Digital Textbook

High-Voltage Engineering

Name: High-Voltage Engineering
Author: Prof. Mithun Mondal

From the electric stress in an insulating gap to the breakdown of gases, liquids and solids — and the machines that generate, measure and withstand megavolts. A complete, chapter-by-chapter course in high-voltage engineering.

Prof. Mithun Mondal EEE Undergraduate & Postgraduate Course Free & Open Access

8Parts

29Chapters

3Dielectric States

Welcome

One discipline of insulation, built one chapter at a time

This is a living, web-native edition of a classic course in High-Voltage Engineering. Each of the 29 chapters lives on its own page — readable on any device, searchable, and free to share. The journey starts with the electric stress that builds inside any insulating gap and ends with the modern pulsed-power systems that turn that stress into a precision tool.

The sequence follows the standard electrical engineering curriculum, building from electric field stress through the physics of breakdown in gases, liquids and solids, then on to the generation, measurement and testing of high voltages, the diagnosis of insulation health, the overvoltages that threaten a power system, and the insulation coordination that protects it. Pick any chapter below to begin, or follow the eight parts in order for a complete course.

How to use this book. Each part groups chapters by theme — first the field and the physics of failure, then the apparatus that makes and measures high voltage, then the testing, overvoltages and coordination that keep a power system alive. Click a chapter card to open its dedicated page with concepts, equations, worked reasoning, and figures.

Part 1

Field Stress & Foundations

Why High Voltage · Electric Stress · Field Utilization · Numerical Field Mapping

01Introduction to High-Voltage Engineering 02Electric Field Stress and Estimation 03Numerical Field Computation

Part 2

Breakdown in Gaseous Dielectrics

Ionization · Townsend · Streamers · Paschen · Corona · SF₆

04Conduction and Ionization in Gases 05Townsend Breakdown Mechanism 06Streamer Theory and Paschen's Law 07Corona and Breakdown in Non-Uniform Fields

Part 3

Breakdown in Liquid and Solid Dielectrics

Liquid Breakdown · Solid Breakdown · Treeing · Vacuum · Composites

08Breakdown in Liquid Dielectrics 09Breakdown in Solid Dielectrics 10Vacuum and Composite Insulation

Part 4

Generation of High Voltages and Currents

DC · AC Cascade & Resonant · Impulse · Marx Generator · Impulse Currents

11Generation of High Direct Voltages 12Generation of High Alternating Voltages 13Generation of Impulse Voltages 14Generation of Impulse Currents and Triggering

Part 5

Measurement of High Voltages and Currents

Series Resistors · Electrostatic Voltmeters · Sphere Gaps · Dividers · Shunts

15Measurement of High DC and AC Voltages 16Sphere Gaps and Peak Voltmeters 17Measurement of Impulse Voltages and Currents

Part 6

High-Voltage Testing and Diagnostics

Type & Routine Tests · Partial Discharge · Tan δ · Condition Monitoring

18High-Voltage Testing of Apparatus 19Partial Discharge Measurement and Analysis 20Dielectric Loss and Tan-δ Measurement 21Insulation Diagnostics and Condition Monitoring

Part 7

Overvoltages & Insulation Coordination

Lightning · Switching Surges · Travelling Waves · Protection · Coordination

22Lightning Phenomena and Overvoltages 23Switching Surges and Travelling Waves 24Protection Against Overvoltages 25Insulation Coordination

Part 8

Modern High-Voltage Engineering

HVDC Insulation · Pulsed Power · Pulsed Electric Fields · Smart Asset Management

26HVDC and Polymeric Insulation 27Pulsed Power Engineering 28Pulsed Electric Field Applications 29Asset Management and Smart HV Systems

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Start Here

Begin with Chapter 1 — Introduction to High-Voltage Engineering

Before any insulator fails, there is a question: why use high voltage at all, and what does it cost? The first chapter sets the scene — transmission economics, the voltage classes in service, and the central idea that every problem in this course is a contest between electric stress and the strength of an insulating medium. Open Chapter 1 →