Name: Craig Goodwin

Company Name: HV Diagnostics Inc

Trip Out of Cable Circuit: Over Current , Ground
Fault, Differential protection or Fuse blows.

Try to establish if the cable has in fact failed or

has the failure occurred upstream or
downstream of the cable section - electrical
apparatus – Motors, Xfrs, Switchgear etc.
Remember that Cables can store energy and the
longer the cable, the greater capability of the
cable to store energy.

Energy = ½.C.V2
Do not recommend using a DC Hipot –
potentially damaging to the cable and not
effective in locating many types of defects.

Caution against using a typically lower voltage

Mega-ohmmeter to perform the test – no
assurance that cable has in fact not faulted –
false positives.
Apply a AC VLF withstand test to the cable at
the IEEE400 test voltage levels.

Duration: 15 to 30 minutes. Typically the first

few cycles of AC are sufficient to identify the
faulty cable circuit.
It is Not Recommended to:

To use the “Utility Power Grid” approach where

you reclose onto the cable.

To use a smaller or larger fuse and reclose

Not Recommended to:

To start cutting up the cable in half and

retesting each section, cutting in half again and
retesting etc etc.

The "Salami
Method"
Cable fault location is often more of an art
learned from experience than a pure science.

Methods used include Arc Reflection,

Simultaneous Impulse, Impulse Current, Voltage
Decay, TDR, Bridge, Voltage Gradient, Surge
testing /thumper, Acoustic and Magnetic
detection, Twist Method, others etc.
It is Important to keep the voltage to a
minimum !
What is the exact VOP ?

What is the exact Cable Route

Use the VLF AC tester to condition the fault and
bring the resistance down and try stabilize it.
The injected current is small - < 100mA from the
test equipment.
 Type of fault

Construction of cable

Some methods simply do not work on certain

types of cables.
EPR 5kV Cable (~2000 ft) -100nS pulse of about 12V
injected - shows no reflection from far end. This is a
“Tsunammi “ in magnitude and pulse width when
compared to a typical PD pulse. No Reflection !
TDR: Detection of Reflections to
Locate Abnormalities is Difficult.

www.hvdiagnostics.com
HF attenuation on aged Tape shielded cables –
limits the use and viability of HF Diagnostic
techniques – like Partial Discharge Detection
and TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry - CFL)
Large 5nC Manually Injected PD Pulse
• Large 5nC Calibration Pulse
Injected into a 2000ft/610m run
of cable.

• One TDR Trace shows a open

end and the other a manual
installed ground to help
identify the end of the cable.

www.hvdiagnostics.com
5kV EPR Tinned Taped Shield Cable from Nuclear
Power Plant
- PD Pulse
PD Detection Difficult,
PD Location not possible.

www.hvdiagnostics.com
100nS and 25nS TDR Pulses
5kV Cable Fault 2011/2012
EPR Cable, 7 Cables per phase, 500MCM
3 Core Armored Tape Shielded Cable
Congested Terminations,
trenches and Manholes.
Ground Fault Trip / Alarm
Technicians Meg the cable phase bus (7 cables)
– get bad reading on one phase.
Perform VLF-TD Test – cannot
get the voltage to come up.
Separated all 7 cables on C
phase to isolate.
Tried an available on-site TDR for about 2 days –
could not locate the defect.

Decided to cut pothead off the end of the cable.

Megaohm tested the Pothead and found a

ground in it !
Hallelujah !!
Retested VLF/TD the cable and cable still
could not hold voltage.
Called out T&D group to find the fault using
traditional methods used in T&D.
None of these methods worked.
The cable then experienced the salami
method and was cut at RP building and in
roadway at an easy access main hole.
Performed fault pre-locate using modified
bridge from both ends.

Located the area where defect was believed to

be located – At Turbine Building / Aux Building

Performed high energy low voltage surge test

Did Audible / Visual Locate of Fault Site Location

Fault was in the low level cable trough under
many other cables.
Decided to cut the cable on adjacent accessible
sides of trough .
Performed Cable ID to identify the correct cable
to cut.
Cut the Cable to isolate
the faulted section.
Retest the remaining sect.
Run new cable from cut
point.
1985 XLPE CN Cable 35kV Jacketed 345Mil
At nuclear power plant.
Cable had failed in one phase in a splice and
during the same failure the cable had a
insulation failure on second phase.
A HV TDR test was performed on the cable the
defect sites were located.
No two cable faults are completely the same.

The best method to use can vary based on the

cable type and construction AND the type of
cable fault.

A tool chest of test equipment options should be

on-hand to ensure a successful and an expedient
fault location exercise.

Experienced cable fault location testing personnel