Dielectric heating in insulating materials subjected to voltage waveforms with high harmonic content

Dielectric heating is one potential aging mechanism active below partial discharge inception voltage in materials used as high voltage insulation. When exposed to voltage waveforms containing high amount of harmonics, the heat generation will be larger due to increased power losses as compared with power frequency excitation. This may result in a decreased life or even failure of insulation due to the increased operating temperature or to thermal runaway. An analysis of the power developed due to dielectric heating in two different materials subjected to voltage waveforms with high harmonic content is presented in this paper. By expressing the non-sinusoidal loss as an enhancement factor to the sinusoidal one, a geometry-independent formalism is derived. From dielectric response measurements at low voltage and at several temperatures the dielectric power loss in the material can be calculated for different voltage levels and waveforms. Two important material parameters can be extracted from the calculated dielectric power loss: (i) non-sinusoidal loss compared with sinusoidal loss with the same fundamental frequency (p_fact) and (ii) change of loss with changing temperature (dp_fact/dT). These two parameters could potentially be used to indicate the suitability of materials for use in applications where voltage waveforms contain high harmonic content.