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Partial Discharges at DC Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
Partial Discharges at DC Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
ABSTRACT
A concise review is given of the progress made in the field of partial discharges (PD)
at dc voltage. Although ample reference will be made to work of other authors in
this field, the paper will concentrate on the progress that was made at Delft Uni-
versity of Technology over a period of 14 years in three Ph.D. projects. In the first
project, a start was made with the analysis of the physics of partial discharges at
dc voltage and different types of PD were characterized based on parameters like
time interval between PD and PD magnitude. In a second project, PD analysis was
applied to HVDC apparatus and different means of classification of PD at dc volt-
age were proposed. In the third project, PD analysis was applied to HVDC mass-
impregnated cables and test specifications were proposed. In this paper the work
performed in the above three Ph.D. projects is summarized with ample reference to
papers of other workers in this field. Attention is given to the mechanism of PD at
dc voltage as compared to ac voltage and techniques for measurement and analysis
of dc PD patterns. Examples of practical application of dc PD testing are given.
Finally, some thoughts on future work are presented.
Index Terms — dc voltage, partial discharge, detection, analysis, high voltage.
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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 329
Figure 1. Voltage across a cavity in a solid dielectric w18x. The voltage across the cavity Vc Ž t . is given by:
t
tion in the cavity to start the ionization process. This ž /
Vc Ž t . sVc,⬁ y Ž Vc ,⬁ yVr . exp y
Ž 2.
‘‘starting’’ electron may be supplied by external sources
Žradiation., field emission or by detrapping of electrons with Vc,⬁ the limit value of the voltage across the cavity if
deposited at the cavity walls by previous PD activity. The no PD would occur. Vc,⬁ can be expressed as:
appearance of a starting electron is a stochastic process
Rc
and is governed by a statistical time lag t L . During this Vc,⬁ sV Ž 3.
time lag the voltage across the cavity may exceed Vmin by Rbq Rc
an overvoltage ⌬V and the PD ignites at a voltage Vi s
Vmin q ⌬V. In Figure 1 this process is schematically rep- Devins w13x studied the effect of overvoltage on the dis-
resented. charge mechanism and introduced two PD mechanisms
Due to the charge displacement by the PD the voltage named ‘Townsend-like’ and ‘streamer-like’ in analogy with
across the cavity drops to a residual value VR . In contrast the Townsend and streamer breakdown mechanis ms. In
w17x a study is presented on the effect of overvoltage on
to what is often assumed this value is not zero, in fact it
may even be close to Vi . For a new discharge to develop, PD mechanism at dc voltage by time-resolved measure-
the voltage across the cavity must again exceed Vmin in a ments of the PD current pulses. In Figure 3 a typical cur-
‘‘recovery’’ time t R. rent pulse is shown that was obtained in a 0.3 mm thick
polyethylene test specimen with a 0.1 mm thick cavity at
2.2 PHYSICAL MECHANISM OF PD low overvoltages.
The discharge process is strongly affected by the over- This Townsend-like discharge is characterized by a rela-
voltage ⌬V. At dc voltages, ⌬V usually is considerably tively small pulse height and a large pulse width that in-
smaller than at ac voltage. Let us consider an example of creases with cavity thickness. Others w13, 20, 14x have
a cavity in a dielectric. It is often convenient to make use found for PD at ac voltage the same relation between cav-
of an equivalent circuit to make some calculations on the ity thickness and pulse width. Sometimes this discharge
PD process. For this purpose we extend the often-used type is also referred to as pseudo-glow type w1x.
capacitive equivalent circuit with some resistive elements At higher over voltages another type of discharge pulse
to account for the conduction processes. In Figure 2 such was found, see Figure 4. The mechanism is referred to as
a circuit is shown where C a and R a represent the proper- ‘‘streamerlike’’and is characterized by a fast pulse rise time
ties of the entire dielectric, Cb and R b represent the and a short tail which reflect the strong ionization and the
properties of the part of the dielectric ‘‘in series’’ with the corresponding high electronic component in the discharge
cavity, Cc is the capacitance of the cavity and R c the cav- current w13, 14x. For further discussion of these mecha-
ity surface resistance. nisms the reader is referred to w13, 14x.
The PD process is strongly simplified and taken into
account by a spark gap S. Thus, the time constant for 2.3 RECURRENCE OF PD
charging the cavity is calculated as: Recurrence of PD at ac voltage is easily explained by
R b R c Ž Cb qCc . voltage polarity change every 10 ms Žfor 50 Hz supply.,
s Ž 1. see Figure 5. At dc voltage, PD can recur because of the
Rbq Rc finite resistivity of the dielectric. After a PD, the next PD
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330 Morshuis and Smit: Partial Discharges at dc Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
1
⌬ sy ln 1y
Vc,⬁ yVr
Vmin yVr
0 Ž 6.
sum of the recovery time and the time lag. The discharge
Using a first order Tailor expansion we obtain:
repetition rate n is the reciprocal value of ⌬t, or
Vmin yVr
⌬ t f
ns
1
⌬t
Ž 4. ž Vc,⬁ / Ž 8.
Vc,⬁ yVmin
⌬ t s t R sy ln
ž Vc,⬁ yVr / Ž 5. The PD repetition rate is linearly proportional to Vc,⬁
which in turn is proportional to the external voltage.
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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 331
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332 Morshuis and Smit: Partial Discharges at dc Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 333
Figure 9. Basic PD parameters for ac Žleft. and dc Žright. voltage Figure 11. Discharge trains observed in oil w27x.
w27x.
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334 Morshuis and Smit: Partial Discharges at dc Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
Figure 12. Characteristic PD probability density histograms for four Figure 14. Characteristic graphs of the average magnitude of the
model defects w27x. successor discharge as a function of the discharge magnitude for four
model defects w27x.
Figure 15. Average time to the successor for a given discharge mag-
nitude in a cavity w27x.
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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 335
Figure 17. Examples of statistical distributions of four model defects used to construct a database for defect classification w27x.
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336 Morshuis and Smit: Partial Discharges at dc Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
4 PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF dc PD One of the conclusions of this work was that the exis-
MEASUREMENTS tence of a potentially dangerous, predominant defect of-
ten leads to a clear correlation between the above dis-
In a number of cases partial discharge measurements cussed parameters. The type of correlation is given by the
are successfully applied in dc apparatus. The first refer- defect type and the physical mechanism of the discharge
ences to practical applications were made in the 1960s, process w27x.
primarily on paper-oil insulated systems, i.e. cables w2x and
capacitors w7x. In 1970᎐1980, publications appeared on
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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 337
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338 Morshuis and Smit: Partial Discharges at dc Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
338 r05r
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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 12, No. 2; April 2005 339
For practical purposes, dc PD measurements can be w13x J.C. Devins, ‘‘The Physics of Partial Discharges in Solid Di-
electrics’’, IEEE Trans. Electr. Insul., Vol. 19, pp. 475᎐495, 1984.
used to distinguish between good and bad products. De- w14x P.H.F. Morshuis, Partial Discharge Mechanisms, Ph.D. thesis
pending on the type of product different criteria have been Delft University of Technology, ISBN 90-6275-931-9, 1993.
proposed. w15x U. Fromm, ‘‘Interpretation of Partial Discharges at dc Voltages’’,
IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 2, pp. 761᎐770, 1995.
A field that is still relatively unexplored is the field of w16x U. Fromm and E. Gulski, ‘‘Statistical Behaviour of Internal
dc partial discharges at interfaces such as may occur in Partial Discharges at dc Voltage’’, IEEE Intern. Conf. Proper-
cable accessories or in capacitors. Here we have the com- ties and Applications of Dielectric Materials Žicpadm., pp.
plicating factor of space charge accumulation at and near 670᎐673, 1994.
w17x U. Fromm and P. H. F. Morshuis, ‘‘The Discharge Mechanism
the interface. For a thorough understanding of the behav- in Gaseous Voids at DC Voltage’’, 9th Intern. Sympos. High
ior of such interfaces, and in fact, to be able to make a Voltage Eng. ŽISH., pp. 4154r1᎐4154r4, 1995.
proper design, there is still quite some work that needs to w18x U. Fromm and F. H. Kreuger, ‘‘Statistical Behaviour of Internal
Partial Discharges at DC Voltage’’, Japanese J. Appl. Phys.,
be done.
Part 1 Regular Papers & Short Notes, Vol. 33, pp. 6708᎐6715,
With the introduction of nano-materials to change the 1994.
parameters of insulating materials new challenges arise. w19x F. H. Kreuger and U. Fromm, ‘‘Partial Discharges in Gaseous
Voids for DC Voltage’’, Japanese J. Appl. Phys., Part 1 Regular
How does the interaction between these nano-materials Papers & Short Notes, Vol. 33, pp. 1079᎐1084, 1994.
with the host insulation affect the PD resistance? w20x P. Werelius, R. Eriksson, J. M. Braun and H. G. Sedding,
‘‘Temporal Characteristics of Partial Discharge in Voids Under
In conclusion, we believe we could state that in the field DC Excitation’’, Nordic Insul. Sympos. NORD IS 92, pp.
of dc partial discharge considerable progress has been 12r1᎐1210, 1992.
made in the last two decades. The old ASTM test require- w21x M. J. P. Jeroense and P. H. F. Morshuis, ‘‘Electric Fields in
ment w51x of less than one discharge per minute can now HVDC Paper-Insulated Cables’’, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr.
Insul., Vol. 5, pp. 225᎐236, 1998.
be replaced by a variety of tests that allow us to infer w22x S. M. Khalil, ‘‘International Research and Development Trends
much more information on the quality of the object under and Problems of HVDC Cables with Polymeric Insulation’’,
test. IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., Vol. 13, No. 6, pp. 35᎐47, 1997.
w23x J. Beyer, Space charge and partial discharge phenomena in h®dc
de®ices, Ph.D. thesis, Delft University of Technology, ISBN 90-
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340 Morshuis and Smit: Partial Discharges at dc Voltage: Their Mechanism, Detection and Analysis
340 r05r
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