Identifcation and Location of Partial Discharge Defects in Medium Voltage AC Cables

Abstract

The presence of partial discharge (PD) in electricalequipment is the confirmation or indication of an ongoingdegradation of its dielectric insulation. PD study is a widely usedtool for condition monitoring of medium voltage (MV) cables.The location of the defects can be considered as one of the mostimportant tasks of diagnosis in underground installations of MVcables. A lot of references can be found on the location of singlePD sources along the cable. However, several PD defects can beactive simultaneously along a cable section. This paper presentsan experimental study on a MV cable having two PD sourcesand noise. Adopting one end measurement technique, a highfrequency current transformer (HFCT) is used to capture the PDcurrent pulses. A simple approach of identification of the PDsignals originated from different PD sources is presented basedon wave-shape study along with a time domain reflectometryanalysis. The presented measurement methodology and timedomain analysis technique provides a convenient way fordetection and location of more than one PD sources along a cablesection.