Acquisition of calibration signal in space charge measurement by pulsed electrostatic method

Abstract

The pulsed electroacoustic method determines the distribution of space charge in an insulation system by applying a pulse voltage and detecting the acoustic response. It estimates the location and magnitude of charges from time-domain signals. For quantitative analysis, a bias voltage is applied to a specimen with no space charge, and the acoustic signal generated from the electrodes only is used as a reference waveform for calibration. However, a full-scale, extra-high voltage insulation system often already contains space charges in it. Therefore, a method of acquiring a reference signal under such a condition was studied. We studied methods to compare voltage variations and response signal variations. We proposed a method that measures the signal difference at different voltages. In addition, we proposed a method of correlating voltage and signal variations that may allow for more rapid signal acquisition. The feasibility was proved using an 11 mm-thick mimic polyethylene specimen.