Vacuum Insulator Flashover Physics LDRD Report

Technical Report · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/2430215· OSTI ID:2430215

Hopkins, Matthew M. ^[1]; Brooks, William C. ^[2]; Clark, Raimi ^[2]; Dickens, James C. ^[2]; Echo, Zakari Sebastian ^[1]; Goeke, Ronald S. ^[1]; Klein, Tyler ^[2]; Moore, Christopher Hudson ^[1]; Mounho, Michael ^[2]; Neuber, Andreas A. ^[2]; Stephens, Jacob C. ^[2]

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1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
2. Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States)

Large, pulsed power and high voltage systems often employ a stack of insulators to separate a vacuum section away from water or oil sections. The size of this insulator stack often drives overall costs and feasibility of these systems. An electric breakdown along the insulator surface is a primary failure mechanism and is especially impactful if it occurs while power is still being delivered downstream. This report describes a set of experimental and modeling investigations into the cause of these breakdowns, especially focusing on the much less well-understood anode-initiated breakdowns that occur during early parts of power delivery. Additionally, new diagnostics for assessing relevant material properties and behavior of insulators are described. These results describe breakdown behavior and evolution at new temporal and spatial fidelities and provide hypotheses and some answers as to how these breakdowns can occur. This new understanding of the roles of different physics phenomena guide modifications and trade-offs in generating newer insulator stack designs that are smaller and/or have higher electrical stress thresholds.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• DOE Contract Number: NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 2430215
• Report Number(s): SAND--2023-13758R
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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