Electric field distribution and performance optimization of high-speed train cable terminal with internal defects

Abstract

High voltage cable terminal of high-speed electric multiple units (EMU) is an important part of on-board high voltage equipment. As the weak link of the cable assembly, the cable terminal is prone to penetrability discharge and resulting in insulation failure, which seriously affects the EMU’s safety and reliability. The electric field intensity distribution of high-voltage cable terminal with internal defects such as air gaps, moisture, semiconductors and carbons are simulated and studied. At the same time, in order to improve the distortion of the internal electric field intensity of the EMU cable terminal, nonlinear materials and high dielectric materials are used to replace the stress tube respectively, and the optimization effects of the two materials on the internal distortion electric field of the cable terminal are studied. The results show that the defects are closer to the multi-layer combination area among main insulation layer, stress tube layer and outer semiconducting layer of the cable terminal, the electric field distortion of multi-layer combination area become greater. With the increasing of defect size, the electric field intensity also gradually increases. However, the inner defect location and size have less effect on the electric field intensity along the cable terminal umbrella skirt. It is found that both nonlinear materials and high dielectric materials can effectively optimize the electric field intensity of cable terminal and improve the electric field distortion. This work can be helpful for operation and design of high-speed EMU’s cable terminal.