Speaker
Description
Numerical methods are frequently employed for high voltage designs. The results usually determine the size of parts with safety factors. Charge transport based numerical codes are sometimes implemented to better understand the high voltage design related to the breakdown performance, however such approaches require computationally expensive compared to straight forward electric field computations. Notice that any numerical model should be verified (validated) with measurements with measurements to establish the model and release it for other to use in industrial settings. In some cases validation tests could be expensive due to time and man power needed for manufacturing a part and test set-up. A decrease the number of sample variations would be appreciated for quick success. In this contribution we will present a numerical model for determining how high voltage parts can be designed for best performance in air for reliable performance. The numerical method is based on the finite element method and utilizes a straight forward electric field solver. The results from the simulations are compared to actual measurements to determine whether a rule for air breakdown could be established just by considering numerical simulations as an early step to modify high voltage designs.
