EE450: High Voltage Engineering

Lecture 24, 25

Farhan Mahmood, PhD

Department of Electrical Engineering
UET, Lahore

January 25, 2017

Outline

Non-destructive Testing of Insulation

• High voltage testing

• Non-ideal dielectrics
• Insulation resistance
• Measurement of insulation resistance
• Dielectric constant
• Complex Permittivity
• Dielectric strength
• Losses in a dielectric
• Schering bridge

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High Voltage Testing

• The insulation materials are subjected to varying degrees of TEAM (thermal,

electrical, ambient and mechanical) stresses. For example:
˗ Electrical stresses (normal operational voltage, overvoltages due to switching,
lightning, and faults)
˗ Environmental conditions (UV-radiations, pollution, dirt, dust particles,
temperature, pressure and humidity etc.)
• The degradation of the dielectric would cause changes in its dielectric parameters
and reduce the anticipated lifespan of a dielectric material.
• To ensure the reliable operation of power system, the dielectric parameters of the
various insulations should be monitored through appropriate testing methods.

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High Voltage Testing

• High voltage testing is mainly classified into two categories:

˗ Destructive insulation testing
˗ Non-destructive insulation testing
• In destructive testing, the objective is to investigate the breakdown voltages of
insulation under AC, DC, and impulse voltages.
˗ No conclusion could be drawn regarding the cause of breakdown from the
knowledge of the breakdown voltage.
˗ No information can be obtained regarding the life expectancy.
˗ Possibility of permanent failure of insulating material.

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High Voltage Testing

• In non-destructive testing, tests related to dielectric properties of insulation are

performed that permit early detection of insulation faults.
• It is expected that these materials work satisfactorily if such parameters vary over a
certain ranges that may occasionally occur in the system.
• Therefore, the high voltage testing involves the measurement of following
parameters:
˗ Insulation resistance offered by dielectrics
˗ Dielectric constant
˗ tan δ
˗ Dielectric strength
˗ Partial discharges

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Non-ideal Dielectrics

• By definition, the term dielectric indicate the storage of electric charges. All dielectric
materials are capable of storing electrostatic energy in their electric field.
• The source of the energy is the applied external field.
• The storage of energy within the dielectric takes place due to a shift in the position of
bound internal charges. This process is called polarization.
• When the direct voltage is applied, the dielectric material will polarize such that the
separation or storage of charges takes place.
• A pure or ideal dielectric is one which behaves as a charge storage element. This
means that when the voltage source is disconnected, the potential shall remain the
same, theoretically, up to an infinite time.

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Non-ideal Dielectrics

• In case the potential reduces with time, the dielectric material is considered as a
non-ideal.
• In addition to the charge stored in the dielectric material, a charge dissipative
process takes place in all dielectrics. This effect is called the charge leakage.
• Thus, an ideal dielectric can be represented by a pure capacitor C1 whereas a real
dielectric is always associated with loss.
• To quantify the degree of charge leakage, two equivalent circuits have been
proposed to model an insulation between two parallel plates.

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Non-ideal Dielectrics

• In the circuit (a), the charge storage part is represented by the capacitor, Cp and the
dissipation part (due to the reduction in voltage upon de-energization) is represented
by a resistive element, R, called the leakage resistance.
• In circuit (b), the applied voltage should be time varying as otherwise no current
flows through the series equivalent resistor (the capacitor blocks the direct voltage).

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Insulation Resistance

• The dc resistance offered by an insulating material is also known as the insulation

resistance of a dielectric.
• Generally, it is described in terms of specific insulation resistance “ρins”, which is
reciprocal of the dc conductivity kdc.

• The leakage resistance Rdc of an insulating material is determined by measuring the

current when a constant d.c. voltage is applied.
• For the measurement of dc resistance of the insulating material, a d.c. voltage of
100-1000 V is applied between electrode 1 and the earth.

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Insulation Resistance

• The measuring electrode 2 is earthed through a sensitive ammeter.

• The third electrode known as guard ring electrode that surrounds the measuring
electrode is directly connected to ground to eliminate boundary field effects and
surface currents.

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Insulation Resistance

• Consider a direct voltage Udc applied across two uniform field electrodes separated
by a block of insulating material having an area A and length d.

• From the equivalent circuit diagram constituting a capacitance C and a dc resistance

Rdc in parallel, the following relation can be derived,

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Insulation Resistance

• For a uniform electric field,

• For most of the insulating materials, the specific conductivity lies in the range of 10–16
to 10–10 S/cm, which gives currents to be measured of these specimen to be of the
order of picoampers or nanoamperes.

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Insulation Resistance

• When we apply direct voltage across the insulation, a current starts passing through
the insulation. This current has two main components:
˗ The current flowing through the leakage path over the surface of the solid
insulator. This leakage path is formed mainly due to moisture, pollution, dust etc.
which are naturally accumulated on the surface of the solid insulator. Since it is
the current that creeps over the surface of the dielectric, it is also known as
“creepage current”.
˗ The current flowing through the volume of the insulator body.

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Insulation Resistance

• The current flowing through the volume of the insulator is further divided in three
components:
˗ Capacitive charging current, which is instantaneous in nature and effectively
disappears within few moments.
˗ Absorption current, which decays from high value to zero. The insulation
resistance value taken within first few minutes of test is largely dominated by
absorption current.
˗ Conduction current, which remains constant throughout the insulation
resistance test.
• Both charging current and absorption current become insignificant, the test result is
mainly predominated by the conduction current and creepage current.

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Insulation Resistance

• Accordingly, a dielectric material is characterized by two different resistivities:

˗ Volume resistivity
˗ Surface resistivity
• Volume resistivity, ρvol, is defined as the resistance between opposite faces of a 1-
metre cube of the insulation.
• Surface resistivity, ρs, may be defined as the resistance between two opposite
edges of a unit square of material.

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Dielectric Constant

• The permittivity of a dielectric material (ε) describes its tendency to become internally
polarize when subjected to an electric field.
• A material with high permittivity polarizes more in response to an applied electric field
than a material with low permittivity, thereby storing more energy in the material.
• The permittivity of insulating materials ε is defined as the product of absolute
permittivity of free space (vacuum) ε0 and the relative permittivity εr of the material.

• In insulating materials, polarization is basically a phenomenon of interaction between

the applied external electric field and the charge carriers, such as the atoms, ions or
molecules present in the dielectric material.

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Dielectric Constant

• Every atom or molecule in a dielectric is electrically neutral. For most dielectrics,

centers of gravity of the positive and negative charges in an atom or molecule
coincide in the absence of electric field.
• When a dielectric is placed in an electric field, the positive and negative charges shift
in opposite directions against their mutual attraction.
• Consequently, a small electric dipole is formed which is aligned with the direction of
electric field lines.
• The alignment is of such a nature that positive charges tend to point towards the
negative electrode and negative charges tend to point towards the positive electrode.
This process is called polarization.

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Dielectric Constant

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Dielectric Constant

• The positive and negative charges are bound with each other by atomic and
molecular forces and can only shift positions slightly in response to the external
electric field.
• Since, the two charges in a dipole cannot separate one from the other and migrate
across the material in opposite directions unde the electric field. Hence, these
charges are called bound internal charges.
• On the other hand, when an electric field is applied, the charges are brought from
the supply and placed on the electrodes plates. These charges are called free
charges.
• The positive and negative charges near each other in the material cancel each other
out.

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Dielectric Constant

• The dielectric material can be considered to have a positive charge on one side, and
a negative charge on the other.
• Thus, a dielectric begins generating its own electric field. This new field opposes the
existing electric field that aligned the dipoles in the first place.
• Thus, dielectrics are classified into two categories:
˗ Non-polar
˗ Polar
• In non-polar dielectrics, the centre of positive and negative charges coincide so
that the dipole arrangement is not present in the absence of electric field. However,
when an external electric field is applied to it, an electric dipole is formed.

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Dielectric Constant

• In polar dielectrics (such as water), the centre of positive and negative charges do
not coincide so that the dipole arrangement exist without the application of electric
field.
• However, such dipoles are randomly oriented so that under the application of electric
field, the dipoles experience torque and they align with the direction of electric field.

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Dielectric Constant

• The effect of polarization is analytically described by the relative permittivity εr.

• When the dipole is formed due to polarization, there exists an electric dipole moment
p.

where Q = magnitude of one of the two charges

d = distance vector from negative to positive charge
• Let n = number of dipoles per unit volume
Δv = total volume of the dielectric
N = total dipoles = nΔv
• By principle of superposition, the total dipole moment is given by,

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Dielectric Constant

• If the dipoles are randomly oriented, ptotal is zero but if dipoles are aligned in the
direction of applied E, then ptotal has a significant value.
• The polarization P is defined as the total dipole moment per unit volume.

• The unit of P is same as that of flux density, that is, coulombs per square meter
(C/m2). Thus, the polarization increases the electric flux density in a dielectric
material. Hence, flux density in the dielectric is given by,

• For isotropic and linear medium, P and E are parallel to each other at every point
and related by,

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Dielectric Constant

• Note that χe is called electric susceptibility of the material. It is dimensionless

proportionality constant that indicates the degree of polarization of a dielectric
material in response to an applied electric field.
• Substituting,

• Thus, the quantity (χe + 1) is denoted εr and defined as relative permittivity or

dielectric constant of the dielectric material. Finally, we may write,

where, ε = εr.ε0 is called permittivity of dielectric material, ε0 is the permittivity of

free space = 8.85 × 10-12 F/m.

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Dielectric Constant

• Accordingly, the relative permittivity (or dielectric constant) is defined as the ratio of
permittivity of dielectric to that of free space.

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Complex Permittivity

• Consider an alternating electric field applied to a dipole. When the field first strikes
the dipole, the dipole rotates to align itself with the electric field.
• As time passes, the electric field reverses its direction, and the dipole must rotate
again to remain aligned with the correct polarity.
• As the diploe rotates, energy is lost through the generation of heat (friction) as well
as the acceleration and deceleration of the rotational motion of the dipole.
• Furthermore, there is a finite time lag between the application of the external field
and the establishment of polarization mechanism, that is, a material does not
instantaneously polarize when an electric field is applied.

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Complex Permittivity

• The electric field density comes into effect with a negligible time lag with respect to E
and according to Maxwell’s law, the free space flux density, D0 is given by,

• When a dielectric medium (condensed matter) of relative permittivity, εr is placed

between the planes, the flux density vector, D can be written as,

where angle δ refers to the phase angular difference between the applied electric
field and the establishment of the flux density vector.
• It may also be noted that the permittivity εr is a measure of the excess charge a
condensed dielectric can store over and above that of the free space.

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Complex Permittivity

• This means that in the time domain, a finite time lag corresponding to δ. Since, the
ratio of D to D0 is the permittivity of the medium. Thus:

• Since the quantity on the RHS is complex, the LHS also should be a complex
quantity, denoted by εr*.

• Separating the real and imaginary parts,

where εr′ is called the permittivity, and

εr″ is called the loss factor.

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Complex Permittivity

• The ratio of the imaginary part to the real part, called the dissipation factor or loss
tangent, is:

• A lossy dielectric is often used to imply a dielectric possessing considerable

magnitude of the loss factor.

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Complex Permittivity

• The degree to which the dipole is out of phase with the incident electric field and the
losses that ensue determine how large the imaginary part of the permittivity is as a
function of material and frequency.
• The larger the imaginary part, the more energy is being dissipated through motion,
and the less energy is available to propagate past the dipole.
• Thus, the imaginary part of the relative permittivity is directly related to loss in the
system.

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Dielectric Strength

• The dielectric strength of a dielectric is the maximum electric field (or stress) that a
dielectric can withstand without experiencing a breakdown.
• Although it is often deemed as a characteristic of the material, it is found to be a
function of several variables, such as, temperature, thickness of the specimen,
geometry of the electrodes, waveform of the applied voltage and local conditions.
• Even under controlled conditions, the dielectric strength shows a high degree of
variability and hence, there is a need to specify not only its nominal value, but also
the interval over which it may lie, along the conditions of measurement.
• Normally, parallel plane, or plane-sphere electrode geometries are used to measure
the breakdown voltage and hence the dielectric strength.

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Dielectric Strength

• When the electric field in a dielectric is sufficiently large, it begins to pull electrons
completely out of the molecules, and the dielectric becomes conducting.
• Dielectric breakdown is said to have occurred when a dielectric becomes conducting.

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Losses in a Dielectric

• Following are the mechanisms which lead to the loss:

˗ Conduction loss Pc by ionic or electronic conduction
˗ Polarization loss Pp by polarization
˗ Ionization loss Pi by partial discharges internal or external zones

• Conduction losses can be taken into

account by a resistor R0 (σ) in parallel.
• Polarization losses produce a real
component of the displacement current
which is simulated by resistor R1.
• Pulse partial discharges are simulated by
right hand branch.

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Losses in a Dielectric

• Suppose that a vacuum capacitor with capacitance C0 is connected to an ac voltage

source V = V0 exp (jωt) with an angular frequency ω = 2πf.
• The charged stored by the capacitors is Q = C0V and the current Ic flowing in the
circuit,

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Losses in a Dielectric

• Suppose that a dielectric material has been inserted into a capacitor as shown in the
figure.
• The total current consists of two components:
˗ Charging current (Ic) that leads V by 90̊
˗ Loss current (Il) that in phase with V

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Losses in a Dielectric

• The total current leads the voltage by an angle less than 90̊ and is given by,

where C is the capacitance of capacitor loaded with dielectric material

G is the conductance of dielectric material
• The angle between Ic and I is also known as loss angle δ, and is equal to (90 - θ)º.
It is typically expressed in terms of tan δ (also called loss tangent or dielectric loss
angle).
• Dielectrics having high value of tan δ indicates high power loss and are regarded as
poor insulating materials. Thus, high value of tan δ is undesirable.
• The measurement of tan δ in insulating materials provides an indication of the quality
of insulating material.

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Losses in a Dielectric

• The electrical behaviour of insulating materials under a.c voltages can be

represented by two equivalent circuits, losses have been simulated by resistances.

Page 37
Losses in a Dielectric

Page 38
Losses in a Dielectric

• As mentioned earlier, the dielectric loss consists of three components corresponding

to the three loss mechanism:

• For each of these, an individual loss tangent can be given such that,

• If only conduction losses occur, then the conduction loss is measured in terms of
specific dielectric loss.
• The power losses per unit volume of the dielectric material is defined as specific
dielectric loss denoted by Wvol.
Losses in a Dielectric

• When a dielectric is subjected to a steady state static electric field E, the current
density Jc is given by:

• Assuming a cuboid of the insulating material with an area A and thickness d, then
Losses in a Dielectric

• Suppose that an alternating voltage is applied across a homogeneous dielectric

material of area A and thickness d with lossy dielectric. The capacitance is given by,

• Impedance of the circuit is given by,

• Thus, the admittance of the circuit is given by,

Page 41
Losses in a Dielectric

• The admittance can be expressed in the form,

Note: The admittance of the dielectric

medium is equivalent to a parallel
where combination of an ideal lossless
capacitor C’ with a relative permittivity εr'
and resistance of 1/Gp or conductance
Gp.

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Losses in a Dielectric

• The input power is given by,

• Specific dielectric loss Wvol is given by,

Page 43
Losses in a Dielectric

where E is the electric field

ω is the radian frequency
• Conclusions:
˗ Power loss is a function of ω, E and tan δ
˗ Low tan δ is desirable to ensure low power loss for a good dielectric material
˗ If tan δ varies and changes abruptly with the application of high voltage, it shows
inception of internal partial discharge.

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Losses in a Dielectric

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Schering Bridge

• The dielectric loss can be quantified by tan δ.

˗ Too high losses during AC voltages may cause thermal breakdown.
˗ Dielectric losses provide information about the quality of newly manufactured
equipment.
˗ Capacitance and dissipation factor shall be essentially constant with increasing
voltage, as insulation systems are linear systems.
• Schering bridge is widely used for the measurement of insulation resistance,
capacitance and tan δ of high voltage insulators, cable sample and capacitors.
• The bridge measures the capacitance Cx and tan δ of the test specimen by
comparing it with a gas-filled standard capacitor Cs which has very low and nearly
negligible loss over a wide range of frequency.

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Schering Bridge

Page 47
Schering Bridge

• The bridge is balanced by successive variation of R1 and C2 until on the oscilloscope

(detector) a horizontal straight line is observed.
• At balance:

Page 48
Schering Bridge

• Balance equation becomes:

• Equating the real and imaginary parts:

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Schering Bridge

• Thus, tan δ can be obtained as:

• If, however, the specimen is replaced by a parallel equivalent circuit, then at balance:

• From the balance equation:

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Schering Bridge

• From the balance equation:

• Equating real and imaginary parts:

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Schering Bridge

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Schering Bridge

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION