IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No.

4; August 2014 1647

Partial Discharges of Cavities in Ethylene

Propylene Rubber Insulation
Zhipeng Lei, Jiancheng Song, Muqin Tian, Xiaohui Cui, Chuanyang Li and Minmin Wen
Shanxi Key Laboratory of Coal Mining Equipment and Safety Control
College of Electrical and Power Engineering
Taiyuan University of Technology
Taiyuan, 030024, China

ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of partial discharge (PD) within
dielectric-bounded and electrode-bounded cavities which are embedded in Ethylene
Propylene Rubber (EPR) by using plane to plane electrode. The theoretical analysis is
carried on the electric field strength and PD inception voltage of cylindrical and
ellipsoidal cavities in different dimensions. The samples with the different dimensions of
artificial spherical cavities in EPR are made and the PD characteristics in the cavities,
such as PD number, amplitude and phase, are measured by professional instrument in
laboratory. It has been found by the experiments that the symmetric PD distribution
changes from “rabbit-like” to “turtle-like” shape with the time of applied voltage. With
the increase of applied voltage on the samples, the PD inception phase becomes prior to
the zero crossing of positive and negative half-cycle. Meanwhile, PD pulse repetition rate
has an increase trend with increasing the experimental voltage and the amplitude of PDs
occurred in dielectric-bounded cavities changes from a higher value to normal during a
short time. However, no obvious amplitude change of PDs occurred in electrode-bounded
cavities has been observed in the experiment. As a result, internal PDs occurred in
cavities is one of the prime reasons resulted in the degradation and corrosion of EPR.
Index Terms - Partial discharges, cavities, degradation and corrosion, Ethylene-
Propylene Rubber.

1 INTRODUCTION between the inner conductor and outer insulation shielding

IT is well-known that Ethylene Propylene Rubber (EPR)
polymer with excellent insulating properties was initially used
as a wire and cable dielectric in 1962. EPR-insulated cables
are inherently more costly to manufacture than the cables
using polyethylene-based materials as the insulation.
Moreover, with the primary advantages of flexibility and an
inherent resistance to failures caused by electrochemical
degradation, EPR cables have been widely used in special
fields, e.g. coal mine, oil production and submarine cable [1,
2]. As is known to all, the cables insulated with EPR will
inevitably contain some defects which are possibly introduced
and usually called voids or cavities [5]. The cavity is of a
lower relative dielectric permittivity of Hr = 1 than insulation
materials (e.g. Hr of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE)
included the spherical cavity is 2.3 [5]). Higher electric field
stress will be concentrated in the cavity as reported in [6] by
Salvage in which it can be found that the electrical stress
concentrated in elliptic cylindrical and oblate spherical cavity
is the strongest among cavities.
Electrical
Trees

into the cables during manufacturing process and installation.

Contaminants
So far, there are some defects such as cavities, contaminants,
Protrusions
cracks, protrusions, conductor shield interruptions, electrical
trees in extruded power cables as shown in Figure 1 [3]. Most Semi- Conductor
conducting Cavities
of them could be the source of partial discharges (PDs), which layer
will lead to insulation degradation and premature failure [4].
Insulation
The gas-filled cavity, as one of the typical PD defects in shielding Cracks

extruded power cables, is embedded inside the insulation Insulation

Manuscript received on 29 August 2013, in final form 22 February 2014,

accepted 10 March 2014. Figure 1. Typical defects in extruded power cables.

DOI 10.1109/TDEI.2014.004297
1648 Z. Lei et al.: Partial Discharges of Cavities in Ethylene Propylene Rubber Insulation

It has been verified that the characteristics of PDs in the 2/(abcA) as reported in [15, 16], where the parameter A can be
cavity embedded in solid materials depend on the size, shape obtained from equation 11 in [15, 16]. Then the field strength Eec of
and position of cavities. Gulski [7, 8] had made different an ellipsoidal cavity can be obtained by:
artificial cylindrical cavities within the specimen and analyzed KH r
statistical response of PDs. He found that the inception Eec E (2)
voltage in cavities increased after 5 minutes to 10 minutes of 1  ( K  1)H r
voltage application, and the inception voltage of electrode- where a, b and c is semi axes of the ellipsoidal cavity as shown
bounded cavities is different in each half cycle of AC voltage. in Figure 3. In this paper, such a case will be only discussed as b
Other researchers have carried out the experiments with = c and taking the cross-sections of typical cavities as xy plane.
samples containing the spherical cavities in epoxy resin [9-11] Assuming that the x axis is parallel to the electric field direction,
or cylindrical cavity in multi-layers polyethylene (PE) or for a spherical cavity (a = b = c) with the dimensionless
XLPE [12, 13] and found that the PD phase and amplitude parameter of K = 3, the field strength becomes
distributions was influenced by the shape of cavities. However, 3H r
rare researchers investigated the PD characteristics of Esc E (3)
1  2H r
spherical cavities embedded in EPR.
For a oblate ellipsoidal cavity considering a < b = c, the
In this paper, the spherical cavities with different diameters dimensionless parameter according to equation 20 in [16] can
embedded in EPR samples have been made by plate be written as
vulcanizing machine. This method can also be used to produce
3
spherical cavities in other thermoplastic materials. It is
focused to investigate the characteristics of PDs occurred in K
b 2
a2  1  2
(4) 
spherical cavities within EPR samples by using the plane to b2 § b2 b2 ·
plane electrode system. The experiments have been carried out ¨
2 ¨
 1  arctan 1¸
a © a 2
a 2 ¸
under the different conditions such as variation of cavity ¹
diameters, cavity bounded to electrode, cavity bounded to
dielectric materials and so on.

2 THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT

CAVITIES
2.1 RATIO OF FIELD STRENGTH ENHANCEMENT
Typical cavities in extruded power cables could be
generally divided into dielectric-bounded cavity (DBC),
electrode-bounded cavity (EBC), spherical cavity and narrow
cavity [14] as shown in Figure 2. The cavity can also be
classified into cylindrical cavities and ellipsoidal cavities
according to the different shape of cavities. Spherical cavity is Figure 3. An ellipsoidal cavity with distinct semi-axes at a three
dimensional Cartesian coordinate system.
a special case of ellipsoidal cavities.
For a prolate ellipsoidal cavity considering a > b = c, the
dimensionless parameter can be obtained by the following
equation from equation 21 in [16]:
3

K

2 1  b2 a 2  2
(5)
2
ª
«

b2 « 1  1  b a
ln
2 2

Figure 2. Cross-sections of typical cavities in extruded power cables.
On the basis of the electrostatic field distributions in multi-
layer dielectric materials, the field strength Ecc of an elliptic
cylindrical cavity can be get by the following equation [6]:
H r (a  b)
E cc E (1)
Hra  b
where E is the total field strength in the insulation,Hr is the relative
dielectric permittivity of the insulation, a and b is the semi-minor
and semi-major axes of the cross-section of an elliptic cylindrical
cavity respectively. a is equal to b in circular cylindrical cavity. If
the dimensionless parameters of an ellipsoidal cavity is K =
 2 1 
º
b2 »
»
a2 « b2 a 2 a2 »
¬ ¼
Thus, for the cavities embedded in dielectrics of different
permittivity, the curves of field strength enhancement are calculated
by the equations mentioned above as shown in Figure 4. In this
paper, it should be noted that dimension a and b of cavities in
reality should be much smaller than the insulation thickness, and
the gas pressure is not taken into consideration. For DBCs and
EBCs, the semi-major axis b is far greater than semi-minor axis a,
so it can be deduced that the field strength of the cavity is increased
to about 4 times than normal if Hr is higher, such as ceramic
materials, as shown in Figure 4a. For narrow cavity as shown in
Figure 4b, because a becomes far longer than b, the field strength
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1649

in the cavity is approximately equal to the field strength in the bulk Similarly, PDIV Viec in the ellipsoidal cavity can be
dielectric. However, in special case, when a versus d cannot be simplified as:
neglected, due to the reduction of the insulation thickness, the
breakdown field strength will be lower than that of the normal
ª  d  G 1  K H r  H r  º
Viec «  G » Ei (8)
insulation. It has been found by comparing Figure 4a with Figure ¬ KH r ¼
4b that the field strength enhancement of a cylindrical cavity is According to the equation 5.102 and 5.103 in [17], the
larger than of an ellipsoidal cavity under the condition of a, b and c breakdown strength value of Ei at 100 kPa and 20 °C can be
with the same dimensions as shown in Figure 5. As a result, the obtained:
strength enhancement of the cavity with same dimensions is
directly proportional to relative dielectric permittivity of insulation Ei | 2.436  4.516 G (9)
materials around cavities.
 er = 2 (EPR)
10
İr = 2 (EPR) 2.3 (XLPE)
2.3 (XLPE) 3.45 (polyester resin)
3.45 (polyester resin) 3.7 (epoxy resin)
3.7 (epoxy resin) 6 (ceramic)
6 (ceramic)

Ecc/Eec
Ecc/E

1
0.1 1 10
1 b/a
0.1 1 10 Figure 5. Ratio of the field strength Ecc of an elliptic cylindrical cavity and
b/a (a)
the field strength Eec of an ellipsoidal cavity versus b/a.
10
er = 2 (EPR) Thus, the relationship between the inception voltage Vi and
2.3 (XLPE)
cavity thickness į (ranging from 0.01 mm to 10 mm and 2a =
3.45 (polyester resin)
į) is plotted as figure 6. It can be found that PDIV is inverse
3.7 (epoxy resin)
6 (ceramic)
ratio with į when relative dielectric permittivity of dielectrics
is a smaller value, e.g. PDIV of EPR or XLPE (Hr § 2)
Eec/E

decreases with increasing the cavity thickness. It is also

1
0.1 1 10
b/a
Figure 4. Ratio of the field strength in cavities and insulation as a function
of b/a, (a) a cylindrical cavity, (b) an ellipsoidal cavity.
2.2 INCEPTION VOLTAGE OF PARTIAL
DISCHARGES
In AC field, according to the capacitive partial-discharge
model [4], PD inception voltage (PDIV) in the parallel
electrodes can be expressed as follows:
Vi E (d  G )  EiG
where Ei is the breakdown strength of gas included in cavities,
į is the thickness of cavities in the horizontal direction of field
strength as shown in Figure 2. For an elliptic cylindrical cavity,
Ei can be obtained from the equation (1), i.e. Ecc = Ei. Thus,
inserting this into the equation (6), PDIV Vicc in the elliptic
cylindrical cavity can be simplified as:
revealed that the inception voltage Viec of the elliptic
cylindrical cavity is slightly smaller than that of the ellipsoidal
cavity with the same dimensions. The spherical cavity is here
taken as an example to analysis the PD characteristics of
cavities embedded in EPR.
(b)
3 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
3.1 SAMPLES
The EPR, type DCJ30M, with volume resistivity of
4.1×1013 :·m and breakdown strength of 25.7 kV/mm is used
as sample materials which is made by Liaoning Decheng
Science and Technology Group Cd., Ltd. A mold with EPR
films is placed in a 130 °C plate vulcanizing machine and is
preheated for 5 minutes. Then, a steel ball with different
(6) diameters ĭ is placed between two soften EPR films for
making a dielectric-bounded cavity, or on the surface of a
soften EPR film for making an electrode-bounded cavity as
shown in Figure 7a and 7b. After vulcanized for 15 minutes
under 165 °C and 14 MPa, the mold is cooled at room
temperature. The ball is taken out from DBC samples after
they are torn into two pieces as shown in Figure 7c. And then
there are two hemispheroid cavities, which make up a DBC,
ª  d  G  H r  b a  º been formed in samples. For EBC samples, the ball is
Vicc «  G » Ei (7) 
¬« H r 1  b a  »¼ extruded out from samples, and then a spherical cavity has
1650 Z. Lei et al.: Partial Discharges of Cavities in Ethylene Propylene Rubber Insulation

been formed in samples as shown in Figure 7d. Finally, as a
necessary technical process, samples must be annealed for 48
h under 80 °C to remove by-products vulcanized in the
vacuum drying oven. Table 1 shows the dimensions of
samples with the spherical cavity and PDIV Vic, the r.m.s
value, calculated according to the equation (8).
100
d=7mm, b=1mm
increased at the speed of about 500 V/s. The duration of PD
recording for n-q-p plots at each voltage level must be more
than 15 minutes. In order to reduce the influence of surface
discharge, the sample must be clamped by electrodes and
spread a layer of silicon oil over its surface.

er =2

10 er =10 (a) Methods of hot-pressing DBC samples.

d=0.6mm, b=2mm
er =2
Vicc (kV

1 er =10

(b) Methods of hot-pressing EBC samples.

Vbr inGAP

elliptic cylindrical cavity

0.1
0.01 0.1 1 10
d (mm) (a)

100
d=7mm, b=1mm

er =2
(c) Method of extruding the ball out from a DBC sample.

10 er =10
d=0.6mm, b=2mm
er =2
V ec (kV

1 er =10
(d) Method of taking the ball out from an EBC sample.
Figure 7 Methods of making samples.
Vbr inGAP
Table 1. Different dimensions of samples with a spherical cavity.

ellipsoidal cavity DIELECTRIC-BOUNDED CAVITY

0.1
0.01 0.1 1 10 ĭ = į (mm) 1.0 1.2 1.5 2.0
d (mm) (b) d (mm) 1.6 2.6 2.6 2.6
Vic (kV) 4.8 7.3 7.1 7.0
Figure 6. Inception voltage of PDs as a function of cavities diameter, (a)
elliptic cylindrical cavity, (b) ellipsoidal cavity. ELECTRODE-BOUNDED CAVITY
ĭ = į (mm) 1.0 1.2 1.5 2.0
3.2 PD MEASUREMENTS d (mm) 1.5 1.5 2.3 2.8
Figure 8 shows the experimental system. The samples are Vic (kV) 4.6 4.5 6.4 7.4
applied 50 Hz AC voltage. The EPR sample is placed between
two brass cylindrical electrodes with a diameter of 25 mm. PD
pulses are measured using a coupling capacitor of 1 nF 4 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
(HIPOTRONICS PSF 100/1/DDX) with a PD detector
(HAEFELY DDX9101, filter settings: 20 to 500 kHz, noise 4.1 PDs IN DIELECTRIC-BOUNDED CAVITY
less than 0.2 pC). The PD detector can provide a plot of n-q-p Figure 9 shows the typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the DBC
(frequency of occurrence against magnitude and phase) at with the diameter of 1 mm. In the experiment, it has been
speed of a frame per 5 s. During the experiment, applied found that PDIV is about 6.5 kV (sample 1: 6.9 kV; sample 2:
voltage is first gradually increased to PDIV and then it is 6.2 kV), at which the “rabbit-like” [18-20] distribution
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1651

appeared across the whole cycle during which a larger PD moves forward and occurs prior to the zero crossing. Due to
pulse and multi smaller PD pulses can be observed as shown the intermittent time (i.e. the time between two consecutive
in Figure 9a. It can also be seen in Figure 10 that the larger PD events) shortening with increasing the voltage amplitude,
PD pulses form the “rabbit-ear” shape and the other smaller numbers of smaller PD pulses in a cycle increase as shown in
PD pulses make up the “rabbit-body” shape. In fact, it has Figure 9b, 9c and 9d, equal to 4, 7 and 10, respectively.
been observed in Figure 10b that not only the amplitude of The amplitude of PDs forming the “rabbit-ear” and “rabbit-
larger PDs in each cycle decrease with the time of applied body” with different cavity diameters under about 10 kV are
voltage but also the distribution of PDs could change in the shown in Figure 12. In this figure, the “rabbit-ear” shape of
amplitude lag with the time of applied voltage. However, in PDs in DBCs is consisted of the maximum values of PD
most cases, as shown in Figure 9a, 9b and 9c, the PD
amplitude remains nearly constant if the applied voltage is
gradually increased until corona discharge or breakdown is
occurred. After about 13 minutes at 20 kV, the “rabbit-like”
distribution can be observed again as shown in Figure 9e, but
the amplitude of larger PD pulses exceed 1000 pC. After
about 80 minutes, the distribution changes into the “turtle-
like” shape, as shown in Figure 9f.
The same PD distribution can also be observed in different
diameters of DBCs, i.e. 1.2 mm, 1.5 mm and 2 mm (see
Figure A1 to A3 in appendix A). In these cavities, positive and
negative PD pluses appear in different half-cycles respectively,
but their distributions are always symmetrical in phase. This is
the typical characteristic of internal PDs within cavities.
Figure 11 shows the relation between PDIP and applied
voltage for EPR samples with different DBCs. As the applied
voltage is increased, PD inception phase (PDIP) gradually Figure 8 Schematic diagram of PDs measurement system.

(a) 6.9 kV (b) 10 kV (c) 15 kV

(d) 20 kV (e) 20 kV (f) 25 kV

Figure 9. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the DBC (Cavity diameter: 1 mm).
1652 Z. Lei et al.: Partial Discharges of Cavities in Ethylene Propylene Rubber Insulation

amplitude which is recorded by the professional instruments
only when a complete “rabbit-like” distribution appears as
shown in Figure 10a. It can be seen that the PD amplitude
increases with the increase of cavity diameters.
(a) n-q-p plots of “rabbit-like” distribution.
With increasing the applied voltage amplitude, the “rabbit-
like” distribution across the whole cycle is observed the same
as the PD distribution in DBCs. Positive PDs and negative
PDs occur in different half-cycles and their distributions are
symmetrical in phase. However, the PD distribution, such as
Figure 13c and Figure B3a in appendix B, will become
asymmetric when maximum PD amplitude in positive half
cycle is larger than that in negative half cycle as reported by
other researchers [21, 22]. The PD amplitude of “rabbit-ear”
shape gradually decreases during 30 minutes as shown in
Figure 13d, which is possible that the gas atmosphere of
cavities changes (e.g. oxygen is consumed). In this case, the
“rabbit-ear” is pricked up. Even though the applied voltage is
increased, the “rabbit-like” distribution is not across the whole
cycle. The same PD distribution can also be observed within
different EBCs in the diameters of 1.2, 1.5 and 2.0 mm (see
Figure B1 to B3 in appendix B). The relation between PDIP
and applied voltage on EPR samples with different EBCs is
illustrated in Figure 14. It can be found that PDIP of EBCs
gradually decreases with the increase of applied voltage the
same as that of DBCs.
Figure 15 shows the relation between the amplitude of PDs
formed “rabbit-ear” and “rabbit-body” and different EBC
diameters under about 15 kV. It can be seen that the PD
amplitude increases with the increase of the cavity diameter.
Compared Figure 15 with Figure 12, the PD amplitude in
EBCs is larger than that in DBCs. It is possible that the
surface charge is more intensely decayed in EBCs since
charge can be absorbed and move readily in the electrode [22].
1500
PD amplitude forms "rabbit-body"
max PD amplitude forms "rabbit-ear"
Partial discharge (pC)

1200

900

(b) PD pulses of “rabbit-like” distribution in an AC cycle.

Figure 10. “Rabbit-like” distribution of PDs in the DBC. 600

240 300
negative
half cycle
180 0
Inception phase (degree)

0.5 1 1.5 2
120 cavity diameter (mm)
Figure 12. Amplitude of PDs forming “rabbit-ear” and “rabbit-body” versus
60 DBC diameters.

5 10 15 20 25
0
Voltage (kV)
positive 5 DISCUSSION
-60 half cycle
5.1 PD CHARGE UNDER PDIV
-120 1 mm 1.2 mm 1.5 mm 2 mm
Figure 16 shows the relation between PDIV and the
-180 diameters of DBCs and EBCs. PDIV is recorded only when
Figure 11. PDIP versus applied voltage for DBCs in different diameters. the PD amplitude is above 10 pC in this figure. Because the
inception PD amplitude is relative instability, experimental
4.2 PDs IN ELECTRODE-BOUNDED CAVITY PDIV is the average value during more than 30 s when PD
Figure 13 shows typical PD distribution within the EBC pulses are not extinct. Error bars represent the standard
with the diameter of 1 mm. It can be found that the PD deviation from 2 measurements and 1 calculation PDIV.
distribution tends to be relative instable when inception PD Experimental PDIV for EBCs is higher than calculated value
pulses occurred as shown in Figures 13a and 13b respectively. estimated according to the Paschen curve for air. This may be
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1653

(a) 5.5 kV (b) 8.5 kV (c) 10.9 kV

(d) 10.9 kV (e) 15 kV (f) 20 kV

Figure 13. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the EBC (Cavity diameter: 1 mm).
240 because the surface charge of EBCs decays more intensely
negative than that of DBCs in practice as reported in [22] that the
Inception phase (degree)

180 half cycle

charge can be absorbed by the electrode and moved readily in
120 the electrode.
60 10

5 10 15 20 25 9
0
Voltage (kV) 8
-60 positive
7
half cycle
6
PDIV (kV)

-120 1 mm 1.2 mm 1.5 mm 2 mm

5
-180
4
Figure 14. PDIP versus applied voltage amplitude for EBCs in different
diameters. 3 PDIV for DBCs
2 PDIV for EBCs
3000
max PD amplitude forms "rabbit-ear" calculated PDIV for DBCs
1 calculated PDIV for EBCs
PD amplitude forms "rabbit-body"
Partial discharge (pC)

2500
0
0.5 1 1.5 2
2000 cavity diameter (mm)
Figure 16. Relations between PDIV and diameters of DBCs and EBCs.
1500

1000 According to the theory proposed by Pedersen [23, 24] and

Lemke [25] in order to analyze the PD charge transfer based
500
on the dipole model, the total PD inception charge qa of the
ellipsoidal cavity due to an electron avalanche resulting from
0
0.5 1 1.5 2 ionized molecules can simply be approximated as
cavity diameter (mm)
Figure 15. Amplitude of PDs forming “rabbit-ear” and “rabbit-body” versus
Ei
qa P (10)
EBC diameters. Vi
1654 Z. Lei et al.: Partial Discharges of Cavities in Ethylene Propylene Rubber Insulation

where ni is the number of ionized molecules, P is the dipole will result in the enhancement of ionization and form plasma
moment of ionized molecules which can be given as [24] (Figure 18b). When the cavity field Ec is equal to the
breakdown field, the streamer will rapidly develop and lead to
G2 G2 a conduction channel across the cavity. In this case, the cavity
P | qi | ni e
(11)
a a field will satisfy the following relationship.

where a critical value ni of the number of ionized gas
3H r
molecules led to the transition from an electron avalanche to a Ec Esc  Eq  Eq (13)
streamer discharge is approximately 108, e is the elementary 1  2H r
charge, a § 0.06 mm [5, 26]. Thus, for the spherical cavity,
inserting the equation (8) and (11) into the equation (10), the
PD inception charge qa as a function of cavity can be obtained
as
801H r G 2
qa | ˜ (pC) (12)
 d  G 1  2H r   3H r G
From this equation, the PD inception charge qa depends on
the relative dielectric permittivity of the insulation Hr, the
insulation thickness d and the spherical cavity diameter į. The
calculated and experimental plots (qa versus į) are shown in
Figure 17. It can be seen that the inception PD amplitudes are
scattered over a relative wide range. And the inception PD
amplitude for EBCs is higher than calculated value. This is Figure 18. (a) Initial electron generated by space and surface processes, (b)
the propagation of the electron avalanche.
because the equation (12) is deduced for a single streamer
channel, and in fact, multiple streamer channels may occur Once a first PD has been initiated, the space charge in the
and propagate in the cavities in reality. Meanwhile, as cavity is drifted and recombined [11, 27, 28]. Figure 19 shows
mentioned above, another reason is that the effect of surface the deployment of surface charge resulted from the first PD on
charge on calculated value has been neglected. the cavity wall. It assumes that the external field E during the
Inception PD amplitude for DBCs rising portion of positive half-cycle is able to lead to a new PD
700
Inception PD amplitude for EBCs event, i.e. Ec is still higher than Ei. If applied voltage is
600 calculated Inception PD amplitude for DBCs increased, the intermittent time of PDs will be shortened and
Inception PD amplitude (pC)

calculated Inception PD amplitude for EBCs the PD pulse repetition rate will increase. After each PD event,
500 surface charges can accumulate on the cavity wall. Eq will
keep increasing before the applied voltage reaches to peak
400 value. During the falling portion of positive half-cycle as
shown in Figure 19b, Eq will be larger than Esc. The cavity
300
field Ec will be reversed, and Negative PD pulse will appear.
200
In this case, the cavity field will satisfy the following
relationship.
100 Ec Eq  Esc  Eres (14)
0
0.5 1 1.5 2
cavity diameter (mm)
Figure 17. Inception PD amplitude versus diameters of DBCs and EBCs.

5.2 PD MECHANISM
An inception PD pulse will appear when a free initial
electron develops into an avalanche due to sufficiently high
field as described in [27, 28]. There are two main conditions
to generate a free initial electron, i.e. space ionization
processes and surface ionization processes (Figure 18a).
Stochastic space processes contribute to cosmic ray radiating
gas ionization by energetic photons and field detachment of
electrons from negative ions. Electrons from insulation Figure 19. PDs occur in positive half-cycle, (a) the rising portion, (b) the
falling portion.
surface emission include detrapping of electron, positive ion
impact and surface photo effect [27]. With the propagation of Moreover, during the external field reverse, the direction of
the electron avalanche, the space charge field Eq will become Eq is equal to that of E. The space charge field Eq, in this case,
comparable to the field Esc (affected by external field E) which increases the voltage amplitude across the cavity. It is the
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1655

reason why a lager PD pulse, formed the “rabbit-ear” like

distribution, occurs in positive and negative half-cycle
respectively [20, 28]. During negative half-cycle, the PD
mechanism is similar to that in the positive half-cycle. As a
result, the PD distribution in positive half-cycle is similar to
that in negative half-cycle.

5.3 PD DECAY IN DBC

As mentioned above, the amplitude of lager PDs decreases
with the time of applied voltage for DBCs. According to
Morshuis [29] and Niemeyer [27], cavity surface conductivity
contribute to PD decay. It is because the cavity surface will be
corroded by PDs with the time of applied voltage, which will
lead to the growth of surface conductivity. As a result, the (b) Stage 2: cracks, DBC, diameter 1.2 mm.
surface charge decays along the cavity surface.
Figure 20 shows typical images of corroded DBC surface
and virgin surface respectively (photographed by LEICA
DM2500M, 90° polarized light). The process of cavity surface
degradation can be divided into 4 stages. At the beginning,
cavity surface is smooth and there are not PDs (stage 1). After
a while, the cavity surface is corroded due to the occurrence of
PDs. Actually, small cracks, like filaments, can be observed by
the microscope on the cavity surface (stage 2). As shown on
stage 3, EPR surface sheds along cracks and forms electrical
pitting. On stage 4, different electrical pitting is connected
together and forms a lot of grooves (Figure 20e). It can be
conclude that the PDs of cavities will cause to EPR
degradation, and surface corrosion will result in the reduction (c) Stage 3: cracks and smaller electric pitting, DBC, diameter 1 mm.
of the PD amplitude.
In the experiment, about 50 percent of DBC samples with
diameter 2 mm reach breakdown suddenly under about 10 kV
or 15kV. Before the breakdown, the PD distribution and
amplitude are still stable. This could be due to the fact as
shown in Figure 12 that the higher amplitude of “rabbit-ear”
distribution results in serious corrosion of the cavity surface.
The degradation rate of EPR samples is accelerated.
In addition, the surface of EBCs is still smooth after the
experiment has been carried out (the same as in Figure 20a)
and no crack or crevice is observed. It is supposed that
“rabbit-like” distribution do not decay until degradation or
corrosion occurs on the cavity surface.
It should be pointed that the experiments in this paper (d) Stage 4: Grooves, DBC, diameter 1.5 mm.
ignore the effect of gas pressure and component in the cavity.

(e) Stage 4: Grooves, DBC, diameter 1.5 mm.

(a) Stage 1: cavity surface before degradation. Figure 20. Degradation of cavity surface by PDs.
1656 Z. Lei et al.: Partial Discharges of Cavities in Ethylene Propylene Rubber Insulation

As reported by [27, 30], gas pressure and component in the
cavity interact with PDs, which should result in the variation
of the PD distribution and amplitude. Moreover, the gas
pressure and component of the cavity in EPR is unpredictable.
If possible, it is worthwhile to go on investigating interaction
between the gas pressure and component and the PD
characteristics of cavities in EPR.
6 CONCLUSION
The PD characteristics of dielectric-bounded and electrode-
bounded cavities embedded in EPR have been experimentally
investigated. The following conclusions can be obtained:
(1) The PD distribution of spherical cavities in EPR sample
do well correspond to that in polyethylene, epoxy resin
and polycarbonate. The symmetrical “rabbit-like” PD
distribution for DBCs can be observed in the early stage.
With the corrosion of the cavity surface, the PD
amplitude will gradually decay. After enough time of
applied voltage, the “rabbit-like” distribution changes
into the “turtle-like” shape.
(2) The change of the PD inception phase of the spherical
cavities in EPR sample results from the reduction of
intermittent time and the enhancement of applied voltage
amplitude. The PD amplitude is well related with the
cavity diameter, insulation thickness and the corrosion
and degradation of the cavity surface. In turn, PDs in
DBCs can corrode the cavity surface and degrade the
insulation property.
(3) The PD amplitude in EBCs is larger than that in DBCs. In
EBCs, the “rabbit-like” shape of PDs does not decay,
which is different from that in DBCs. it is possible
because there is not corrosion occurred on the EBC
surface. It is supposed that defects of DBCs and EBCs
can be discriminated by the PD distribution.
(4) As a result, it has been verified by the experiments that
the method to make an artificial spherical cavity in EPR
samples is effective, which can be readily used to
produce artificial cavities in thermoplastic materials.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51377113). The author gratefully
acknowledges Dr. Gian Carlo Montanari who gave the author
beneficial advice.

APPENDIX A

(c) 10.7 kV after “extinction” of the “rabbit-like”

(a) 7.6 kV (b) 10.7 kV
PD distribution
Figure A1. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the DBC (Cavity diameter: 1.2 mm).

(c) 15 kV after about 30 minutes of inception of

(a) 10.7 kV (b) 15 kV
the “rabbit-like” PD distribution
Figure A2. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the DBC (Cavity diameter: 1.5 mm).
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014 1657

(a) 6.3 kV (b) 10.2 kV (c) 15.4 kV

(d) 15.4 kV (e) 21 kV (f) 25kV

Figure A3. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the DBC (Cavity diameter: 2mm).

APPENDIX B

(a) 5.5 kV (b) 10.2 kV (c) 15 kV

Figure B1. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the EBC (Cavity diameter: 1.2 mm).

(a)8 kV (b) 15 kV (c) 20.5 kV

Figure B2. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the EBC (Cavity diameter: 1.5 mm).
1658 Z. Lei et al.: Partial Discharges of Cavities in Ethylene Propylene Rubber Insulation
(a) 10.6 kV (b) 15.8 kV
Figure B3. Typical n-q-p plots of PDs in the EBC (Cavity diameter: 2 mm).
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IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 21, No. 4; August 2014
Zhipeng Lei (S’13) was born in Taiyuan, China in
1983. He received the B.Sc. degree from the East
China Jiaotong University, China in 2005, and the
M.Sc. degree from the Taiyuan University of
Technology, China in 2010. He has been a Ph.D.
student in the Taiyuan University of Technology
since 2011. His main research interest is condition
assessment high voltage cable failure and
associated partial discharges characteristics.
Jiancheng Song (M’13) received the B.Sc. degree
from Taiyuan University of Technology, China, in
1982, the M.Sc. degree from Newcastle University
England, in 1987, respectively and the Ph.D.
degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China, in,
1999. Currently, he is a professor of the College of
Electrical and Power Engineering at Taiyuan
University of Technology. He has experience in
the field of condition assessment, remaining life
assessment and intellectual automation technology
He has performed a number of electrical failure investigations about coal
mine. He has presented a number of technical and scientific papers at.
international conferences and seminars.
Muqin Tian was born in Shanxi, China, in June
1962. She received the B.S. degree from Dalian
Railroad Institute, China, in 1987, the M.S. degree
from Taiyuan University of Technology, China, in
1990, and the Ph.D. degree from Taiyuan
University of Technology, China, in 2006. Her
main interest is state monitoring and early warning
of large mechanical equipment and intelligent
control. Currently, she is director of the
Department of Electrical Engineering at Taiyuan
University of Technology.
1659
Xiaohui Cui was born in Hei Long-jiang, China in
1988. She received the B.Sc. degree in electrical
engineering from Taiyuan University of
Technology, Taiyuan, China in July 2011. Since
September 2011 she has been a M.Sc. student in
the Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan,
China. Her main research interests in the large-
scale power equipment insulation fault diagnosis
technology.
Chuanyang Li was born in Shandong, China, on 6
February 1987. He received the B.S. degree from
Taiyuan University of Technology, China, in 2011.
He has been studying in Taiyuan University of
Technology for the M.S. degree since 2011. His
main research interest is condition monitoring and
PD pattern recognition for HV motors and
generators.
Minmin Wen was born in Shanxi, China, on
August 18th, 1984. She obtained B.Sc. degree in
Taiyuan University of Technology, China, in 2008.
She has been studying at Taiyuan University of
Technology to receive M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees
since 2008, and she works on condition monitoring
and diagnoses of high voltage insulation for power
apparatus.