Lab for High-Voltage Engineering

Taking a look into the High-Voltage Laboratory

Laboratory: Building 2

Introductory video about the High-Voltage Laboratory, the Institute for Power Engineering and High Voltage Technology Speaker: Prof. Dr. Markus Zink, Head of the Institute

Teaching

One of the most prominent features of the degree programme “Electrical Engineering and Information Technology” with focus on Electrical Power Engineering is its close orientation towards practice.

Students can acquire high subject-related expertise through modules that build on each other and are coordinated in terms of content within a practical course.

Courses currently offered:

  • High-voltage engineering with practical part (FHWS, BET 5)
  • Insulation systems with practical part (FHWS, BET 6)
  • High-voltage insulation materials and systems (Univ. of Würzburg, Master’s programme “Functional Materials”)
  • Field calculation with FEM (FHWS, lab course)

Once the practical semesterhas been completed, scientific & independent work is taught when writing the bachelor's thesis. Further technical, scientific and personal competences are imparted through the master's degree programme. Committed and interested graduates can also continue their scientific education through a cooperative doctorate. You will find more detailed information about this on the website of the Institute for Power Engineering and High Voltage Technology (IEHT).

Impressions from the practical course in high-voltage technology:

Students working in measuring cells shielded against voltages of up to 200 kV
Students working in measuring cells shielded against voltages of up to 200 kV
Students measuring partial discharges using modern test systems
Students measuring partial discharges using modern test systems
Modular system for generating alternating, direct, and impulse voltages of up to ~200 kV
Modular system for generating alternating, direct, and impulse voltages of up to ~200 kV

Final theses

The High-Voltage Laboratory cooperates with numerous leading companies from the area of high-voltage and power engineering, and with other industrial users of high-voltage technology. The High-Voltage Laboratory is closely involved in the current research activity of the Institute for Power Engineering and High Voltage Technology (IEHT). This results in many topics for students to work on as a final thesis, providing a good preparation for their professional practice, as well as interesting opportunities for their career start. We offer jobs for student assistants, internships during Bachelor’s and Diploma programmes, cooperative Bachelor’s, Diploma, and Master's theses, followed by positions as research associate in connection with a cooperative doctoral projects. Generally, the final theses are completed in connection with current research topics of the IEHT.

Information on the Master’s programme in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology are found on the programme homepage.

If you are interested in writing a final thesis, please contact the laboratory manager directly. We are predominantly looking for graduates from electrical power engineering, but also for candidates from communication engineering, automation engineering/engineering informatics, mechatronics, and material sciences. In addition, please observe to postings on the board of the laboratory/institute.

Focus topics of research and development

The meaning of the High-Voltage Laboratory

The research field of high-voltage technology and of insulating systems is essential in our modern industrial society. High voltages or high field strengths in the insulation systems are needed for the low-loss transmission of electrical energy as well as for a variety of industrial applications from medical to manufacturing to automotive technology; because only in this way can insulation systems be designed efficiently and the products manufactured economically.

High-voltage technology includes the control of high electrical field strengths in all types of electric insulators. The simply formulated basic principle is:

The electrical stress (i.e. the electric field strength) must always be less than the electrical strength of the insulating media under all conditions.

Thus, the task of high-voltage technology is not the generation of electric discharges (although they look very impressing to the visitors of our lab), but their prevention to ensure a safe operation of devices and facilities.

 

Visiting the High-Voltage Laboratory

 

 

Presentation on high-voltage discharges in the High-Voltage Laboratory, Institute for Power Engineering and High Voltage Technology Speaker: Prof. Dr. Markus Zink, Head of the Institute

Research at the High-Voltage Laboratory

 

 

 

The technical equipment of the High-Voltage Laboratory is unique in the German landscape of higher education institutions, and it is used for research and development projects both publically- and privately-funded. Thus, the Institute for Power Engineering and High Voltage Technology (IEHT) and the High-Voltage Laboratory contribute significantly to the profile of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and of FHWS.

Special competences lie in the fields of dielectric materials (oil, board, paper, RIP, SIR), the design of insulator systems (HVDC, HVAC, BIL) and condition diagnosis (PDC, KFT, measuring space charge using the Kerr effect and PEA method), damage analysis for equipment used for energy supply (transformers, feedthroughs) and in the application of high-voltage technology for industrial purposes.

Our partners are technologically leading companies, higher education institutions, the German Research Association (DFG), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the Industrial Research Associations (AiF) or the Fraunhofer Society.

Through their involvement in scientific panels (e.g. in CIGRÉ Working Groups, the ETG subject area ‘cross-sectional technologies Q2’: Materials - Insulating systems - Diagnostics, the Würzburg Research Association for Functional Materials WFF) and through many co-operations, a close network between science and the economy is knit. Please find an overview about the latest publications on the IEHT website.

Current research areas of the IEHT and the High-Voltage Laboratory are:

Insulation materials and systems for high-voltage direct current transmission (HVDC)

... as in future, three-phase current grids worldwide will reach their performance limits, and need to be connected via HVDC technology.

Research fields:

  • Measuring space charges using the quadratic electro-optic Kerr effect
  • Measuring space charges using the Pulsed Electro Acoustic (PEA) method
  • Determining conductivity through precise measurements in guard-ring electrode arrangement
Electro-optic measuring of field strengths using the Kerr effect
Electro-optic measuring of field strengths using the Kerr effect
Electrode arrangement for the electro-optic measuring of field strengths via the Kerr effect
Electrode arrangement for the electro-optic measuring of field strengths via the Kerr effect

Diagnostics and state evaluation

... because the grids of industrial nations were built decades ago, making reliable diagnostics about the their state of aging necessary for the safe operation of facilities ...

Research fields:

  • Measuring and analysis of partial discharges, e.g. for HVDC applications
  • Diagnosis of insulation systems of electrical equipment such as transformers and bushings
Sliding discharge on an insulation board with alternating voltage
Sliding discharge on an insulation board with alternating voltage

Monitoring

... because outdated and strategically important facilities for energy supply require constant monitoring to prevent dangerous blackouts ...

Industrial application

... because many technical applications require the use of high voltages and field strengths ...

Research fields:

  • Insulating materials and systems for electrical machines
  • Ageing investigation of materials
  • Investigation of electrical strength at high frequencies

 

The High-Voltage Lab as service provider

The High-Voltage Technology Lab is also a cooperation partner for the regional and cross-regional industry, and provides its competence in the areas of applied research, as well as its technical equipment for the solution of service tasks. For questions regarding this topic, please contact the laboratory manager directly. [ZM1]verlinken

Equipment

The Lab for Dielectric Diagnostics and Simulation is also integrated into the High-Voltage Laboratory, and is among the best-equipped labs in Bavaria. Thus, it holds a special position in the landscape of German institutions of higher education. Central facilities are the shielded high-voltage hall (approx. 16 m x 10 m x 10 m, base interference levels < 1 pC) with entrance for a lorry and crane (4 t) and testing facilities for

  • alternating voltage (AC 500 kV, 125 kVA),
  • direct voltage (+DC 800 kV) and
  • impulse voltage (BIL/SIL 1,000 kV)

as well as several test cells equipped with portable high-voltage modular systems up to 200 kV (AC, DC, and impulse voltage), which can also be used off the premises. For generating lower voltages, there are several DC voltage sources up to 100 kV and an AC test systems up to 12 kV (electronically adjustable) available.

The most modern diagnostic possibilities include measuring systems for capacitance and dissipation factor, systems for analysing partial discharges, transient recorders, impulse current measuring systems, image enhancers, breakdown testers, analysers for polarisation and depolarisation current (PDC analysis), frequency range spectroscopy (FDS analysis), as well as systems for determining moisture in solid and liquid media using the Karl Fischer (FKT) method.

A highlight are our new test stands for determining space charge in liquid and solid dielectric media by means of the electro-optic Kerr effect and the Pulsed Electro Acoustic (PEA) method.

Special options for materials technology (e.g. oil preparation, drying, ageing, conditioning) exist in the form of oil preparation plants, vacuum heating cabinets, climatic chambers and vacuum technology. Electrical load and field strengths are calculated by means of modern simulation tools (e.g. software for the finite element method and network analysis)

AC test system for 500 kV
AC test system for 500 kV
Measuring of space-charges in a PTFE sample by means of the Pulsed Electro Acoustic (PEA) method
Measuring of space-charges in a PTFE sample by means of the Pulsed Electro Acoustic (PEA) method
Test facility up to 800 kV direct voltage
Test facility up to 800 kV direct voltage
A view inside the high-voltage hall (base area approx. 18 m x 12 m)
A view inside the high-voltage hall (base area approx. 18 m x 12 m)

Contact

 

Head of lab

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Markus H. Zink

 

Postal address

University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (FHWS)

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Lab for High-Voltage Engineering

Ignaz-Schön-Str. 11

97421 Schweinfurt

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How to reach the High-Voltage Laboratory

Access to the High-Voltage Laboratory is only possible via Paul-Gerhardt-Str.. Right before you enter Ingaz-Schön-Straße, there is the entry for cars and lorries to the turning loop in front of the large hall gate.

Team

Work in the laboratory is carried out by qualified employees, Master’s graduates, and Bachelor’s students under supervision of professors. Within the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and research associations, there are many opportunities to build specialist and technological cooperations.

Name E-Mail Details
Thomas Göpfert
Contact Information

Thomas Göpfert

Technical University of Applied Sciences
Würzburg-Schweinfurt

Room 1.E.17
Ignaz-Schön-Straße 11
97421 Schweinfurt

Phone +49 9721 940-8430
E-Mail thomas.goepfert[at]thws.de

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Florian Swobodnik
Contact Information

Florian Swobodnik

Technical University of Applied Sciences
Würzburg-Schweinfurt

Room 2.E.05
Ignaz-Schön-Straße 11
97421 Schweinfurt

Phone +49 9721 940-8839
E-Mail florian.swobodnik[at]thws.de

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Prof. Dr. Markus Zink
Contact Information

Prof. Dr. Markus Zink

Technical University of Applied Sciences
Würzburg-Schweinfurt

Room 2.2.05
Ignaz-Schön-Straße 11
97421 Schweinfurt

Phone +49 9721 940-8498
E-Mail markus.zink[at]thws.de

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