Analysis of Chemical By-products from Partial Discharges in Air

Partial discharges (PDs) are believed to be one of the key factors accelerating high voltage (HV) equipment ageing. The chemical by-products of PDs actively contribute to the modification of insulations surface quality, especially in air medium due to the diversity of its constituents. Although nonthermal plasmas in air have been widely studied, their adaptation to HV systems is still highly complex and prone to controversies. In this work, a typical simulation of a fault leading to PD in air, through a Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) point-to-plane configuration, is performed in order to measure ozone (O3), nitrogen oxide (NO) and dioxide (NO2) by-products gases. The evolution of these species regarding PD duration, PD power and humidity is analyzed. Ozone production rate and dynamics are found to predominate over NO2 and NO ones. The effect of humidity on gases evolution is found to be indirect, as it mainly affects PD power.