Generation of Atmospheric Pressure Plasma by Repetitive Nanosecond Pulses in Air Using Water Electrodes

Dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） excitated by pulsed power is a promising method for producing nonthermal plasma at atmospheric pressure. Discharge characteri...     

Research on Nanosecond Pulse Corona Discharge with Cross Magnetic Field Applied

An application of magnetic field to the nanosecond pulse corona discharge is investigated. A cylinder reactor with different corona electrodes is set up for experimental study. A magnetic field with its direction perpendicular to the corona discharge is applied. Different discharge images are taken under single nanosecond pulse with a high sensitive UV-visible light imagine recorder. Experimental results show that with a cross magnetic field the nanosecond corona discharge both generates paths and develops homogeneously in space more than that without the magnetic field. The results may lead to a possibility to apply a cross magnetic field on nanosecond pulse corona discharge for getting higher desulfurization efficiency.     

New Breakdown Electric Field Calculation for SF6 High Voltage Circuit Breaker Applications

The critical electric fields of hot SF6 are calculated including both electron and ion kinetics in wide ranges of temperature and pressure, namely from 300 K up to 4000 K and 2 atmospheres up to 32 atmospheres respectively. Based on solving a multi-term electron Boltz- mann equation the calculations use improved electron-gas collision cross sections for twelve SF6 dissociation products with a particular emphasis on the electron-vibrating molecule interactions. The ion kinetics is also considered and its role on the critical field becomes non negligible as the temperature is above 2000 K. These critical fields are then used in hydrodynamics simulations which correctly predict the circuit breaker behaviours observed in the case of breaking tests.     

Multichannel Discharge Characteristics of Gas Switch Gap in SF6-N2 or SF6-Ar Gas Mixtures Under Nanosecond Triggering Pulses

Experiments were carried out to ascertain multichannel discharge characteristics in a self-designed coaxial field-distortion gas switch filled with SFa-N2 or SF...     

Decomposition of Potent Greenhouse Gases SF6, CF4 and SF5CF3 by Dielectric Barrier Discharge

For their distinguished global warming potential(GWP100)and long atmosphere lifespan,CF_4,SF_6 and SF_5CF_3were significant in the field of greenhouse gas research.The details of discharging character and the optimal parameter were discussed by using a Dielectric Barrier Discharge(DBD)reactor to decompose these potent greenhouse gases in this work.The results showed that SF_6 could be decomposed by 92% under the conditions of 5 min resident time and3000 V applied voltage with the partial pressure of 2.0 k Pa,28.2 k Pa,and 1.8 k Pa for SF_6,air and water vapor,respectively.0.4 k Pa CF_4 could be decomposed by 98.2% for 4 min resident time with 30 k Pa Ar added.The decomposition of SF_5CF_3 was much more effective than that of SF_6 and CF_4and moreover,1.3 k Pa SF_5CF_3,discharged with 30 k PaO_2,Ar and air,could not be detected when the resident time was 80 s,40 s,and 120 s,respectively.All the results indicated that DBD was a feasible technique for the abatement of potent greenhouse gases.     

Numerical Modelling Point-to-Plane of Negative Corona Discharge in N_2 Under Non-Uniform Electric Field

The paper presents a simulation model of the negative corona discharge in N_2 under various pressures.The simulated discharge is of a negative point-to-plane mass type,with an inter-electrode separation distance of 20 mm and a symmetry about the axis of discharge.This simulation investigates the behavior of the neutral density and temperature for different pressures in the range of 0.1-10.0 bar.The spatial and temporal evolution of the neutral gas is analyzed based upon the equations of continuity,momentum and energy in a two-dimensional cylindrical geometry model.For that geometry of the system,the FCT(Flux Corrected Transport) technique was adopted.The results show that the pressure plays a significant role of the neutrals dynamics.     

Improvement of Spatial Uniformity of Nanosecond-Pulse Diffuse Discharges in a Multi-Needle-to-Plane Gap

Large-scale non-thermal plasmas generated by nanosecond-pulse discharges have been used in various applications, including surface treatment, biomedical treatment, flow con?trol etc. In this paper, atmospheric-pressure diffuse discharge was produced by a homemade nanosecond-pulse generator with a full width at half maximum of 100 ns and a rise time of 70 ns. In order to increase the discharge area, multi-needle electrodes with a 3×3 array were designed. The electrical characteristics of the diffuse discharge array and optical images were investigated by the voltage-current waveforms and discharge images. The experimental results showed that the intensity of diffuse discharges in the center was significantly weaker than those at the margins, resulting in an inhomogeneous spatial uniformity in the diffuse discharge array. Simulation of the electric field showed that the inhomogeneous spatial uniformity was caused by the non-uniform distribution of the electric field in the diffuse discharge array. Moreover, the spatial uniformity of the diffuse discharge array could be improved by increasing the length of the needle in the centre of the array. Finally, the experimental results confirmed the simulation results, and the spatial uniformity of the nanosecond-pulse diffuse discharge array was signi?cantly improved.     

Induced Charge of Spherical Dust Particle on Plasma-facing Wall in Non-uniform Electric Field

Induced charge of a spherical dust particle on a plasma-facing wall was investigated analytically, where non-uniform electric field was applied externally. The one-dimensional nonuniform electrostatic potential was approximated by the polynomial of the normal coordinate toward the wall. The bipolar coordinate was introduced to solve the Laplace equation of the induced electrostatic potential. The boundary condition at the dust surface determines the unknown coefficients of the general solution of the Laplace equation for the induced potential. From the obtained potential the surface induced charge can be calculated. This result allows estimating the effect of the surrounding plasma, which shields the induced charge.     

Analysis of Arc Characteristics and Flow Field in Arc Chamber of High-Voltage SF6 Auto-Expansion Circuit Breaker

A new magnetic hydro-dynamics model for nozzle arc emphasizing the interaction of arc with PTFE （polytetrafluorethylene） vapour is established based on the conservation equations. The interruption of auto-expansion circuit breaker is simulated numerically by finite element method and the influence of PTFE vapour on the arc is analysed with this model. The results reveal that the flow field inside the arc chamber is determined by the arc current, the arcing time, the nozzle arc and the clogging of its thermal boundary. The establishment of quenching pressure relies on both SF6 gas and PTFE vapour that absorbed arc energy in the nozzle. The PTFE vapour leads to an increase in the pressure of nozzle arc obviously, and a decrease in the temperature of arc. But it enhances the temperature of arc at zero current and slows down the decreasing rate of arc temperature as the current decreases.     

Study on the Mathematical Model of Dielectric Recovery Characteristics in High Voltage SF6 Circuit Breaker

According to the stream theory,this paper proposes a mathematical model of the dielectric recovery characteristic based on the two-temperature ionization equilibrium equation.Taking the dynamic variation of charged particle's ionization and attachment into account,this model can be used in collaboration with the Coulomb collision model,which gives the relationship of the heavy particle temperature and electron temperature to calculate the electron density and temperature under different pressure and electric field conditions,so as to deliver the breakdown electric field strength under different pressure conditions.Meanwhile an experiment loop of the circuit breaker has been built to measure the breakdown voltage.It is shown that calculated results are in conformity with experiment results on the whole while results based on the stream criterion are larger than experiment results.This indicates that the mathematical model proposed here is more accurate for calculating the dielectric recovery characteristic,it is derived from the stream model with some improvement and refinement and has great significance for increasing the simulation accuracy of circuit breaker's interruption characteristic.     

The Dynamic Volt-Ampere Characteristics of a Vacuum Arc at Intermediate-Frequency Under a Transverse Magnetic Field

In this study, the changes of a vacuum arc’s appearance were observed and the volt-ampere characteristics of the vacuum arc at intermediate frequency were analyzed under a transverse magnetic field (TMF). The TMF and phase shift time were calculated by using the TMF contact model and the large phase shift of the magnetic field at a higher frequency was conductive to the dispersion process of residual plasma. The arc velocity was higher at 800 Hz than at 400 Hz. It can be inferred that TMF will encourage arc movement at 800 Hz. Moreover, the arc movement has an impact on the arc voltage. Because of the increasing length of the arc column with a high arc velocity, the elongated arc causes the arc voltage to increase. Specifically, the volt-ampere characteristics of the vacuum arc are divided into three stages in this paper. The higher the frequency, the greater the initial rate of rise in the arc voltage and the larger the area surrounded by arc volt-ampere characteristics. The correlations between the arc voltage and the amplitude and frequency of the current are also presented.     

Study of partial discharge characteristics in HFO-1234ze(E)/N2 mixtures

HFO-1234ze(E)(trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, chemical formula: C₃H₂F₄) is an extremely environmentally friendly SF₆ alternative gas with high electrical strength. In this paper, the partial discharge (PD) characteristics of HFO-1234ze(E)/N₂ mixtures were studied using the gas insulation test platform. The PD inception voltage of insulating gas under positive and negative half cycles of power frequency was tested. Using SF₆/N₂ mixtures as a control group, the effects of electrode spacing, mixing ratio and pressure on the insulation performance of HFO-1234ze(E)/N₂ mixtures were explored. The test results show that the PD inception voltage of the negative half-cycle of pure HFO-1234ze(E) under short electrode spacing can reach 0.96–1.04 times of pure SF₆ under different pressures; the PD inception voltage of 40%HFO-1234ze(E)/60%N₂ mixtures at 0.3 MPa is 0.67–0.89 times that of SF₆/N₂ mixtures under the same conditions, which has great application prospect.     

Simulation of Arc Rotation and Its Effects on Pressure of Expansion Volume in an Auto-Expansion SF6 Circuit Breaker

A 3D Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) arc model in conjunction with an arc move¬ment model is applied to simulate the arc rotation as well as to solve its effect on the pressure in an auto-expansion circuit breaker. The rotation of the arc driven by an external electromagnetic force is simulated in the case with 200 kA of the short circuit current and 16 ms of arc duration. The arc rotating process and the speed of arc rotation have been obtained in the simulation. A comparison of the pressure in the expansion volume with and without an external magnetic field has been carried out based on the calculation results of two cases. The results of the simulation reveal that the arc rotation, which causes more energy exchange between the arc and its surrounding gas, can evidently bring about the pressurization in the expansion volume, which would contribute to more effective arc quenching at current zero and further reducing operation power.     

Calculation of Electron Swarm Parameters of SF6/N2 in a Uniform Field Using an Improved Monte Carlo Collision Simulation Method

The electron swarm parameters of SF6/N2 are calculated in the present study using an improved Monte Carlo collision simulation method （MCS）. And some improved sampling techniques are also adopted. The simulation results show that the improved simulation method can provide more accurate results.     

Study of spatial and temporal evolution of Ar and F atoms in SF6/Ar microsecond pulsed discharge by optical emission spectroscopy

The study of sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) discharge is vital for its application in gas-insulated equipment. Direct current partial discharge (PD) may cause SF₆ decomposition, and the decomposed products of SF₆, such as F atoms, play a dominant role in the breakdown of insulation systems. In this study, the PD caused by metal protrusion defects is simulated by a needle-plate electrode using pulsed high voltage in SF₆/Ar mixtures. The spatial and temporal characteristics of SF6/Ar plasma are analyzed by measuring the emission spectra of F and Ar atoms, which are important for understanding the characteristics of PD. The spatial resolved results show that both F and Ar atom spectral intensities increase first from the plate anode to the needle and then decrease under the conditions of a background pressure of 400 Pa, peak voltage of −1000 V, frequency of 2 kHz, pulse width of 60 μs, and electrode gap of 5–9 mm. However, the distribution characteristics of F and Ar are significantly different. The temporal distribution results show that the spectral intensity of Ar decreases first and then increases slowly, while the spectral intensity of F increases slowly for the duration of the pulsed discharge at the electrode gap of 5 mm and the pulse width of 40–80 μs.     

The Effects of SF6-Cu Mixture on the Arc Characteristics in a Medium Voltage Puffer Gas Circuit Breaker due to Variation of Thermodynamic Properties and Transport Coefficients

In a gas circuit breaker,metal vapor resulting from electrode erosion is injected into the arc plasma.The arc then burns in a mixture of SF₆ and electrode vapor,which has properties significantly different from those of pure SF₆.Thermodynamic properties and transport coefficients of thermal plasmas formed in SF₆-copper vapor mixtures change as a function of temperature and pressure.The property that is mostly affected by the presence of copper is electrical conductivity,which is important in magnetohydrodynamic（MHD） analysis.In this study,the transport coefficients of SF₆ in the presence of 10 percent copper are considered as the basis of MHD simulation.Comparisons are made between the results during arc formation for pure SF₆ and SF₆-Cu mixture in a medium voltage（MV） circuit breaker.According to the transport coefficients influenced by the SF₆-Cu mixture,the distribution of the electric potential, temperature,electromagnetic force density and current density of the arc column are presented and discussed.Also,the arc stability and pinch effect near current zero with 3-D simulation are investigated,which is advantageous to improving the efficiency of arc plasma simulation.     

Simulation of the Carrier Trapping Effect in a Schottky CdTe Detector by Considering a Nonuniform Electric Field

In order to simulate the low-energy tail in the response function of a Schottky CdTe detector, which is a high-resolution room temperature X- or γ-ray spectrometer, we introduced the effect of a nonuniform electric field within the detector to the response function by a Monte Carlo calculation using the EGS5 code. The simulated response functions were compared with measurements for γ-rays from ¹⁰⁹Cd, ²⁴¹Am, ¹³³Ba, and ⁵⁷Co sources. The present method successfully reproduced the low-energy tail due to the charge carrier trapping effect, while the conventional model assuming a uniform electric field underestimated the low-energy tail significantly, particularly for higher energy γ-rays.