Breakdown Probability and Size Effect Simulation of XLPE Insulation for DC Power Cables
Zhu Minhui1, Min Daomin1, Gao Ziwei1, Wu Qingzhou2
1. State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment Xi’an Jiaotong University Xi’an 710049 China;
2. Institute of Fluid Physics China Academy of Engineering Physics Mianyang 621900 China
Power cables play an extremely important role in long-distance high-capacity power transmission and offshore wind power grid connection. Affected by DC electric field, cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables are subject to space charge accumulation and charge energy accumulation phenomena, leading to breakdown of insulation materials and causing faults. According to the solid dielectric scale effect principle, increasing the thickness or area of the specimen will result in an increase in volume and an increase in the probability of local defects, causing the breakdown field strength to decrease. However, the relationship between the variation of microscopic defect parameters of insulation materials with specimen thickness and its quantitative relationship on the breakdown probability has not been clarified. To address these issues, this paper proposes a charge transport and molecular displacement modulated model (CTMD), which investigates the relationship between the characteristic breakdown field and specimen thickness dependence of XLPE and the probability distribution of breakdown field by investigating the carrier transport and energy accumulation processes in the dielectrics.
The electrodes inject holes and electrons into the bulk of materials when a ramp voltage is applied to the insulating materials. Under the influence of the electric field, these carriers move into the insulating materials. Deep traps are formed at the interfaces of the crystalline/amorphous zone, the interface between spherical crystals, and by the polar groups in XLPE. The deep traps trap holes and electrons, causing distortions in the electric field due to space charge accumulation. Also, as the trapped charges are being affected by Coulomb forces, the expansion of the free volume due to molecular chain displacement raises the charge energy that is travelling inside it. The local current surges and the insulating material is broken through when the charge energy builds up to the point where it can cross the trap potential barrier. The findings demonstrate that the scale effect has a substantial impact on the DC breakdown field of XLPE. The breakdown field decreases with increasing specimen thickness, and the results of the breakdown strength probability calculation follow the Weibull distribution. Additionally, the breakdown probability distribution of XLPE can be modelled by adding random variables to CTMD. Altering the variance of the charge transport random variable controls the breakdown Weibull distribution's shape parameter. The shape parameter of the breakdown Weibull distribution decreases to 10.12, 5.76, 5.49, 5.36, and 4.34, as the specimen thickness increases from 50 μm to 250 μm. The Weibull distribution is most significantly influenced by the trap level, as seen by the fact that the value of the shape distribution parameter varies the fastest with the variation of the trap level.
The following conclusions are obtained from the simulations: (1) A correlation is established between the long-range motion of molecular chains under the action of Coulomb forces and the thickness dependence of the breakdown field of XLPE. The molecular chains containing trap charges have more time to undergo long-range motion under the electric field as the specimen thickens, and the free volume increases. At a lower electric field, the charges gain enough energy in the free volume to cause insulation material breakdown. (2) In the CTMD model, the probability distribution of the breakdown field obtained from the simulation obeys the Weibull distribution. Comparing the variation of the dispersion of different parameters with the thickness of the insulation material, it is found that the trap level is the most critical influencing factor of the shape parameter of the breakdown Weibull distribution. (3) As the specimen thickness increases, the variance in the Gaussian distribution of the charge transport random variable parameters gradually increases, the shape parameter of the breakdown Weibull distribution gradually becomes smaller, and the dispersion of defects inside the insulating material increases substantially.
朱敏慧, 闵道敏, 高梓巍, 武庆周. 直流电缆用交联聚乙烯绝缘的击穿概率及其尺度效应仿真[J]. 电工技术学报, 0, (): 122-122.
Zhu Minhui, Min Daomin, Gao Ziwei, Wu Qingzhou. Breakdown Probability and Size Effect Simulation of XLPE Insulation for DC Power Cables. Transactions of China Electrotechnical Society, 0, (): 122-122.
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