Measurement of corona discharges under variable geometry, frequency and pressure environment

Aeronautical industry is evolving towards more electric aircrafts (MEA), which will require much more electrical power compared to conventional models. To satisfy this increasing power demand and stringent weight requirements, distribution voltages must be raised, which jointly with the low-pressure...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Bas Calopa, Pau|||0000-0002-7373-4609, Riba Ruiz, Jordi-Roger|||0000-0001-8774-2389, Moreno Eguilaz, Juan Manuel|||0000-0001-6086-7034
Tipo de documento: artigo
Data de publicação:2022
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositório:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglês
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/368081
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/368081
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s22051856
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:Airplanes--Electric equipment
More electric aircraft
Electrical discharges
Visual corona
Corona extinction voltage
Variable frequency
Low pressure
Curvature radius
Finite element method
Avions--Equip elèctric
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria elèctrica
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria electrònica
Descrição
Resumo:Aeronautical industry is evolving towards more electric aircrafts (MEA), which will require much more electrical power compared to conventional models. To satisfy this increasing power demand and stringent weight requirements, distribution voltages must be raised, which jointly with the low-pressure environment and high operating frequencies increase the risk of electrical discharges occurrence. Therefore, it is important to generate data to design insulation systems for these demanding applications. To this end, in this work a sphere-to-plane electrode configuration is tested for several sphere geometries (diameters ranging from 2 mm to 10 mm), frequencies of 50 Hz, 400 Hz and 800 Hz and pressures in the 20–100 kPa range, to cover most aircraft applications. The corona extinction voltage is experimentally determined by using a gas-filled tube solar blind ultraviolet (UV) sensor. In addition, a CMOS imaging sensor is used to locate the discharge points. Next, to gain further insight to the discharge conditions, the electric field strength is calculated using finite element method (FEM) simulations and fitted to equations based on Peek’s law. The results presented in this paper could be especially valuable to design aircraft electrical insulations as well as for high-voltage hardware manufacturers, since the results allow determining the electric field values at which the components can operate free of surface discharges for a wide altitude range.