Investigation of LLPD performance at high altitude

One of the representatives of Streamer was Alexander Chusov with his article about the effects of high altitude on LLPD performance. 

“Arc quenching process in LLPD installed at high altitude is investigated both experimentally and theoretically. Recently developed non-equilibrium arc model was applied for analysis of fault current interruption in rarefied air conditions. Results of switching arc simulation showed that for lower pressure, conductance decays slower, and thus the interruption is less effective. Experiments conducted in vacuum chamber within pressure range from 1 atm down to 0.3 atm confirmed this result, the obtained efficiency drop is about 20 %. However, this value of decrease remains acceptable and is not recognized as a threat to LLPD operation.

In order to verify the results of simulations experimental setup was built and adjusted for purpose of measurements in special parameter range. The setup itself consists of two functional parts. The first one is designed to simulate lightning current and is represented by current pulse generator while the second part is aimed to simulate power grid, for that purpose the oscillation circuit is used. The test object was installed in parallel to both circuits allowing to flow both impulse current and power frequency current and thus approximating real operation conditions. To prepare rarefied air environment we used vacuum chamber equipped with high power pumps”

Website of the Conference https://iclp2020.org/