Abstract

Electrical insulation can have imperfections due to manufacturing or ageing. When the insulation is electrically stressed, partial discharge (PD) pulses, with very fast rise-times and short-time durations, may occur. One of the consequences of charges being accelerated within the discharge is the emission of electromagnetic energy. The measurement of these emissions is widely used to identify defective insulation within high voltage equipment and help in predictive and planned maintenance in order to prevent sudden failure. The location of the source of the radiated PD signals may be determined using multi-lateration techniques using an array of at least four antennas. Depending on the relative position between the antennas and the PD source, the pulsed emissions from the PD source arrive at each antenna at different times. The relative time differences of arrivals (TDOA) together with the antenna positions are variables used to locate the PD source in 3D space. This paper investigates the accuracy of the location determination of the source as a consequence of systematic errors on the positioning of the antennas. These errors are analyzed for three different antenna array configurations and for different vector directions from the arrays. Additionally, the least sensitive layout in relation to antenna positioning errors is proposed to assist in improving the location accuracy of PD sources.

Highlights

  • Asset failures in the high voltage grid can cause power blackouts for large numbers of customers, predictive maintenance of the assets is paramount to avoid undesired failures [1]

  • The least sensitive layout in relation to antenna positioning errors is proposed to assist in improving the location accuracy of partial discharges (PD) sources

  • PD occurs in inhomogeneous locations within or on insulating materials stressed by high voltage

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Summary

Introduction

Asset failures in the high voltage grid can cause power blackouts for large numbers of customers, predictive maintenance of the assets is paramount to avoid undesired failures [1]. PD occurs in inhomogeneous locations within or on insulating materials stressed by high voltage These pulses radiate electromagnetic energy fields which are measurable with antennas [3]. Though the antennas must be positioned carefully and accurately there always exists an uncertainty in their known positions These errors will affect the TDOA used for the localization of the PD source. When the data is processed, the theoretical position of the antennas does not include these systematic errors, but the TDOA will be affected. In this paper, using simulations systematic errors of only one centimeter in the position of the antennas within arrays which have antennas separated by around 2 m are shown to propagate to the estimated location of the source. A statistical analysis is made to compare how the positioning errors are propagated differently for each configuration

Location Algorithm
Antenna Layouts
Results and Discussion
Error Considering the Distance of the PD Source to the Antenna Array
Error Considering the Direction of the PD Source from the Antenna Array
Conclusions
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