Surface charging characteristics of GIL model spacers under DC stress in C4F7N/CO2 gas mixture

The C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 gas mixture has attracted much attention due to its excellent insulation property and eco-friendly character. In order to evaluate the feasibility of its application in DC GIL, this paper focuses on the surface charging characteristics of spacers under DC stress in the C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 mixture. First, the DC insulation strength was tested under uniform field. The results show that the critical dielectric strength of pure C 4 F 7 N is more than twice that of SF 6 and the dielectric strength of 15%∼20% C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 mixture is equivalent to that of SF 6 . Next, the surface charge measurement of spacers was performed in C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 mixtures, which reveals that the surface charge density decreases slightly with the increase of C 4 F 7 N content. However, the surface charging level in 25% C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 mixture is still much higher than that in SF 6 . It is found that most of the surface charge stems from partial discharges (PDs) near the flange. The PD measurement shows that in SF 6 , there are more PDs with low magnitude, but much less PDs with high magnitude compared to that in the 15%∼25% C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 mixtures. It is the different PD behaviors between C 4 F 7 N/CO 2 mixtures and SF 6 that lead to their different surface charging characteristics.