UV Induced Insulator Flashover

Insulators are critical components in high-energy, pulsed power systems. It is known that the vacuum surface of the insulator will flashover when illuminated by ultraviolet (UV) radiation depending on the insulator material, insulator cone angle, applied voltage and insulator short-history. A testbed comprised of an excimer laser (KrF, 248 nm, ~2 MW/cm
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, 30 ns FWHM,), a vacuum chamber (low 1.0E-6 torr), and dc high voltage power supply (<60 kV) was assembled for insulator testing to measure the UV dose during a flashover event. Five in-house developed and calibrated fast D-Dot probes (>12 GHz, bandwidth) were embedded in the anode electrode underneath the insulator to determine the time of flashover with respect to UV arrival. A commercial energy meter were used to measure the UV fluence for each pulse. Four insulator materials High Density Polyethylene, Rexolite® 1400, Macor™ and Mycalex with side- angles of 0, ±30, and ±45 degrees, 1.0 cm thick samples, were tested with a maximum UV fluence of 75 mJ/cm
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and at varying electrode charge (10 kV to 60 kV). This information clarified/corrected earlier published studies. A new phenomenon was observed related to the UV power level on flashover that as the UV pulse intensity was increased, the UV fluence on the insulator prior to flashover was also increased. This effect would bias the data towards higher minimum flashover fluence.