High Voltage Impulse Generator

OBSERVATION SHEET
























Graph of the Triggered Voltage Vs Sphere Gaps:
Sphere Gap (cm) Average Voltage (kV)
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5



4.0


CALCULATIONS
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
T
r
i
g
g
e
r
e
d

V
o
l
t
a
g
e
(
k
V
)

Gap distance (cm)
Triggered Voltage Vs Sphere Gap Distance

C
S
Surge Capacitance
C
0
Shunt Capacitance
R
1D
Internal Damping Resistance
R
1
Charging Resistance
R
OUT
Wave Tail Resistance
O =
=
O =
=
=
= = =
k
R
R
F C
F C C
OUT
O
S
1.4286
5000 // 2000
270
180 + 15 6
003 . 0
042 . 0
6
25 . 0
6 /
1
1

- Efficiency

93.3% 0.933
003 . 0 042 . 0
042 . 0
1
1
= =
+
=
+
=
O
C C
C
q

- Wave front time
Wave front is considered from 30% to 90%

s 18.15 T
10 003 . 0 10 2 933 . 0 3.243 T
C R 3.243 T
r
6 3
r
O OUT r

q
=
=
=

- Wavatail time


.623ms 0 T
933 . 0
10 042 . 0 10 0 2 0.693
T
C R 0.693
T
r
6 3
r
S OUT
r
=

=

=

q



- Stored Energy at Maximum Voltage


Maximum Voltage

kV E
E
C C
C
V E
O
280
003 . 0 042 . 0
042 . 0
300
max
max
1
1
max max
=
+
=
+
=


Maximum Energy

2007.6 J

- Peak inverse voltage of the diode


Peak inverse voltage of the diode = 30 kV
= 51.96kV











DISCUSSION
Difference between the practical values and theoretical values:
Wave tail time
Theoretical value = 44.57
Practical value =

The difference between the theoretical values and practical values may be due to following reasons.
- Human errors.
- Calculation errors.
- The ionization can be caused to change the breakdown strength of air while doing the practical.
- The resistance of the connecting wires are neglected
- There can be slight variations in the capacitor values and charging resistor values.
- As a result of aging, temperature and usage the wave front and wave tail control resistances can be
changed.
- Theoretically impulse generator should produce 300kV, but practically the capacitors are not all
charged to the same voltage due to the resistances that are in series during charging.

Use of impulse generator:
In order that equipment designed to be used on high voltage lines, and others, be able to withstand
surges caused in them during operation, it is necessary to test these equipment with voltages of the form
likely to be met in service. Impulse test systems are used to generate impulse voltages simulating
lightning strokes and switching surges. The Impulse Voltage Generator is the main part of an impulse
voltage test system. It consists of capacitors, resistors, and spark gaps. Some of its applications are
listed below.
Lightning testing on cables and insulators
Material and dielectric testing
Breaking of raw diamonds in mineralogy
Bridge wire exploding
Electron injection into nuclear reactors
Electron accelerators
Flash x-ray generation
Pulsed electron generation
Short duration luminous flash for ultra high speed photography
Nuclear electromagnetic pulse generator
Generation of axial plasma for injection purposes



Charging and Discharging Process of the Impulse Generator:
Produced impulse voltage
Theoretical value = 300 kV
Practical value = 280 kV


The impulse voltage generator consists of capacitors, resistors, and spark gaps.
The charging circuit consists of a high voltage step up transformer and a full bridge rectifier which
is used to provide HVDC supply to the capacitors.
The full wave bridge circuit has better voltage regulation characteristics than voltage doublers
circuits and does not require any capacitors for voltage doubling.
A stack of capacitors is simultaneously charged in a parallel configuration to a voltage "E" and then
discharged in series with a voltage of "nE" where "n" in the number of capacitors charged in order
to obtain a higher impulse voltage.
The discharge of capacitors occurs through a special precisely spaced spark gap switches for each
capacitor.
The breakdown of the controlling sphere gap occurs first and it initiates the triggering of the other
sphere gap.
By changing the gap distance between the controlling spheres, it is possible to change the
magnitude of the breakdown voltage.

Operation of impulse generator:
I. Uncontrolled operation









In the uncontrolled operation, the break down voltage of the sphere gap is less than the peak value
of the supply, so that it discharges as the voltage across the gap builds up above its breakdown
value.
Hence the capacitor most probably discharges through the impulse generator circuit while
producing an impulse waveform.
The impedance of the impulse generator circuit is much lower than that of the impulse generator
charging circuit. Therefore the rectifier and other related components could be disregarded during
the impulse.
The capacitor would charge up once again and the process would be repetitive.
Both the time of occurrence of the impulse or the exact magnitude are not controllable, as the
breakdown of a sphere gap is not exactly a constant but statistical.
,.
C
2

C
1

R
1

Diode Sphere gap
a.c.
supply
h.v.
transformer
R
2

e














II. Controlled operation











In controllable method charging voltage is less than the spark over voltage.
The capacitor is permitted to reach the full charging voltage without the breaking down of the
sphere gap, though the same basic circuit is used,.
The spark over voltage is arranged at a slightly higher value than the charging voltage.
That is facilitated by a special arrangement of third sphere in between the other two, to be able to
initiate breakdown of the gap.
The potential across the main gap is divided into two by means of 2 equal resistors R, each of about
100 M. Hence half the applied voltage V appears across each of the two auxiliary gaps.
Once the capacitor C
1
has charged up to the full value, a small pulse voltage v (about 20 %) is
applied at the third electrode (also known as the trigger electrode).
Impulse generator waveforms for uncontrolled operation
C
2

C
1

R
1

Diode Sphere gap
a.c.
supply
h.v. transformer
R
2

Pulse v
e
R R

This pulse raises the voltage across one of the auxiliary gaps to more than half the charging voltage
(V + v) so that it would be just sufficient to breakdown the gap.
As this auxiliary gap breaks down, the full voltage would be applied across the remaining auxiliary
gap causing it also to breakdown.
Once both auxiliary gaps have broken down, the ionization present in the region would cause the
main gap also to breakdown almost simultaneously and thus the impulse voltage would be applied.





















Impulse generator waveforms for controlled operation

Control Panel:
This is used to increase the input voltage to the impulse generator unil the breakdown occurs. There is
a voltmeter and an ammeter to take the readings of input current and input voltage.






Important Features of oscilloscopes:
- Impulse waveforms have characteristics, which are changing vary rapidly, mostly in the order of
micro seconds. So the sampling frequency of the oscilloscope should be high enough to capture the
waveform with a greater accuracy.
- It should also have fairly adequate storage capacity.
Observed waveform











References:
High Voltage Engineering by Prof: J. Rohan Lucas
V measuring potential device
Impulse
generat
or
Chargin
g unit
Control
Panel