Breakdown and partial discharge measurements of some commonly used dielectric materials in liquid nitrogen for HTS applications

For high temperature superconducting (HTS) power applications it is necessary to improve the understanding of the dielectric properties of materials in a cryogenic environment. It is necessary to know the breakdown strength of materials and systems as a function of gap in order to scale to higher voltages. The partial discharge (PD) onset voltage for materials is also very important since the primary aging mechanism at cryogenic temperature is thought to be PD. Another important design characteristic is the surface flashover voltage of a material in liquid nitrogen as a function of gap. With these characteristics in mind, several generic materials were investigated under a variety of electrode and gap configurations. The impulse breakdown voltage and PD onset of three types of commercial polyetherimide, filled and unfilled, were measured at room temperature and 77 K. A modest increase in PD onset voltage was observed at the lower temperature. Breakdown voltages of fiberglass reinforced plastic (FRP) cylinders for two wall thicknesses were measured which showed a decrease in strength at the larger gap. Breakdown voltages for liquid nitrogen using a sphere-plane electrode geometry were measured. Also flashover voltages along a FRP plate immersed in liquid nitrogen were performed for sphere-plane and rod-plane electrodes at 1 bar pressure. It was found that the breakdown voltage increased only slightly with increasing gap lengths.