THE MOTION OF CHARGED METAL PARTICLES WITHIN PARALLEL AND TILTED ELECTRODES

In a gas insulated switchgear, metal particles which might exist unexp ectedly lower the breakdown voltage extensively. This study is concent rated on the motion of charged metal particles within parallel and sli ghtly tilted electrodes to which high voltage DC or AC voltage is appl ied. The motion of various sizes of metal sphere particles was observe d by using a normal and also by a high speed video camera. At first, t he motion of a sphere is theoretically predicted. It was shown that th ere exist two different critical voltages at which the motion of a par ticle starts and stops. The experimental results were compared with th eoretical prediction and showed good agreement with them. One of the i nteresting results with a slightly tilted electrodes is that the motio n of particle is confined within a certain region.