2013 National Conference on Power Systems And Renewable Energy Systems (PSRES), 25-26 October 2013, Nasik (MH),

India

Modeling and FEA analysis of Partial Discharge phenomena in a Spherical void

within Solid Dielectric Material
Roopali Patil
Pursuing M.E.(Power Systems)
Department of Electrical Engineering,
University Of Pune, India
Email: arupali.p@[Link]

Abstract- Partial Discharge (PD) phenomena is stress and the cavity within the material, such as
always related to insulation degradation; amplitude, frequency and waveform shape of the
affecting the performance of the insulation applied voltage, temperature of the material,
within an electrical equipment. Modeling of humidity and pressure in the cavity and size,
partial discharge (PD) allows a better shape and location of the cavity within the
understanding of the phenomena. In this material[1]. In this analysis, the influence of the
review paper, a simulation model for spherical amplitude of an AC sinusoidal applied voltage on
cavity within a homogenous dielectric material PD activity within a cavity has been reviewed [3].
has been considered. The model is simulated
II. PARTIAL DISCHARGE MODEL
using Finite Element Method (FEM) with the
help of ANSYS-software. PD activity within a EQUATIONS
void in a solid dielectric is influenced by many The condition for a PD to occur within a void in a
factors. One of the factors analyzed here is the dielectric material is that the electric field in the
applied voltage. Different types of the applied void, Evoid must be larger than the inception field,
voltage yield in different PD patterns and the Einc. Einc can be calculated using [3]
conditions for failure of insulation to occur.
The applied voltage that is considered here is Einc = 25.2P[1+ 8.6/(2Pr)0.5] (1)
AC sinusoidal voltage. The obtained result may
where P and r are the pressure and radius of the
improve an understanding on PD behavior
void.
under applied voltage; also assist in insulation
diagnostics. The second condition for a PD to occur is a
starting electron is needed to start ionization. The
Keywords- partial discharge, finite element
supply of an initial electron influences the
analysis, insulation diagnostics.
statistical characteristics of PD activity such as the
I. INTRODUCTION inception delay, the number of PD occurrences
and distributions with respect to the applied
PD is an electrical discharge which does not voltage. In a virgin void, a starting electron may
bridge the electrodes in an insulation system under be provided by natural high energetic radiation via
high voltage stress [4]. PD occurs normally within photo ionization in the insulation. The starting
defects such as cavities and voids that exist in a electrons can also be produced by field emission
dielectric material. In high voltage equipment, the from the void surface if its effective work function
build-up of charge and its by-products can be is low [4].
symptomatic of problems associated with aging
and insulation breakdown. This results in an For a void which has never experienced PD,
increase in the strength and frequency of partial volume ionization is the main source of an initial
discharge, which leads to the catastrophic failure free electron. If the void consists of air, the rate of
of the high voltage equipment. The pattern of PD volume ionization can be calculated using [3]
occurrence is influenced by the conditions of the
Nv = 20P(πab2)(1-v-2) (2)
 2013 National Conference on Power Systems And Renewable Energy Systems (PSRES), 25-26 October 2013, Nasik (MH), India

Where a and b are the height and radius of the The proportionality factor, ξ depends on the
void. v is the ratio of the applied voltage to the polarity of the surface charge from which electron
inception voltage or the overvoltage ratio [3] detrapping occurs. This is because the negative
and positive charges on the void surface have a
v = U0/U0inc (3) different efficiency of allowing electrons to detrap
where U0 is the maximum applied voltage and from the void surface [4]. An electron detraps
U0inc is the inception voltage. from the negative surface charges after the
polarity of Evoid changes between consecutive PDs
After the first PD has occurred, an additional but not when the surface charges are negative.
source of initial electron becomes available
through charges along the void surface from the The total number of electrons, Nt available to
previous PD. A free initial electron emitted from initiate a PD is equal to [3]
the void surface, Ndt can be expressed as [3]
Nt = dt + Nv (9)
dt= Ndt v0exp(-[Φ-√eEvoid/(4πє0)/(kT)] (4) A pd occurrence is a radom process. Thus, the
Where Ndt is the number of electrons available for probability, P of a PD to occur is defined as Nt∆t,
being detrapped, v0 is the fundamental photon where ∆t is the time step of the simulation. A PD
frequency(≈1014 Hz), e is the elementary charge, will only occur if P is larger than a random
Φ is the effective detrapping work function, є0 is number, R, which is between 0 and 1.[3]
the permittivity of vacuum, k is the Boltzmann The dipolar charges due to the PD induce
constant and T is the temperature (in Kelvin). Ndt charges on the conductors on the insulation
is the detrappable electrons from the surface due material. These charges are called the apparent
to previous PD, which decays between charge, q’[3]. For a plane-parallel electrode with a
consecutive PDs. It has been defined as[3] gap distance of D and void radius of a, q’ equals
Ndt = Ndt0 exp(-t/τ) (5) to [3]

Where t is the time elapsed since the last PD event q’ = (4/3)πab2є0єr K∆E/D (10)
and τ is the effective charge decay time constant. III. MODELLING OF PD
Ndt has been assumed to be proportional to the
number of charges, q due to PD [3], The two-dimensional (2D) axial symmetric
model geometry consists of a spherical void in a
Ndt0 = ξ(q/e) (6) cylindrical dielectric material which has been
q = є0πb2[1+ єr(K-1)]∆E (7) analyzed using finite element analysis (FEA)
software. The FEA model, as shown in Figure 1 is
where ξ is the proportionality factor, b is the void developed in the FEA software by using element
radius, єr is the material permittivity, ∆E is the type PLANE121 for dielectric material and the
field collapse in the void after a PD occurs and K spherical void. The material properties are defined
equals to 3 for a spherical void. ∆E is the electric separately for both the elements.
field change in the void after a pd has occurred. It
is calculated using The meshing for the FEA model is done at
element edge-length of 0.0005 meshed with all
∆E = EvoidnoPD + Eq + Eext (8) quadrilaterals, as shown in Figure 2.

Where EvoidnoPD is the field in the void in the The model was used to obtain the electric
absence of PD, Eq is the field due to charges on field in the void, EvoidnoPD in the absence of PD
the void surface after a PD has occurred and Eext is through simulation of the electric field distribution
the extinction field. in the model. The obtained value was used in (8)
 2013 National Conference on Power Systems And Renewable Energy Systems (PSRES), 25-26 October 2013, Nasik (MH), India

for the applied voltage of 19.25Kv. The IV. Simulation Results

parameters used for the simulation are
summarized in the Table 1 and were chosen based Figure 3 shows the magnitude of sinusoidal
on literature in [3] applied voltage as 50 Hz, 19.25 kV.

Figure 3 Sinusoidal applied voltage magnitude

Figure 1 2D axis-symmetric model geometry against time.
(PLANE121)
The electric field magnitude as a function of
TABLE 1 BOUNDARY CONDITIONS FOR 50 Hz, 19.25 kV sinusoidal applied voltage was
FEA ANALYSIS obtained using FEA and PD model equations for
two cycles, as shown in Figure 4.
Parameters Specifications Symbol Value
Dielectric material thickness D 3.50mm
Spherical void radius r,a,b 1.25mm
Dielectric material permittivity Єvoid 4
Void permittivity Єvoid 1
Applied Voltage Uapp 19.25kV
Dielectric material radius r mat 5.00mm
Time step ∆t 0.0001 s
Number of simulation cycles 200

Figure 4 Electric field magnitudes against time of

sinusoidal applied voltage.

When the electric field within the void, Evoid

exceeds the inception field Einc and if there is a
free initial electron available, a PD will occur,
causing Evoid to drop less than the extinction field,
Eext. If there is no PD occurs at all, Evoid will
Figure 2 Meshed FEA model with boundary
follow the curve of EvoidnoPD, which is the electric
conditions.
field in the void without any surface charge due to
PD [3].
 2013 National Conference on Power Systems And Renewable Energy Systems (PSRES), 25-26 October 2013, Nasik (MH), India

Figure 5 shows the electric field distribution V. CONCLUSION

within the dielectric material and the spherical
void in the absence of PD occurrence on In this review paper, partial discharge (PD)
sinusoidal applied voltage. behavior is studied under AC sinusoidal applied
voltage using simulation model developed using
FEA software. It was observed that the PD
activity within a void in a dielectric material is
greatly influenced by the applied voltage
waveform because the electric field magnitude in
the void is determined by the applied voltage [3].
The maximum electric field in the void is
calculated through a model geometry that has
been developed using finite element analysis
(FEA).

Future work will consider the study of PD

behavior in GIS using different techniques. Also,
the actual experiment of PD behavior in GIS
Figure 5 Contour plots for EvoidnoPD
under variations in the critically affecting
At the time between 0.005s and 0.01s, PD parameters such as applied voltage waveform,
does not occur immediately when Evoid is higher thermal stress, and high frequency phenomena
than the inception field if there is no free initial will be considered.
electron available for a PD to occur. This delay is
The measured results will then be compared
called the statistical time lag, τstat [3].
with the simulation results under the variation of
For a PD activity under AC sinusoidal voltage, the particular parameter, which results into the
there are two different types of statistical time lag. failure of the insulation in Gas Insulated
The first type is τstat due to the first PD. This time Substation (GIS).
lag is long because electrons are harder to be
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Voltage Waveforms,” IEEE International
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 2013 National Conference on Power Systems And Renewable Energy Systems (PSRES), 25-26 October 2013, Nasik (MH), India

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