Virtual high-voltage lab: Physics and engineering for dielectric design of power devices

We present the Virtual High-Voltage Lab, a tool aimed at simulation-based prediction of breakdown in dielectric high-voltage tests for virtual high-voltage and medium-voltage devices created in CAD systems. Not only does it make a quantitative evaluation of the withstand voltage, but it also shows what happens during the test by visualizing the possible discharge path, and provides engineers with hints on how to improve the dielectric design.