Dielectric Materials and Components - High Voltage - HVDC

The electrical power transmission industry and the high-voltage equipment design sector 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 also working to develop innovative transmission solutions to reduce the visual impact of overhead lines, such as high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) power lines. To achieve this, it is necessary to characterize and develop new insulating materials while taking environmental constraints into account.

This course covers the various properties of insulating and conductive materials, such as conductivity, permittivity, and dielectric breakdown. It explains the theory behind the physical origins of the various phenomena related to these properties.

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

This course also includes a module on the specific aspects of high-voltage systems and their applications in high-voltage switchgear. It will define the functions, characteristics, and limitations of this switchgear.

This section provides an overview of HVDC systems, covering converter and interconnection architectures (unipolar, bipolar), as well as their 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 course is designed to prepare students to join engineering firms or research laboratories working in the field of the development and characterization of dielectric materials and components.

The objective of this course is for students, by the end of this course consisting of lecture hours, to understand the properties, limitations, and uses of conductive and insulating materials.

Students must be able to select materials for common applications in electrical engineering (insulating and conductive materials).

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 also be familiar with the specific characteristics associated with high voltage (charge injection, ionization, breakdown, etc.).

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

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

The Basics of Electrostatics: Coulomb's Law, Gauss's Law

Recommended prerequisites*:

Materials physics at the atomic scale, band theory,

Assessment will be based on a final exam

1) Electrical Properties

            Matter – Electric Field – Potential – Current – Resistivity

            Conductive Materials – Insulating Materials

            Band Theory – Charges – Traps – Conduction Mechanisms

            Polarization – Permittivity

            Muscle Strain – Mechanisms of Muscle Strains

            Reliability of Electrical Insulators

2) Methods for measuring various properties

            Current-Voltage Characteristic

            Breakdown Field Measurement – Partial Discharges

            Measurement of Space Loads

            Dielectric Spectroscopy

3) High voltage

            The Use of Insulating Materials in Strong Electric Fields.

            Special Features of High-Voltage Equipment

4) HVDC grids

            Topology and Characteristics of These Networks

CM: 33 hours