Synergy of radioactive 241Am and the effect of hollow cathode in optimizing gas-insulated surge arresters characteristics

The paper discusses the possibility of improving the character of gas surge arresters. Examined were: the magnetic field effect, the effect of the hollow cathode, and the effect of the alpha radiation source 241Am. Numerical and real experiments conducted are presented together with theoretical interpretations of the obtained results. Real experiments were carried out on a model of a gas surge arrester spatially constructed for experiments presented in this paper. The model was designed in such a way that it was possible to change all the relevant parameters of the gas surge arrester model. Experiments were conducted under well-controlled laboratory conditions. The tests were performed with d. c. and impulse voltage. The results obtained by experiments were processed by sophisticated statistical methods. The expressed measurement uncertainty of the experimental procedure showed a high statistical reliability of the obtained results. Based on the results of the research, the model of a gas surge arrester, in which the effect of the hollow cathode and the radioactive source 241Am were combined, unambiguously proved to have the best characteristics.