Breakdown voltage (BDV) is calculated for two electrode structures, namely sphere and donut gaps, operating in air at atmospheric pressure. The calculation is based on the streamer breakdown criterion. Comsol software is used for field analysis and calculation of critical number of electrons by assessing integrals of the efficient ionization coefficient along field lines. Thus, also lengths of...
The direct solution of Boltzmann kinetic equation is of great interest for theoretical investigations of various gas discharges. Such approach is known to be the most fundamental because it gives comprehensive information about the discharge and its evolution by providing electron and ion distribution functions for any given time point. The complete numerical solution of Boltzmann equations...
It is well-known that underwater electrical wire explosion (UEWE) is accompanied by generation of strong shock waves (SSW) with fast front and short duration, which makes it attractive for various scientific and technological purposes. In this paper, a device for UEWE was developed and composed of pulse capacitors (200μF, 1~6kV), a spark gap switch, and a metal wire immersed in a chamber...
We are presenting an innovative space plasma generator, using explosive-driven flux compression generators to convert explosive chemical energy to electromagnetic energy. We will then use a Joule heating to heat up light metallic load in a sub millisecond time scale to transform the load from a solid metallic state to a first ionization plasma state going through multi-phase transitions to...
In the capacitive pulsed power supply, several or even hundreds of capacitors are in parallel to provide energy. If internal short circuit occurs in one of the capacitors, the others will inject a lot of energy into the fault one, which may cause a severe accident. By taking a shunt capacitor bank composed of ninety-six 33kJ-capacitors as the research object, a scheme which tries to protect...
Michael G. Mazarakis, Mark L. Kiefer, Joshua J. Leckbee,
Sandia National Laboratories
Albuquerque, NM 87185
Del H. Anderson, Frank L. Wilkins, Robert J. Obregon
National Security Technologies
We have constructed a Component Test Stand (CTS) to test various high voltage components to be utilized in near future pulsed-power devices. In addition to cable and oil feed-through design voltage...
A study is carried out on a uniformly contaminated cap and pin insulator string consisting of 10 glass discs, using a Finite Element Analysis software. A CAD design of the insulator is such that a thin conductive water layer covers the entire glass region. This water layer represents acid rain. 150µS/cm conductivity is applied to the water layer to represent an approximate 5% concentration of...
Initial experiments have been conducted with a new model of the LANL Ranchero magnetic flux compression generator (FCG) that has been introduced as the Ranchero-S configuration. The design overcomes a weakness in the earlier versions related to possible flux pocketing near the output glide plane when currents become very high. In addition to employing an armature that is sculpted to match a...
This paper is concerned with use of partial discharge monitoring to provide information about the condition of the insulation of electrical cables used for HVDC transmission systems. Electrical cables are among the most fundamental components of any electrical grid, from large subsea international interconnectors, to the ‘last mile’ providing consumers with their electrical supply. The size,...
