Modeling and simulation based study for on-line detection of partial discharge of solid dielectric

Abstract

Nowadays electric utilities are facing major problems due to the ageing and deterioration of high voltage (HV) power equipments in their operating service period. There are several solid materials are used in high voltage power system equipments for insulation purpose. The insulators used in HV power equipment always have a small amount of impurity inside it. The impurity is mainly in the form of solid, gas or liquid. In most cases the impurity is in the form of air bubbles (void) which creates a weak zone inside the insulator. Therefore, this void is the reason for the occurrence of partial discharge in high voltage power equipments while sustaining the high voltage. Ageing and deterioration is mainly occurs due to the presence of partial discharge in such insulator used in the high voltage power equipments. The presence of partial discharge for a long period of time is also causes the insulation failure of high voltage equipments used in power system. Therefore, the partial discharge detection and measurement is necessary for prediction and reliable operation of insulation in high voltage power equipments. In this work, to study the on-line detection of partial discharge an epoxy resin is taken as a solid dielectric for simulating and modeling purpose. This epoxy resin with small impurity (air bubble) under high voltage stress creates a source of partial discharge inside the dielectric. The generated partial discharge is continuously detected and monitored by using LabVIEW software. Simulation of real time detection, de-noising and different analytic techniques of partial discharge signal by using LabVIEW software is proposed which gives the real time visualization of partial discharge signal produced inside the high voltage power equipment.