A study on the surface flashover characteristics for a HTS cable termination

Terminal technology is important component to a HTS cable as well as a conventional cable. HTS cable terminations are required when the insulated shield HTS cables connect with other conductors such as a bus or a overhead lines. HTS cable terminations must span a temperature range from 77 K to 300 K. The termination is insulated with insulating oil or air, cryogenic gaseous nitrogen and liquid nitrogen. Particularly, difficult conditions for high voltage insulation had to be overcome with HTS cable. And, several environments can substantially raise the flashover possibility at the HTS cable termination. Therefore, in order to insulating design of HTS cable termination, this paper will report on experimental investigations of the surface flashover characteristics under various surface length and GFRP thickness in the atmospheric air, transformer oil, LN2 at atmospheric pressure and complex condition. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.