The origin and consequences of push-pull breakdown in series connected dielectrics

摘要

Given the extensive literature on the dielectric failure probability (F) of single as well as sandwich capacitors, one might conclude that the overall failure probability of k series connected (SC) capacitors is simply given by the uncorrelated product of failure probabilities of single capacitors, i.e., F = ∏_(i=1)~(i=k)F_i. Instead, in this paper, we show that the SC capacitors experience non-trivial oscillatory push-pull voltage sequence such that the breakdowns among the capacitors become strongly correlated, with importantontrivial implications for the overall capacitor lifetime. We use a cell-based Monte Carlo approach to numerically establish the characteristic features of failure distribution associated with such correlated breakdown in the SC capacitors.