Lecture 1

Conduction and breakdown in gases

Lecture delivered by:
Meghana.T.V

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 Objectives

At the end of the session ,the student will be able to:

• Discuss the conduction in gaseous medium
• Explain theories of breakdown
• Derive Townsend’s first and second ionisation co-efficients

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 Air as insulating medium
• Air acts as a insulating medium at normal conditions. Other than air
N2,CO2,CCl2F2 and SF6 are also used
• The two electrodes are short circuited when the breakdown occurs
• Electric breakdown ,current flowing through the insulation occurs
when large voltage is applied across two electrodes

There are two types of electric discharges:

• Non-sustaining discharges: Potential gradient is less hence free
electrons cannot ionise other atoms .Population of ions and free
electrons are rapidly depleted
• Self-sustaining discharges: Potential gradient is high ,free electrons
are accelerated hard enough to ionise atoms they collide with.

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 Types of collision

• Ionisation by collision:
• The process of liberating an electron with the simultaneous
production of a positive ion is called Ionisation.
• A free electron collides with a neutral gas molecule and
gives rise to a new electron.
• Electron from cathode is accelerated more between
collisions when electric field E is applied to electrodes.

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 Contd..
 •An electron is emitted when the energy (ε)
gained by the electron exceeds the ionisation
potential Vi , that is the energy required to
dislodge an electron from it’s atomic shell.
• The electrons produced by ultra-violet light
falling on cathode ,ionise neutral gas particles
producing positive ions and a additional
electrons.
• The additional electrons make ionising
collisons and repeat the process

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 Photo-ionisation
• Photo ionisation is associated with ionisation by radiation

• This phenomenon occurs when the amount of radiation energy

absorbed by an atom or molecule exceeds it’s ionisation potential

Radiation is absorbed by :
• Excitation of the atom to higher energy state
• Continuous absorption by direct excitation of the atom or
dissociation of diatomic molecule or direct ionisation.

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©M. S. of
Ramaiah
Engineering
University
& Technology
of Applied Sciences © Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences
 Secondary ionisation process

• The process in which secondary electrons are produced is called

secondary ionisation
• It involves:
• Electron emission due to positive ion impact
• Electron emission due to photons
• Electron emission due to metastable and neutral atoms

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 Theories for gaseous medium breakdown

Two theories discuss about the ionisation in gases:

• Streamer’s Theory

• Townsend’s theory
• Townsend’s first ionisation

• Townsend’s secondary ionisation

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 Townsend’s first ionisation co-efficient
 • A parallel plate capacitor has gas as an insulating
medium separated by a distance as shown in figure
• When an electron collides a neutral atom an electron
and a positive ion are formed. This is called an
ionizing collision
• n0 number of electrons are emitted from the cathode
• α be the average number of ionizing collisions made
by electron per cm travel in the direction of the field
• The number of electrons at a distance x from cathode
be n
• When these n electrons travel a further distance of dx
they give rise to additional dn electrons
• Therefore dn=αndx
• =αdx
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 Contd..
  Differentiating on both the sides
lnn=αx+A
At x=0 ,nx=n0
lnn0= A
lnn= αx+ lnn0
ln=αx
The number of electrons reaching the anode (x=d) will be
n=n0exp(αd)
Therefore in terms of current
I=I0exp(αd)
The term exp(αd) is called the electron avalanche and represents the
number of electrons produced by one electron travelling from cathode
to anode
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 Summary

• Types of collision

• Ionisation process
• Derivation of Townsend’s first ionisation coefficient

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Faculty
©M. S. of
Ramaiah
Engineering
University
& Technology
of Applied Sciences © Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences
 Examples of HV equipment

Figure : Impulse voltage generator 12

Faculty
©M. S. of
Ramaiah
Engineering
University
& Technology
of Applied Sciences © Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences
 Applications of HV

1) High voltages are applied in laboratories in nuclear research, in particle

accelerators and Van de Graff generators.
2) Voltages up to 100kV are used in electrostatic precipitators.
3) X-Ray equipment for medical and industrial application also uses high
voltages.

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 Applications of HV
An Electrostatic Precipitator

Figure: An Electrostatic Precipitator

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 Applications of HV
Mobile high voltage X-ray generator

Figure: Mobile high voltage X-ray generator

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 Summary

• Definition of high voltage

• Levels of voltages for power consumption, distribution and transmission

• Advantages of very high voltages for transmission

• Applications of high voltage

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