EE 4192 Laboratory Practice

VIII

IMPULSE GENERATOR
(High Voltage Laboratory)

Instructed by

: Prof. J. R. Lucas

Group Members:
Uyanahewa
U. L. D. V. Deshapriya
D. H. T. Dinumpura
J. M. S. M. Jayasekara

Name
100093K
100101L
100215N

: K.K.

Index No
: 100554C
Group
: 08
Date of Performance: 19 / 01 /

2015
K. K. Uyanahewa
2015

100554C

Date of Submission

: 02 / 02 /

OBSERVATIONS
Name
Index No
Group
Date

: K.K. Uyanahewa
: 100554C
: 08
: 19 / 01 / 2015

Average unintended triggered voltage with impulse generator sphere gaps

Sphere Gap

Average Unintended

(mm)

Triggered Voltage

5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

7.5
8.0
9.0
22.0
27.3
24.7
34.0
34.0
45

75

(kV)
x 6 = 45.0
x 6 = 48.0
x 6 = 54.0
x 6 = 132.0
x 6 = 163.8
x 6 = 148.2
x 6 = 204.0
x 6 = 204.0

Oscilloscope graphs for various

matching units (5 mm sphere gap)

15
30

60

Oscilloscope graphs of unintended tiggered voltage waveforms for various

impulse generator sphere gaps

5 mm gap

10 mm gap

15 mm gap

20 mm gap

25 mm gap

30 mm gap
35 mm gap

40 mm gap

Note:
2nd part of this practical couldnt be done.

RESULTS
1. Layout of the control panel of the impulse testing unit

2. The wavefront time, wavetail time, efficiency and stored energy at

rated maximum voltage

r, r

C0

- Charging Resistance (20 k)

Rs1
Internal Damping Resistance (15 )
Rs2
External Damping Resistance (180 )
RO
Wave Tail Resistance (2 k)
C
- Main Capacitance (0.25 F)
Wave Shaping Capacitance (3 nF)

C 0.25
C1 = =
=0.0417 F
6
6
C2 =C0 =0.003 F
R1=R0 =2 k
R2=R s 1 x 6 + Rs 2=15 x 6+180=270
Efficiency ()
C1
0.0417
=
=
=0.9329=93.29
C 1+C 2 0.0417+0.003

Wave front time (tf)

Defining wave front from 10% to 90% and considering only determines the wave front,
tf=

1
( t t )
( 0.90.3 ) 2 1

3.243 R 2 C 2
6

3.243 x 0.9329 x 270 x 0.003 x 10

2.4506 x 10

2. 4506 s
Wave tail time (tt)
Defining wave tail time as the time to decay to 50% of peak and only considering
tt =

0.693 R1 C 1

0.693 x 2 x 10 x 0.0417 x 10

0.9329
5

6.1953 x 10
61.9533 s

Stored Energy at Maximum Voltage

Maximum Voltage
C1
Emax =V max
C1 +C 2
V max
300 x 0.9329

279.87 kV

Maximum Energy
1
1
Pmax = C 1 V max2 + C0 Emax 2
2
2
1
1
x 0.0417 x 106 x (300 x 103 )2+ x 0.003 x 106 x(279.87 x 103)2
2
2
1876.5+117.4908

1993.9908 J

3. Plot the variation of intended and unintended triggering voltages with gap setting and obtain the
intended and unintended triggering zones.

Unintended Triggered Voltage vs. Sphere Gap

3.

Sphere

Unintended

Gap

Triggered

(mm)

Voltage

5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40

(kV)
45.0
48.0
54.0
132.0
163.8
148.2
204.0
204.0

Unintended Triggered Voltage vs. Sphere Gap Graph

210
200
190
180
170
160
150
140
130
120
110
Triggered Voltage (kV)

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

10

15

20

25

Sphere Gap (mm)

30

35

40

45

4. Plot the variation of the height of the second peak in the waveform
distortion.

Gap is set to 5 mm and the resistance values are changed to matching unit in
order to get the proper waveform from the oscilloscope. After analysing
observed graphs, 30 was selected as best resistance value.

Ratio between the first peak and second peak vs. Matching Resistance
Matching Resistance ()
15
30
45
60
75

Ratio between the first and

second peak
2.24
1.12
1.36
1.15
1.17

4.
5. Plot the variation of 50% breakdown voltage of the sphere gap with
gap distance.

50% Breakdown Voltage of the 125 mm Sphere Gap vs. Gap Distance

Gap Distance
(mm)
05
10
15
20
24
26
30
35
40
45
50

Positive (kV)
16.8
31.7
45.5
59
70
75.5
85.5
98
110
122
134

Negative
(kV)
16.8
31.7
45.5
59
70
75.5
85.9
97
108
119
129

55
60
65
70
75
80
90
100

145
155
164
173
181
189
203
215

138
146
154
161
168
174
185
195

50% Breakdown Voltage of 125 mm Sphere gap vs. Gap Distance Graph
220
210
200
190
180
170
160
150
140
130
120
Breakdown Voltage (kV)

110
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.510
Gap Distance (mm)
Positive

Polynomial (Positive)

Negative

Polynomial (Negative)

DISCUSSION
1. Difference between the processes of this impulse generator and the
standard Marx impulse generator circuit
The Nissin Impulse Generator is used for the practical and internal
arrangement is as follows.

Marx Impulse Generator

Nissin Impulse Generator

There is a trigger pulse circuit to create

Standard Marx Impulse Generator

No Trigger pulse circuit

breakdown
The amount of capacitors used are higher than Has less number of capacitors
Marx Impulse generator (doubled the
amount)
Allows the capacitor to be fully charged

Allows variations in the amplitude of the

without occurring the breakdown. (controlled

impulses without a proper control

operation )

mechanism. (uncontrolled operation )

2. Difference between any stated values, theoretical values and

practically observed values during this experiments

Impulse Voltage
Wave front time
Wave tail time

Theoretical
300 kV
2.4506 s
61.9533 s

Practical
280 kV
2 s
28 s

Possible reasons for the deviations between stated, theoretical and practical
values,
Human errors done while doing practical.
Calculation errors.
Ionization of air during the practical would change the breakdown
strength of air and result in air gap breakdowns before the
theoretical value.
Resistances of the connecting wires are neglected.
Capacitor values and charging resistor values can be deviated from
nameplate values.
Theoretically impulse generator should produce 300kV, but
practically due to the resistances that are in series during charging
the capacitors are not all charged to the same voltage.
Distances are controlled by a mechanical system and the system
was not accurate since there was some play within the wheels.
To have an accurate breaking voltage, the spheres must be cleaned
and shiny. Because of the dust and the corrosion results can be
changed from the actual values.
3. Significance of the layout of the control panel of the impulse
generating equipment
Special interlocking system is used in high voltage laboratory. Control
panel can only turn on if the gate of the testing area is closed. When the
control panel is turned on, supply voltage is gradually increase by using
rotating voltage regulator. Voltage and the charging current can be observed
using the two dials in control panel.
The Alarm button in the control panel is there for the safety purposes.
When someone presses that button in an emergency situation it will emit an
alarm sound to inform the people around the test area to be away from the
danger. And also there is a power indicator bulb to show whether the impulse
generator is at ON stage or OFF stage. It is useful to identify the status of
the equipment. Current display is to show the maximum charging current.
Circuit can be operated not to exceed the maximum charging current above
10mA. Safety of the people and equipment both can be achieved through this.
Magnetic contactor should turn on before increasing the voltage by rotating the
control dial.
4. Reasons for the deviation of output waveforms when different
positions of the matching units used in the measurement

To observe the proper transient signal from the oscilloscope, there must
be a perfect matching of the signals at its both sending and receiving ends. In
this practical low voltage side of the voltage divider is connected to the
oscilloscope through a delay cable. By changing the matching unit resistance,
most appropriate value has to be selected for the resistance value at the
receiving end to control the amount of reflection and transmission transient.
That selected value must be equal with the resistance of the delay cable for
the perfect matching. If we use different values of the matching unit, observed
waveforms have different distortion. When complete matching is performed,
the waveform distortion is the minimum. It can be identified by analyzing the
output graph of the oscilloscope.
5. Important features of the oscilloscope that was used for the study
of fast transient phenomena
Digital oscilloscope is used for the practical. The sampling frequency of
the oscilloscope is much higher. Therefore, captured waveforms have high
accuracy. To capture the high speed transient, oscilloscope must have a higher
intensity. Since the speed is high, the intensity is lowered and hence a higher
intensity is required. In these the beam should not come on till the transient
comes in because if it is stationary, the spot of high intensity would fog the
photograph before the transient comes on or if it is moving, the beam may
have swept before the transient comes. Previously mentioned delay cable is
used to delay the incoming transient waveform. So we can clearly capture the
whole transient.
6. Comparison of sphere gap characteristic observed with the given
value in the table.
Distances are controlled by a mechanical system and the system was not
accurate since there was some play within the wheels. so actual gap distance
may not be the distance shown in the linear scale. The reading may not be
accurate due to the corrosion and dust in the equipment. Human errors done
while doing practical is another cause. The breakdown voltages were observed
by an observer. He might not be able to read the exact breakdown voltage as
the breakdown occurs suddenly. Test was done in a sequence manner. Testing
of one gap space might be effected by the previous gap space test as there
might be a conductive path between two spheres for some time interval.
REFERENCE
High Voltage Engineering by Prof. J. R. Lucas