Simulation study of Borda's profile & parallel plane electrode to assess electric field uniformity

The electrode gaps which results in to uniform electric fields are the most widely used gap configurations in assessing dielectric strength. In the present study simulation results of two electrode gap configurations namely, parallel plane profile and Borda's profile are reported. The charge simulation method (CSM) is used to compute electric fields with errors in simulation being less than 0.04% (in potential). In order to assess the uniformity in electric field in the gap, numerical experiments are conducted by varying parameters like gap spacing, overall radius. Computed electric fields on the surface of the electrode help in comparing non-uniformity in electric fields for the two electrode configurations. Simulation results indicate that for the same overall dimension of the electrode and the gap spacing, parallel plane electrode gives lower non-uniformity factor when compared to the Borda's profile is that the maximum field on the electrode occurs at the edge of the electrode, which is away from the region of interest. Where as the maximum field in case of a plane electrode occurs at the edge of the linear portion of plane profile. Also looking at the field distribution along the gap axis indicates that Borda's profile yields more uniform fields.