The influence of magnetic fields on dielectric surface flashover

Author

Korzekwa, Richard ; Lehr, F. Mark ; Krompholz, Hermann G. ; Kristiansen, M.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., Texas Tech. Univ., Lubbock, TX, USA

Volume

38

Issue

4

fYear

1991

fDate

4/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

745

Lastpage

749

Abstract

The influence of low-amplitude magnetic fields, in a variety of configurations, on pulsed dielectric surface flashover has been investigated. These variations include DC magnetic fields; pulsed magnetic fields simulating conditions for magnetic self-insulation; and different environments (vacuum, ambient, gas, plasma), geometries, dielectric materials, and orientations of the magnetic field. For field amplitudes of 0.3 T, typically a doubling of the flashover voltage is observed, if the E×B drift is away from the surface. For flashover in vacuum, it is sufficient to place permanent magnets in the cathode vicinity to increase the flashover voltage. The observations are consistent with the saturated surface secondary avalanche model and electron-induced gas desorption. The pulse shape of light emission during the prebreakdown phase depends on the orientation and amplitude of the magnetic field and shows that the electron trajectories above the surface are altered by magnetic fields

Keywords

flashover; magnetic fields; surface discharges; DC; dielectric surface flashover; electron trajectories; environments; field amplitudes; flashover voltage; light emission; magnetic fields; magnetic self-insulation; pulsed; surface secondary avalanche model; Dielectric materials; Flashover; Geometry; Magnetic fields; Permanent magnets; Plasma materials processing; Plasma simulation; Saturation magnetization; Solid modeling; Voltage;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Devices, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9383

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/16.75200

Filename

75200