Calculations of Electrical Breakdown in Air at Near-Atmospheric Pressure

1965; American Institute of Physics; Volume: 138; Issue: 5A Linguagem: Inglês

10.1103/physrev.138.a1357

ISSN

1536-6065

Autores

A. L. Ward,

Tópico(s)

High voltage insulation and dielectric phenomena

Resumo

A computer program based on the Townsend avalanche model, but explicitly including space charge, has been used to calculate electrical breakdown in air at near-atmospheric pressure. A good fit to Bandel's experimental temporal-current-growth curves may be obtained by using a secondary ionization coefficient that includes 10% ion and 90% photon portions. Only a poorer fit could be obtained when using a 100% photon effect, with either a fixed photon delay independent of overvoltage or a constant reduced electron mobility to simulate an attachment-detachment process. The same agreement and disagreement, respectively, were obtained by comparison of the results of calculations with the breakdown-time-versus-overvoltage measurements of Fisher and Bederson. The effect of variations of the number of initiating electrons from the cathode and of the approach voltage is detailed. The calculations indicate that a luminous front propagates from the anode to the cathode at a velocity of up to \ensuremath{\sim}3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{7}$ cm/sec in the final calculable stages of breakdown.

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