ELE 7208 High Voltage Engineering

BY
NURADDEEN MAGAJI
DEPT. OF ELECTRICAL BUK

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 Syllabus
• ELE7208 High voltage and switch gear
Engineering (2 credits)
• Methods of generation and measurement of high
voltages.
• Mechanism of dielectric breakdown in gases,
liquids and solids. Protection against over
voltages.
• Switchgear construction. Oil switches. Air blast,
SF6, vacuum circuit breakers. Type and test on
switchgears.
 High Voltage Engineering
Objective :
1. To study the generation and
measurement of high AC, DC
and Impulse voltages.
2 To study the break down
mechanisms in Electrical
insulators .
3. Testing of high voltage
equipments
4. Circuit Breaker construction
S/ Course description Period
N
1 Methods of generation and measurement of high 4 hrs
voltages.
D.C.Voltages: voltage doubler, cascade circuits, electrostatic
machines, voltage stabilization. A.C. Voltages: Cascade
transformers, series resonance circuits. Impulse Voltages:
Single stage and multistage circuits.
Measurement of High Voltages and Currents : D.C.,A.C. and
impulse voltages and currents, CRO, electrostatic generating
and peak voltmeters, sphere gaps.
2 Type and test on switch gears.
3 Mechanism of dielectric breakdown in gases, 4 hrs
liquids and solids.
Breakdown mechanisms in solids , liquids, vacuum , gases &
gas mixtures- breakdown in uniform fields- breakdown in
composite dielectrics - partial discharge
4 Protection against over voltages. 1 hr
5 Switchgear construction. 1 hr
6 Oil switches 1 hr
7 Air blast, SF6, vacuum circuit breakers 1 hr
 High Voltage Generation

LECTURE 1
Table of contents
I. GENERATION OF HIGH d.c. VOLTAGE
II. Generation of High Alternating Voltages
III. Generation of High frequency A.C Voltages
IV. Generation of Impulse Voltages

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 Introduction
• Application Of High Voltages
 Electron microscopes and x-ray units require d.c. voltages of the order
of 100 kV or more
 particle accelerators in nuclear physics, etc. require high voltage (d.c) of
several kilovolts and even megavolts
 Testing apparatus of AC extra high Transmission voltage(400KV and
above) requires one million volts or even more.
 High impulse voltages are required for testing overvoltage due to
lightening or switching surges
 Electrical engineers, concern of high voltages for the insulation testing
of various components in power systems for different types of
voltages are:
 High d.c. voltages,
 High a.c. voltages of power frequency,
 High a.c. voltages of high frequency,
 High transient or impulse voltages of very short duration such as
lightning overvoltages, and transient voltages of longer duration
such as switching surges.

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 GENERATION OF HIGH d.c. VOLTAGE
Half-Wave Rectification
The diode only conducts when it is forward biased, therefore only half
of the AC cycle passes through the diode to the output.

The DC output voltage is 0.318Vm, where Vm = the peak AC voltage.

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6
 GENERATION OF HIGH d.c. VOLTAGE
Bridge Rectifier Full-Wave Rectification
Four diodes are
connected in a
bridge configuration
VDC = 0.636Vm

Center-Tapped
Transformer
Rectifier

Requires
Two diodes
Center-tapped
transformer

VDC =
0.636Vm 1 7
 GENERATION OF HIGH d.c. VOLTAGE
Voltage-Multiplier Circuits

• Voltage multiplier circuits use a combination of diodes and capacitors

to step up the output voltage of rectifier circuits.
 Voltage Doubler
 Voltage Tripler
 Cockrof-Walton voltage muliplier circuit
• İt is possible to generate very high d.c. voltages from single supply
transformers by extending the simple voltage dobler circuits
Voltage Doubler
• ‘Positive Half-Cycle
– D1 conducts
– D2 is switched off
– Capacitor C1 charges to Vm
• Negative Half-Cycle
– D1 is switched off
– D2 conducts
– Capacitor C2 charges to Vm
• Vout = VC2 = 2Vm
•
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 GENERATION OF HIGH d.c. VOLTAGE
Cascaded voltage multiplier
D circuits 2n

D2n-1
C2n
C2n-1

D4

C3 C4
C1 D3
RL

D2

C2
Input D1
a.c.

T
_

Fig 2 Cockcroft-Walton voltage multiplier circuit. P – Pulse generator, Vb –

D.C. supply to pulse generator, Vg – Bias voltage

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 GENERATION OF HIGH d.c. VOLTAGE
V Cascaded voltage multiplier circuits(cont.)
• Ripple in Cascaded Voltages Multiplier Circuits
(a)
t • With load, the output voltage of the cascaded
rectifiers is less than 2nVmax, where n is the
number of stages. The ripple and the voltage
V regulation of the rectifier circuit may be
δV
(b)
estimated as follows.
•
t Ripple Voltage Drop on Load

V
δV
(c) •
voltage drop may be expressed as
t

V δV Vmax
Vmean
V (d) • the optimum number of stages for the minimum
t

Fig. 3

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 GENERATION OF HIGH d.c. VOLTAGE

• Example 1
• A Cockcroft-Walton type voltage multiplier has eight stages with capacitances, all
equal to 0.05micro-farad. The supply transfomer secondary voltage is 125KV at a
frequency of 150Hz. If the load current to be supplied is 5mA, find (a) the percentage
ripple (b) the requlation, and ( c) the optimum number of stages for minimum
regulation or voltage drop
• Sol.

11
1
 Generation of High Alternating Voltages

 When test voltage requirements are less than about 300kV, a

single transformer can be used for test purposes
 For higher voltage requirements, a single unit construction
becomes difficult and costly due to insulation problems ,
transportation and erection of large transformers become difficult
 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 transformer connection
 A source of high voltage that is made up of a collection of step-up
transformers; secondary windings are in series, and primary windings,
except the first, are supplied from a pair of taps on the secondary winding
of the preceding transformer.

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Generation of High Alternating Voltages
Cascade transformer connection

b´

a´
c´
V1
b´ c a
b
3V2
a´
c´
V1
b´ c a 2V2
b 2V2
a´
V2 g
input b V2
V1

a d

Fig.4 Cascade transformer connection (schematic)

V1 – Input voltage; V2 – output voltage; aa´ - L.V. primary winding;
bb´- H.V. secondary winding; cc´- Excitation winding; bd – Meter winding
(200 to 500); g – Insulation (pillars1or post insulators); 13
V - Voltmeter
Generation of High Alternating Voltages
Cascade transformer connection

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Generation of High Alternating Voltages
Solution

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 Generation of High Frequency a.c. High Voltages

• For testing electrical apparatus for switching surges, high frequency high voltage
damped oscillators are needed which need high voltage high frequency
transformers shown in Fig.5.
 The advantages of these high frequency transformers are:
i. the absence of iron core in transformers and hence saving in cost and size,
ii. pure sine wave output,
iii. slow build-up of voltage over a cycles and hence no damage due to switching
surges, and
iv. uniform distribution of voltage across the winding coils due to subdivision of coil
stack into a number of units.
C1
V2

V1

supply Spark C2
gap V2
L1 time
L2

(b) Output waveform

(a) Equivalent circuit

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Fig.5 Tesla socoil equivalent circuit and its output waveform
 Generation of Impulse Voltages
• Transient over voltages due to lightning and switching surges cause steep build-up of
voltage on transmission lines and other electrical apparatus.
• Experimental investigations showed that these waves have rise time of 0.5 to 10 s
and decay time to 50% of peak value of the order of 30 to 200
• lightining over-voltage wave can be represented as double exponential waves defined
by the equation

• The impulse waves are generally represented by the above eq. V0 in the equation represents a
factor that depends on the peak value. For impulse wave of 1.2/50 s, a=0.0146, when time t is
expressed in microseconds. control the front and tail time of the wave respectively.

V%
A
100
D
90
70 G
E
50

F B
30
C
10
O t t’ t t t4 t
1 1 2 3

O1 1 17
Fig.6 Impulse waveform and its definitions
 Generation of High Impulse Voltages
Circuits for Producing Impulse Waves

S L S R1

+ +
V C R V0(t) V C1 R2 C2 V0(t)
- -

(a) (b)

S R1
R1 R1
S
+
V C1 R2 C2 V0(t) +
- V C1 R2 C2 V0(t)
-

(c)
(d)

R’1 R1
+
- C1
V0(t)
S
R’2 R2
+
- C2

(e)
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Fig.7Circuits for producing impulse waves
Generation of High Impulse Voltages

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Generation of High Impulse Voltages

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 Resonant Transformers testing of High Alternating Voltages

• Resonant Transformers
The tuned series resonant h.v. testing circuit arose as a means of overcoming the
accidental and unwanted resonance to which the more conventional test sets are
more prone.
• The equivalent circuit of a high voltage testing transformer consist of the leakage
reactances 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.8.

L L

L1 r1 L2 r2

h.v
~ R0 L0 C
C
a.c supply

Fig.8 Resonant transformer and equivalent circuit. T – Testing transformer;

L – choke; C – Capacitance of a h.v. terminal and test object;
L0 – Magnetizing inductance; L1, L2 – Leakage inductance of the transformer;
r1, r2 – resistance of the windings;1R0 – Resistance due to core loss 21
 Resonant Transformers testing of High Alternating Voltages

It may be seen that it is possible to have series resonance at power frequency

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 /R is the Q factor of the circuit and gives the magnitude of the voltage multiplication across
the test object under resonance conditions
• The chief advantages of this principle are:
1) it gives an output of pure sine wave,
2) power requirements are less (5 to 10% of total kVA required),
3) no high power arcing and heavy current surges occur if the test object failed, as resonance ceases at
the failure of the test object,
4) cascading is also possible for very high voltage,
5) simple and compact test arrangement, and
6) no repeated flashovers occur in case of partial failures of the test object and insulation recovery. It can
be shown that the supply source takes Q number of cycles at least to charge the test specimen to the
full voltage.

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 Lecture 2
High voltage measurement techniques
Types of voltage Method
D.c Voltage 1 Ammeter in series with high ohmic resistors

. 2 resistor voltage dividers

3 Generating voltmeters and field sensors
4 Sphere and other spark gaps
1 Series impedance ammeter
AC Voltages (Power Peak voltmeter
frequency) 2 Voltage dividers (capacitor or resistor divider)

3 Potential transformer
4 Electrostatic voltmeters
5 Sphere gaps

Measurement of A.C high 1 Voltage dividing system with CRT

frequency voltages and 2 Peak voltmeter

Impulse voltage 3 Sphere gaps

N Magaji 23
 1-Dc voltage measurement
a) Series resistance with micro ammeter
(Can be operated up to 500kV (D.C )

b) Resistor potential divider

c) Generating voltmeter

(a)
Fig. 2.1 (a) Series Resistance Micrometer
Voltmeter (c) Generating voltmeter:
(b) (c)
(b) Resistance Potential Divider With Electrostatic
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 1-Dc voltage measurement(cont.)
(c) Generating voltmeter
 Generating principle is used where direct loading or
direct connection is to be avoided.
 Generating voltmeter: A variable capacitor electrostatic
voltage generator.
 It generates current proportional to voltage under
measurement

M=synch. motor
Fig. 2.2 Generating Voltmeter
Fig.2.2 shows a schematic
diagram of a generating
voltmeter which employs
rotating vanes for variation of
(σ)high voltage electrode capacitance
(G) grounded electrode High voltage electrode is
Advantages: connected to a disc electrode
i. scale is linear and can be extrapolated D3 which is kept at a fixed
ii. source loading is practically zero distance on the axis of the
iii. no direct connection to the high voltage other low voltage electrodes D2,
electrode.
D1, and D0.
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 Measurement of High Ac Voltage
a) Potential dividers : Resistance or Capacitance type
b) Series impedance voltmeter
c) Electrostatic voltmeter
d) Potential transformers : Electromagnetic or CVT
e) Sphere gaps

V = V2 ( 1 + R1/R2)
Fig. 2.3(b) Series impedance voltmeter

Fig.2.3(b ) For power frequency a.c. measurements

the series impedance may be a pure resistance or
a reactance.

Fig. 2.3(a) RESITANCE IN SERIES WITH AMMETER

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Peak High Voltage measurement techniques
• Sphere gap;
• The field between two identical spheres is a classical example of 
"weakly nonuniform"  field. The breakdown characteristic of such a
gap is linear for the gap distances not greater than the radius of the
spheres S≤r.
• Measurement voltage is made as a function of minimum distance at
which it can flash over or spark over.
• The breakdown voltage of the gap does not depend upon the
duration of application of voltage and also not upon its variation with
time.
• Disadvantages:
• For the measurement, breakdown in the gap has to take place.
• Continuous measurement of the voltage is not possible.
• This method is not very accurate.

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Sphere gap;

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 High voltage Impulse
•State the advantages of Sphere gaps?
They are used for voltage measurements.They are suitable for all
types of waveforms from d.c to impulse voltages of short times. They
are used for radio frequency a.c voltage peak measurements upto 1
MHz

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 Peak High Voltage measurement techniques(Cont.)
capacitive divider
• Peak value measurement   A number of rectifier circuits have been
proposed for the measurement of peak value of ac power frequency and
impulse voltages to work with capacitive voltage dividers. The first circuit of
its kind was proposed by Davis, Bowdler and Strandring in 1930, shown in
Fig 2.4 
• Fig . 2.4 Simple crest voltmeter for ac measurement, according to Davis,
Bowdler and Standring

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Practical Potential Dividers

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Impulse generator 800 kV, 40 kJ

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 Q and A on Gen. &
Measurement of HV(Con)
Q1Mention the circuits to produce impulse waves.
In the laboratory with a combination of a series R-L-C circuit under over damped conditions or by
the combination of 2 R-C circuits.
Q2 Name the multi test sets used for high voltage testing.
• Ac testing transformers , dc units , impulse voltage units .
Q3 What is transient voltage?
• It is an oscillatory wave or a damped oscillatory wave of frequency ranging for few hundred
hertz to few kilo hertz.
Q4 What are the components of a multistage impulse generator?
• Dc charging unit, charging resistors, generator capacitors and spark gaps , wave shaping
resistors and capacitors , triggering system , voltage dividers and gas insulated impulse
generators.
Q5 Define the duration of the wave.
• It is defined as the total time of the wave during which the current is at least 10% of its peak
value.
Q6 How are impulse currents of large value produced?
• A bank of capacitors connected in parallel are charged to a specified value and are discharged
through a series R-L circuit.
Q7 How will you generate rectangular current pulses with high magnitudes?
• They are generated by discharging a pulse network .

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 Q and A on Gen. & Measurement of
HV(Con)
• Q8 Mention the impurities added in liquid dielectrics.
• Dust,moisture,dissolved gases and ionic impurities.
• Q9. What are the different types of solid insulating materials?
• Organic materials:paper,wood and rubber
• Inorganic materials : Mica,glass and porcelain
• Synthetic polymers :Persplex,pvc,epoxy resins
• Q10. State the properties of a good dielectrics
• Low dielectric loss,high mechanical strength, should be
free from gaseous inclusions and moisture and be resistant to
thermal and chemical deterioration.
• Q11 Name the two types of intrinsic breakdown mechanisms.
• Electronic breakdown.Avalanche or streamer breakdown.
• Q12 . Mention the techniques used in impulse current
measurements.
• Hall generators,Faraday generators and current transformers.

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 Q and A on Gen. & Measurement of
HV(Con)
• Q13Define flashover voltage.
• The voltage that causes a flashover at each of its applications under
specified conditions when applied to test objects as specified is called
flashover voltage
• Q14 Define a circuit breaker.
• It is a switch which automatically interrupts the circuit when a critical
current or voltage rating is exceeded

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 Q and A on Breakdown of dielectric
• . Mention the different mechanisms for the breakdowm in vacuum.
• Partial exchange mechanism,Field emission mechanism and Clump theory.
• What are the classifications of vacuum?
• High vacuum ,Very high vacuum and Ultra high vacuum
• .What are liduid dielectrics?
• Liquid dielectrics are normally mixtures of hydrocarbons and are weakly
polarized.
• .Mention some of the applications of liquid dielectrics.
• They are used as impregnants in high voltage cables and capacitors,and for
filling up of transformers,circuit breakers .They are also used as heat transfer
agents in transformers and as arc quenching media in circuit breakers.
• 46.Name some examples of liquid dielectrics.
• Petroleum oils,Synthetic hydrocarbons , halogenated hydrocarbons ,
silicone oils and fluorinated hydrocarbons.
• 47.What are pure liquids ?Give examples.
• They are chemically pure and do not contain any other impurity even in
traces of 1 in 109 and are structurally simple.Examples are n-hexane,n-
heptane and other paraffin hydrocarbons.

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