IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 49, NO.

5, MAY 2013 1933

Calculation of the Ionized Field Around the DC Voltage Divider

Zhiye Du , Guodong Huang , Jiangjun Ruan , Guoli Wang , Yao Yao , Caibo Liao , Jiaxin Yuan , and Wu Wen
School of Electrical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072, China
National Engineering Laboratory for Ultra High Voltage Engineering Technology, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510080, China
Electric Power Testing and Research Institute, Hubei Electric Power Corporation, Wuhan, Hubei 430077, China

The space charges produced by the corona discharge of the DC voltage divider’s high-voltage electrode can move under the effect of
the electric field force, and parts of them can attach to the surface of the insulation sheds. Because of the influence of the space charges
and the charges on the insulator sheds’ surface, the electric field around has a big difference with the situation in the electrostatic field.
In the paper, a 2-D axisymmetric upwind finite element method (upwind FEM) is used to calculate the electric field distribution on the
surface of the DC voltage divider’s insulation sheds. The space charge density inside the insulation sheds is set to be 0, and the charge
density on the surface of the sheds is calculated by the iterative process. The ionized field of a 3-D sphere electrode model is calculated,
and the 2-D axisymmetric upwind FEM is verified by comparing the numerical results with the analytical results. In the end the ionized
field of the 500 kV voltage divider is calculated. The simulation results show that the existence of space charges affect evidently on the
electric field distribution characteristic, and hence improve the uniformity of the electric field intensity along the sheds surface.
Index Terms—2-D axisymmetric upwind FEM, DC voltage divider, insulation medium, ionized field.

I. INTRODUCTION model. In order to analyze the ionized field that contains insu-
lation medium, the space charge density inside the insulation
C URRENTLY the structure design of high-voltage di-
rect current (HVDC) equipments such as insulators and
voltage dividers refer to the design of the AC equipments which
sheds is set to be 0, and the charge density that adheres to the
surface of the medium is calculated by the iterative process. In
have the same voltage level. The space charges produced by the end the ionized field around a 500 kV HVDC voltage divider
the corona discharge in the HVDC equipments’ high voltage is calculated to study the influence of the existence of the space
electrodes will change the electric field distribution seriously. charges on the electric field distribution of the insulation sheds.
Therefore it is necessary to calculate the ionized field around
HVDC equipments. II. THEORY
Scholars have done a lot of works on DC ionized field in re- The solution of the HVDC ionized field is a boundary value
cent decades. Sarma introduced Deutsch’s assumption to sim- problem. Taking the impact of the wind into consideration, the
plify the 2-D ionized field to a 1-D problem [1], and this method main system of equations describing the ionized field is shown
has been widely used in the ionized field calculation around the as follows [8]:
transmission lines. Janischewskyj proposed Kaptzov’s assump-
tion [2], and the FEM is applied to solve the ionized field for (1)
the first time. On this basis, Japanese scholar Takuma proposed (2)
upwind FEM [3], [4] in which Poisson’s equation can be solved
(3)
by FEM and current continuity equation can be solved by up-
wind method. At the same time, a large number of numerical where
methods are applied to solving the ionized field, such as the
boundary element method [5] and integral equation method [6], electric potential (V);
et al.. While these methods and applications are only limited to
absolute values of positive space charge densities
2-D plane symmetric model, and the medium in the solving area
(C/m );
is unitary—only air exist. Zhen has derived 3-D upwind FEM
to calculate the ionized field [7]. In that paper, 2-D ionized field positive ion current densities vector (A/m );
solving results are applied as the boundary condition of the 3-D positive ion mobility (m V s );
model to simplify the calculation because of the huge number of
meshed nodes, and air is the only medium in the solving field. permittivity of air, F/m;
Using the 2-D axisymmetric structure model to solving the electron charge, C;
3-D ionized field can reduce solving scale greatly, and the solu-
tion accuracy can be improved accordingly. 2-D axisymmetric Equation (1) is the Poisson’s equation, and second-order dif-
upwind FEM is achieved in this paper, and the method is ver- ferential operator expressed in different ways under dif-
ified by calculating the ionized field of a 3-D sphere electrode ferent coordinate systems. Equations (3) is the current conti-
nuity equation, only first-order differential operator is contained
in the equations.
Manuscript received November 07, 2012; revised January 10, 2013; accepted In upwind FEM, Poisson’s equation (second order PDE with
January 10, 2013. Date of current version May 07, 2013. Corresponding author: the independent variable ) can be solved by FEM and current
Z. Du (e-mail: duzhiye@126.com).
continuity equation (first order PDE with the independent vari-
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org. able ) can be solved by upwind method. The gradient form of
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2013.2241405 the scalar is exactly the same in both Cartesian coordinate and

0018-9464/$31.00 © 2013 IEEE

1934 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 49, NO. 5, MAY 2013

Cylindrical coordinate for 2-D structure, because the y-compo-

nent of the gradient in Cartesian coordinate and the theta-com-
ponent in Cylindrical coordinate are not considered. So in this
paper, the space charge density is solved using the current con-
tinuity equation (first order PDE) in 2-D plane model, and the
solution can be applied to the 2-D axisymmetric model to cal-
culate the electric potential using FEM.
Space charges generated by the corona discharge of the metal
electrode can move in the air under the effect of the electric field
force. When the space charges encountered the surface of the Fig. 1. Mesh dissection of a 2-D axisymmetric model.
DC equipment insulation structure, such as insulation sheds, the
space charges can attach to the surface of the insulation sheds.
The space charge cannot go inside the insulating medium or
move along the surface of the medium because of the insulation
property of the medium. The space charge always redistributes
under the effect of the electric field. The iterative method con-
siders both the effect of the electric field on the space charge,
and the reaction of the space charge to the electric field, thus the
space charge can redistribute automatically in the iteration. so
in the calculation process, the space charge density inside the
insulating medium is set to be 0, and the surface charges can
update automatically in the iteration process.
Using the controlling factor mentioned in [9] to modify the
Poisson’s equation, the convergence of the iterative process can
be improved. And the modified Poisson’s equation is shown as
follows: Fig. 2. Electric field distribution on the path.

(6)
paper, and the corona onset value will not affect the trend of the
where is mixing coefficient; is the positive space charge result, Peak’s formula is referenced in the paper, and different
densities obtained in the previous iteration, and is the posi- roughness coefficients are set to simulate the influence of dif-
tive space charge densities obtained in the current iteration. the ferent ring gauges on the corona onset electric field strength.
value set and the impact of on convergence of the calculation
III. VALIDATION
process can refer to [9].
Technically, this paper is based on the theory described in [3]. The ionized field of a sphere electrode is calculated in the
The calculation process is divided into the following three steps: paper, the radius of the inner sphere is 1 mm, and it is loaded 10
Step 1) The initial electric field without corona is calculated. kV; the radius of the outer sphere is 5 mm, and it is loaded 0 V. A
The initial charge density on the coronating con- 2-D axisymmetric model is built and the mesh dissection of the
ductor surface is set. model is shown in Fig. 1, which contains 11 340 elements and
Step 2) Charge density distribution in space is calculated 22 951 nodes. Corona onset electric field refers to [11]. Figs. 2
with the upwind method. and 3 present the charge density and the electric field distribu-
Step 3) The electric field produced by space charge is cal- tion from the surface of the inner ball to the surface of the outer
culated with FEM, and the charge density on the ball (path) separately. The results coincide with the analytical
coronating conductor surface is updated based on solution [12] completely, so the 2-D axisymmetric upwind FEM
the difference between the electric field on the con- is verified.
ductor surface and the corona onset electric field.
Then, steps 2) and 3) are executed iteratively until IV. APPLICATION
the Kaptzov’s assumption is met. The distribution of the electric field on the sheds’ surface may
The corona onset electric field strength on the surface of the be uneven if the structure of the DC voltage divider is designed
wire can refer to the Peek’s formula [10] when calculating the unreasonably, which may lead to flashover. In the paper the ion-
ionized field under the DC transmission lines. While for the ized field model of an actual 500 kV HVDC voltage divider is
HVDC voltage divider, the corona onset electric field strength built and calculated. The structure of the divider is shown in
on the surface of the grading ring cannot be calculated in the Fig. 4:
same way. The ring gauge and the diameter of the grading ring In this paper, different roughness coefficient of the electrode
will affect the corona onset electric field strength. Since only in Peek’s formula as 0.37, 0.40, and 0.45 are adopted to de-
the impact of space charges on the electric field distribution on scribe the effect of the circular ring shape on the onset electric
the insulation surface of the DC voltage field distribution on the field. Thus the value of the corona onset electric field strength
insulation surface of the DC voltage divider is studied in this on the surface of the grading ring is assumed as 12.35 kV/cm,
DU et al.: CALCULATION OF THE IONIZED FIELD AROUND THE DC VOLTAGE DIVIDER 1935

Fig. 3. Charge density distribution on the path.

Fig. 5. Charge density distribution. (a) 12.35 kV/cm, (b) 13.35 kV/cm, (c)
15.01 kV/cm.

Fig. 4. Structure of the voltage divider.

13.35 kV/cm and 15.01 kV/cm respectively, for it cannot be ob-

tained from the empirical formulas. The electric field strength
and potential distribution on the surface of the sheds can be cal-
culated, and the impact of the space charge on the results can be Fig. 6. Electric field distribution when corona onset value is 15.01 kV/cm. (a)
Ionized field. (b) Electrostatic field.
found. Fig. 5 shows the space charge density distribution when
the corona onset value is set to be 12.35, 13.35, and 15.01 kV/cm
separately. It is clearly that the space charges diffuse to the air
from the surface of the grading ring. The calculation results for
different onset electric fields have the same tendency, thus only
one case is illustrated here. Fig. 6(a) shows the electric field
distribution around the divider when the corona onset value is
15.01 kV/cm, and Fig. 6(b) is the result under the electrostatic
field situation. Fig. 7 shows the electric field distribution along
the surface of the upper and the lower grading rings when corona
onset value is 15.01 kV/cm, and the effect of the space charges
on the electric field have been illustrated clearly. The position
of the maximum electric field value is changed, and the value
on the surface of the grading ring is reduced significantly. In the
electrostatic field situation, the maximum electric field value is
16.1 kV/cm, and it is located on the lower surface of the lower Fig. 7. Electric field distribution along the surface of the upper and the lower
grading ring, and the maximum value on the surface of the upper grading rings when corona onset value is 15.01 kV/cm.
grading ring is 15.6 kV/cm. While in the ionized field, the max-
imum value is on the upper surface of the upper grading ring,
which is 15.1 kV/cm. This phenomenon describes that the elec- electric field strength around the upper and lower grading rings
tric field strength on the surface of the grading ring is reduced are smaller compared with the solution under the electrostatic
with the space charges around. field. On the contrary, the ionized field strength around the lower
The distribution trend of the ionized electric field and the voltage side is larger than the electrostatic field value, and the
electrostatic field are nearly the same. From Fig. 6, we can see ionized electric field value is much smaller than that around the
the electric field values around the upper grading ring, lower two grading rings on the high voltage side. The distribution of
grading ring and the low voltage side are large. The ionized the electric field illustrates the existence of the space charges,
1936 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 49, NO. 5, MAY 2013

tion along the sheds becomes more uniform accordingly, which

is consistent with the conclusion in [13].

V. CONCLUSION
1) 2-D axisymmetric upwind FEM is achieved in this paper
and the method is verified by comparing the calculating
Fig. 8. Path2 along the surface of the divider’s insulating sheds.
results of the ionized field with the analytical solutions of
a 3-D sphere electrode model.
2) The space charge density in the insulation sheds is set to
be 0, thus the surface charge density can update automat-
ically in the iteration which can solve the ionized field of
the voltage divider when considering the effect of the in-
sulation sheds.
3) The calculation results of the ionized field around a 500 kV
HVDC voltage divider show that the existence of the space
charges around the divider can improve the distribution of
the electric field.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the National Program on Key
Basic Research Project (973 Program) of China under Grant
2011CB209404 and the National Engineering Laboratory
Fig. 9. Electric field distribution along the surface of the divider’s insulating
sheds. for Ultra High Voltage Engineering Technology (Kunming
Guangzhou) of China.

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