New Method for Measuring Statistical Distributions of Partial Discharge Pulses

Area of Science:

• Electrical Engineering
• Materials Science

Background:

• Partial discharges (PDs) are critical indicators of electrical insulation degradation.
• Traditional PD detection systems often rely on complex, custom hardware, limiting portability and increasing costs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel digital detection system for measuring pulsating partial discharges (PDs).
• To demonstrate the system's capability for continuous recording and real-time data extraction.
• To investigate PD behavior in a point-to-plane gap and discover new discharge modes.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a commercial data acquisition board for continuous waveform recording.
• Developed software for real-time extraction of PD pulse time and amplitude information.
• Analyzed dc-excited PD pulses in a point-to-plane air gap.

Main Results:

• The new system records PD pulses with 6 μs minimum inter-pulse separation and 12-bit amplitude resolution.
• A novel surface-mediated burst mode of PDs was discovered, where one pulse can trigger subsequent pulses.
• The probability of this burst mode initiation was quantified and shown to be strongly dependent on applied voltage.

Conclusions:

• The developed digital PD detection system offers reduced costs, enhanced portability, and facilitates industrial adoption of advanced PD analysis.
• The discovery of the surface-mediated burst mode provides new insights into PD phenomena.
• This technology is a significant step towards bridging laboratory findings with industrial PD monitoring and diagnostics.