Characterization of Paschen Curve Anomolies at High P*D Values

Abstract

Paschen's law is often used to estimate the breakdown voltage of high pressure gas switches commonly used in high voltage pulsed power systems based on the product of pressure and distance (pd) in a given gas. Paschen's law predicts breakdown voltages for high pd values that scale approximately linearly with pd. However, it is clear from published literature and ARC Technology's experimental data that the breakdown voltage deviates significantly from the theoretical Paschen curve at relatively high pd product values. It is also clear that these results are not consistent for different gap spacings and pressures with the same pd product. Therefore, initial tests have been performed to characterize this region of the Paschen curve for N2, H2, and SF6 for pressures between 96.5 and 6900kPa and gap spacings of 0.508, 1.27 and 2.54 mm.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA635433

Entities

People

  • A. J. Wiebe
  • L. L. Altgilbers
  • R. D. Nord
  • W. J. Carey

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Abstracts
  • Barometric Pressure
  • Data Sets
  • Electric Fields
  • Electrical Insulation
  • Field Emission
  • High Pressure
  • High Voltage
  • Literature
  • Measurement
  • Microelectromechanical Systems
  • Power
  • Power Supplies
  • Pulsed Power
  • Spark Gaps
  • Standards
  • Voltage

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Neurodegenerative Parkinson's Disease and Rickettsial Disease handbook, including the data level of dopamine, BC, neurons, and PD.
  • Pulsed Power and Plasma Physics.

Technology Areas

  • Space
  • Space - Hall-Effect Thruster