Investigation into pulse sequence analysis of PD features due to electrical tree growth in epoxy resin

Electrical trees developed using point-plane samples have been investigated under three different voltage conditions: AC, AC with positive DC bias, and AC with negative DC bias. Visual observations mainly indicate two types of electrical tree progression from initiation to breakdown: “forward and backward” (FB) trees and "forward" (F) trees. FB trees can be observed in AC tests, while F trees occur in AC with DC bias tests. The difference between AC with negative DC bias and AC with positive DC bias is the growth of a rapid long branch prior to breakdown under negative DC bias conditions. Based on the pulse sequence analysis (PSA) technique applied to the PD data associated with electrical tree growth, the findings confirm that PSA curves under different voltage tests have different regions and PSA features can be indicators of tree growth

DC electrical tree growth in epoxy resin and the influence of the size of inceptive AC trees

Electrical tree propagation is a precursor to dielectric failure in high voltage polymeric insulation. Tree growth has been widely studied under AC conditions, but its behavior under DC is not well understood. The aim of this work was to examine the importance of polarity and initiating defect size on DC tree propagation. Electrical tree propagation in epoxy resin under constant DC voltages of +60 kV and −60 kV was measured in samples with classical needle-plane electrodes, but with small initial trees (< 100 μm) incepted under lower AC voltages before the DC tests. Experimental results showed strong polarity dependence. In either polarity, the length of the initial AC tree had a major influence on the inception of the subsequent DC tree. The effect was attributed to the defect being influential if it is larger than the space charge injection region. As a consequence, there is a critical defect size that will accelerate failure of DC insulation dependent on space charge injection behavior of the polymer/electrode system in question — a critical finding for high voltage asset management