Unit 03

Generation of High Voltages

 Introduction
 In the fields of electrical engineering and applied physics, high voltages (d.c., a.c., and
impulse) are required for several applications.

 Examples:
 Electron microscopes and x-ray units require high d.c. voltages of the order of 100 kV or more.
 Electrostatic precipitators, particle accelerators in nuclear physics, etc. require high voltages
(d.c.) of several kilovolts and even megavolts.
 High a.c. voltages of one million volts or even more are required for testing power apparatus
rated for extra high transmission voltages (400 kV system and above)
 High impulse voltages are required for testing purposes to simulate over voltages that occur in
power systems due to lightning or switching surges.

 For electrical engineers, the main concern of high voltages is for the insulation testing of
various components in power systems for different types of voltages, namely, power frequency
a.c., high frequency, switching or lightning impulses.
 Different forms of high voltages mentioned above are classified as:
1. high d.c. voltages
2. high a.c. voltages of power frequency
3. high a.c. voltages of high frequency
4. high transient or impulse voltages of very short duration such as lightning Over
voltages, and
5. transient voltages of longer duration such as switching surges

 GENERATION OF HIGH D.C. VOLTAGES :

 Generation of high d.c. voltages is mainly required in research work in the areas
of pure and applied physics.
 High direct voltages are needed in insulation tests on cables and capacitors.
 For the generation of d.c. voltages of up to 100 kV, electronic valve rectifiers are
used and the output currents are about 100 mA.
 The a.c. supply to the rectifier tubes may be of power frequency or may be of
audio frequency from an oscillator.
 The latter is used when a ripple of very small magnitude is required without the
use of costly filters to smoothen the ripple.

Half-Wave Rectifier Circuit

 Rectifier circuits for producing high d.c. voltages from a.c. sources may be (a)
half wave, (b) full wave, or (c) voltage doubler type rectifiers.
 The rectifier may be an electron tube or a solid state device.
 Nowadays single electron tubes are available for peak inverse voltages (PIV) up
to 250 kV, and semiconductor or solid state diodes up to 20 kV.
 For higher voltages, several units are to be used in series.
 Commonly used half wave rectifier are shown in Fig.
 Output with half-wave rectifier and capacitor filter
 In the half wave rectifier, the capacitor is charged to Vmax, the maximum a.c.
voltage of the secondary of the high voltage transformer in the conducting half
cycle.
 In the other half cycle, the capacitor is discharged into the load.
 The value of the capacitor C is chosen such that the time constant CRL is at least
10 times that of the period of the a.c. supply.
 Because of the high value of capacitor, the d.c. voltage does not fall to zero
value.
 From positive to negative half cycle, initially the capacitor charges and then it
discharges gradually hence we get a flattend d.c. output voltage.
 The rectifier valve must have a peak inverse rating of at least 2Vmax.
 To limit the charging current, an additional resistance R is provided in series
with the secondary of the transformer (not shown in the figure).

 When a full wave or a half wave rectifier is used along with the smoothing
capacitor C, the voltage on no load will be the maximum a.c. voltage.
 But when on load, the capacitor gets charged from the supply voltage and
discharges into load resistance RL whenever the supply voltage waveform varies
from peak value to zero value.
 These waveforms are shown in Fig.
 When loaded, a fluctuation in the output d.c. voltage δV appears, and is called a
ripple.
 The ripple voltage δV is larger for a half wave rectifier than that for a full wave
rectifier, since the discharge period in the case of half wave rectifier is larger.
 The ripple δV depends on :
(a) the supply voltage frequency f,
(b) the time constant CRL , and
(c) the reactance of the supply transformer XL .
 For half wave rectifiers, the ripple frequency is equal to the supply frequency
and for full wave rectifiers, it is twice that value.
 The ripple voltage is to be kept as low as possible with the proper choice of the
filter condenser and the transformer reactance for a given load RL.
 Full-Wave Rectifier Circuit
 A full wave rectifier circuit is shown in Fig.

Output with full-wave rectifier and capacitor filter

 In the positive half cycle, the rectifier A conducts and charges the capacitors Vmax,
while in the negative half cycle the rectifier B conducts and charges the capacitor.
Hence a full wave rectified output voltage is obtained.
 The source transformer requires a centre tapped secondary with a peak voltage
rating of 2 V.
 Both full wave and half wave rectifiers produce d.c. voltages less than the
maximum a.c. input voltage due to the presence of ripples.
 Also, ripple or the voltage fluctuation will be present, and this has to be kept
within a resonable limit by means of filters.
 Ripple frequency is twice the
input a.c. Supply frequency and
ripple is less as compared to half
wave rectifier.
 Disadvantages of Rectifier Circuits Methods:
 The size of circuit and capacitor will be large for high DC voltage generation.
 Not suitable for high current applications.
 In case of full wave rectifier circuit, source transformer requires center-tapped
secondary with rating 2V.
 Voltage Doubler Circuits
 Both full wave and half wave rectifier circuits produce a d.c. voltage less than the a.c.
maximum voltage.
 When higher d.c. voltages are needed, a voltage doubler or cascaded rectifier doubler
circuits are used.
 The schematic diagram of voltage doubler is given.
 Functioning of simple voltage doubler circuit:
 In voltage doubler circuit shown in Fig. the capacitor C1 is charged through
rectifier R1 to a voltage of +Vmax during the negative half cycle.
 As the voltage of the transformer rises to positive +Vmax during the next half
cycle, the potential of the other terminal of C1 rises to a voltage of +2Vmax .
 Thus, the capacitor C2 is charged through R2 to +2Vmax.
 The d.c. Output voltage on load will be less than +2Vmax , depending on the
time constant C2 RL and the charging time constant.
 The ripple voltage of these circuits will be about 2% for RL /r ≤10 and X/r ≤0.25,
where X and r are the reactance and resistance of the input transformer.
 The rectifiers are rated to a peak inverse voltage of 2Vmax, and the condensers
C1 and C2 must also have the same rating i.e. 2Vmax.
 The ripple voltage increases with increase in load current.
 Cascaded voltage doublers are used when larger output voltages are needed
without changing the input transformer voltage level.
 A typical cascaded voltage doubler is shown Fig.

 The rectifiers R1 and R2 with transformer T1 and capacitors C1 and C2 produce

an output voltage of 2V in the same way as described in voltage doubler circuit.
 This circuit is duplicated and connected in series or cascade to obtain a further
voltage doubling to 4V.
 T is an isolating transformer to give an insulation for 2Vmax since the
transformer T2 is at a potential of 2Vmax above the ground.
 The voltage distribution along the rectifier string R1, R2, R3 and R4 is made
uniform by having capacitors C1, C2, C3 and C4 of equal values.
 The arrangement may be extended to give 6V, 8V, and so on by repeating
further stages with suitable isolating transformers.
 In all the voltage doubler circuits, if valves are used, the filament transformers
have to be suitably designed and insulated, as all the cathodes will not be at the
same potential from ground.
 The design of isolation transformer at higher levels becomes cumbersome
above voltage of 4V as cathode potential of higher stage rectifiers are at high
potential above ground.
 The arrangement becomes cumbersome (large and heavy therefore difficult to
carry) if more than 4V is needed with cascaded stages.
 Voltage Multiplier Circuits
 Cascaded voltage multiplier circuits for higher voltages are cumbersome and
require too many supply and isolating transformers.
 It is possible to generate very high d.c. voltages from single supply transformers
by extending the simple voltage doubler circuits.
 If we cascade number of voltage doubler circuits, we get a voltage multiplier
circuit.
 Higher voltages of 4, 6, ...., 2n times the input voltage V can be obtained using
‘n’ stages connected in series.
 This is simple and compact when the load current requirement is less than
1mA, such as for cathode ray tubes, etc.
 Here, valve type pulse generators may be used instead of conventional a.c.
supply and the circuit becomes compact.
 A typical circuit for the voltage multiplier circuit is as shown in fig.
 The pulses generated in the anode circuit of the valve P are rectified and the
voltage is cascaded to give an output of 2nVmax across the load RL.
 A trigger voltage pulse of triangular waveform (ramp) is given to make the
valve switched on and off.
 Thus, a voltage across the coil L is produced and is equal to Vmax =I √(L/Cp ),
where Cp is the stray capacitance across the coil of inductance L.
 A d.c. power supply of about 500 V applied to the pulse generator, is sufficient
to generate a high voltage d.c. of 50 to 100 kV with suitable number of stages.
 The pulse frequency is high (about 500 to 1000 Hz) and the ripple is quite low
(<1%).
 The voltage drop on load is about 5% for load currents of about 150 μA.
 The voltage drops rapidly at high load currents.
 Voltage multiplier circuit using the Cockcroft-Walton principle is shown in Fig.
 The first stage, i.e. D1, D2, C1, C2, and the transformer T are identical, as in the
voltage doubler circuit.
 For higher output voltage of 4, 6, … 2n of the input voltage V, the circuit is
repeated with cascade or series connection.
 Thus, the capacitor C4 is charged to 4 Vmax and C2n to 2n Vmax above the earth
potential.
 But voltage across and individual capacitor or rectifier is only 2 Vmax.

Operation:
 Rectifiers D1, D3, .......D2n-1 conduct during the negative half cycle.
 Rectifiers D2, D4, .......D2n conduct during the positive half cycle.
 Typical current and voltage waveforms of such a circuit are shown in fig 6.4c &
6.4d.
 The voltage on C2 is the sum of the input a.c. voltage, Vac and the voltage across
capacitor C1 ,Vc1).
 The mean voltage on C2 is less than the positive peak charging voltage (Vac +
Vc1).
 The voltages across other capacitors C2 to C2n can be derived in the same
manner, (i.e.) from the difference between voltage across the previous
capacitor and the charging voltage.
 Finally the voltage after 2n stages will be Vac (n1 + n2 + ...), where n1, n2,... are
factors when ripple and regulation are considered in the next rectifier.
 The ripple voltage δV and the voltage drop ∆V in a cascaded voltage multiplier
unit are shown in Fig. 6.4e.
 Ripple In Cascaded Voltage Multiplier Circuits:
 For n-stages, the total ripple will be,
 Where,
IL = Load current from rectifier
f = supply frequency
C = equal value of capacitors in each stage
n = total number of stages

 Voltage Regulation or Drop on Load:

∆V
 Optimum number of stages for the minimum voltage drop:

Where,
I = load current.
Vmax = Peak rated transformer secondary voltage
 Maximum possible output voltage:
 Electrostatic Machines
 In electromagnetic machines, current carrying conductors are moved in a
magnetic field, so that the mechanical energy is converted into electrical
energy.
 Basic Principle of Electrostatics Machines:
 In electrostatic machines charged bodies are moved in an electric field against
an electrostatic field in order that mechanical energy is converted into electrical
energy.
 Thus, if an insulated belt with a charge density δ moves in an electric field
“E(x)”between two electrodes with separation ‘S’ then
1. the charge on the strip of belt at a distance dx is dq = δ. b. dx where b is the
width of the belt, and
2. The force on the belt, F is,
 If the belt moves with a velocity, v, then the mechanical power P, required to
move the belt is

 The current, I, in the system is given as,

 and the potential difference, V, between the electrodes is,

 Thus, in an electrostatic machine, the mechanical power required to move the

belt at a velocity v, i.e. P = F. v is converted into the electrical power, P= V. I ,
assuming that there are no losses in the system.
 The Van de Graaff generator is one such electrostatic machine which generates
very high voltages, with small output current.
 Van de Graaff Generators
 Where,
1. Lower spray point
2. Motor driven pulley
3. Insulated belt
4. High voltage terminal
5. Collector
6. Upper Pulley insulted from terminal
7. Upper Spray Point
8. Earthed Enclosure
9. HV dc source 9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y20lKZB5BR0
 Functioning of Van De Graaff Generator:
 The generator is usually enclosed in an earthed metallic cylindrical vessel and is
operated under pressure or in vacuum.
 Charge is sprayed on to an insulating moving belt from corona points at a
potential of 10 to 100 kV above earth and is removed and collected from the
belt connected to the inside of an insulated metal electrode through which the
belt moves.
 The belt is driven by an electric motor at a speed of 1000 to 2000 meters per
minute.
 The potential of the high voltage electrode above the earth at any instant is
V=Q/C , where, Q is the charge stored and C is the capacitance of the high
voltage electrode to earth.
 The potential of the high voltage electrodes rises at a rate ,

Where ‘I’- is the net charging current.

 A steady potential will be attained by the high voltage electrode when the
leakage currents and the load current are equal to the charging current.
 The shape of the high voltage electrode is so made with re-entrant edges as to
avoid high surface field gradients, corona and other local discharges.
 The charging of the belt is done by the lower spray points which are sharp
needles and connected to a d.c. source of about 10 to 100 kV, so that the
corona is maintained between the moving belt and the needles.
 The charge from the corona points is collected by the collecting needles from
the belt and is transferred on to the high voltage electrode as the belt enters
into the high voltage electrode.
 The belt returns with the charge dropped, and fresh charge is sprayed on to it as
it passes through the lower corona point.
 in order to make the charging more effective and to utilize the return path of
the belt for charging purposes, a self-inducing arrangement or a second corona
point system excited by a rectifier inside the high voltage terminal is employed.
 To obtain a self-charging system, the upper pulley is connected to the collector
needle and is therefore maintained at a potential higher than that of the high
voltage terminal.
 The generator is normally worked in a high pressure gaseous medium, the
pressure ranging from 5 to 15 atm.
 The gas may be nitrogen, air, air-freon, or sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
 Van de Graaff generators are useful for very high voltage and low current
applications.
 The output voltage is easily controlled by controlling the corona source voltage
and the rate of charging.
 Electrostatic Generators

 Introduction:
 Van de Graaff generators are essentially high voltage but low power devices,
and their power rating seldom exceeds few tens of kilowatts.
 As such electrostatic machines which effectively convert mechanical energy
into electrical energy using variable capacitor principle were developed.
 These are essentially duals of electromagnetic machines and are constant
voltage variable capacitance machines.
 An electrostatic generator consists of a stator with interleaved rotor vanes
forming a variable capacitor and operates in vacuum.
E- Line voltage output
V- Rotor plate voltage
1. Stator with vanes
2. Rotor shaft
3. Rotor vanes
A, B – Rectifiers

 Functioning of Electrostatic Generator:

 A schematic diagram of a synchronous electrostatic generator with interleaved
stator and rotor plates is shown in Fig. 6.7
 The rotor is insulated from the ground, and is maintained at a potential of + V.
 The rotor to stator capacitance varies from Cm to C0 and the stator is connected
to a common point between two rectifiers across the d.c. output which is -E
volts.
 When the capacitance of the rotor is maximum (Cm), the rectifier B does not
conduct and the stator is at ground potential.
 The potential E is applied across the rectifier A and V is applied across Cm.
 As the rotor rotates, the capacitance C decreases and the voltage across C
increases.
 Thus, the stator becomes more negative with respect to ground.
 When the stator reaches the line potential -E the rectifier A conducts, and
further movement of the rotor causes the current to flow from the generator.
 Rectifier B will now have E across it and the charge left in the generator will be
Q0 = C0 (V+E) + E(Cs + Cr), where Cs is the stator capacitance to earth, Cr is the
capacitance of rectifier B to earth, and C0 is the minimum capacitance value of C
(stator to rotor capacitance).
 A generator of this type with an output voltage of one MV and a field gradient
of 1 MV/cm in high vacuum and having 16 rotor poles, 50 rotor plates of 4 feet
maximum and 2 feet minimum diameter, and a speed of 4000 rpm would
develop 7 MW of power.
 Generation of High Alternating Voltages
 When test voltage requirements are less than about 300 kV, a single
transformer can be used for test purposes.
 The impedance of the transformer should be generally less than 5% and must
be capable of giving the short circuit current for one minute or more
depending on the design.
 In addition to the normal windings, namely, the low and high voltage windings,
a third winding known as meter winding is provided to measure the output
voltage.
 For higher voltage requirements, a single unit construction becomes difficult
and costly due to insulation problems.
 Moreover, transportation and erection of large transformers become difficult.
 The cost of Insulation also rises.
 These drawbacks are overcome by series connection or cascading of the
several identical units of transformers, wherein the high voltage windings of all
the units effectively come in series.
Cascade Transformers

where,
V1 – Input voltage
V2 – Output voltage
g – Insulation support
aa’ – LV primary winding
bb’ – HV secondary winding
cc’ – Excitation winding
bd – Meter winding
(200 to 500 V)
 In the cascade transformer units, the first transformer is at the ground
potential along with its tank.
 The primary of the first stage transformer is connected to a low voltage supply.
 The second transformer is kept on insulators and maintained at a potential of
V2, the output voltage of the first unit above the ground.
 The high voltage winding of the first unit is connected to the tank of the second
unit.
 The low voltage winding of this unit is supplied from the excitation winding of
the first transformer, which is in series with the high voltage winding of the first
transformer at its high voltage end.
 The rating of the excitation winding is almost identical to that of the primary or
the low voltage winding.
 The high voltage connection from the first transformer winding and the
excitation winding terminal are taken through a bushing to the second
transformer.
 In a similar manner, the third transformer is kept on insulators above the
ground at a potential of 2V2 and is supplied likewise from the second
transformer.
 The number of stages in this type of arrangement are usually two to four, but
very often, three stages are adopted to facilitate a three-phase operation so
that √(3V2) can be obtained between the lines.
 Supply to the units can be obtained from a motor-generator set or through an
induction regulator for variation of the output voltage.
 The rating of the primary or the low voltage winding is usually 230 or 400 V for
small units up to 100 kVA.
 For larger outputs the rating of the low voltage winding may be 3.3kV, 6.6 kV or
11 kV.
 Resonant Transformer
 The equivalent circuit of a high voltage testing transformer consist of the leakage
reactances of the windings, the windings resistances, the magnetizing reactance,
and the shunt capacitance across the output terminal due to the bushing of the
high voltage terminal and also that of the test object.

Fig. Resonant Transformer and Equivalent Circuit

 Where,
– T – Testing transformer;
– L – choke;
– C – Capacitance of a h.v. terminal and test object;
– L0 – Magnetizing inductance;
– L1, L2 – Leakage inductance of the transformer;
– r1, r2 – resistance of the windings;
– R0 – Resistance due to core loss
 It may be seen that it is possible to have series resonance at power frequency ω,
if ω(L1+L2) = 1/ ωC.
 With this condition, the current in the tests object is very large and is limited
only by the resistance of the circuit.
 The waveform of the voltage across the test object will be purely sinusoidal.
 The magnitude of the voltage across the capacitance C of the test object will be
 where R is the total series resistances of the circuit.
 The factor XC/R is the Q factor of the circuit and gives the magnitude of the
voltage multiplication across the test object under resonance conditions.
 Therefore, the input voltage required for excitation is reduced by a factor 1/Q,
and the output kVA required is also reduced by a factor 1/Q.
 The secondary power factor of the circuit is unity.
 This principle is utilized in testing at very high voltage and on occasions requiring
large current outputs such as cable testing, dielectric loss measurements, partial
discharge measurements, etc.
 A transformer with 50 to 100 kV voltage rating and a relatively large current
rating is connected together with an additional choke, if necessary.
 The test condition is set such that w(Le + L) = 1/wC where Le is the total
equivalent leakage inductance of the transformer including its regulating
transformer.
 The chief advantages of this principle are:
a) it gives an output of pure sine wave,
b) power requirements are less (5 to 10% of total kVA required),
c) no high power arcing and heavy current surges occur if the test object failed, as resonance ceases
at the failure of the test object,
d) cascading is also possible for very high voltage,
e) simple and compact test arrangement, and
f) no repeated flashovers occur in case of partial failures of the test object and insulation recovery.
It can be shown that the supply source takes Q number of cycles at least to charge the test
specimen to the full voltage.

 The disadvantages are:

a) the requirements of additional variable chokes capable of withstanding the full test voltage and
the full current rating.
 A simplified diagram of the series resonance test system is given in Fig. 6.12c
and that of the parallel resonant test system in 6.12d.

 A voltage regulator of either the auto-transformer type or the induction

regulator type is connected to the supply mains and the secondary winding of
the exciter transformer is connected across the H.V. reactor, L, and the capacitive
load C.
 The inductance of the reactor L is varied by varying its air gap and operating
range is set in the ratio 10 : 1.
 Capacitance C comprises of the capacitance of the test object, capacitance of
the measuring voltage divider, capacitance of the high voltage bushing etc.
 The Q-factor obtained in these circuits will be typically of the order of 50.
 In the parallel resonant mode the high voltage reactor is connected as an auto-
transformer and the circuit is connected as a parallel resonant circuit.
 The advantage of the parallel resonant circuit is that more stable output voltage
can be obtained along with a high rate of rise of test voltage, independent of the
degree of tuning and the Q-factor.
 Single unit resonant test systems are built for output voltages up to 500 kV,
while cascaded units for outputs up to 3000 kV, 50/60 Hz are available.
 Generation of High-Frequency ac High Voltages
 High frequency high voltages are required for rectifier d.c. power supplies.

 Also, for testing electrical apparatus for switching surges, high frequency high
voltage damped oscillations are needed which need high voltage high frequency
transformers.

 The advantages of these high frequency transformers are:

1. the absence of iron core in transformers and hence saving in cost and size,
2. pure sine wave output,
3. slow build-up of voltage over a few cycles and hence no damage due to
switching surges, and
4. uniform distribution of voltage across the winding coils due to subdivision of
coil stack into a number of units.
 The commonly used high frequency resonant transformer is the Tesla coil, which
is also called as doubly tuned resonant circuit.
 The primary voltage rating is 10 kV and the secondary may be rated to as high as
500 to 1000 kV.

 The primary is fed form a.d.c. or a.c. supply through the capacitor C1.
 A spark gap G connected across the primary is triggered at the desired voltage
V1 which induces a high self excitation in the secondary.
 The primary and the secondary windings L1 and L2 are wound on an insulated
former with no core (air cored) and are immersed in oil.
 The windings are tuned to a frequency of 10 to 100kHz by means of the
capacitors C1 and C2.

 The output voltage V2 is a function of the parameters L1, L2, C1, C2, and the
mutual inductances M.
 Usually, the windings resistance will be small and contribute only for damping
of the oscillations.

 The analysis of the output waveform can be done in a simple manner neglecting
the winding resistance.
 Let the capacitor C1 be charged to a voltage V1 when the spark gap is triggered.
 Let a current i1 flow through the primary windings L1 and produce a current i2
through L2 and C2.
 Then,

 The Laplace transformed equation for the above are:

 Where I1 and I2 are the Laplace transformed values of i1 and i2 respectively.

 The output voltage V2 across the capacitor C2 is,
 Where, V2(s) is the Laplace transform of V2.
 The solution for V2 from the above equations will be,

 Where,

 K = coefficient of coupling between the windings L1 and L2

 The output waveform is shown in Fig. 6.13b.

 A more simplified analysis for the Tesla coil may be presented by considering
that the energy stored in the primary circuit in the capacitance C1 is transferred
to C2 via the magnetic coupling.
 If W1 is the energy stored in C1 and W2 is the energy transferred to C2 and if
efficiency of the transformer is η, then

 From this,

 It can be shown that if the coefficient of coupling K is large oscillation frequency

is less, and for large values of the winding resistance and K, the waveform may
become a unidirectional impulse.