BREAKDOWN STUDY OF WATER WITH DIFFERENT

CONDUCTIVITIES
1
S. THIVYA, 2V. GOWRI SREE
1
M.E. High Voltage Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering,
College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai
2
Associate Professor, Division of High Voltage Engineering, Department of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering, College of Engineering Guindy, Anna University, Chennai
E-mail: 1thivya1012@gmail.com, 2vg_sree@annauniv.edu

Abstract— Water is the abundant source in nature and used in varies aspects of mankind. This water is also used in many
parts of pulsed power systems as a liquid dielectric. The major factor for the choice of water as dielectric is due to its high
breakdown strength, high dielectric permittivity, high dielectric constant, self restoring ability, low cost and ease of handling.
This paper focuses on the breakdown strength of water such as Tap water and Distilled water with different conductivities
under impulse voltage. The main aim of this paper is to determine the volt-time characteristics of water (i.e. Tap water &
Distilled water) and Ionic solution (i.e. Sodium chloride and Copper sulfate solution) under impulse voltage. The effect of
applied voltage polarity in breakdown phenomena, the breakdown strength of water is analyzed under positive and negative
impulse voltage. This Breakdown study on ionic solution helps to know the breakdown strength of water with different
conductivity level by suspending Sodium Chloride and Copper sulfate to the water. The prediction of Volt-time
characteristics of Distilled water is also determined at various inter-electrode distances under needle-plane electrode
configuration.

Index Terms—Breakdown Strength, Inter-electrode gap, Volt-time characteristics.

I. INTRODUCTION II. GENERATION OF IMPULSE VOLTAGES

Water is used as a liquid dielectric in many parts of The standard impulse voltage 1.2/50µs is generated
pulsed power systems including intermediate stores in as per Indian standard (IS 2071) and specification.
accelerators and pulsed forming lines of impulse The impulse waveform considered for analysis is
generators. Plasma closing switches and the loads of within the tolerances specified in IS standards. The
electro-hydraulic and impulsive high-power Fig1 is Marx circuit used for generation of standard
ultrasound systems are often filled with water. This lightning impulse of 140 kV, MWB (Mess Wandler-
choice of water as a liquid dielectric is due to its high Bau) high voltage test kit available in the high
breakdown strength and high dielectric permittivity. voltage laboratory in College of Engineering, Guindy,
Emerging pulsed power technologies for Anna University, Chennai, is used to generate the
environmental and bio-medical applications also impulse voltages. The waveforms are recorded using
require information on breakdown strength and other the Digital Storage Oscilloscope (DSO) TDS3054B at
characteristics of water stressed with high voltage the sampling rate of 250 MSa/s.
impulse[1].
The breakdown voltage level of water
under the impulse voltage of a given shape is not a
constant parameter. The breakdown voltage of water
depends on various factors such as nature of water,
electrode geometry, polarity of applied voltage, gap
length, electrode material etc. The breakdown study
is done in Tap water, Distilled water and ionic
solution under needle-plane electrode topology. The
ionic solution is used as electrolyte in High-Power
High-Voltage tight resistors. These resistors are made
up of ionic solution (i.e. water solutions of salts, acids
and their mixtures) where salt level is adjusted Fig1 Marx circuit
according to the required resistivity .In this paper
the Breakdown characteristics of ionic solution and The capacitor C1 is previously charged to a particular
the volt-time characteristics of ionic solution is also DC voltage and suddenly discharged in to the wave
determined [6]. There are various types of ionic shaping network through the sphere gap arrangement.
solution used in high voltage resistors, among them The discharge voltage across the capacitor C2 gives
the most commonly used ionic solution (i.e. copper rise to the desired double exponential wave shape.
sulfate and sodium chloride solution) is analyzed and The desired wave shapes are obtained by controlling
the breakdown study is determined. wave shaping resistors (R1 and R2).

Proceedings of 13th IRF International Conference, Bengaluru, India, 24th May 2015, ISBN: 978-93-85465-20-8

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 Breakdown Study Of Water With Different Conductivities

III. VOLT-TIME CHARACTERISTICS voltage tap water is 29kV with 9µs breakdown time.
As per [5] if the voltage is increased above minimum
The Electric field (Eb) can be used for breakdown voltage the breakdown time starts to
characterization of the dielectric properties of liquid decrease, this is followed in the v-t characteristics of
water. In the case of a low-divergent (uniform) tap water under positive impulse in needle-electrode
electric field, the breakdown field can be evaluated as topology.

Where d is the gap distance between the electrodes

,Vb is Breakdown voltage .This relationship is called
the volt-time (V-t) breakdown characteristic and such
empirical scaling relationships are used in the design
of high voltage and pulsed power systems in which
water is employed as a dielectric or working fluid[3].

IV. V-t CHARACTERISTICS OF WATER

UNDER NON-UNIFORM FIELD

The volt-time characteristics of Tap water and Fig 4. V-t characteristics of tap water under negative d=2mm
Distilled water under needle-plane electrode topology
at different inter electrode distance (i.e.2mm & 3mm)
at both positive and negative impulse voltage is
determined.. The Fig 2 & Fig 3 shows the V-t curve
of Tap water under positive impulse at 2mm & 3mm.
The Fig 4 & Fig 5 shows the V-t curve of Tap water
under negative impulse at 2mm & 3mm.

Fig 5. V-t characteristics of tap water under negative at

d=3mm

Fig 4 and Fig 5 is V-t curve of tap water at 2mm and

3mm inter electrode gap respectively under negative
impulse voltage. The minimum breakdown voltage of
Fig 2. V-t characteristics of tap water under positive impulse at water at 2mm gap in negative impulse voltage is
d=2mm
16kV with 18µs breakdown time. As the voltage is
increased above minimum breakdown voltage the
time to breakdown started to decrease gradually. The
breakdown voltage of Tap water is high under
positive impulse than negative impulse .The
breakdown occurs along front time for positive
impulse whereas the breakdown occurs on the tail
time of the negative impulse.

Fig 3. V-t characteristics of tap water under positive impulse at

d=3mm
Fig 2 and Fig 3 is v-t curve of tap water under
positive impulse at 2mm and 3mm inter electrode gap
respectively. At 2mm inter electrode gap the
minimum breakdown voltage of tap water is 18kV
with breakdown time is 9.6 µs, as the voltage is
increased from minimum breakdown voltage, the
breakdown time starts to decreases gradually. At Fig6. V-t characteristics of distilled water under positive
3mm inter electrode gap the minimum breakdown impulse at d=1mm

Proceedings of 13th IRF International Conference, Bengaluru, India, 24th May 2015, ISBN: 978-93-85465-20-8

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 Breakdown Study Of Water With Different Conductivities

electrodes, as the distance increases the breakdown

voltage increases both in tap and distilled water.
The breakdown strength of distilled water is carried
out under uniform and non-uniform field at 1mm
inter electrode distance. The breakdown strength of
distilled water is high under uniform field than under
non uniform field distribution. This is due to high
field stress across needle-plane electrode under both
positive and negative impulse voltage. The
breakdown strength is high while applying positive
Fig7. V-t characteristics of distilled water under positive impulse than negative impulse voltage. Thus polarity
impulse at d=2mm
of the impulse applied influences the breakdown of
water. From Table I the breakdown strength of
distilled water is compared under uniform and non-
uniform.

Table I Breakdown Strength of Distilled water

Property

Fig8. V-t characteristics of distilled water under positive

impulse at d=3mm

The Fig 7 and Fig 8 shows the Volt-time

characteristics of distilled water under positive
impulse at 2mm and3mm inter electrode gap spacing
respectively .The minimum breakdown voltage of PREDICTION OF V-t CURVE OF DISTILLED
distilled increase as the inter electrode gap increases. WATER
From the experimental data of Volt- time
The minimum breakdown voltage of Distilled water
characteristics of distilled water under three different
under positive impulse at 2mm and 3mm electrode
inter electrode distance (i.e.1mm, 2mm&3mm) the
space is 30kV and 37kVrespectively.The distilled
breakdown voltage and breakdown time of distilled
water has higher breakdown strength than tap water
water at inter electrode distance between 1 to 3mm
under positive impulse.
has been predicted .The V-t curve of three inter
electrode distance are modelled as hyperbolic curves
using Regression analysis, in order to predict the volt-
time characteristics of distilled water. The
Breakdown voltage under various inter electrode gap
under positive impulse is shown in Table II

Table II Breakdown Voltage At Different Distance

Fig9. V-t characteristics of distilled water under negative

impulse at d=2mm

From Fig9 the minimum breakdown voltage of

distilled water under negative impulse at 2mm inter
electrode gap spacing is 27kV with 14µs breakdown
time. The breakdown strength of distilled water is
higher under positive impulse than negative impulse
at same electrode gap spacing. The minimum
breakdown voltage of distilled water under negative
impulse at 3mm inter electrode space is 32kV with
15µs breakdown time. The breakdown strength is
high under positive polarity impulse voltage in both
tap and distilled water. Thus breakdown strength is
also influenced by the distance between the Fig10. Variation of Vb with distance

Proceedings of 13th IRF International Conference, Bengaluru, India, 24th May 2015, ISBN: 978-93-85465-20-8

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 Breakdown Study Of Water With Different Conductivities

The Fig10 is drawn between the minimum

breakdown voltage of distilled water with various The breakdown voltage parameters C for three inter
inter electrode distance(1mm,2mm&3mm) of electrode distance fits in hyperbolic model. From the
distilled water of each electrode gap spacing fits into data fit information the value of E and F are obtained
the hyperbolic under positive impulse voltage. The as 39.573 and -23.01438 respectively which is
points are fit under Hyperbolic equation(A+B/x) by substituted in to obtain C.
regression analysis of the experimental data with the
standard estimated error is found to be 2.45% .

In the above hyperbolic equation Vb is minimum

breakdown voltage, x is a variable respect to distance
mm, A and B are constant value 44.826 and -27.807
respectively which is obtained from the data fit
information .On substituting A and B on the equation
(3) with various x values the breakdown voltage for
different distance between 1mm to 3 mm can be
obtained.

Table III Prediction of Breakdown Voltage

Fig 12 Variation of D with different distance

Similarly the voltage-time parameter D of three inter

electrode distance is fitted under hyperbolic model
with equation

The values G and H are 61.803 and -34.99

respectively which are obtained from data fit
The percentage error between experimental and information. On substituting the E and F value in
predicted breakdown voltage is calculated and found equation (4) and substituting G and H in equation (5)
to be less than 10%. From the experimental data the
of the V-t curve of inter electrode distance
(1mm,2mm and 3mm) the breakdown time can be
predicted using regression analysis. The value of C and D for required inter electrode
The V-t curve equation. distance is measured by substituting the x value
which lies between 1 to 3 mm. From the computed
In above equation (4) Vb is breakdown voltage, tb values of C and D the time to breakdown is calculated
for various breakdown voltages and V-t curve is
is breakdown time and C and D are parameters of
predicted[2].
Breakdown voltage. The C and D parameter obtained
for three V-t curves are tabulated below in Table IV .

Table IV Breakdown Voltage At Different Distance Table V. Hyperbolic model parameters at different
Distance mm distance

On substituting the Vb, C and D values in equation

(4) the breakdown time tb is obtained. The predicted
breakdown time is compared with actual
experimental data. The percentage error between
experimental and predicted breakdown time is
calculated and found to be less than 10%, which is as
Fig 11 Variation of C with different distance per the reference a

Proceedings of 13th IRF International Conference, Bengaluru, India, 24th May 2015, ISBN: 978-93-85465-20-8

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 Breakdown Study Of Water With Different Conductivities

Table VI .Prediction of Vb and tb

V. V-t CHARACTERISTICS OF IONIC

SOLUTION Fig13.V-t characteristics of sodium chloride solution under
negative impulse
The Aqueous Electrolyte Resistors are most widely
used in High-Power High-Voltage tight resistors. The Breakdown voltage of ionic solution is less than
These resistors are made up of ionic solution (i.e. the distilled water due to increase in the conductivity
water solutions of salts, acids and their mixtures) of the solution. The minimum breakdown voltage of
where salt level is adjusted according to the required sodium chloride ionic solution under 1mm inter
resistivity .In this chapter the Breakdown electrode gap spacing at negative impulse voltage is
characteristics of ionic solution and the volt-time 16 kV (20µs) from Fig 13.
characteristics of ionic solution is determined. There
are various types of ionic solution used in high
voltage resistors, among them the most commonly
used ionic solution (i.e. copper sulfate and sodium
chloride solution) is analyzed. The volt-time
characteristic of sodium chloride solution is carried
out in uniform field with Stainless Steel Hemisphere-
Hemisphere electrode configuration. The inter
electrode gap spacing is maintained at 1mm.The
sodium chloride salt is added to distilled water until
which it act as dielectric at 1mm electrode gap
spacing without conducting. The conductivity of
sodium chloride solution is kept at 0.65µS/cm above Fig 14.V-t characteristics of copper chloride solution under
which the electrolyte acts as conductor at 1mm uniform field positive impulse
spacing of electrode.
Copper sulfate resistors are widely used as high
voltage resistors .Hence the breakdown
characteristics of copper sulfate solution is
determined under uniform and non uniform field at
1mm gap spacing of electrodes . The copper sulfate
salt is diluted in distilled water until its conductivity
reaches 0.6µS/cm above this conductivity the solution
starts conducting at 1mm inter electrode distance. The
breakdown analysis is done in copper electrodes.

Fig12.V-t characteristics of sodium chloride solution under

positive impulse at

Fig 12 is V-t curve of Sodium chloride solution at

1mm inter electrode spacing under positive impulse.
The breakdown voltage of ionic solution is less than
the distilled water due to increase in the conductivity
of the solution. The minimum breakdown voltage of
ionic solution under 1mm inter electrode gap spacing
at positive impulse voltage is 18 kV (17µs).As the
voltage is increased above the minimum breakdown
voltage the breakdown time reduces. The breakdown
time reduces to 2 microseconds when impulse voltage Fig 15.V-t characteristics of copper chloride solution under
is raised above 50kV. uniform field negative impulse

Proceedings of 13th IRF International Conference, Bengaluru, India, 24th May 2015, ISBN: 978-93-85465-20-8

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 Breakdown Study Of Water With Different Conductivities

The breakdown voltage of copper sulfate solution

under positive impulse voltage is higher than negative
impulse which is similar in case of tap and distilled
water. The minimum breakdown voltage for both
ionic solutions is less under negative impulse.

Fig.18Microstructure of copper electrode

Fig16.V-t characteristics of copper chloride solution under

non-uniform field at positive impulse

Fig19.Microstructure of corroded copper electrode

The Fig 18 is the surface of electrode before applying

impulse voltage, after the impulse voltage is applied
the surface of electrode gets corroded which is shown
in Fig19

CONCLUSION

The breakdown voltage of tap and distilled water

increases as the distance between the electrodes
increases under both polarity impulse. The
Fig17.V-t characteristics of copper chloride solution under breakdown voltage is high for positive impulse
non-uniform field at negative impulse voltage than negative impulse voltage for Tap water,
Distilled water and ionic solution. After application
Fig 18 is the volt-time characteristic curve of copper of high impulse voltage the bubbles formed near the
sulfate solution under non uniform field at 1mm high voltage electrode (needle electrode) which
electrode gap spacing negative impulse voltage. The causes breakdown of water. And the tip point of
minimum breakdown voltage under this set up is needle electrode became blunt. The breakdown
15kV (16µs). occurred in falling (tail) edge for negative impulse
Under non-uniform field the copper sulfate solution voltage and on rising slope for positive impulse. The
have higher breakdown strength at positive impulse Breakdown voltage of distilled water is found to be
voltage than applying negative impulse voltage. The higher than tap water and ionic solution under both
breakdown time is long when negative impulse is impulse voltages. The field distribution also shows
applied whereas it is comparatively less under effect towards breakdown of water and ionic solution.
positive impulse. The copper sulfate has higher The distilled water and Copper sulphate solution are
breakdown strength than sodium chloride solution subjected to uniform and non uniform field
under both polarity impulse voltages hence it is distribution, the breakdown voltage under uniform
widely used in high voltage resistors. The copper field is found to be higher than non-uniform field.
electrode used under breakdown study of copper The Breakdown of liquid electrolyte are determined,
under non-uniform field is subjected to corrosion and each ionic solution have different breakdown voltage
cracks after application of impulse voltage under at same conductivity level. Copper sulfate solution
copper sulfate solution.The surface of electrode is has higher breakdown strength than Sodium chloride
analyzed under Scanning electrode microscope to solution. The Breakdown time of Tap Water,
view the corroded surface. Distilled Water and Ionic solution is high when

Proceedings of 13th IRF International Conference, Bengaluru, India, 24th May 2015, ISBN: 978-93-85465-20-8

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 Breakdown Study Of Water With Different Conductivities

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