Influence of Water Ingress on Surface Discharges Occurring on the Silicone Gel Encapsulated Printed Circuit Boards Developed for Deep-Sea Applications
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Literature and Motivation
2.1. Partial Discharges in Liquid and Gel Materials
2.2. Dielectric Breakdown on PCB
2.3. Reasons for a Failure and Material Degradation
2.4. Impact of Water Ingress of Moisture on PCB
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Test Samples
3.2. Test Setup and Test Cell
4. Results
4.1. Simulation
4.2. PD Measurements
4.2.1. Influence of Spacing and Geometry
4.2.2. Influence of Deionized Water on PD Phenomena
4.2.3. Influence of Sea Water Ingress on PD Phenomena
4.3. Trend of PD Phenomenon
5. Discussion
- Simulation of a two-dimensional CAD model indicates that the electric displacement field appears predominantly at the curvature of the conductive tracks, with higher intensity at their tips. A further increase in test voltage drastically increases the intensity of the electric displacement field, not only at the curvature but also on the sides of the conductive tracks. The perpendicular displacement field increased from 192 pC (at 5 kV) to 1.15 nC (at 30 kV), respectively. It may be deduced that weaker insulation at the sides may cause a failure at these locations rather than at the semicircular ends.
- The experiments on virgin PCB samples with and without gel encapsulation (Groups 1, 2) provide the reference values so that a comparison can be made to analyze the status of the other PCB samples aged in deionized and seawater. The PD measurements on the virgin PCB sample (Group 1) show the pattern of surface discharges directly appearing on the FR4 laminate, while the same on Group 2 shows the impact of encapsulating material on the surface discharges. Subsequent experiments revealed that the PRPD pattern of discharge events occurring on the surface of the virgin samples without gel encapsulation is similar to that of the corona. Pertinent discharge events appear as individual, strong, stable pulses that are predominantly correlated to the peaks of the applied voltage and later span into the first and third quadrants in discrete steps. As the voltage increases, so do the PD magnitude and intensity in the respective patterns. On the contrary, the discharge events occurring on the gel-encapsulated virgin sample start to appear directly in the first and third quadrants. As the applied voltage is increased, the pertinent sample reaches a near-failure condition where the discharges start to appear bipolar, predominantly negative to the applied voltage. The pulses appearing at a polarity opposite to the applied voltage indicate degradation of the gel in that location. This might be since the surface resistivity of the FR4 laminate (Ω-cm) is much lower than that of the silicone gel encapsulation ( Ω-cm). In addition to this, a certain degree of discharge pulses that are proximally positioned to each other appears but at a smaller intensity. This pattern is similar to that of brush discharges that usually arise due to curved electrode surfaces and micro-voids on the surface.
- Further experiments on gel-encapsulated PCB samples aged in deionized and seawater indicate a similar pattern but with a slight deviation in their correlation. For instance, the pattern formed by the PCB samples aged in deionized water at 90 °C seems to be more uniform. As soon as the applied voltage reaches a sufficient magnitude to initiate surface discharges, the pulses appear in the first and third quadrants with well-defined intensity levels. This behavior remains the same for all the samples with different gaps. The only difference is the intensity of PD measured and the magnitude of applied voltage. As the magnitude of applied voltage increases, the intensity of discharges increases, causing severe events that eventually cause a permanent failure. Pertinent patterns appear similar to those of brush discharges, and henceforth the location suffers degradation. On the contrary, similarities between deionized and seawater-aged samples at room temperature were observed, especially for PCB samples with a 3 mm track spacing. A prominent PRPD pattern indicated that the surface discharges are initiated by the field enhancements at the curved electrodes. At the same time, the QV diagram pointed out that the sample with 3 mm track spacing had several opportunities for momentary discharges. As the voltage is higher, the intensity of such discharges is higher, eventually resulting in brush-type discharge failure. Since the brush-type discharges have more energy than their corona counterparts, there is always a likely chance that the gel encapsulation might suffer degradation. In addition, it was observed that the PCB sample with 5 mm track spacing and an additional slit between the conductive tracks showed better PD characteristics. The operating voltage can be increased, while the apparent charge responsible for PD failure is also lower. So, the material degradation can be less than for the other geometries. In addition, the sample with 10 mm spacing also emerges with better characteristics but may not be a feasible choice where high-power density is considered.
6. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Group | Test Samples | Gap between Tracks | Test Conditions |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Virgin PCB 1 | 5 mm | Without gel encapsulation |
2 | Virgin PCB 2 | 5 mm | With gel encapsulation |
3 | 3 mm | ||
PCB 3 | 5 mm | Deionized water at 90 °C | |
5 mm with 4 mm slit | |||
10 mm | |||
4 | 3 mm | ||
PCB 3 | 5 mm | Deionized water at | |
5 mm with 4 mm slit | room temperature (RT) | ||
10 mm | |||
5 | 3 mm | ||
PCB 3 | 5 mm | Sea water in room | |
5 mm with 4 mm slit | temperature | ||
10 mm |
Spacing between the Tracks | |||
---|---|---|---|
Maximum Value Simulated at 5 kV | Maximum Value Simulated at 30 kV | Maximum Value Simulated at 60 kV | |
C/mm2 | C/mm2 | C/mm2 | |
3 mm | 192 | 1.15 | 2.3 |
5 mm | 151 | 908 | 1.89 |
10 mm | 110 | 662 | 1.32 |
Test Condition | Spacing | Discharge Inception | Nearing Failure | Failure Due to Discharge | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | ||
mm | C | kV | C | kV | C | kV | |
1 Air | 5 | 26.94 | 31.95 | 32.23 | |||
2 Sil. oil | 5 | 27.41 | 40.6 | 40.61 |
Spacing | Discharge Inception | Nearing Failure | Failure Due to Discharge | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | |
mm | C | kV | C | kV | C | kV |
3 | 3.128 | 23.15 | 23.36 | |||
5 | 3.579 | 26.54 | 26.89 | |||
5 (Slit) | 13.03 | 38.14 | 38.51 | |||
10 | 19.48 | 32.16 | 33.48 |
Spacing | Discharge Inception | Nearing Failure | Failure Due to Discharge | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | |
Mm | C | kV | C | kV | C | kV |
3 | 28.72 | 33.17 | 33.24 | |||
5 | 12.26 | 43.93 | 46.46 | |||
5 (slit) | 19.02 | 41.02 | 43.36 | |||
10 | 12.61 | 59.36 | 60.51 |
Spacing | Discharge Inception | Nearing Failure | Failure Due to Discharge | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | App. Charge | Voltage | |
Mm | C | kV | C | kV | C | kV |
3 | 4.177 | 35.38 | 36.65 | |||
5 | 8.565 | 38.93 | 39.16 | |||
5 (Slit) | 22.97 | 47.93 | 48.88 | |||
10 | 6.117 | 43.62 | 43.72 |
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Arumugam, S.; Haba, Y.; Pieterse, P.J.; Uhrlandt, D.; Kosleck, S. Influence of Water Ingress on Surface Discharges Occurring on the Silicone Gel Encapsulated Printed Circuit Boards Developed for Deep-Sea Applications. Energies 2023, 16, 5353. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145353
Arumugam S, Haba Y, Pieterse PJ, Uhrlandt D, Kosleck S. Influence of Water Ingress on Surface Discharges Occurring on the Silicone Gel Encapsulated Printed Circuit Boards Developed for Deep-Sea Applications. Energies. 2023; 16(14):5353. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145353
Chicago/Turabian StyleArumugam, Saravanakumar, Yvonne Haba, Petrus Jacobus Pieterse, Dirk Uhrlandt, and Sascha Kosleck. 2023. "Influence of Water Ingress on Surface Discharges Occurring on the Silicone Gel Encapsulated Printed Circuit Boards Developed for Deep-Sea Applications" Energies 16, no. 14: 5353. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145353
APA StyleArumugam, S., Haba, Y., Pieterse, P. J., Uhrlandt, D., & Kosleck, S. (2023). Influence of Water Ingress on Surface Discharges Occurring on the Silicone Gel Encapsulated Printed Circuit Boards Developed for Deep-Sea Applications. Energies, 16(14), 5353. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16145353