First‐mode of negative streamers: Inception at liquid/solid interfaces

Abstract

An experimental study of the inception of the first-mode negative streamer at liquid/solid interfaces is presented in this article. The study is performed with a point-plane configuration under square high voltage pulses. The electrode configuration is immersed in mineral oil and the liquid/solid interface is assembled in contact with the point electrode or in its vicinity. Four polymers and two impregnated papers have been tested as solids of the liquid/solid interface. Thus, it is possible to compare the influence of different parameter of the solid and the interface on the streamer inception. For example: Permittivity, solid surface roughness, chemical composition, etc. It has been observed that streamer inception voltages at interfaces with solids of higher permittivity to that of the mineral oil are statistically similar. Additionally, streamer inception voltages of streamer initiated free in the oil (no liquid/solid interface) are similar to that of the inception voltage of cases with solids with high permittivity. In contrast, the inception voltage of streamers initiated at permittivity matched interfaces are shown to be highest of the cases. The streamer inception voltage is also studied for different distances between the liquid/solid interface and the point electrode with a permittivity matched interface. The results show a dependency of the inception voltage and the distance between the point electrode and the interface. Finally, an analysis of the observation is performed to show that the Townsend-Meek criterion cannot predict the obtained results.