XS series operating manual 
 
XS user manual v0.55  - 133 - 
Environmental influences 
 
Temperature, pressure and humidity conditions have an influence on the dielectric tests results. 
 
 
  TEMPERATURE : The temperature having an influence on the gas density, this one is altering the 
performances of the liquid or gaseous insulating material. The oils, often used as insulation are never 
pure, the dissolved quantity of gas increases with the temperature and is decreasing the insulation 
quality  of  the  oil.  The  large  variety  of  materials  used  as  solid  insulation  doesn’t  allow  to  deduce  a 
general rule on their behavior with the temperature (the insulation specifications having a tendency to 
dissipate when the temperature increases). 
 
 
 
  PRESSURE : The withstand voltage in gas changes with the pressure following the Paschen’s law. 
This law shows a minimum of the breakdown voltage for a particular value of the pressure by distance 
product, otherwise the more the pressure increases, the more the breakdown voltage is high. The 
liquids used as dielectric insulation are influenced by the pressure, the dielectric strength increasing 
with the pressure. In theory, the solid insulations are a little influenced by the pressure because this 
one doesn’t modify a lot their thickness and their internal composition. 
 
 
 
  HUMIDITY : The withstand voltage of gas changes with humidity. In example for the air and for values 
of relative humidity < 80%,the dielectric strength increases a little with the humidity increasing (the 
water  molecules,  more  dense  than  the  gas,  slows  down  the  avalanche  phenomena).  The  water 
presence  in  an  insulating  liquid such  as  oil  degrades  the  dielectric  strength  by  water  electrolysis, 
development of gas producing partial discharges bringing to breakdown. Under combined effect of the 
humidity  (>95%)  and  the  temperature  (>100°C)  most  of  the  polymers  dissipate.  The  water  can 
produce inflating in the insulation and create cracks which will facilitate the electric arcs advance. 
 
 
Insulation resistance measurement 
 
The  insulation  resistance  measurement  is  intended  to  verify  that  the  various  components  and  sub-
assemblies  of  electrical  equipment  have  an  insulation  resistance  such  as  the  leakage  currents  don’t 
reached inadmissible values. 
The  principle  is  to  apply  a  DC  voltage,  stable  and  specified  (selected  among  the  standard  values) 
between defined points and after a prescribed time, to measure the current flowing through the tested 
material. By using the Ohm’s law (resistance = voltage / current), the result is given by the value of the 
insulation resistance. Then this value is compared to the minimum threshold specified by the standard 
used for the test.