A statistical approach to prediction of ZnO arrester element characteristics

ZnO arrester elements consist of ZnO grains with dimensions in the range of 10 to 100 mum, the boundaries between which form double Shottky junctions with conduction voltages in the range of 3.5 V. A fraction of the grains co ntain no conducting boundaries with other grains, which results in the perc olation path for current across the ZnO element being a statistical paramet er which is a function of the fraction of nonconducting grains, which also affects the nonlinear properties of the element. In this paper, we use a si mple statistical approach to predict the effect-of the fraction of noncondu cting grains on the nonlinear properties of the element. This computational ly simple approach gives results which are comparable to far more complex a pproaches which require solving a network of nonlinear resistive elements.