Dielectric strength of series connected vacuum gaps

A simple procedure to obtain an analytical equation for the distribution function of breakdown voltage in devices containing an arbitrary number of identical elements in series is proposed. The obtained results make possible to analyze an influence of static properties of the elements and their number on the dielectric strength of a device as a whole. The probability of the breakdown of the switching device is calculated using the empirical distribution functions of breakdown voltages of each TVS. The Weibull plots are used to analyze the breakdown test results. The measurement of the dielectric strength performed for AC and DC devices shows a good agreement with the calculated data.