IEC TR 62836:2013

IEC/TR 62836 ®
Edition 1.0 2013-09
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
Measurement of internal electric field in insulating materials – Pressure wave
propagation method
IEC/TR 62836:2013(E)
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IEC/TR 62836 ®
Edition 1.0 2013-09
TECHNICAL
REPORT
colour
inside
Measurement of internal electric field in insulating materials – Pressure wave

propagation method
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
PRICE CODE
M
ICS 17.220.99; 29.035.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-1102-1

– 2 – TR 62836 © IEC:2013(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
INTRODUCTION . 5
1 Scope . 6
2 Terms, definitions and abbreviations . 6
2.1 Terms and definitions . 6
2.2 Abbreviations . 6
3 Principle of the method . 6
4 Sample conditions . 8
5 Electrode materials . 8
6 Pressure pulse wave generation . 8
7 Set-up of the measurement. 8
8 Calibrating the electric field . 9
9 Measurement procedure . 9
10 Data processing for the experimental measurement . 9
11 Measurement examples . 10
11.1 Samples . 10
11.2 Pressure pulse generation . 10
11.3 Calibrating of sample and signal . 10
11.4 Testing sample and experimental results . 11
11.5 The internal electric field distribution . 12

Figure 1 – Principle of the PWP method . 7
Figure 2 – Set-up of measurement of the PWP method . 8
Figure 3 – Sample of protecting circuit . 9
Figure 4 – Current signal under –5,8 kV . 11
Figure 5 – First measured current signal (<1 min) . 11
Figure 6 – Signal under –46,4 kV, 1,5 h . 11
Figure 7 – Measured signal without applied voltage, after 1,5 h under high voltage . 12
Figure 8 – Internal electric field distribution under –5,8 kV . 12
Figure 9 – Internal electric field distribution under –46,4 kV, at the initial state . 12
Figure 10 – Internal electric field distribution under –46,4 kV, after 1,5 h under high
voltage . 12
Figure 11 – Internal electric field distribution without applied voltage after 1,5 h under
high voltage . 12

TR 62836 © IEC:2013(E) – 3 –
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
MEASUREMENT OF INTERNAL ELECTRIC FIELD IN INSULATING
MATERIALS – PRESSURE WAVE PROPAGATION METHOD

FOREWORD
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The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. However, a
technical committee may propose the publication of a technical report when it has collected
data of a different kind from that which is normally published as an International Standard, for
example "state of the art".
IEC/TR 63836, which is a technical report, has been prepared by IEC technical committee 112:
Evaluation and qualification of electrical insulating materials and systems.
The text of this technical report is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
112/258/DTR 112/263/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical report can be found in the
report on voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

– 4 – TR 62836 © IEC:2013(E)
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the stability date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data
related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

TR 62836 © IEC:2013(E) – 5 –
INTRODUCTION
High-voltage insulating cables, especially high-voltage d.c. cables, are subject to charge
accumulation and thus to electrical breakdown if the electric field produced by the charges
exceeds the electrical breakdown threshold. With the trend to multiply power plants,
especially green power plants such as wind or solar generators, more cables will be used for
connecting these power plants to the grid and share the electric energy between countries.
Therefore the materials for the cables, and even the structure of these cables when
considering electrodes or the junction between cables, need a standardized procedure for
testing how the internal electric field can be characterized. The measurement of the internal
electric field would give a tool for comparing materials and help to establish thresholds on the
internal electric field for high voltage applications in order to limit as much as possible
breakdown risks. The pressure wave propagation (PWP) method has been used by several
researchers to measure the space charge distribution and the internal electric field distribution
in insulators. However, since experimental equipment, with slight differences, is developed
independently by researchers over the world, it is difficult to compare the measuring results
between the different researchers.
The procedure outlined in this technical report would give a reliable point of comparison
between different test results carried out by different laboratories and avoid interpretation
errors. The IEC has established a project team to develop a procedure to evaluate PWP
measurement. The method will be verified in a Round Robin test. Once, having received
reliable experience, this report is intended later to be upgraded to a technical specification in
order to establish a specified way to estimate fairly the performance of a PWP measurement.

– 6 – TR 62836 © IEC:2013(E)
MEASUREMENT OF INTERNAL ELECTRIC FIELD IN INSULATING
MATERIALS – PRESSURE WAVE PROPAGATION METHOD

1 Scope
IEC/TR 62836, which is a technical report, contains an efficient and reliable procedure to test
the internal electric field in the insulating materials used for high-voltage applications using
the pressure wave propagation (PWP) method. It is suitable for a sample with homogeneous
insulating materials and an electric field higher than 1 kV/mm, but it is also depended on the
thickness of sample and the pressure wave generator.
2 Terms, definitions and abbreviations
For the purposes of this document, the following terms, definitions and abbreviations apply.
2.1 Terms and definitions
2.1.1
pressure wave propagation
PWP
propagation of wave generated by the action of a pressure pulse
2.2 Abbreviations
LIPP laser induced pressure pulse
PIPP piezoelectric induced pressure pulse
3 Princip
...