Abstract:
This thesis deals mainly with the effect of field non-uniformity and the impact of temperature on the breakdown characteristic of transformer oil under inhomogeneous fields. The experiments are performed with DC and switching impulse voltages. The sphere-plane configuration is used to vary the degree of field non-uniformity, i.e. Emax/Eavg, in the range between 1.14 and 5.34. The quality of transformer oil is controlled such that it contains less than 1 microm. impurities and moisture of less than 30 ppm. The average breakdown voltage, breakdown strength and distribution function of breakdown voltage are calculated. The results are as follows: 1. The normal distribution provide a good representation of DC and switching impulse breakdown voltages. 2. The average breakdown voltage of DC and switching impulse is increased with increasing sphere electrode size and increasing gap. The breakdown dielectric strength is decreased with decreasing sphere electrode size and increasing gap. 3. The average breakdown voltage of DC and switching impulse is increased with increasing temperature in the range between 30 and 80ํC. Under slightly non-uniform fields, the breakdown voltage only slightly increase with temperature. However, it significantly increase with temperature under highly non-uniform fields.