Flashover strength improvement and particle suppression in vacuum using surface groove structure

Vacuum insulation equipment is facing the development requirements of higher voltage grade and miniaturization. However, vacuum flashover is prone to occur along the solid-vacuum interface, and the attached metal particle is considered to be one essential reason to trigger surface flashover. Therefore, it is important to study the method of improving flashover strength along vacuum surface and particle suppression for the development as well as application of vacuum equipment. This article starts from the surface groove structure, successfully constructs a groove structure on the surface of insulating material by 3D printing technology, and investigates the effect of groove structures on the flashover characteristics along the dielectric surface in vacuum through experiments. In addition, the effect of metal particles attached to the surface on the electric field distribution and the flashover strength are studied through simulations and experiments. Finally, the effect of the groove structure on the metal particle is investigated, the suppression effect of grooves on the metal particle is verified by experiments.