Comparison between the theoretical and experimental Effectiveness in the Rod-barrier-plane System

The present paper deals with the influence of insulating barriers on the breakdown and the effectiveness in the Rod-insulating barrier-plane air gap system under AC voltage. The influence of different parameters, such as gap distance between electrodes and barrier dimensions, is studied. Every value is the average of five experimental tests. The results showed that the rigidity increases with the width and decreases with the gap distance, the thickness has an effect on the effectiveness variation, it increases with thickness. A theorical model, using electric field distribution obtained by finite element method, to estimate the effectiveness is established. It was verified that the established model reproduces correctly the experimental results.