High Voltage Breakdown, Partial Discharge and Aging in Lapped Tape Insulated Cold Dielectric Model Cables

摘要

High temperature superconducting (HTS) power cables generally follow either of two generic designs, cold dielectric and warm dielectric. In the cold dielectric design, lapped tape insulation and liquid nitrogen are used in combination to provide the electrical insulation between the conductor and the ground shield of an HTS cable. Lapped tape insulated model cables have been tested at high voltage, including AC breakdown, negative impulse breakdown, partial discharge, and long term aging under AC stress. Tapes tested include Cryoflex~(TM) (a proprietary tape developed by Southwire) and PPLP? (a commercial semi synthetic tape). Two high voltage cryostats have been built for short and long term aging studies that permit testing of model cables under the combined conditions of high electric stress, cryogenic temperature and elevated pressures up to 15 bar. For the aging studies, a log-log plot of electric stress versus time-to-breakdown has yielded an estimate of cable lifetime. Since aging at cryogenic temperatures is not expected to have a thermal cause, dielectric wear in HTS cables reduces to partial discharge as the primary aging mechanism. Phase and amplitude resolved partial discharge data of model cables in liquid nitrogen will be presented.