Dielectric Materials and Components - High Voltage - HVDC

The electrical power transmission industry and high-voltage equipment design industry are faced with the challenge of finding solutions to insulation constraints. They are seeking to improve the reliability and service life of their components (cables, insulators, circuit breakers, etc.). They are seeking to develop innovative transport solutions to reduce the visual pollution of overhead lines such as high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power lines. To do this, it is necessary to characterize and develop new insulators and take environmental constraints into account.

This teaching unit covers the different properties of insulating and conductive materials, such as conductivity, permittivity, dielectric breakdown, etc. It defines the theory behind the physical origin of the various phenomena associated with these properties.

Part of the course is also devoted to measurement techniques, characterization, and data analysis related to the various properties of dielectrics.

This teaching unit also includes a course on the specific features of high voltage use and applications in high voltage equipment. It will define the functions, characteristics, and constraints of this equipment.

A presentation of HVDC networks is provided, covering converter and link architectures (single-pole, double-pole), characteristics, and constraints.

A practical component involving measurements and data analysis for the characterization of dielectrics will be carried out as part of a mini-project.

This teaching unit should enable students to join design offices or research laboratories working in the field of development and characterization of dielectric materials and components.

The objective of this teaching unit is that, at the end of this course consisting of class hours, students will be familiar with the properties, limitations, and uses of conductive and insulating materials.

Students must be able to select materials for common electrical engineering applications (insulating materials, conductors).

Students must be familiar with the physical mechanisms of degradation, understand and predict the modes and mechanisms of material failure, and be able to estimate the service life of materials. They must be familiar with the specific characteristics associated with the presence of high voltage (charge injection, ionization, breakdown, etc.).

Students must be familiar with the various high-voltage equipment used in transmission networks. They must understand their functions, characteristics, and technological limitations in order to make choices based on specifications.

Students must be familiar with the architectures, advantages, and disadvantages of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electrical connections.

The basics of electrostatics: Coulomb's law, Gauss's law

Recommended prerequisites:

Atomic-scale materials physics, band theory,

Knowledge will be assessed on the basis of a final exam.

1) Electrical properties

            Matter – Electric field – Potential – Current – Resistivity

            Conductive materials – Insulating materials

            Band theory – Charges – Traps – Conduction mechanisms

            Polarization – Permittivity

            Burnout – Mechanisms of burnout

            Reliability of electrical insulation

2) Methods for measuring different properties

            Current-voltage characteristic

            Breakdown field measurement – Partial discharges

            Space charge measurement

            Dielectric spectroscopy

3) High voltage

            The use of insulating materials under strong electric fields.

            Special features of high-voltage equipment

4) HVDC networks

            Topology and characteristics related to these networks

CM: 33 hours