The Effect of Humidity on the AC Breakdown Strength of C4-FN/CO2 (5%/95%) and the Partial Discharge Behavior of Corona Under Different Operating Conditions

SF6 is being phased out of the electrical grid as it is a strong greenhouse gas. A "green" alternative to SF6 is fluoronitrile (C-4-FN). The dutch transmission system operator (TSO) TenneT wanted to investigate the electrical behavior of this "green" alternative as a pilot-gas insulated line (GIL) filled with C-4-FN/CO2 (5%/95%) experienced multiple electrical breakdowns during the site acceptance tests (SATs). TenneT hypothesized that the breakdown was caused by the effect of (too much) humidity in the gas. Therefore, the ac breakdown behavior of the gas mixture has been researched under different amounts of humidity and operating pressures. This article also makes a small introduction on how humidity affects partial discharge (PD) behavior of corona, which is often a breakdown indicator. The results of this research conclude that humidity affects the ac breakdown strength. An increase in humidity in the gas results in a decrease in the ac breakdown strength. Moreover, the field configuration determines the amplitude of the impact. The impact of humidity on the ac breakdown strength in a homogenous field is substantially more compared to an inhomogeneous field, where the impact can almost be ignored. Yet, the effect of humidity decreases as the operating pressure increases. The phase-resolved PD pattern and PD characteristics of corona in a C-4-FN gas mixture also differ with humidity. On the other hand, the PD inception voltage did not change with the humidity content. As a result of the findings in this research, further research is proposed toward the affected breakdown mechanism and more various PD behavior.