PROPERTIES OF STREAMERS IN TRANSFORMER OIL

The electrical characteristics of creeping discharges and single creep ing streamers in transformer oil first are compared with those of stre amers developing in the liquid bulk. The distribution of electric pote ntial along the channel of a single negative creeping streamer is dete rmined using a capacitive probe technique. Then the distribution of th e space charge associated with each streamer channel is discussed and the electric field around the channels is estimated. A strong correlat ion between the mean potential gradient and the capacitance of the str eamer channels is found. The different results and considerations tend to support the hypothesis of the same basic physical mechanism for bo th creeping discharges and streamers developing in the bulk.