Modern technical aspects of Field Discharge equipment for excitation systems

The ANSI/IEEE C37.18 1979 ldquostandard enclosed field discharge circuit breakers for rotating electrical machineryrdquo [1] has passed through several reaffirmations and still valid until 2008. This standard provides excellent information and is widely used as basis for the specification, design and testing of field discharge equipment. However, the content of this standard still reflecting the technological state of the art for equipments designed and manufactured during the time that this standard was being approved for the first time (1976). This paper contains an overview of the actual technological aspects of field discharge equipment in terms of available technology, design criteria and practical executions. The information of this paper could be partially used for future actualization of the IEC37.18.