A Novel Approach to Partial Discharge Detection Under Repetitive Unipolar Impulsive Voltage

Abstract

Partial discharge (PD) detection is an important method to verify the reliability of the insulation structure of high voltage power electronics devices. Although there are many researches on PD detection inside power modules, they mainly focus on traditional electrical detection methods and 50 Hz working conditions, which do not meet the repetitive unipolar impulsive voltage conditions of power modules, and traditional methods cannot solve the electromagnetic interference (EMI) problem under working conditions. This paper proposes a novel approach to PD detection in power modules. This approach designs an optic fiber sensing (OFS) system based on optic theory, and conducts the detailed mathematical theoretical deduction. In addition, A partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) signal processing method based on PD acoustic signal is proposed. Finally, the proposed approach is applied to a power module. The PD signal and PDIV is successfully captured without EMI interference and new insulation problems.