Prebreakdown and Breakdown Behavior of Low Pour Point Dielectric Liquids Under Negative Lightning Impulse Voltage

In this article, some investigations on the prebreakdown and breakdown phenomena of low pour point insulating liquids under negative lightning impulse (LI) voltage are reported. The tested liquids include mineral oil (MO), a typical synthetic ester (TSE), and two low-pour point synthetic esters. These liquids underwent accelerated thermal aging. The nonaged and aged samples were subjected to LIs using a point-plane electrode arrangement. The discussions are focused on the initiation of partial discharges, propagation of streamers, and breakdown behavior in the nonaged and aged liquids. The investigated parameters include inception voltage, LI breakdown voltage, streamer acceleration voltage, and streamer velocity. The results are supported by the oscillographs of the light activity that is recorded during the discharge process. The prebreakdown phenomenon noticed in the TSE vis-à-vis mineral insulating oil is in line with the existing literature. Importantly, it is noticed that the inception and breakdown voltages of the nonaged low pour point synthetic esters are similar to nonaged MO. In addition, the inception and breakdown voltages of the aged low pour point synthetic esters are noticed to be higher than that of the aged MO. These results add to the arguments in favor of replacing MOs in power transformers.