in pure inductor
Circuit of figure 14(b) & (c)
Advantage
 In these circuits the wave front and wave tail times are independently controlled by changing
either separately.
 Secondly, the test object which are mainly capacitive in nature from part of C2 .
Disadvantage
 For a given waveshape, the choice of R1 and R2 to control the wave front and wave tail times
is not entirely independent but depends on the ratio of C1/ C2.
 In Figure 14(c), high voltage stress may create flashover across R2 at the instant of breakdown
of gap G.
 The wave shape resistor should be purely resistive, otherwise the output waveform shape
may be oscillatory.
 Circuit of figure 14(d)
 It is a combination of the configurations of Figure 14(b) and Figure 14(c).
 The resistance R1 is made into two parts and kept on either side R2 to give greater flexibility
for the circuits.
Disadvantage
 Number of elements are increased in this configuration.
 The configuration of Figure 14(e) is not commonly used. It is useful only for testing high
inductance test objects such as transformers.
 Analysis of Single Stage Impulse Generator Circuit
 From Figure 14(b) the output voltage across C2 is given by

 Laplace transform of it , where I2 is the current through C2.

 Taking the current through C1 as I1 and its transformed value as I1(s),

 Substitution of I1(s) gives v0(s) and simplifying

 Taking the roots of the equation and found the relations

 Taking inverse transform of Vo (s)

 Where

 For a given waveshape, the choice of R1 and R2 to control the wave front
and wave tail times is not entirely independent but depends on the ratio of
C1/ C2.
 For the circuit of Figure 14(b), the ratio of C1/C2 cannot exceed 3.35 for
a 1/5 µs waveshape. Similarly, for a 1/50 µs waveshape the ratio C1/C2
lies between 106.5.
 Effect of Circuit Inductances and Series Resistance on the Impulse Generator Circuits

 In all the configuration of impulse voltage generator circuits have in

practice several stray series inductances.
 Further, the circuits occupy considerable space and will be spread over
several meters in testing laboratory.
 Each component has some residual inductances and the circuit loop itself
contributes for further inductance.
 The actual value of the inductance may vary from 10 to several hundreds of
microhenries.
 The effect of the inductance is to cause oscillations in the wave front and in
the wave tail portions.
 With the series resistance R1 is increased, the wave front oscillations are
damped, but the peak value of the voltage is also reduced.
 Sometimes, in order to control the front time a small inductance is added.
 Waveshape Control
 Generally, for a given impulse generator of Figure 14(b) or (c) the generator
capacitance C1 and load capacitance C2 will be fixed depending on the design of
the generator and the test object.
 Hence, the desires waveshape is obtained by controlling R1 and R2.
 The following approximate analysis is used to calculate the wave front and wave
tail times.
 The resistance R2 will be large.
 Taking the circuit inductance to be negligible during charging, C1 charges the
load capacitance C2 through R1.
 Then the time taken for charging is approximately three times the time constant
of the circuit and is given by

 If is R1 given in ohms and Ce in microfarads, t1 is obtained in microseconds.

 For discharging or tail time, the capacitance may be considered to be in parallel
and discharging occurs and the time for 50% discharge is approximately given by
Marx Generator
 The one-stage circuit is not suitable for higher voltages because of
the difficulties in obtaining high direct current voltages.
 In order to overcome these difficulties, Marx suggested an
arrangement where a number of condensers are charged in parallel
through resistances and discharged in series through spark gaps.
 A typical circuit is presented in figure which shows the connections
for a five-stage generator.
 The stage capacitors C are charged in parallel through high-value
charging resistors R.
 At the end of the charging period, the points A, B,……E will be at
the potential of the d.c. source, e.g. + V with respect to earth, and the
points F, G,……, M will remain at the earth potential.
Figure 15 Multi (Five )Stage Impulse Voltage Generator Circuit
Figure 16 Marx Generator circuit
 The discharge of the generator is initialed by the breakdown of the spark
gap AF which is followed by simultaneous breakdown of all the remaining
gaps.
 When the gap AF breaks down, the potential on the point A changes from
+ V to zero and that on point G swings from zero to V owing to the
charge on the condenser AG.
 If for the time being the stray capacitance C is neglected, the potential on
B remains +V during the interval the gap AF sparks over.
 A voltage 2V, therefore, appears across the gap BG which immediately
leads to its breakdown.
 This breakdown creates a potential difference of 3V across CH; the
breakdown process, therefore, continues and finally the potential on M
attains a value of -5V.
 This arrangement gives an output with polarity opposite to that of the
charging voltage.
 The above considerations suggest that a multistage impulse generator
should operate consistently irrespective of the number of stages.
 In practice for a consistent operation it is essential to set the first gap
(G1) for breakdown only slightly below the second gap (G2).
 The wave-front control resistors, in a multistage generator, can be
connected either externally to the generator or distributed within
the generator, or partly in and partly outside it.
 The method of placing part of the wave-front control resistance in
series with each gap serves to protect against disruptive discharge as
well as to damp out any generator internal oscillation.
 An advantage of distributing the wave-front resistors within the
generator is that it reduces the need for an external resistor capable
of withstanding the full impulse voltage.
 Wave-tail control resistances are generally used as the charging
resistors within the generator.
 Impulse generators are characterized by the total nominal voltage,
the number of stages and the stored energy.
 The nominal output voltage is given by the product of the highest
charging voltage and the number of stages.
 Because of the resistance and inductance in series with the generator
and the test circuits, the voltage across the test object is lower than
the nominal output of the generator.
 The nominal energy of the generator is defined as ½ CgV2 , where
Cg denotes the discharge capacitance of the generator and V the
maximum nominal voltage.
Tripping Control
 It is ensures a supply of electrons in the gaps to initiate breakdown
during the short period when the gaps are subjected to the over-voltage.
 The consistency in the firing of the first stage spark gap is improved by
providing illumination from ultraviolet lamps placed below the first gap.
 There are three ways of triggering an impulse generator:
1. Fix the gap distance between the spheres and increase the
stage applied dc voltage till the flashover occurs.
2. Set the gap distance between the spheres large enough,
apply a desired voltage across them and then reduce the
gap distance till flashover takes place.
3. Fix both, the desired stage voltage and corresponding gap
distance within prescribed limits (Fig. 29.3). Then apply the
trigger pulse to the trigatron on the first stage.
Spark Gap tripping and control

Manual arrangement for spark gap tripping

Tripping of impulse generator with three electrode gap
 If a voltage is applied across the main gap, which is not too low but always
lower than the peak voltage at which self-firing-i.e. the breakdown in the
absence of any trigger pulse-occurs, this main gap will breakdown at a
voltage even appreciably lower than the self-firing voltage, if a tripping
pulse is applied.
 A device, known as "Trigatron", is used to control the flash over at the
spark gaps in order to get a desired magnitude of the output voltage
repeatedly.
 "Trigatron", consists essentially of three-electrodes.
 The Trigatron requires a pulse of some kilovolts, typically ≤ 10 kV, and the
tripping pulse should have a steep front with steepness 0.5 kV/nsec to
keep the jitter of the breakdown as small as possible.
 The essential operating characteristic of a Trigatron refers to the voltage
operating limits at which a steady operation or triggering is possible.
 The main electrode - indicated as HV and the earthed electrode are equal
size spherical electrodes in the first stage of the generator.
 A small hole, drilled in the earthed electrode, holds a metal rod through it
inside with the help of a bushing. The annular gap formed between the rod
and the surrounding sphere is typically about 1 mm.
 The metal rod, or the trigger electrode forms third electrode, is
essentially at the same potential as the sphere since it is connected to it
over a high resistance R.
 The control or trigger pulse is applied between these two electrodes on
the rod.
 Thus a surface discharge is caused by the triggering pulse.
 For this special arrangement, a glass tube is fitted over the rod and it is
surrounded by a metal foil connected to the main electrode at the ground
potential.
 The function of this glass tube is to produce corona or surface discharges
around the rod. The surface discharge or corona causes photoionization in
the pilot gap on applying an impulse voltage to the rod. Due to
photoionization enough initiatory electrons are made available in the
annular gap which breaksdown without appreciable time
delay consistantly at a given voltage across the gap 'd'.
 Trigatron Gap

Trigatron gap tripping circuit

 Simulation
 With the consideration of above parameter the MATLAB simulation is
done here to generate the Impulse voltage of 1kV , 1.2/50µs.

 Simulation is done by considering capacitance of different electrical

equipment.
 Simulation result is also shown below.
 Simulation Circuit

72
 Simulation Output

Impulse voltage wave of 1kV,1.2/50µs

73
Approximate capacitance of different electrical equipment

Equipment Capacitance C1 / C2
Line insulator, pin insulator 25 pF 56

Bushings 150 pF to 400 pF 3.5

Current transformers 200 pF to 600 pF 2.33

Power transformer upto 1MVA 1000 pF to 2000 pF 0.7

Power transformer upto 50 MVA 10000 pF 0.14

Power transformers above 100 MVA 30000 pF 0.04

Cable samples for 10m length 2500 pF 0.56

Experimental set up measuring upto 100KV 100 pF 14

Capacitor, leads for a.c. test voltage upto 1000KV 1000 pF 1.4
Value of front resistor and tail resistor for the above
capacitance value.
Sr. Impulse Test Object Ratio Front Resistor Tail
No. Capacitance Capacitance C1/C2 R1(KΩ) Resistor
C1 (pF) C2 (pF) R2(KΩ)

1 1400 25 56 16.4 47.85

2 1400 100 14 4.34 45.2

3 1400 400 3.5 1.3 37.8

4 1400 600 2.33 0.962 34

5 1400 1000 1.4 0.7 28.2