Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme

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PV: Plenarvorträge

PV VII

PV VII: Plenary Talk

Thursday, March 22, 2007, 08:30–09:15, 3A

Dielectric Surface Flashover Under Pulsed RF and Unipolar Excitation* — •Andreas Neuber — Texas Tech University, Pulsed Power Laboratory, Lubbock TX 79409-3102

Flashover along insulators or insulating support structures has to be carefully addressed in the design of any dc, ac, or pulsed high voltage device. Although there is a large body of data on unipolar surface flashover in the atmosphere, which has led to empirical design rules primarily for the power distribution industry, the physics of the involved processes is widely unknown. The major limiting factor in the transmission of High Power Microwaves (HPM) into the atmosphere has been the vacuum-air interface. Both the unipolar and HPM surface flashover cases have been studied under vacuum conditions and have been found to have the same dominant mechanisms. Similarities between HPM window flashover on the air side and unipolar flashover are observed in an atmospheric environment as well. Pulsed unipolar and HPM surface flashover in the gaseous and vacuum environment will be discussed and recent progress on modeling flashover along insulators will be presented.

*This work was primarily funded by the Cathode and HPM Breakdown MURI program funded and managed by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).