Electrical tree initiation and growth in silicone rubber under combined DC-pulse voltage

Abstract

Electrical tree is a serious threat to silicone rubber (SIR) insulation and can even cause breakdown. Electrical trees under alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) voltage have been widely researched. While there are pulses in high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cables under operating conditions caused by lightning and operating overvoltage in the power system, little research has been reported about trees under combined DC-pulse voltage. Their inception and growth mechanism is still not clear. In this paper, electrical trees are studied under several types of combined DC-pulse voltage. The initiation and growth process was recorded by a digital microscope system. The experimental results indicate that the inception pulse voltage is different under each voltage type and is influenced by the combined DC. The initial tree has two structures, determined by the pulse polarity. With increased DC prestressing time, tree inception pulse voltage with the same polarity is clearly decreased. Moreover, a special initial bubble tree was observed after the prestressing DC.