The effect of gas bubbles on electrical breakdown in transformer oil

Abstract

To study the breakdown of transformer oil with gas bubbles an experimental setup was created that allows to determine electrical and optical properties of the discharge. Oil was sparged with air and sulfur hexafluoride gas. It was found that sparging oil with gas lowers the breakdown voltage of the oil. When a gas bubble is present between the electrodes at a considerable distance from the electrodes at first there is a spherically shape flash observed, resulting in the discharge gap overlapping by a conductive channel. These leads to discharges forming in the discharge gap with the frequency of hundreds Hz and higher. Despite the slightly lower breakdown voltage of oil sparged with sulfur hexafluoride the advantage of this medium to clean oil can serve as a two-phase medium damping properties, which may be sufficient to prevent the destruction of the body in the breakdown of oil-filled equipment.