Flashover Condition for a Special Three-Electrode Spark Gap Design

Electrical discharges in gases represent a complex problem in high-voltage techniques. The paper presents the findings which have been used to build a model of flashover in gases designed for use in engineering practice. The model is based on the electrostatic FEM computation and on the value of the flashover electrical field intensity in air. The model has been used to compute the flashover for a two-electrode sphere spark gap and a special three-electrode spark gap. Computation results are compared with measured results obtained on the experimental three-electrode spark gap prototype.