IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 14, No.

1; February 2007 249

Resolution Evaluation of Ultrasonic Diagnosis Tools for

Electrical Insulation Devices and the Detection of Electrical
Trees
H. Ueno1, P. Walter, C. Cornelissen, and A. Schnettler
Institute for High Voltage Technology
RWTH Aachen University
Schinkelstrasse 2, 52056 Aachen, Germany

ABSTRACT
Ultrasound is a well-known diagnosis tool that can be used for the condition assessment
of insulating systems. For this special purpose, various investigations on the detectability
of the included inhomogeneities are performed: The resolution of ultrasonic
measurements on high voltage insulations has been evaluated by using standardized
Landolt rings in silicone rubber and epoxy resin. Although a dependency exists on the
ring position, the diagnostic system that is used is able to image the gap with a
sub-millimeter size. In other words, the system has recognition ability for two different
objects close to such a distance. Regarding detectability, it has been found that in
addition to ball-shaped inhomogeneities, the system can also detect thin fibrous objects
with a diameter of a few micrometers. Finally, the results are used to detect and
characterize electrical trees in silicone rubber.
Index Terms: Diagnostics, ultrasound, electrical tree, insulating device.

1 INTRODUCTION assessment in insulating systems [2, 3]. An ultrasonic diagnosis

A reliable power supply without major outages is an
essential condition for industrial societies. Many failures in
power systems are induced by electrical insulation damages, for
example in switchgears, transformers, cables, and their
accessories. These insulation damages are often caused by
flaws in the solid insulating material. Various types of flaws
can appear in materials and devices, for example small metallic
contaminations and gas-filled voids, which are due to problems
during the manufacturing process, as well as cracks and erosion
caused by thermal stress and partial discharge (PD) during
service. Often these phenomena are commonly based upon
failings during production. For these reasons, the diagnosis of
insulation materials and systems including flaw detection and
the evaluation of the proceeding of damages before and during
operation is a vital part to guarantee a stable power supply.
Various diagnostic techniques such as the measurements of
dielectric properties and of PD have been proposed and are now
state of the art [1]. Based on detailed investigations in the last
years, it has been proven that ultrasonic diagnosis can also be
applied for non-destructive and spatial resolved condition
Manuscript received on 8 February 2006, in final form 19 July 2006.
1
On leaving from University of Hyogo, Japan
has several advantages in comparison to the common methods
[4, 5]. Firstly, the ultrasonic method is a non-destructive testing
method, thus easily applicable for the inspection of insulating
devices and components. A system using an ultrasonic
technique has already been used to evaluate the manufacturing
quality of HV cable joints [6]. Moreover, Hao et al recently
reported that the ultrasonic pulse-echo technique was used for
monitoring the insulation condition for stators of large
generators [7]. Secondly, in combining advanced signal
processing and visualization techniques, the additional
advantages of the ultrasonic method are that the system does
not only detect flaws but can also be used to characterize them,
for example: identification of material, location and mapping of
flaws, evaluation of flaw shape and of flaw growth, which can
be used for the analysis of electrical trees. On the other hand,
there are some problems to cope with. Usually, it is difficult to
estimate the correct size of a flaw because the ultrasonic probe
size, more precisely the diameter of the ultrasound field, is
larger than the typical flaws that are to be detected. Therefore,
if a flaw is present in this field, a significant ultrasonic echo
signal is generated by the flaw, often leading to an
overestimation of flaw size. In addition, the resolution depends
on the ultrasonic wavelength or frequency, respectively,
consequently a high measurement frequency is required to

1070-9878/07/$25.00 © 2007 IEEE

250 H. Ueno et al.: Resolution Evaluation of Ultrasonic Diagnosis Tools for Electrical Insulation Devices
obtain fine images of the flaw. However, an increased
frequency leads to increased attenuation resulting in an extreme
limitation of the detectable depth. In fact, Watanabe et al.
reported the detection and imaging of electrical trees only close
to the surface in a polyethylene matrix by using measuring
frequencies of about 25 MHz [8]. Therefore, such high
frequencies cannot be applied for an insulation system made of
soft materials (leading to an even higher attenuation) and large
thickness.
In the past, an ultrasonic diagnostic system with an advanced
image-processing tool was constructed [9, 10, 11] and the
possible detection of small particles and inhomogeneities
within the insulating materials were demonstrated. As shown
above, the properties of the ultrasonic probe have a significant
impact on the performance of the measurement. Therefore, in
this report the aspect of resolution –regarding a minimum flaw
size that can be detected and the minimum distance between
two flaw structures in order to distinguish between them – are
analyzed. Especially regarding cracks and erosion structures,
fibrous flaws of a small diameter within an insulation system
have to be taken into account. In this paper, the results of a
resolution evaluation and the detectability of two different
objects by the use of standard Landolt rings are described.
Furthermore, the application to the detection of a thin fibrous
flaw with small diameters is presented. In the final section, the
application of the results regarding the detection of electrical
trees at relatively low frequency (5 MHz) is analyzed.
2 EXPERIMENTAL DETAIL
2.1 ULTRASONIC DIAGNOSIS SYSTEM
The used ultrasonic diagnosis system is schematically shown
in Figure 1. This system is composed of a commercial
inspection system (Krautkramer USLT2000) using frequencies
in the range of 1-20 MHz. Furthermore, a positioning and
scanning system, as well as a newly developed data acquisition,
the image processing and visualization system. First, the
so-called impulse-echo-method is adopted into the system. For
the present investigations, an ultrasonic straight-beam probe
with a center frequency of 5 MHz (characteristic bandwidth of
100%) and with a diameter of 5 mm (Krautkramer H5M) has
been proven in preliminary investigations to be optimal for the
Ultrasonic data acquisition system
Image processing
（USLT2000） system
X-Y-Z Water tank
Positioning
system
Distilled water
Ultrasonic probe
（H5M）
Test specimen
z y Test specimen
holder
x
planned investigations. The automated positioning and
scanning system has a minimum step increment of 25 μm for
each axis. Because of the difference between the acoustic
impedances (product of velocity of sound and density of the
solid) between matrix material and flaw material, the incident
ultrasound is partly reflected by the flaw and partly penetrates
the flaw. The amplitude of the sound pressure of the reflected
signal mainly depends on the difference between the acoustic
impedances of the matrix material and of the flaw material, and
declines with a decreasing difference of the impedances. By
measuring the time of flight of an emitted and reflected
impulse, a depth profile, the so-called A-scan profile, can be
obtained, if the velocity of the sound of the matrix material is
taken into consideration. The A-scan profile is taken for each
scanning point. A typical impulse echo waveform of the probe
H5M is indicated in Figure 1.
The information regarding reflected signals in each A-scan
profile is registered by a computer. Subsequently, it is utilized
for image processing and visualization after filtering and
amplifying. Based on the specific characteristic of the reflected
signal, such as amplitude, phase and sonic distance, a
localization of included inhomogeneities is possible. Moreover,
the evaluation of further details like shape, size and other
characteristics is in principle feasible. To make the flaw
detection easier and flaw characterization more precise, it is
necessary to process the gained data field without manipulating
the contained information. The data field basically contains, in
addition to a surface signal and an optional back wall signal, the
information about the geometry of the flaw and a noise. In most
cases, when the probe diameter is larger than the flaw diameter,
the geometric information is degraded by the scanning process.
To reduce the influence of the noise on the geometrical
(3-dimensional) data, algorithms performing a 3-dimensional
filtering are developed. They use a discrete convolution
product in a time domain with a variable operator, considering
the information of neighbor data points for the filtering. For
details see [9, 12]
2.2 TEST SPECIMENS
For the resolution evaluation of the ultrasonic system in
polymeric insulating materials, a Landolt ring (also called
1000
Echo Amplitude [a.u.]
0
–1000
0 200 400
Depth [a.u.]
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the ultrasonic system
and typical impulse waveform of the used probe H5M.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Landolt-C) is used as a resolution evaluation tool. A schematic
illustration of such a ring is shown in Figure 2. The Landolt
ring is well-known as a standard testing tool of visual acuity in
human eye testing [13], and it is often used for the acuity and
resolution evaluation of various equipment and image
processing systems [14]. Since also an ultrasonic impulse has a
certain waveform, the lateral and axial resolutions have to be
taken into account as for optical testing. The analysis of the
axial resolution is difficult since manifold reflections would
have to be considered. Since it is usually possible to perform
ultrasonic analysis from different sides of the sample, only
lateral resolution is investigated in detail. The Landolt ring is a
good evaluation tool for the lateral resolution by using the gap
of the ring. In the present work, four different Landolt rings
(Ring A, B, C, D) with different sizes made of brass are used
(Figure 2). Before curing the matrix material, the Landolt ring
was put into the material at defined positions. Two kinds of
matrix material are used; silicone rubber (Wacker
Powersil-600) and epoxy resin (R&G HT2). Both materials are
cured at room temperature for more than 24 h. The shape of the
silicone rubber specimen is cubic with the dimensions of
approximately 40x40x40 mm3 and the shape of the epoxy resin
specimen is discoidal with a diameter of 70 mm and a thickness
of 37 mm.
For the fibrous flaw detection experiments, a single glass
fiber (E-glass) with a diameter of 16 μm is placed into silicone
rubber using the same process and host specimen as described
before.
For the electrical tree detection, a steel treeing needle with a
tip of curvature of 100 μm is brought into a cubical silicone
rubber specimen (dimensions: 20x20x50 mm3). After curing,
an electrical tree is grown inside the specimen (needle-to-plane
configuration with 10 mm gap, applied ac voltage of 17 kV).
For the ultrasonic measurements, the specimens are fixed in
the water-tank. To obtain a constant acoustic coupling, all of
the measurements are carried out in distilled water. The
ultrasonic probe is located about 1 mm above the top of
specimen surface and the specimen is stepwise scanned in the
X-Y plane obtaining ultrasonic signals.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 SOUND FIELD
The exact knowledge of the ultrasonic probe characteristics
is an essential precondition for the evaluation of the system
resolution and the application to the flaw detection as well as
relevant for reconstruction algorithms for flaw identification.
g
No. O.D. (mm) I.D. (mm) w (mm) g (mm)
Ring A 7.5 4.5 1.5
O.D. Ring B 5.0 5.0 FALSE
Ring C 4.0 2.4 0.8
I.D. Ring D 2.5 1.5 0.5
w O.D./g=5, O.D./w=5, thickness:1.0mm
Figure 2. Schematic illustration of a Landolt ring.
Vol. 14, No. 1; February 2007 251
Namely, the resolution of the ultrasonic system depends on the
used probe, particularly on the probe diameter, frequency, and
sound field. Especially, the sound field is important for the flaw
identification (location, shape etc.), so that first of all the sound
field (acoustic pressure) of the probe (H5M, frequency: f = 5
MHz, Diameter: d = 5 mm) is measured in distilled water
(sound velocity c=1480 m/s). The evaluation of the sound field
was carried out by the following method: An ultrasonic signal
was detected by a small spherical reflector fixed in distilled
water. Thereafter, the ultrasonic probe was scanned along an
x-z plane. By using the obtained signal intensity for each
measurement point, the sound field could be visualized, which
is shown in Figure 3.
The probe has a columnar sound field with a diameter of
approximately 4 - 5 mm. The sound field has the most focal
region between 10 mm and 30 mm away from the probe top,
with the most focal point at a distance of 18 mm. This point is
the measured near field length Nmeas in water.
In theory, the near field length N can be calculated as
following: In a case of finite emission area of a probe, the
ultrasonic field has a focal and a dispersive region. The
ultrasonic waves are transmitted in plane wave form to the near
field and in spherical wave form far from the near field length.
In a medium with the sound velocity c (wavelength of
ultrasound λ), using a probe with a diameter d and a frequency
f, N is defined as the distance of the last sound pressure
maximum in the focal region and is determined by [4]:
d2 d² ⋅ f
N= =
4⋅λ 4⋅c
In our case the calculated near field length is Ncalc = 20.8 mm.
The difference between Nmeas and Ncalc is based on the fact that
due to edge effects, the effective diameter of the probe is
smaller than the geometric one, resulting in a lowered near field
length.
In the near field area, the columnar diameter is relatively
small and the field intensity of its inner part is higher than that
of the outer part. Therefore, a flaw which exists at that distance
from the probe top can be detected with higher sensitivity. On
the other hand, the field is cylindrical until about 6 mm from the
probe top, where the intensity of the outer part is significantly
higher than that of the inner part. Therefore, much attention
must be paid to a possible mischaracterization of flaws, so that
this region should not be utilized for any further work.
The measured near field length in the water is 18 mm.
However, as can be seen from the definition, N is a function of
the sound velocity c and therefore depends on the transmitting
material [15]. The sound velocity of water is approximately
1480 m/s. The evaluated sound velocities of Powersil 600 and
HT2 are approximately 990 m/s and 2430 m/s, respectively.
Considering these values, the near field distances for silicone
1.5
1.0
0.8 Ultrasonic
0.5 probe x
10mm
Figure 3. Image of sound field. z
252 H. Ueno et al.: Resolution Evaluation of Ultrasonic Diagnosis Tools for Electrical Insulation Devices
rubber and epoxy resin are 27 mm and 11 mm, respectively.
The measured sound field has a column with a diameter of
4-5 mm. In many cases, the cross section of the column is wider
than the flaw. In the flaw detection process, the probe scans the
specimen surface, so that the ultrasound is radiated to the
columnar volume by the sound field. Therefore, even if a part
of a flaw exists in the sound field column, a reflection occurs,
leading to an overestimation of the flaw size.
The beam profile in silicone rubber will be in some way
different from that in water. At first, the sound field will be
compressed in z-direction because of a lower sound velocity.
Secondly, the sound pressure amplitudes decrease in
z-direction because of the high damping in silicone rubber.
Additionally, the beam-focusing is different because of
changes in the diffraction behavior (lens effect) at the surface
of the sample. Nevertheless, the principle behavior stays the
same.
3.2 RESOLUTION EVALUATION BY LANDOLT
RING
In Figure 4, the obtained images at several ring positions,
which are defined by the distance from the top surface of the
specimen to the ring, are shown for the silicone rubber matrix.
In the case of the ring position 10 mm under the surface, the
center vacancy and the gap of the Landolt-C can be clearly
distinguished in the image of Ring A (g = 1.5 mm). For Ring B
(g = 1.0 mm) and Ring C (g = 0.8 mm), the gap distance and
the vacancy can also be recognized in spite of some disorder.
For the smallest investigated ring, Ring D (g = 0.5 mm), the
reconstructed image is quite disordered, showing neither the
gap nor the inner vacancy clearly enough to be recognizable.
The distance between the probe top and the ring is one third
weak strong
2mm 1mm 2mm
Ring A (g=1.5mm) Ring B (g=1.0mm) Ring C (g=0.8mm)
(gain:45dB,step:100μm). (gain:55dB, step:100μm). (gain:53dB, step:50μm). (gain:55dB, step:50μm).
(a) Silicone rubber (Powersil-600), ring position: 10 mm
2mm 1mm 2mm
Ring A (g=1.5mm) Ring B (g=1.0mm) Ring C (g=0.8mm)
(gain:50dB,step:100μm). (gain:60dB, step:100μm). (gain:60dB, step:50μm). (gain:60dB, step:50μm).
(b) Silicone rubber (Powersil-600), ring position:20mm
2mm 1mm 2mm
Ring C (g=0.8mm)
Ring A (g=1.5mm) Ring B (g=1.0mm)
(gain:70dB,step:100μm). (gain:65dB, step:100μm). (gain:69dB, step:50μm). (gain:70dB, step:50μm).
(c) Silicone rubber (Powersil-600), ring position:30 mm
Figure 4. Images of Landolt rings in silicone rubber.
of the near field length in silicone rubber. As shown in the last
section, the sound field in water is inhomogeneous for the
measurement until about 6 mm. Assuming that this distance is
also dependent on the sound velocity, the length of the
inhomogeneous field in silicone rubber is estimated to be
9 mm, which is close to the present ring position (10 mm). Due
to this fact, the distortions of the images caused by the
inhomogeneous near field are negligible.
In the case of the ring position at 20 mm, the visual acuity is
satisfactory, even though this distance is shorter than the near
field length in silicone rubber. The gap and the vacancy can be
recognized for Ring A, Ring B, and Ring C. However, in the
case of Ring D (g = 0.5 mm), the reflected signal becomes
intense near the ring center, leading to an image that appears
just like a disc or sphere [11]. For the ring position further away
from the probe top (ring position: 30 mm), the gap and the
vacancy can be identified for Ring A (g = 1.5 mm) and Ring B
(g = 1.0 mm), but not for Ring C (g = 0.8 mm) and Ring D
(g = 0.5 mm). Therefore, the recognition of the gap and the
vacancy depends on the ring position.
Figure 5 shows the obtained images for the epoxy resin
matrix, which has different acoustic material characteristics
(e.g., epoxy resin has a lower damping than silicone rubber). At
the ring position of 12 mm, which is close to the near field
length in the epoxy resin (NEP = 11 mm), the center vacancy and
the gap of the ring can be recognized in the images of Ring A
(g = 1.5 mm) and Ring B (g = 1.0 mm). Even Ring C
(g = 0.8 mm) can almost nearly be recognized. Only for Ring D
(g = 0.5 mm) is the image like a disc or sphere. At a further
deep ring position of 20 mm, a clear image can only be
obtained for Ring A. This means that the resolution depends on
the depth of the ring.
Summaries of the evaluation of the measurements of the
matrices silicone rubber and epoxy resin are listed in Tables 1a
and 1b. From the images and the results in the tables, it can be
clearly seen that the resolution depends on the depth of the
measured object. The resolution of the present ultrasonic
1mm
system is in the range of 0.8 mm. In addition, the resolution for
the epoxy resin matrix is less than that for the silicone rubber
Ring D (g=0.5mm)
weak strong
2mm
2mm 1mm 1mm
1mm
Ring A (g=1.5mm) Ring B (g=1.0mm) Ring C (g=0.8mm) Ring D (g=0.5mm)
Ring D (g=0.5mm) (gain:65dB,step:100μm). (gain:65dB, step:100μm). (gain:65dB, step:50μm). (gain:65dB, step:50μm).
(a) Epoxy resin (HT2), ring position:12mm
2mm
2mm 1mm 1mm
1mm
Ring D (g=0.5mm) Ring A (g=1.5mm) Ring B (g=1.0mm) Ring C (g=0.8mm) Ring D (g=0.5mm)
(gain:77dB,step:100μm (gain:75dB, (gain:75dB, (gain:80dB,
(b) Epoxy resin (HT2), ring position: 20 mm
Figure 5. Images of Landolt rings in epoxy resin.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Vol. 14, No. 1; February 2007 253

matrix. The sound velocity in epoxy resin is approximately
2.5 times higher than in silicone rubber, which leads to a longer
wavelength in epoxy resin (486 µm) than in silicone rubber
(196 µm), meaning that the theoretical resolution in epoxy
resin is less than in silicone rubber. This is intensified due to the
effect that the sound attenuation of the sample’s material is
dependant on the frequency. Higher frequencies are damped
Table 1. Summary of the resolution evaluation by Landolt ring.
specimen, which contains a single glass fiber with a diameter of
16 μm in different depth positions.
The images for the various flaw positions are shown in
Figure 6. In the images for the flaw positions of 9 mm, 17 mm
and 24 mm, the fibrous object can be detected. In the case of a
deeper flaw position (25 mm, not shown), the detection of the
flaw is hardly possible and the deepest flaw at 31 mm is not
detectable at all.

(a) Silicone rubber (Powersil600)

Ring position (mm) 10 15 20 25 30 35
Ring A (g=1.5mm) O - O - O O
Ring B (g=1.0mm) O - O - Δ X
Ring C (g=0.8mm) O O X X X X
Ring D (g=0.5mm) X X X X X X 1mm 1mm
(a) Flaw position: 9 mm (b) Flaw position: 17 mm
(b) Epoxy resin (HT2)
(gain :85 dB, scan step: 100μm) (gain: 85 dB, scan step: 100μm)
Ring position (mm) 12 20 24 28
Ring A (g=1.5mm) O Δ Δ X
Ring B (g=1.0mm) O X X X
Ring C (g=0.8mm) Δ X X X
Ring D (g=0.5mm) X X X X

O: The gap can be clearly recognized in the image. 1mm 1mm

Δ: The gap can nearly be recognized in the image.
X: The gap can hardly be recognized in the image.
- : No testing data.
more than lower ones, resulting in a shift of the frequency
spectrum, which causes a lowered center frequency. This is
equivalent to an increased wavelength. The present
measurement results are consistent with this consideration.
The present ultrasonic system has a resolution in the
sub-millimeters range (approx. 0.8 mm) for the investigated
region of the ring position in the silicone rubber matrix. It is
expressed that the system does not have the ability to recognize
two different objects closer to each other than such a distance.
In addition, it should be noted that this resolution is not equal to
the minimum size of a detectable flaw by this system; of course,
a flaw with a diameter less than 0.8 mm is detected as it has
already been reported [11], but it cannot be clearly separated
(c) Flaw position: 24 mm (d) Flaw position: 31 mm
(gain: 90 dB, scan step: 50μm) (gain: 95 dB, scan step: 50μm)
Figure 6. Images of a glass fiber in silicone rubber.
Even if the flaw is detected successfully, the size of the flaw
is considerably overestimated as it can be seen in Figure 6,
where the fiber has a diameter of about approximately 2 mm.
Even though the boundary between the fiber and the silicone
rubber matrix is not clear in the image, the overestimation
factor on the diameter, which is defined by (imaged
diameter)/(real diameter), can be roughly estimated. For our
investigations, the imaged diameter is defined as the distance
between measuring points exceeding the noise level. Therefore
the imaged diameter is strongly dependant on the applied
processes of noise reduction like for example averaging. It is no
universally valid value, but can be used for comparison within
all of our investigations.
The relationship between the overestimation factor and the
300
Overestimation factor

Glass fiber (Diameter 16μm)

from other flaws nearby.

200
3.3 FLAW DETECTION: FIBROUS FLAWS WITH A
undetectable
SMALL DIAMETER
It is possible that various types of flaws such as spherical,
discoidal, or branch-shaped exist in electrical insulations. The 100
possible detection of small mainly ball-shaped particles has
already been given in previous reports [10, 11]. As mentioned Cu wire
(125μm)
before, the detection of longish objects such as fibrous flaws is
0
also important for the diagnosis of electrical insulations. In this 0 10 20 30
present work, single thin fibrous flaws are analyzed. Flaw position (mm)
Measurements are carried out on a silicone rubber test Figure 7. Relationship between overestimation factor and flaw position.
254 H. Ueno et al.: Resolution Evaluation of Ultrasonic Diagnosis Tools for Electrical Insulation Devices
flaw position is shown in Figure 7. The observed
overestimation factor is in the range of 100 - 250, and it
becomes smaller with increasing flaw position, demonstrating
that the evaluated diameter is strongly dependent on the flaw
position. This overestimation should be associated with the
diameter of the ultrasonic probe, the sound field, and the
material characteristics.
The used ultrasonic probe has a diameter of 5 mm and the
columnar sound field has nearly the same diameter as
mentioned in the previous section. These diameters are a
multiple of the fiber diameter, so the overestimation becomes
explicable. On the other hand, the obtained overestimation
factor drops at the flaw position of approximately 17 mm. The
distance from the probe top to the flaw position is shorter than
the near field length. However, the sound field in this region
might be focused. Therefore, it is considered that the sound
field has a smaller diameter than that of near the probe, and the
beam at the columnar center is intensified compared to the
outer part, leading to the reduction of the overestimation factor.
In addition, silicone rubber has a high damping factor, which
means that the amplitude of the reflected signals decreases on
the way from the probe to the flaw. In considering these facts,
the reduction of the overestimation factor with increasing flaw
depth can be explained.
3.4 FLAW DETECTION: ELECTRICAL TREES
Electrical trees in insulating materials can be detected by
partial discharge measurements; however, the characteristics of
the tree such as growth (growing direction, growing velocity)
and geometry are not easy to identify even if full use of PD
measurements and other techniques is made. Based on the
results presented above, it can be expected that ultrasonic flaw
detection and visualization are a good tool for the detection and
characterization of electrical trees. Nevertheless, it can be
assumed that the internal structure of these trees cannot be
resolved using a low measurement frequency. In this work, we
attempted to detect and visualize electrical trees and breakdown
channels in silicone rubber using the present ultrasonic system
described in section 2.1.
needle
Direction A
Needle
Direction B
2mm
(a) Direction A
(gain:67dB, step:50μm)
needle
Breakdown channel
2mm
needle
2mm
(b) Direction B (c) Photograph of
(gain:65dB, step:50μm) breakdown channel
Figure 8. Images of a breakdown channel.
For the measurements, a breakdown is created in a silicone
rubber test specimen by way of stepwise increments in the
applied voltage up to 20 kV. Figure 8 shows the obtained
images that were captured from two different directions
(direction A and direction B) as indicated in Figure 8a. A
region with high ultrasonic reflection from the needle tip can be
observed in Figure 8a. Nearly the same image taken from
another direction can be seen in Figure 8b. The visualized
breakdown channel is composed of several linked node-like
regions that are not homogeneously spherical. A photograph of
the breakdown channel is given in Figure 8c. The breakdown
channel which has a black surface inside due to carbonization
by breakdown energy, can be seen in the photograph. Also the
channel seems to have different node-like regions The
visualized breakdown channel again shows a significant
overestimation, which is reasonable according to the
investigations described in the previous section.
In previous papers it has been reported that distinguishable
A-scan profiles can be obtained for regions with, respectively
without, electrical trees in silicone rubber [10], thus showing
the potential for the detection of electrical trees by the
ultrasonic system. In this work, it is attempted to visualize
electrical trees in silicone rubber.
The images obtained by the ultrasonic measurements are
shown in Figure 9. An image from direction A for the test
specimen before any high voltage application (time = 0 h) is
shown in Figure 9a. No ultrasonic reflection originating from
flaws is observed, and only the image of the treeing needle can
be seen. Figure 9b shows the images from two different
directions after applying 17 kV for 15 h to the
above-mentioned specimen. An area with high intensity
connected to the needle tip can be seen from both directions.
The observed shapes of the area from two directions are not
exactly equal. The reflected area has a diameter of 1.5 mm and
2.0 mm for the directions A and B, respectively. Ultrasonic
images of the specimen after further applying a voltage of
17 kV for 2 h are shown in Figure 9c. The high reflected areas
linked to the needle tip have grown in comparison to the areas
in Figure 9b. Usually, electrical trees are composed of fine
weak strong
needle needle needle
tree tree
1mm 1mm 1mm
Direction A Direction A Direction B
(gain:65dB, step:100μm) (gain:65dB, step:100μm) (gain:65dB, step:100μm)
(a) Before applying high voltage (b) 17kV,
needle tree needle
tree
Direction A
Needle
1mm 1mm
Direction B
Direction A Direction B
(gain:65dB, step:100μm) (gain:65dB, step:100μm)
(c) 17kV,
Figure 9. Images of electrical trees.
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
tubular channels close to each other with an arbitrary growing
direction. However, the obtained images resemble single flaws.
Fine structures with tubules cannot be obtained in the images as
assumed before; but the growing of the structure with ongoing
voltage application suggests that the tree and the tree’s growing
in the silicone rubber can be successfully visualized by
ultrasonic diagnosis, which can be helpful for the condition
assessment of insulation systems.
4 CONCLUSION
A diagnosis system based on a conventional ultrasonic
testing system using the pulse-echo-method has been
developed, including an advanced positioning system,
optimized data, and image processing.
A detailed evaluation of the resolution of the system
considering the characteristics of the ultrasonic probe has been
performed with the Landolt ring method for silicone rubber and
epoxy resin. Although a dependency exists on the ring position,
the present diagnostic system is able to image the gaps of the
Landolt rings with a sub-millimeter size. In other words, the
system has recognition ability for two different objects close to
such a distance. It should be noted that this resolution is not
identical to the minimum size of a flaw which is detectable by
this system, since the resolution of a single object is much more
precise.
In fact, the system can successfully detect and visualize thin
fibrous objects with a diameter of a few micrometers. In
addition, electrical trees can be detected, though the obtained
images resemble single flaws and fine structures with tubules
that cannot be recognized in the images due to the low
measuring frequency, which has been chosen in order to be able
to test even soft polymeric materials with large thicknesses
(high attenuation). These results support other contributions
showing that ultrasonic diagnosis is applicable in the diagnosis
of electrical insulating devices.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Hyogo Prefecture and the
University of Hyogo for providing the opportunity for a
research stay under H.U. at the RWTH Aachen University and
the financial support. Further we would like to thank the DFG
(German Research Foundation) for the general support of the
project. We would also like to express our gratitude to
Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Tröger for his kind assistance during the
preparation of the treeing specimens.
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Hideki Ueno (M’00) was born in Hyogo, Japan, in
1960. He received the M.Eng. degree from Shinshu
University in 1985, and his D.Eng. degree from Osaka
University in 1988. He was employed by Sumitomo
Electric Industries, Ltd. in 1988. He was an Associate
Professor at Himeji Institute of Technology from 1997 to
2004. He was a visiting researcher of RWTH Aachen
University from 2004 to 2005. Now, he is an Associate
Professor at the University of Hyogo. His main research interests include
creeping discharge and barrier discharge phenomena and their applications. He
is a member of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Japan (IEEJ), the Institute
of Electrostatics Japan, the Institute of Engineers on Electrical Discharges in
Japan (IEEDJ), the Applied Physics Society of Japan, and the Carbon Society of
Japan.
Philipp Walter (M’04) was born in Dusseldorf,
Germany, in 1978. He studied electrical engineering at
the RWTH Aachen University, where he obtained his
diploma degree in 2003. For his diploma thesis, he won
the IEEE PES German Chapter ”Best Diploma Thesis
Award 2004”. Currently he is working as a Research
Assistant at the Institute for High Voltage Technology
at the RWTH Aachen University with research interests
in the condition assessment of insulation materials, especially by means of
ultrasound. He is a member of the German Association for Electrical, Electronic
& Information Technologies (VDE).
256 H. Ueno et al.: Resolution Evaluation of Ultrasonic Diagnosis Tools for Electrical Insulation Devices
Christian Cornelissen was born in Dusseldorf,
Germany, in 1972. He studied physics at the RWTH
Aachen University, Germany and received his diploma
degree in 1998. In 2003, he received a Doctoral degree
in engineering at the same university. Between 2003 and
2006 he has been Chief Engineer at the Institute for
High Voltage Technology of RWTH. His main research
interests cover insulation systems, especially ultrasonic
diagnosis techniques, foam insulation materials, and
nano coatings. Since February 2006 he has been working as a Project Manager
within the NEXANS Group. He is a member of Cigré, VDE, as well as the
German Physical Society (DPG).
Armin Schnettler (M’02) was born in Hagen, Germany,
in 1963. He received his diploma degree in 1988, and the
Doctoral degree in electrical engineering in 1992 from the
University of Dortmund, Germany. Between 1992 and
2000 he has been working in different positions within the
ABB Group as an expert and manager in Corporate
Research, System Consultancy but also as a member of
the management team of a Business Area based in Zurich,
Switzerland. In 2001, he became Director of the Institute
of High Voltage Technology at RWTH Aachen University. Since 2003 he is
also managing director of the Research Association for Power Systems and
Power Economics (FGH e.V.) in Mannheim, Germany. His main research areas
are insulation systems & diagnosis, HV equipment & substations, and
sustainable power systems. He is a member of Cigré, IEC, IEEE, VDE, and
other national/international organizations.