Characterization of arc by-products of sulfur hexafluoride and polymeric construction materials: Final report

Technical Report · Wed Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6617564

Bennett, A I; Carlson, G L; Lee, A

The purpose of this project was to develop test apparatus and procedures for evaluating the products of secondary reactions which might occur between proposed materials of construction and primary arc byproducts in high-voltage SF/sub 6/-insulated equipment. The developed procedure employs a small and convenient cell in which the arcing is produced by a series of capacitive pulse discharges. Gas chromatographic analysis of the arc byproducts shows that these products are similar to those produced by arcing in a circuit breaker, that their concentration varies approximately linearly with total arc energy, and that their composition depends on the nature of the test sample, with acceptable reproducibility. Effects of initial moisture content of the SF/sub 6/, of time delay between arcing and analysis, of individual pulse energy for a fixed total energy, and of cell construction materials, were also investigated. Deliberate variation of the initial moisture content of the SF/sub 6/ from 35 to about 2500 ppM did not show any significant effect on arc byproducts, excepting possibly for small increases of SO/sub 2/F/sub 2/ and COS with increasing moisture content; no effect has been definitely demonstrated. For a constant total arc energy, the arc product composition showed no dependence on the individual arc pulse energy. No effect on arc product composition was seen from the introduction into the test cell of a large area of another material, in this case silicone rubber, which was not in contact with the arc. Corona discharges produced reaction products significantly different from those of arcs; in particular, corona discharges produced no CF/sub 4/, and also produced less CO/sub 2/ and SOF/sub 2/, and more SO/sub 2/F/sub 2/, than did arcs of the same total energy. It is concluded that this system and procedure, perhaps also using mass spectrographic analysis, are recommended for evaluation of these reaction products. 57 refs., 35 figs., 21 tabs.

• Research Organization: Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (USA). Research and Development Center; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6617564
• Report Number(s): EPRI-EL-5089; ON: TI87920376
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

200300* -- Electric Power Engineering-- Power Transmission & Distribution-- (-1989)
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON FLUORIDES
CARBON OXIDES
CARBON OXYSULFIDE
CARBON TETRAFLUORIDE
CHALCOGENIDES
CHROMATOGRAPHY
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC ARCS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
FLUORIDES
FLUORINATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC HYDROCARBONS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC FLUORINE COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POWER SUBSTATIONS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR FLUORIDES