Partial discharges in polymer insulation

Abstract

Evolving power conditioning system requirements in many technological areas will place severe demands upon long-lived, repetitive, pulse-power components. A major pacing system component in this high reliability, repetitive pulse-power technology is the energy storage capacitor [1]. Recently, increasing availabilities of quality plastic films, especially polypropylene, and the discovery of the excellent properties of perfluorocarbon liquids for impregnation fluids, make spirally-wound, plastic film/liquid impregnated capacitors a leading candidate for high energy density, repetitively operated, pulse discharge energy storage devices. The dominant lifetime-limiting mechanism in this type of high energy density capacitor is a direct result of partial discharge activity at the buried foil edges, where the electric field is maximum. Objectives of ongoing research programs include the characterization and understanding of the mechanisms of this and related partial discharge phenomena.