Conductor Surface Roughness-dependent Gas Conduction Process for HVDC GIL—Part I: Simulation

Charges due to ionization at conductors at low electric field serves as the main source of charge carriers that is responsible for surface charge enhancement, especially for hetero-polar charges on the convex surface side of spacers inside DC gas-insulated transmission lines (GILs). In this paper, simulation results of charge generation processes from gas side, including natural ionization, micro-discharge and field emission, are presented. The results show that for the case where the electric field strength is -6.548 kV/mm and the gas pressure is 0.4 Mpa, when conductor roughness Ra is lower than 24.16 µm, natural radiation ionization is the main cause of the dark current. When Ra is between 24.16 µm and 188.59 µm, the dark current is dominated by micro-discharge. The Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) field emission occurs when Ra exceeds 188.59 µm. Considering the roughness of the conductor in the actual GIL, the increase in the dark current due to local roughness is mainly due to micro-discharge rather than F-N field emission. The results in this paper provide an important part for further determining of conductor surface conditions in high voltage direct current (HVDC) GILs and serve as an important reference for completion of the surface charging model of spacers under DC.