This paper presents lightning (1.2/50 µs) breakdown voltages of palm oil (PO), coconut oil (CO) and mineral oil (MO) in a quasi-uniform sphere to sphere electric field at two gap distances. The type of PO used in this study is Refined Bleached Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) Olein type. The effect of voltage polarities (positive and negative) and testing methods (rising voltage, up and down and multiple level) on the lightning breakdown performance were investigated. The results indicated that lightning breakdown voltages of CO and RBDPO are comparable to those of MO under various test conditions. The results indicated that there is no polarity effect for lightning impulse breakdown tests in a quasi-uniform field. The testing methods, including rising voltage method, up and down method and multiple level method have a notable influence on the breakdown voltages. The effect of the 50% breakdown voltage on rising voltage method, up and down method and multiple level method for RBDPO and CO is comparable to MO. The withstand voltage at 1% and 50% breakdown probabilities were obtained using the Normal distribution fitting on the cumulative probability plot of impulse shots. Based on a normal distribution fitting, withstand voltages 1% breakdown probability of POA were close to the MO. Finally, based on statistical studies and simulation using ANSYS software, the prediction formulas for breakdown voltage for larger gap distances for all samples were derived.

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a b s t r a c tThis paper presents a study of the lightning breakdown voltages of Palm Oil (PO) and Coconut Oil (CO) under a non-uniform field with consideration on the polarity effect at various gap distances. All tests were carried based on a needle-sphere electrode configuration and various gap distances ranging from 2 to 25 mm under positive and negative voltage polarities. Three different testing techniques were used in this study including rising-voltage, up-and-down and multiple-voltage methods. The PO used in this study was Refined, Bleached and Deodorised Palm Oil (RBDPO) Olein. Three different samples of RBDPO and one sample of CO were tested. The Weibull distribution was used as a statistical approach to determine the withstand voltages of all samples at 1% and 50% probabilities for each type of oil. Under positive voltage polarity, it was found that the 50% breakdown voltages of RBDPO and CO were comparable with Mineral Oil (MO) whereby the highest percentage of difference among all gap distances was less than 15%. RBDPO and CO have lower 50% breakdown voltages than MO under a negative lightning impulse for which the highest percentage of difference can be up to 40%.

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