MEASUREMENTS OF THE ENERGY OF PARTIAL DISCHARGES

R. Wlodek
Academy of Mining and Metallurgy
E l e c t r i c a l Power I n s t i t u t e
Krakbw, Poland

Abstract where: Q
U
-- p.d. apparent charge
instantaneous voltage value
a t t h e moment of p.d. incep-
The purpose and t h e b a s i s of t h e measureme- tion
n t s of p a r t i a l d i s c h a r g e energy , a r e d e s c r i -
bed. Two methods of p.d. energy measurements The r a t i o of t h e e x t e r n a l ene-rgy change W
a r e presented. The f i r s t method g i v e s t h e t o t h e energy d i s s i p a t e d i n t h e d i s c h a r g e
d i s c r e t e v a l u e s of t h e energy of p a r t i a l source W i s approximatively equal:
d i s c h a r g e p u l s e s while t h e second one r e a l i - p.d.
z e s t h e averaging of t h e energy i n a concre-
t e measurement time. Comparison of b o t h me-
thods i s presented. "
2(1+ &)
Introduction #p.d. ds

The degradation p r o c e s s of t h e i n s u l a t i n g where: Cds - c a p a c i t y of t h e d i s c h a r g e

m a t e r i a l under t h e a c t i o n of p a r t i a l discha-
, r g e s i s caused by t h e change of e l e c t r i c
f i e l d energy i n t o t h e k i n e t i c energy of e l e -
c t r i c charges. The volume d e n s i t y of e l e c t -
r o s t a t i c energy i s i n t h e range from approx.
40 nJ/mm3 i n gaseous c a v i t i e s a t t h e s t r e s s
of 3 kV/mm up t o ap rox. IOOpJ/mm i n s o l i d
dielectric (e= 2.27 a t 100 kV/mrn (e.g. a t
s h a r p n e e d l e e l e c t r o d e s ) . Assuming t h e d i s -
s o c i a t i o n energy of p o l y o l e f i n m a t e r i a l s
i n t h e range of 4-40 k J p e r mole and t h e i n -
t e r m o l a r dimensions of 0.1 ,urn, i t corresponds
t o t h e energy d e n s i t y i n t h e range of some
t e n s of nJ/mm3. Thus t h e l o c a l energy d i s s i -
pated i n t h e p a r t i a l d i s c h a r g e source i s r e -
s p o n s i b l e f o r t h e d e g r a d a t i o n e f f e c t s . Assu-
ming n e x t t h a t t h e volume of t h e d i e l e c t r i c
which-$as t o be discharged i s i n t h e range
of 10 mm3, t h e energy from approx. 40 pJ up
t o some t e n s o f p J i s t o be d i s s i p a t e d i n
t h e d i s c h a r g e source. However t h e energy i n
t h e p.d. source i s u n d e t e c t a b l e because of
t h e i n f l u e n c e of t h e energy which i s s t o r e d
i n t h e surrcunding d i e l e c t r i c . The e x t e r n a l
energy change d u r i n g t h e i n d i v i d u a l d i s c h a r -
ge p u l s e i s equal:
w = Q.U
source
Cs - c a p a c i t y of t h e d i e l e c t r i c
i n s e r i e s with t h e d i s c h a r g e
source
The r a t i o C / C i s unknown t h u s t h e W
v a l u e can n 8 t & determined. However
f o r comparative i n v e s t i g a t i o n s which a r e
c a r r i e d o u t on t h e same type of t h e o b j e c t ,
t h e measurements of t h e e x t e r n a l energy
changes have t h e u s e f u l meaning. The methods
of t h e s e measurements a r e f u r t h e r d e s c r i b e d .
The measurement system
Zhe device f o r t h e measurements of t h e exte-
r n a l energy changes of p a r t i a l d i s c h a r g e s i s
such designed a s t o enable t h e d e t e c t i n g ,
measurin5 and s t o r i n g t h e v a l u e s of apparent
charge Q and i n s t a n t a n e o u s v o l t a g e U a t t h e
moment of t h e i n d i v i d u a l p.d. i n c e p t i o n . The
scheme of such a d e v i c e i s p r e s e n t e d i n t h e
Fig.1. The device r e a l i z e s t h e above mentio-
ned aims while t h e microcomputer system con-
t r o l s t h e measurement p r o g r a m , s t o r e s t h e
measurement d a t a and performs t h e r e s u l t s .

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CHZ587-4/88/0000- 638 $01 .OO 0 1988 IEEE
 L I I

Fig.1. Measurement sysTem

TO - tested object, D I
-
f i e r , A/DC
- d e t e c t i o n impedance, A
-
a n a l o g / d i g i t a l c o n v e r t e r , BM
- ampli-
b u f f o r memo-
ry, CM
Ole - - c o n t r o l of memory, PS - phase synchronisation,
c o n t r o l of measurement, VD - voltage divider,
MCS -microcomputer system,-OD - output devices

The p a r t i a l d i s c h a r g e enel-gy can be p e r f o r - t e d and p l o t t e d o r displayed u s i n g t h e s o f t -

med and presented by two methods. The f i r s t
method g i v e s t h e d i s c r e t e v a l u e s of t h e ene-
rgy of i n d i v i d u a l p.d. pulses. The second
one, based on t h e c r o s s c o r r e l a t i o n f u n c t i o n ,
g i v e s t h e mean v a l u e of t h e i n t e g r a t e d ener-
gy d u r i n g a measurement time i n t e r v a l .
The d i s c r e t e method
The parameters Q and U of each p a r t i a l d i s -
charge a r e measured simultaneously i n t h i s
method. The d i s t r i b u t i o n f u n c t i o n of t h e en-
ergy of i n d i v i d u a l p.d. p u l s e s i s d e f i n e d
a s follows:
ware p r o g r a m of t h e MCS.
Such a form of t h e determining and presenfa-
t i o n of t h e p.d. energy i s p a r t i c u l a r l y ad-
v i s a b l e i n t h i s case, whec t h e i n v e s t i g a t i o n
of t h e r o l e of i n d i v i d u a l p.d. p u l s e s i s i n -
t e r e s t i n g (e.g. 121 ). The example of t h e p.d.
p u l s e energy d i s t r i b u t i o n obtained on t h e
polyethylene c a b l e i n s u l a t i o n a t 15 kV i s
presented i n t h e Fig.2. The example of such
d i s t r i b u t i o n obtained on t h e i n s u l a t i o n of
h.v. x o t a t i n g machine 6 kV i s p r e s e n t e d i n
t h e Fig.3.

;= f(W) (3)

where: n - number of p u l s e s with t h e

energy W
N - t o t a l number of measured
pulses
W = Q.U

The Q and U v a l u e s a r e obtained from t h e mea-

surement device a s i n t h e Fig.1. Microcompu-
t e r system MCS i s organized t o t h i s aim i n Fig.2. D i s t r i b u t i o n of p.d.
such programm a s t o r e a l i z e t h e r o l e - o f t h e p u l s e energy i n PE
multichannel a n a l y s e r which measures,counts cable i n s u l a t i o n
and s t o r e s t h e p a i r s of d a t a Q and U. The a t 15 kV
d i s t r i b u t i o n function f ( W ) i s next calcula-

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 Under t h e above mentioned assumptions i s
t h e v a l u e of t h e c r o s s - c o r r e l a t i o n f u n c t i o n
K (0) equal t o t h e mean power, which i s
a&aged from t h e energy d u r i n g t h e time T
of t h e measuring procedure:
r
f
Pcorr = Kxy(0) = g[k,U(t)-mJ-[ k2i(t)-m]Y d t
(5)
0
A l l t h e d a t a which a r e needed t o c a l c u l a t e
t h e averaged energy P a r e obtained i n
t h e measurement devicgorras i n t h e Fig. 1.
The s i g n a l k .U(t) i s t r a n s m i t t e d from t h e
v o l t a g e d i v i d e r VD while t h e s i g n a l k . i ( t )
i s formed by t h e d e t e c t i o n impedance 2DI.
The b o t h d e t e c t e d s i g n a l s a r e d i v i d e d a t
Fig.3. D i s t r i b u t i o n of p.d. f i r s t i n t o 50 Hz-periods and n e x t sampled
p u l s e energy i n h.v. i n t o consecutive time i n t e r v a l s A t . The num-
r o t a t i n g machine b e r of such samples i r i one p e r i o d of t h e
a t 6 kV 50 Hz-voltage can be taken up t o 1000. I n
each time i n t e r v a l A t i s obtained one p a i r
of t h e samples of s i g n a l s k .U(t)'and k . i ( t )
and i s s t o r e d i n t h e memory? The followsng
The i n t e g r a l method m u l t i p l y i n g , i n t e g r a t i n g and averaging of
t h e measurement d a t a t o determine t h e mean
power Pcorr i s r e a l i z e d by t h e s o f t w a r e pro-
This method i s based on t h e c r o s s - c o r r e l a t i o n gramm.
function.The c r o s s - c o r r e l a t i o n f u n c t i o n Such a technique of t h e p.d. energy measure-
K ( T ) o f two s i g n a l s x ( t ) .and y ( t ) i s d e f i - ment has i t s e s s e n t i a l adventage t h a t t h e de-
xy ned a s follows: t e c t i o n of d i s c h a r g e s under n o i s y c o n d i t i o n s
i s g r e a t l y improved. Random e f f e c t s b o t h i n
t h e t e s t v o l t a g e a s i n t h e i n t e n s i t y of par-
T-T t i a l d i s c h a r g e s a r e averaged t o z e r o and t h e
measured p u l s e s r e p r e s e n t only t h e most pro-
bable events.
The e f f e c t i v e n e s s of such a procedure can be
approximately estimated i n t h e f o l l o w i n g
manner. The s i g n a l - t o - n o i s e v a l u e P de-
termined af t e r t h e cross-correlatiofiOSFoce-
dure i s equal:
where: T - rement
time d u r a t i o n of
procedure
t h e measu-

mx,my - e s t i m a t e d mean v a l u e s of t h e
s i g n a l s x ( t ) and y ( t ) res-
pectively where : W - signal-to-noise v a l u e be-
T T f o r e t h e c o r r e l a t i o n pro-
cedure:
W = k.Q.U
(Q,U - o u t p u t d a t a i n thE
p.d. d e t e c t i o n c i r c u i t )
B = tm.Afm
T - time s h i f t between t h e s i g - t, - time d u r a t i o n of t h e measu-
n a l s x ( t ) and y ( t ) . red s i g n a l
Af,- bandwidth of t h e measured
The f o l l o w i n g assumptions a r e t a k e n i n t o ac- signal.
count f o r t h e f u r t h e r a p p l i c a t i o n of t h e
formula ( 4 j : For example, it can be assumed t h a t t h e du-
1) x ( t ) = k ..U t ) i s p r o p o r t i o n a l to t h e test r a t i o n t- Of t h e S i n g l e p.d. p u l s e i n t h e
v o l t a g J U i t ) on t h e t e s t e d o b j e c t , d e t e c t i o R c i r c u i t i s equal approx. 6 p s and
t h e bandwidth A f .of t h e p u l s e 'spectrum i s
2) y ( t ) = k . i ( t ) i s P r o p o r t i o n a l . t o t h e cur- e q u a l 1 MHZ. I n such a c a s e of a s i n g l e pul-
rent i6 t h e t e s t e d o b j e c t , f i l t e r e d from se t h e s i g n a l a f t e r t h e c o r r e l a t i o n procedure
t h e 50-Hz component, i s 3.5 times g r e a t e r i n c o m a r i s o n w i t h t h e
3) c r o s s - c o r r e l a t i o n f u n c t i o n K (C) i s de- i n p u t value. i f t h e p u l s e s appear now i n t h e
termined f o r t h e t i m e s h i f t xy-I: =O. group then t h e t -time i s r e s p e c t i v e l y elon-
gated. The e f f e c t i v e n e s s of t h e c o r r e l a t i o n

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procedure i s i n t h i s case g r e a t e r approxima-
tely= times. For example, i f t h e p.d.
pulses a r e grouped on t h e s i n u s o i d a l vol-
t a g e wave from 0.9 up t o 1.0 U (U -
crest
value of t h e t e s t v o l t a g e ) , t h h tHe c o r r e l a -
t i o n procedure i n c r e a s e s t h e signal-to-noise
v a l u e approximately 50 times.
F i n a l remarks
Comparing t h e two methods of t h e determina-
t i o n of p a r t i a l discharge energy it can be
s a i d a s follows:
t h e d i s c r e t e measurements of t h e energy
of i n d i v i d u a l p u l s e s enable t o o b t a i n i t s
d i s t r i b u t i o n f u n c t i o n n/N = f(W). Such
a d i s t r i b u t i o n being depended on t h e kind,
number and i n t e n s i t y of p.d. sources i n
t h e i n s u l a t i o n , can be applied t o t h e i n -
t e r p r e t a t i o n of t h e discharges. The s e n s i -
v i t y of t h e measurements i s however g r e a t -
l y depended on t h e noisy c o n d i t i o n s i n t h e
t e s t e d o b j e c t and i n t h e t e s t i n g arrange-
ment.
The i n t e g r a l measurements of t h e energy
of a l l p a r t i a l discharges i n a time T and
t h e determination of t h e c r o s s - c o r r e l a t i o n
f u n c t i o n give t h e mean value Pcorr a s t h e
r e s u l t . The i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of t h e p.d.
source s t r u c t u r e i s n o t . p o s s i b l e i n t h i s
case. However t h i s method allows t o reach
t h e g r e a t e r s e n s i v i t y i n comparison with
t h e d i r e c t d e t e c t i o n owing t o t h e avera-
ging procedure.
References
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