ANALYSIS OF POSITIVE STATIC CORONA-STABILIZED BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE OF SF₆ - 1. RISING VOLTAGE-PRESSURE CHARACTERISTICS.

Compressed SF//6 is now commonly used in hv equipment. However, theoretical analysis of how the positive static corona-stabilized breakdown voltages changes with pressure has not yet been attempted. This paper undertakes such an analysis at pressure values below that of maximum breakdown voltage. A simple criterion developed for this purpose agrees well with experiment whatever the degree of uniformity of the applied field. Corona stabilization of the applied field is quantitatively analyzed and proved to be responsible for the anomalous increase of breakdown voltage over that for corona onset.