V-t characteristics of partial discharge inception in liquid nitrogen/ PPLP® composite insulation system for HTS cable

In this paper, we studied partial discharge (PD) inception characteristics and V-t characteristics of PD inception in liquid nitrogen (LN₂)/polypropylene laminated paper (PPLP^®) composite insulation system for high temperature superconducting (HTS) cable. Experimental results revealed that the magnitude of initial PD was in the range of 2.0-30 pC irrespective of butt gap condition and the initial PD was generated at the first and third quadrant of voltage phase. PD inception electric field strength (PDIE) without butt gap was 5-10% higher than that with butt gap and thicker butt gap gave larger PDIE drop. Moreover, PDIE with butt gap depended on the butt gap thickness and the number of PPLP^® layers. The reason is explained by the existing probability of weak points of electrical insulation at butt gap. Finally, lifetime indices n of V-t characteristics at PD inception were obtained as 80-100 irrespective of butt gap condition. These values showed enough flat characteristics of V-t phenomena of electrical insulation.