Practical Application of On-line Partial

Discharge Monitoring

Carl Eastham BEng MBA MIET

Business Development Director, IPEC Ltd

Agenda:
1. Background to IPEC
2. Partial Discharge Theory
3. Why Monitor for PD?
4. On-line PD detection
5. PD Location
6. Case Studies
 IPEC - about us
• Founded in 1995 from
University of Manchester
• On-line PD, in MV, HV and
EHV assets
• Expertise in determining PD
on-line signals in noisy
electrical environments
• Very strong R&D with culture
of innovation
 IPEC- a little history
1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Established 1998 2001 to present Close collaborative relationship with London Electricity
Significant Development, Supply & Services
1995
Electrical Energy
Systems Group
Continued evolution of IPEC’s cutting edge continuous
monitoring technology

The world’s 1st ever

on-line permanent
PD monitor with
web data interface
IPEC- some of our clients
 IPEC- experience
Since installing the first permanent on-line PD monitor in 1998 ago IPEC have amassed a
wealth of experience:

Over 1 billion individual PD events

400+ Million PRPD

IPEC have the world’s largest on-line PD database

 Technical Excellence
‘Bringing expertise and market leading products and services
to the power industry by listening to customer needs and
creating innovative, quality, technical solutions that are
sustainable, reliable and long-term.’
 Large monitoring Networks
SE England Central London Hong Kong Saudi Arabia

Over 80 ASM 40 ASM monitors at Hong Kong primary Twenty Seven

systems key strategic points in substations via ASM systems across the
continuously the capital’s MV PD monitoring system Kingdom of Saudi
monitoring distribution network Arabia
thousands of
circuits for 15
years
Quality IPEC have in place comprehensive Quality
Management Systems in line with ISO 9001
requirements.

All IPEC’s Service Engineers and Data Analysts are

fully qualified and highly skilled partial discharge
experts.

All IPEC products are manufactured at certified

assembly houses and are approved suppliers to
some of the world’s largest utilities and industrial
process plants.
What is Partial Discharge?

‘Electrical discharge that does not

completely bridge the space between two
conducting electrodes’
What is Partial Discharge?
Where in insulation does PD occur?
In electrically stressed
insulation either;
• Phase to Phase
• Phase to earth
What is Partial Discharge?

▪ Gas filled voids in solid insulation

▪ Bubbles in liquid insulation

▪ Around electrodes in air (corona)

Classification of PD - Switchgear

1. (Surface) Tracking – Electrical tracking over

contaminated insulator

2. Internal Discharge – Void or defect within

component
Classification of PD - Cable

1. Joints and Accessories – Void or defect

within a joint or accessory

2. Cable Insulation Defect – Void or defect

within cable section
What is Partial Discharge?

Relative permittivity
Air 1.0
LDPE 2.3
Breakdown strength kV/mm
Air 3.0
LDPE 24
What is Partial Discharge?

e 0e r A e0= permittivity of free space = 8.854 x 10-12 Fm-1

C= Where;
er = relative permittivity
d A = area between electrodes
d = separation of electrodes
What is Partial Discharge?

Voltage in the cavity: Electrical stress in the cavity:

Va d
Vc = Ec = E a
1 d   1  d 
1 +  − 1 t 1 +  − 1
er  t   er  t 
What is Partial Discharge?

Therefore voltage at which discharge is initiated Vai:

 1  d 
Vai = Ecbt 1 +  − 1
 er  t 
Where Ecb = Breakdown strength of the gas in the cavity
What is Partial Discharge?
Va Relative permittivity
Air 1.0
Polyurethane Polyurethane 4.0

Breakdown strength kV/mm

20mm Air 3.0
1mm
Polyurethane 10

 1  d 
Vai = Ecbt 1 +  − 1
 er  t 
What is Partial Discharge?
Va Relative permittivity
Air 1.0
Polyurethane Polyurethane 4.0

Breakdown strength kV/mm

20mm Air 3.0
1mm
Polyurethane 10

 1  d 
Vai = Ecbt 1 +  − 1
 er  t 
Voltage at which discharge initiates = 17.25kV
What is Partial Discharge?
What is Partial Discharge?
What is Partial Discharge?
What is Partial Discharge?
What are the effects of PD?
Individual discharges are low energy but they are very
localised and can be very repetitive.
Damage is caused by;
Mechanical – Ionic bombardment
Thermal – Local heating at discharge site
Chemical – Discharge energy breaks chemical bonds
What are the effects of PD?

Electrical trees

Surface tracking

Carbonisation
What are the consequences of PD?
Cable failure
▪ Loss of supply
▪ Unplanned outage
▪ Increased CI and CML
▪ Failure point must be found
What are the consequences of PD?
Switchgear failure
▪ Serious safety implications
▪ Collateral damage
▪ Major disruption
▪ Very expensive
PD Detection in Cables
High frequency CT
 PD Detection in Cables
Substation 1 Substation 2
Switchgear Monitor Switchgear

CT

Underground cable
PD Detection in Cables Earth

i PD

Core
PD Detection in Cables Earth

i i
Core
 PD Detection in Cables

Substation 1 Substation 2
Monitor
Switchgear Switchgear

CT

Underground cable
PD Detection in Cables
PD Detection in Switchgear – CC-TEV

Bandwidth: 5MHz to 80MHz

PD Detection in Switchgear – CC-TEV
PD Detection in Switchgear – CC-TEV
PD Detection in Switchgear - AA
 PD Detection in Switchgear - AA
Ultrasonic/Acoustic Detection
• ‘Line of sight’ transducer
• Typical frequency of 40kHz
• Dedicated transducer for monitoring systems or often
integrated into portable devices
PD Detection in Switchgear - AA

Field of ‘view’
 ASM ASM-P PrecisePD

Signals are sampled at 100MSample/sec and 14 bit resolution 100MSamples/sec, 14bit

Continuous Monitoring Spot Testing and PD Location
Remote Analysis and PD Investigation Local Reporting and Data
Analysis

Permanently Installed Semi-permanent monitoring Portable PD Testing

Up to 128 Sensors Up to 32 Sensors Up to 4 Sensors
 EHV-PDM

Fibre Optic Capability and Distributed Monitoring

Signals are sampled at 100MSample/sec and 12 bit resolution
40MB of data is collected and analysed per channel every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day
Local LCD for Substation Engineers
Optional Local Alarm
Remote Analysis and PD Investigation

Permanently Installed
Unlimited number of monitoring points
Signal analysis

What is the secret to successful PD detection?

Answer – Reliably distinguishing between PD and Noise

Signal analysis
Wavelet Analysis
Signal analysis
Wave shape analysis

PD quantification
Website
PD Location - Switchgear
Plan view AIS Switchgear

Internal PD

PD signal emanates from

the edges of the metal
panels
 PD Location - Cable
TDR used to locate sources of PD with the cable length
Available Waveform Display

0.3 0
0
0.2
0

Substation Substation
0.1 0
Chan 2

Volts

0 0

-0.1 0
0
-0.2

iPD mPD
0
-0.3 0
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
Time (uSec)

Chan 2 Curs 1 Curs 2

PD iPD
Reflection
signal Pulse

Underground Cable
PD Location - Cable
On-line Mapping usually locates PD to within 1% of cable length

PD source

4,500

4,000

3,500
PD magnitude (pC)

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

0
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 1,600 1,800 2,000
Cable length (m)
Case Studies

Substation No3

MS3 470 L3
Exceptionally high levels
of noise due to process
engineering
High Criticality on Circuit MS3 470 L3

MS3 470 L3
 Very high noise
from Steel plant
Original data

One Power Cycle

 Original data

ZOOM
Original data
 Original data

ZOOM
Original data
 Original data

ZOOM
Original data
Original data
 DeCIFer PD detection
algorithm can identify PD
in VERY high noise
Original data

PD reflection
PD
 PD location and cable length measurement
PD detected Reflection from PD reflected from
P1 end of cable end of cable
P2 P1

P1 P2
MS3 Joint Joint

ASM Transformer
Approximately 700m
Cable PD Map
Detection accuracy ~ 5m in 700 = 0.7%
Action taken;

The discharging joint was removed and a new one

installed

Peak and Count

Joint replaced – PD stops

Investigation
Analysis carried out by
independent laboratory
Investigation
Conclusion:

“This activity would

have caused
premature failure”
Cobham (ERA Technology)
 Criticality before and after repair

Before

After

CABLE FAILURE AVOIDED!

Case Studies

Freescale Semiconductor FAB

East Kilbride, Scotland

14 MV panels monitored
Intermittent activity detected at
approximately 1 week intervals
 Faulty Contacts causing discharge

Switchgear taken off-line

Strip down revealed badly
pitted and burnt contacts
Case Studies

International Airport

UK
VMX Switchgear
Known problems Acoustic sensors ‘listening’
for surface discharge
Over a 3 month period the discharge activity
progressively increased

Panel taken out of service

Evidence of significant
discharge activity found

Components replaced and

failure avoided
Thank-you for listening