Dielectric breakdown characteristics of cryogenic nitrogen gas above liquid nitrogen

We measured the DC dielectric breakdown characteristics of cryogenic nitrogen gas above a liquid nitrogen surface for needle-to-plane and sphere-to-plane electrode configurations. Experimental results revealed that the DC breakdown voltage of cryogenic nitrogen gas increased, as the distance from the gap axis to the liquid nitrogen surface diminished, i.e. as the liquid nitrogen surface got closer to the gap. The breakdown voltage proved to be enhanced not only by the temperature drop of nitrogen gas due to the existence of liquid nitrogen, but also by an effect of vapor mist arising from vaporization of liquid nitrogen. For the quasi-uniform electrode configuration, the relation between breakdown voltage and the gas density times the gap spacing agreed well with the Paschen curve for nitrogen with both the temperature falling and the vapor-mist density considered. For the nonuniform needle electrode, positive breakdown voltage was higher than negative one; the polarity effect was interpreted in terms of the electric field relaxation at the tip of the positive needle resulting from partial discharges observed only for the positive needle