EE450: High Voltage Engineering

Lecture 21

Farhan Mahmood, PhD

Department of Electrical Engineering
UET, Lahore

January 25, 2017

Outline

Measurement of High Voltages

• Measurement of High Voltages

• Sphere Gaps
• Uniform field spark gaps
• Rod Gaps

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Measurement of High Voltages

• Different types of high voltages are generated in the laboratory to determine the
breakdown voltage of insulating materials.
• The high voltage equipment have large stray capacitances with respect to the
grounded structures and hence, large voltage gradients are set up.
• A person handling these equipments and the measuring devices must be protected
against these over voltages.
• The intensity of stray electric fields can be controlled by :
˗ Shaping the conductors to reduce stress concentrations
˗ Proper clearance between the equipment and the grounded structures to avoid
flashover
˗ Insertion of insulation of higher dielectric strength at high stress points

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Measurement of High Voltages

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Sphere Gaps

• Sphere gap is considered as one of the standard methods for

˗ Measurement of peak value of d.c., a.c. and impulse voltages (+ve and –ve)
˗ Calibration of the voltmeters and other voltage measuring devices
• Two identical metallic spheres separated by certain distance form a sphere gap.
• If an ac voltage is applied across the two spherical electrodes and the voltage is
uniformily increased till the breakdown occurs, the peak value of ac voltage is,
Vpeak = Eb×d

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Sphere Gaps

• The voltage at which the breakdown of the gap occurs is called breakdown voltage
and depends on the electric field Eb and the gap spacing d.

Sphere Gaps in
High Voltage
Laboratory

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Sphere Gaps

• There are some practical difficulties when very high or low voltages are measured
with the help of sphere gap.
• For the measurement of high voltages, the gap distance d should be increased.
Consequently, the uniform field between the spheres becomes distorted, and
accuracy falls.
• For maintaining the uniformity of the electric field, the radius of the electrode has to
be increased.
• The limits of accuracy are dependant on the ratio of the spacing d to the sphere
diameter D, as follows.
˗ d < 0.5 D, accuracy = ±3%
˗ 0.75 D > d > 0.5 D, accuracy = ±5%

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Sphere Gaps

• For the measurement of voltages less than 50 kV, or places where the availability of
ultraviolet radiation is low, irradiation of the gap by radioactive or other ionizing
media should be used.
• The irradiation of the sphere gap will increase the availability of initiating electrons in
the gap, thus reducing the statistical time lag.
• The development of spark process consists of two components:
˗ Statistical time-lag caused by the need of an electron to appear in the gap
during the application of the voltage.
˗ Formative time-lag which is the time required for the breakdown to develop
once initiated.
˗ Typically, the total time lag is of the order of few micro-seconds.

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Sphere Gaps

• The sphere gap can be used for measurement of impulse voltage of either polarity
provided:
˗ Wave-front and wave-tail times should be at least 1 μs and 5 μs respectively
˗ Gap length between the sphere should not exceed a sphere radius.

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Sphere Gaps

Basic Arrangements of Sphere Gaps

• Sphere gaps are arranged in two configurations:
˗ Horizontal
˗ Vertical
• Horizontal arrangement is used for the measurement of low voltages with sphere
diameter, D < 50 cm whereas with large spheres, vertical arrangement is selected.
• One of the two spheres must be earthed. In vertical arrangement, the lower sphere
is earthed.
• In both arrangements, one of the spheres is static and the other is moveable so that
the spacing can be adjusted.

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Sphere Gaps

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Sphere Gaps

• It is important that the spheres should be so

placed that the space between spheres is
free from external electric fields and from
bodies which may affect the field between
the spheres.
• Minimum clearance around the spheres is
required within which no earthed objects are
allowed, denoted by B.
• The height of the sparking point on the
sphere, above the ground plane must be
within the given limits, denoted by A.

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Sphere Gaps

• It has been observed that the metal of which the spheres are made does not affect
the accuracy of measurements, so the spheres may be made of brass, bronze, steel,
copper, aluminium, or light alloys and that their surfaces should be:
˗ Surface of the sphere should be smooth
˗ Curvatures should be as uniform as possible
• The surface of the sphere should be cleaned, and free from dust, grease, moisture
and any other coating.
• The curvature should be measured by a spherometer at various positions over an
area enclosed by a circle of radius 0.3 D about the sparking point where D is the
diameter of the sphere and sparking points on the two spheres are those which are
at minimum distances from each other.

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Sphere Gaps

Measuring Circuit
• Continuous voltage measurement is not possible with sphere gaps, since the voltage
source is short circuited at the instant of measurement.
• A series resistance is connected between the source and the spheres to limit the
current that flows after the breakdown of the gap. The breakdown current may also
cause pitting on the surface of the spheres.
• The protective resistance should have a value of 1 Ω/V.
• For higher frequencies, the voltage drop would increase and it is necessary to have
a smaller value of the resistance.
• For impulse voltage, the protective resistors are not required.

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Sphere Gaps

Procedure
• For the measurement of a.c. or d.c. voltage, a reduced voltage is applied to begin
with so that the switching transient does not flash over the sphere gap and then the
voltage is increased gradually till the gap breaks down.
• Alternatively, the voltage is applied across a relatively large gap and the spacing is
then gradually decreased till the gap breaks down. Corresponding to this gap the
value of peak voltage can be read out from the calibration tables.

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Sphere Gaps

• For the measurement of 50% impulse disruptive discharge voltages, the spacing
of the sphere gap or the charging voltage of the impulse generator is adjusted in
steps of 3% of the expected disruptive voltage.
• Six applications of the impulse should be made at each step and the interval
between two applications is 5 seconds. The value giving 50% probability to disruptive
discharge is preferably obtained by interpolation between at least two gap or voltage
settings, one resulting in two disruptive discharges or less out of six applications and
the other in four disruptive discharges or more out of again six applications.
• Another method, simple though less accurate, is to adjust the settings such that four
to six disruptive discharges are obtained in a series of ten successive applications.

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Sphere Gaps

• If these conditions are satisfied and the specifications regarding the shape,
mounting, clearances of the spheres are met, the spheres will spark at a peak
voltage which will be close to the nominal value shown in standard calibration
tables.
• These calibration values relate to standard temperature and pressure (STP)
conditions:
˗ Temperature of 20℃
˗ Pressure of 760 mm Hg

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Sphere Gaps
Sphere Gaps
Sphere Gaps

• It should be noted:
˗ For a.c. and impulse voltages, the tables are considered to be accurate within
±3% for gap lengths upto 0.5 D.
˗ If the gap length is greater than 0.5 D, the results are less accurate and are
shown in brackets.
˗ The tables are not valid for gap lengths less than 0.05 D and impulse voltages
less than 10 kV.

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Sphere Gaps

Factors Affecting the Breakdown Voltage of Sphere Gap

• Various factors that affect the breakdown voltage of sphere gap are:
˗ Atmospheric conditions
˗ Nearby earthed objects
˗ Irradiation
˗ Polarity and rise-time of voltage waveforms

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Sphere Gaps

Atmospheric Conditions
• The value of disruptive voltages as given in calibration tables correspond to 760 mm
Hg pressure and 20 ℃ .
• The breakdown voltage of a sphere gap increases with increase in pressure and
decreases with increase in temperature.
• The relative air density δ is given by,

where b is the atmospheric pressure (mm of Hg)

t is the atmospheric temperature (℃ ) during measurement.

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Sphere Gaps

• The disruptive voltage V is given,

V = KdV0
where V0 is the disruptive voltage as given in the calibration tables under STP
conditions.
Kd is a correction factor and is a slightly non-linear function of δ a result
explained by Paschen's law.

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Sphere Gaps

• Kuffel has studied the effect of the humidity on the

breakdown voltage.
• It has been observed that the breakdown voltage
increases with humidity especially for larger
spheres.
• It can be seen that
˗ The breakdown voltage increases with the
partial pressure of water vapour.
˗ The a.c. breakdown voltage is slightly less
than d.c. voltage.

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Sphere Gaps

• It has also been observed that

˗ The humidity effect increases with the size of spheres and is largest for uniform
field electrodes.
˗ The voltage change for a given humidity change increase with gap length.
• The increase in breakdown voltage with increase in partial pressure of water vapour
and this increase in voltage with increase in gap length is due to the relative values
of ionisation and attachment coefficients in air.
• The water particles readily attach free electrons, forming negative ions. These ions
therefore slow down and are unable to ionise neutral molecules under field
conditions in which electrons will readily ionise.

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Sphere Gaps

Nearby Earthed Objects

• The effect of nearby earthed objects was investigated by
Kuffel by enclosing the earthed sphere inside an earthed
cylinder.
• It was observed that the sparkover voltage is reduced.
This reduction is of the form:

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Sphere Gaps

Dust Particles
• When a dust particle is floating between the gap this results into erratic breakdown in
homogeneous or slightly inhomogenous electrode configurations.
• When the dust particle comes in contact with one electrode under the application of
d.c. voltage, it gets charged to the polarity of the electrode and gets attracted by the
opposite electrode due to the field forces and the breakdown is triggered shortly
before arrival.

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Sphere Gaps

Polarity and rise-time of voltage waveforms

• Breakdown voltages for positive and negative polarity impulse voltages are different.
• Wave-front and wave-tail duration also influence the breakdown voltage. For wave-
fronts less than 0.5 μs and wave-tails less than 5 μs, the breakdown voltages are not
consistent and hence, the use of sphere gap is not recommended.

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Uniform Field Spark Gaps

• Although the sphere gaps are widely used for voltage measurements, they have
only limited range with uniform electric field. Hence, it is not possible to ensure that
the sparking always takes place along the uniform field region.
• The sparkover voltage in a uniform field gap is given by,

where S is the gap spacing (cm)

V is the sparkover voltage (kV)
A and B are constants

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Uniform Field Spark Gaps

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Uniform Field Spark Gaps

• Bruce made uniform field electrodes with a sine curve in the end region. For the
Bruce profile,
˗ A = 24.22 and B = 6.08 under STP conditions
• According to Bruce, the electrodes with diameters of 4.5, 9.0, and 15.0 inches can
be used for maximum voltages of 140, 280, and 420 kV respectively.
• Rogowski presented a design for uniform field electrodes for sparkover voltages up
to 600 kV. Under STP conditions, that is, at temperature T = 25℃ and pressure =
760 torr,
˗ A = 24.4 and B = 7.50
˗ Constants A and B differ for a.c., d.c., and impulse voltages.

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Uniform Field Spark Gaps

• Later, it was found that with humidity the sparkover voltage increases, and the
relationship for sparkover voltage was modified as,

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Uniform Field Spark Gaps

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Uniform Field Spark Gaps

• Advantages:
˗ The sparkover voltage of uniform field electrode gaps can also be found from
calculations. However, no such calculation is available for sphere gaps.
˗ No influence of nearby earthed objects.
˗ No polarity effect.
• Disadvantages:
˗ Very accurate mechanical finish of the electrodes and careful alignment of the
electrodes are difficult to obtain.
˗ Presence of dust particles may cause erratic breakdown of the gap.

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Rod Gaps

• A rod gap may be used to measure the peak value

of power frequency and impulse voltages within an
accuracy of ±8%.
• However, more recent investigations have shown
that these rods can be used for d.c. measurement
provided certain regulations regarding the
electrode configurations are observed.
• The rods are either square-edged or circular in
cross section.
• The lengths of the rods may be 15-75 cm and the
spacing varies from 2-200 cm.

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Rod Gaps

• Table shows the power frequency breakdown voltage for 1.27 cm square rods in
air at 27℃ and at a pressure of 760 torr with the vapour pressure of water of 15.5
torr.

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Rod Gaps

• Except for low voltages (less than 120 kV), where the accuracy is low, the

breakdown voltage can be given by the empirical relation.

where h is the absolute humidity and varies between 4-20 gm/m3

S is the gap spacing (cm)

δ is the relative air density

A = 20 kV for positive polarity and 15 kV for negative polarity of the high
voltage electrode.
B = 5.1 kV/cm and is found to be independent of the polarity of voltage.

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Rod Gaps

• Like sphere gap, the breakdown voltage of rod gap depends upon:
˗ Atmospheric pressure
˗ Atmospheric temperature
˗ Humidity
• Because of the large variation in breakdown voltage for the same spacing and the
uncertainties associated with the influence of humidity, rod gaps are no longer used
for measurement of a.c or impulse voltages.

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Rod Gaps

• Suggested Reading: Chapter 3 (Kuffeel and Zaengl’s book)

• Next Lecture:

• Electrostatic Voltmeters
• Ammeters in series with high ohmic resistors
• Generating voltmeters

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION