The effect of the electrode gap on breakdown in liquid dielectrics

It is well known fact that the breakdown voltage of an insulating liquid increases nonlinearly with increasing electrode gap. Under nonuniform field dc conditions two breakdown voltages are determined depending on the electrode polarity. Using point-plane geometries, with gaps of 5 mm of larger, one finds that typical transformer oils have higher breakdown voltages when the point is negative than when it is positive. Recently, perfluorinated polyethers have been found to produce opposite results when using average gap sizes of 5 to 10 mm. To elucidate this situation a study of the effect of gap size on breakdown voltage has been undertaken. The results show that for the polyethers at larger gaps the sequence is reversed. These observations are explained in terms of the respective streamer developments in these liquids and the relative stability of their negative ions. In the case of the conventional hydrocarbon type oils, the positive streamer usually grows slightly faster than the negative one, but the streamer inception voltages of both are rather similar. In the case of perfluorinated polyethers the positive streamers move at least 10x faster than the negative ones, but they require much higher inception voltages than negative ones. At gaps ≳ 12 mm and the associated higher applied voltages this breakdown at negative polarity occurs at higher voltages than at the positive one. The negative ions of the perfluoro compounds are much more stable than those of conventional hydrocarbons. The discharge of the negatively charged perfluoro ions requires much higher fields than do those of conventional hydrocarbons. The implications of these observations are discussed in some detail.