Prof. Shesha Jayaram of Electrostatic Answers LLC

Abstract: For more than a century discharges in gases have been studied considering the importance of gaseous insulation in power transmission and distribution, generation of high-power lasers, and generation of non-thermal plasma, to name a few. In this tutorial, fundamentals are revisited with a brief description on collisional ionization, charge carrier generation, and current growth due to electron multiplication under high electric fields. Townsend ionization and streamer breakdown theories are briefly explained under uniform electric fields, addressing the effects of gas pressure, electrode configurations, and voltage waveforms. Partial breakdown or partial discharges (corona discharges), resulting from local electric field enhancements in non-uniform fields, although a threat to insulation system, find numerous applications in the process industry. One such application of gas discharges in the generation of non-thermal plasma is covered in the second part of this tutorial. 

Biography:

Dr. Shesha H. Jayaram (M'87-SM'97-F'08) is a professor and the director of the high voltage engineering laboratory at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, she served on the faculty at the University of Western Ontario as an Assistant Professor (1990-92) and as an Adjunct (1992-2003). Her research emphasizes solution-based outputs and is focused in four main areas: high voltage engineering and insulation diagnostics, high voltage engineering applied to environment, nanocomposite materials and pulse power applied to biotechnology. She has been an active member of the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation and Industry Applications Societies and the Electrostatic Society of America. She is a registered professional engineer in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

Email:

Address:University of Waterloo, , Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L3G1