The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Department of Electrical Engineering

High Voltage Engineering

EE509/EE509A/EE509B/EE509D
Prof. Derek S. W. Or

2020 / 2021
 Chapter 3 Breakdown of Liquid Insulation ....................................................................................... 3-1
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 3-1
3.2 Purification and Breakdown Test ..................................................................................................... 3-2
3.2.1 Purification ......................................................................................................................... 3-2
3.2.2 Breakdown Test .................................................................................................................. 3-3
3.3 Breakdown in Pure Liquids .............................................................................................................. 3-5
3.4 Breakdown in Commercial Liquids .................................................................................................. 3-7
3.4.1 Breakdown due to Gas Bubbles ......................................................................................... 3-8
3.4.2 Breakdown due to Water Droplets ..................................................................................... 3-9
3.4.3 Breakdown due to Solid Particles..................................................................................... 3-12
3.4.4 Power Law Dependence between Breakdown Voltage and Gap Distance ...................... 3-13
3.5 References....................................................................................................................................... 3-14

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Chapter 3
Breakdown of Liquid Insulation
3.1 Introduction

Pure liquids are chemically pure, structurally simple, and do not contain impurities even in traces of 1 in 109.
Commercial liquids are not chemically pure and normally contain impurities.

In highly purified liquids, the dielectric breakdown strengths are on the order of 1,000 kV/cm. This order of
magnitude is not only several times higher than the preferred high pressure gases (e.g., ~250 kV/cm for SF6), but
also several ten times larger than that of air (30 kV/cm) at both room temperature (20 ºC) and atmospheric pressure
(760 torr). The basic breakdown mechanisms of this type of liquid insulation can be described by the ones used for
gaseous insulation.

Under actual service conditions, liquids are easily contaminated by the presence of impurities such as
“gas bubbles”, “water droplets”, “solid (dust) particles”, etc. In fact, gases may dissolve from the liquids and form
gas bubbles. Since these gas bubbles have lower dielectric breakdown strengths than their parental liquids, and if
more gases are dissolved, more gas bubbles are formed and ultimately cause breakdown. Water droplets, due to
their polar nature, may experience shape instability, become elongated, and eventually bridge the two electrodes
under applied electric fields. Solid (dust) particles may line up in the applied field direction, causing a local
enhancement of electric fields and giving rise to breakdown at relatively low field levels. Fortunately, as the line-
up action needs time to establish, breakdown may not occur with short duration pulses (<10 μs).

Because of the tendency to become contaminated at elevated temperatures and prolonged operating cycles,
commercial liquids are not usually used alone in continuously energized equipment with an electric field stress
>100 kV/cm. At elevated stress levels of 100–200 kV/cm, they act as barriers to fill up the voids in solid dielectrics.

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3.2 Purification and Breakdown Test

3.2.1 Purification

Fig. 3.1 shows a closed-cycle liquid purification system to prepare purified liquids by removing the main
impurities in unpurified liquids, e.g., gas bubbles (O2, CO2, N2, H2, etc.), water droplets, solid (dust) particles, etc.
First, the unpurified liquid stored in the reservoir is subject to a distillation process by a distillation column to
remove solid particles of relatively heavy masses and large sizes, but to allow the gases, water vapor, and small-
light solid particles to flow into a cooling tower together with the liquid vapor. Second, the liquid is restored from
the liquid vapor by a condensation process in the cooling tower; the gases are pumped out by a degassing process
with a vacuum pump; the water vapor is removed by a drying process using a drying agent, a vacuum drying or a
low-temperature freezing bath; the small-light solid particles are removed by a filtration process using a filter upon
the condensation of the liquid vapor into liquid. With further degassing, some of the purified liquid can be used in a
test cell for breakdown test. The used liquid, after being degassed, flows back into the reservoir.

Drying
agent

Fig. 3.1 A closed-cycle liquid purification system with test cell.

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3.2.2 Breakdown Test

The breakdown test for liquid dielectrics is commonly conducted using a test cell. For pure liquids, the test cell
is generally integrated with a liquid purification system similar to the one in Fig. 3.1. The test cell is usually small,
and only small amount of liquid is required. Sphere electrodes of 0.5–1 cm in diameter with very small gap
distances of 100–200 µm are used to reduce the test voltages to 50–100 kV. Parallel-plane, uniform-field electrodes
are sometimes used. The gap distance and quality of the electrodes have great influences on the accuracy of the
measurement. The dielectric breakdown strengths of pure liquids are on the order of 1,000 kV/cm (Table 3.1).
These values are several times higher than those of commercial liquids (Table 3.2).

Table 3.1 Maximum breakdown strengths of some pure liquids.

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Table 3.2 Electrical properties of some commercial liquids.

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3.3 Breakdown in Pure Liquids

Fig. 3.2 shows the typical current growth curve of pure liquids. Three distinct regions are observed. At low
fields (<200 kV/cm), the presence of conduction current is due to the dissociation of ions. At intermediate fields
(200–800 kV/cm), the conduction current increases rapidly because the electrons librated from the cathode by field
emission get multiplied in the liquid (or at the liquid-impurity interfaces) by a process similar to the Townsend’s
primary ionization process in gases (at uniform fields and low pressures). At high fields (>800 kV/cm), the
conduction current rises up even more greatly because the librated positive ions reach the cathode and generate
secondary electrons by a process similar to the Townsend’s secondary ionization process in gases. The increase in
conduction current by the Townsend-type ionization processes continues till breakdown occurs (see Chapter 2,
Section 2.3). This type of breakdown is called the electronic breakdown, involving the emission of electrons
either at the electrode surface irregularities or at the liquid-impurity interfaces for fields >100 kV/cm, and the
subsequent multiplication of electrons by the Townsend-type ionization processes, leading to breakdown.

Fig. 3.2 Typical current growth curve of pure liquids.

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 If the dissolved gases are electronegative in character (like oxygen gas), breakdown stress increases (Fig. 3.3).
Similarly, liquid hydrostatic pressure increases, breakdown stress increases (Fig. 3.4).

Fig. 3.3 Effect of partial pressure of dissolved oxygen Fig. 3.4 Effect of hydrostatic pressure on the
gas on the breakdown stress of n-hexane. breakdown stress of n-hexane.

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3.4 Breakdown in Commercial Liquids

Commercial liquids are not chemically pure and have impurities like gas bubbles, water droplets, solid (dust)
particles, etc. These impurities not only reduce considerably their breakdown strengths, but also influence greatly
their breakdown mechanisms. When breakdown occurs in these liquids, gases are dissolved, gas bubbles are
evolved, and solid decomposition products are formed. The electrode surfaces become rough, and explosive sounds
are produced due to the generation of impulsive pressure through the liquids. The breakdown phenomena in
commercial liquids vary significantly and depend highly on the nature of the containing impurities. They are
classified as follows:

(a) Breakdown due to Gas Bubbles – Gas bubbles have breakdown strengths much lower than their
parental liquids so that the gas inside the bubbles breaks down relatively easy and thus induces total
breakdown of the liquids.

(b) Breakdown due to Water Droplets – Water droplets have shape instability which produces elongation
under applied electric fields and leads to a total breakdown by forming a low resistance bridge of
droplets across the electrodes.

(c) Breakdown due to Solid (Dust) Particles – Solid (dust) particles line up in the applied electric field
direction and cause local enhancement of electric fields in liquids, thereby initiating local breakdown
and hence total breakdown.

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3.4.1 Breakdown due to Gas Bubbles

Gas bubbles may exist in impure liquid dielectrics as a result of the dissolved gases, temperature and pressure
variations, or other causes. Once a gas bubble is formed, it will be forced in the applied electric field E under the
influence of the electrostatic force F by
1 (𝜀g − 𝜀l ) 2
𝐹= ∙ 𝛁𝐸 (3.1)
2𝑟 3 2𝜀l + 𝜀g

where r is the initial radius of the spherical gas bubble, 𝜀l is the relative permittivity of the liquid, and 𝜀g is the
relative permittivity of the gas inside the bubble.

As 𝜀g < 𝜀l , the electrostatic (negative) force tends to move the gas bubbles towards the regions of lower fields.
The gas bubbles will be stressed continuously while undergoing continuous elongation with increasing field levels.
At a critical field level, the gas inside the bubbles (which has lower breakdown strength) breaks down, causing
decomposition of the liquid molecules into solid decomposition products and then producing total breakdown. The
critical electric field intensity can be expressed as
1/4
π𝜎 𝜀l 8𝐴2 𝐵
𝐸c = 600√ [ − 𝐺] [ ] √cosh 𝜃 (3.2)
𝜀l 𝑟 (𝜀l − 𝜀g ) 3𝛽(𝜀l − 𝜀g )
where 𝜎 = Surface tension (in N/m),
𝛽 = Ratio of the longer to the shorter diameter of the gas bubble,
1 𝛽 cosh −1 𝛽
𝐺= [ 1 − 1],
𝛽 2 −1 (𝛽 2 −1)2
2 1
𝐴= −1− , 𝐵 = 2𝜀l 𝛽3 − 𝜀g (1 − 𝛽 2 ),
𝛽 𝛽2
5 3 1/2
1 −1 𝑃𝑟 27𝛽 (𝜀l −𝜀g )
𝜃 = cosh [𝜎 { } ], and
3 2𝐵3

P = Hydrostatic pressure.

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3.4.2 Breakdown due to Water Droplets

If an insulating liquid contains suspended water (or other liquid) droplets, breakdown can result from the shape
instability of the droplets in the electric field and the subsequent formation of a low resistance bridge of droplets
across the electrodes (Fig. 3.5).

Fig. 3.5 Breakdown of silicon oil due to instability of a water droplet in the electric field.

Due to the incompressible nature, the droplets can elongate and take the shape of elongated spheroids at
constant volume under the influence of the applied electric field. The critical electric field intensity producing the
shape instability can be written as

π𝜎 𝜀l
𝐸c = 600√ [ − 𝐺] 𝐻 (3.3)
𝜀l 𝑟 (𝜀l − 𝜀d )
where 𝜎 = Surface tension (in N/m), r = Initial radius of the spherical droplet (in m),
𝜀l = Relative permittivity of the liquid, 𝜀d = Relative permittivity of the droplet (𝜀d > 𝜀l ),
1 𝛽 cosh −1 𝛽 1 1
𝐺= [ 1 − 1], 𝐻2 = 2𝛽 (2𝛽 − 1 − ),
𝛽 2 −1 (𝛽 2 −1)2 3 𝛽2

𝛽 = Ratio of the longer to the shorter diameter of the droplet.

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 Fig. 3.6 shows the plot of Eq. (3.3) for the variation of 𝛽 on E at different 𝜀d ⁄𝜀𝐥 .

For “𝜀d > 20𝜀𝐥 ”, and when the applied electric field reaches the critical value 𝐸c , the droplets become unstable
and no longer depend on 𝐸. They keep elongating instead, eventually bridging up the electrodes and causing total
breakdown. The corresponding 𝛽c at 𝐸c is ~1.85, and now 𝐸c can be simplified as

𝜎
𝐸c = 1.524√ in kV/cm (3.4)
𝜀l 𝑟

Fig. 3.6 Variation of 𝜷 on E at different 𝜺𝐝 ⁄𝜺𝐥 .

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Example

Consider a water droplet having an initial radius r = 1 μm with a relative dielectric permittivity 𝜺𝐝 = 90 and
a surface tension 𝝈 = 4310-3 N/m suspended in a transformer oil with 𝜺𝐥 = 2.

𝜀d 90
Since = = 45 >> 20, Eq. (3.4) can be used, giving the critical electric field intensity for producing shape
𝜀l 2
instability as
𝜎 43×10−3
𝐸c = 1.524√ = 1.524√(2)(10−6 = 223 kV/cm
𝜀l 𝑟 )

This 𝐸c value agrees with the dielectric breakdown strength of commercial oils of 150–300 kV/cm (see Table 3.2),
indicating that the presence of water droplets as small as 1 μm radius (quite unobservable) can greatly reduce the
dielectric breakdown strength of liquids.

Now, if r is reduced to 0.05 μm, an increased 𝐸c of ~999 kV/cm is obtained.

This 𝐸c is approximately the dielectric breakdown strength of “pure liquid” of ~1,000 kV/cm (Table 3.1),
suggesting that pure liquids should contain droplets even smaller than 0.05 μm.

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3.4.3 Breakdown due to Solid Particles

In commercial liquids, solid (dust) particles cannot be avoided and will be present as dispersed particles or as
particulate chains. If the particles are considered to be spheroid in shape of relative permittivity 𝜀p (𝜀p > 𝜀l ) and are
present in a liquid of relative permittivity 𝜀l , they will experience an electrostatic force as described by Eq. (3.1):
1 (𝜀g −𝜀l )
𝐹= ∙ 𝛁𝐸 2 . The different way is that 𝜀p is generally larger than 𝜀l in the current case so that the
2𝑟 3 2𝜀l +𝜀g
electrostatic (positive) force has a tendency to move the particles towards the regions of stronger fields.

If there is only a single (or a few) particle between the electrodes, the particle will be subject to local field
enhancement depending on the shape of the particle. If the applied field exceeds the dielectric breakdown strength
of the liquid (𝐸 > 𝐸c ), local breakdown will occur near the particle. This will result in the formation of gas bubbles
which may, in turn, lead to the breakdown due to gas bubbles as described in Section 3.4.1, thereby initiating local
breakdown and hence total breakdown.

If the number of particles present in the liquid is large, the particles may become aligned due to the electrostatic
force, thus forming stable particulate chains to bridge up the electrodes and cause a breakdown between the
electrodes (Fig. 3.7).

Fig. 3.7 Particles forming particulate chains to bridge up the electrodes and cause a breakdown.

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3.4.4 Power Law Dependence between Breakdown Voltage and Gap Distance

While all the breakdown phenomena discussed above are not simple, they, very often, still fall short of
describing the experimental observations. The phenomena all try to account for the maximum obtainable dielectric
breakdown strength without considering the effect of electrode gap distance. In fact, the establishment of an easily
understandable and relatively accurate breakdown mechanism for commercial liquids containing various types of
impurities is being developed. The relationship between the breakdown voltage 𝑉𝑏 and the electrode gap distance d
for a given liquid is essentially determined by experimental approach via the following expression

𝑉𝑏 = 𝐴𝑑 𝑛 (3.5)
where A and n are constants with n always less than unity. It is noted that 𝑉𝑏 obtained for small volumes should not
be used in the case of large volumes.

Table 3.3 gives the typical breakdown strengths for highly purified liquids and the design field strengths
actually used. A design safety factor of ~10 is generally employed.

Table 3.3 Comparison between the maximum breakdown strengths for several highly purified liquids and the design
field strengths actually used for insulation systems.

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3.5 References

1. Adam Czewski, L, lonization, Conduction and Breakdown in Dielectric Liquids, Taylor and Francis, London (1969).
2. Gallager, T.J., Simple Dielectric Liquids, Clarendon Press, Oxford (1975).
3. Hawley, R. and Zaky, A.A., Conduction and Breakdown in Mineral OU, Peter Peregrinus, London (1973).
4. Alston, L.L, High Voltage Technology, Oxford University Press, Oxford (1968).
5. Lewis, TJ., Progress in Dielectrics, Vol. 1, Heywood, London (1959), pp. 97-140.
6. Sharbough, A. and Watson, P.K., Progress in Dielectrics, vol. 4, Heywood, London (1962), pp. 199-248.
7. Specifications for new insulating oils for transformers and switchgear", IEC No. 269 (1969).
8. Wilson, A.C.M., Insulating liquids: Their uses, manufacture and properties, Peter Peregrinus and IEE, London (1980).
9. BEE Colloquim on New Dielectric Fluids for Power Engineering" IEE, London (1980).

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