Fast Diagnostic For Electrical Breakdowns In Vacuum

Technical Report · Tue Mar 25 04:00:00 EDT 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/928534· OSTI ID:928534

Houck, T L; Javedani, J B; Lahowe, D A

The design of an inexpensive, small, high bandwidth diagnostic for the study of vacuum insulator flashover is described. The diagnostic is based on the principle of capacitive coupling and is commonly referred to as a D-dot probe due to its sensitivity to the changing of the electric displacement field. The principle challenge for the design proved to be meeting the required mechanical size for the application rather than bandwidth. An array of these probes was fabricated and used in an insulator test stand. Data from the test stand with detailed analysis is presented. A highlight of the application of the probes to the test stand was the ability to detect the charging of the insulator surface by UV illumination as a prelude to the insulator flashover. The abrupt change in the insulator's surface charge during the flashover was also detected.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 928534
• Report Number(s): LLNL-TR-402609
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DESIGN
ELECTRICAL FAULTS
FLASHOVER
ILLUMINANCE
PROBES
SENSITIVITY