APPLICATION NOTE

Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

1. Introduction 3

2. The components 4

3. Fault types 5

3.1. Normal 5

3.2. Short circuits 5

3.3. Interrupts / open circuits 6

4. ARM® (Arc Reflection Methods) fault prelocation methods 7

4.1. ARM® technology (inductive) 7

4.2. Double surge method 8

4.3. ARM® process (active) 9

4.4. ARM® KLV method (passive / resistive) 10

4.5. ARM® Plus technology 11

4.6. Decay Plus method 12

4.7. ARM® – Burning 13

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1. Introduction
More than 80% of cable faults are high-impedance faults. These faults create very small or no
visible impedance changes and cannot be located with the standard pulse reflection method. The
standard conversion of a high-impedance to a low-impedance fault with a high capacity burn
down unit is used in decreasing cases. Today, high-power burn down units are used for the
modification of the fault resistance in wet cables and water filled joints and for prelocation in
connection with ARM® burning (arc reflection burning). Among various pre-location methods
used for cable fault location, the combination of a high-voltage method with the pulse reflection
method has always been the most effective way to locate cable faults. For an arc, while burning at
the fault location the reflection factor r = -1, as the fault resistance is close to zero Ohms at the
arc location, meaning, it is close to a short circuit. Locating a fault becomes possible by
comparing a reflection trace without the burning arc (reference trace) to a reflection trace taken
while the arc was burning at the fault location. With this method, the two measured traces diverge
at the position of the arc corresponding to the fault location. There are three basic principles
applied for igniting an arc at the fault location:

1. The arc is ignited by a sudden discharge of a charged capacitor into the cable
(application for all faults).
2. Charging the cable with a DC source ignites the arc until breakdown (application for
chargeable cables).
3. The arc is ignited by a high-capacity DC burn down unit (application for humid/wet cable
faults).

For defined triggering of the reflectometer, a stabilising of the arc and extension of the arc
duration is required. When the operator decides on a method, he has to check whether a faulty
cable can be charged at all and at what voltage it breaks down. The Breakdown voltage level of
the fault can be determined with DC voltage testing. For example, if there is excessive leakage
current due to a resistive fault, the cable it cannot be charged. In this case it is not possible to
choose a method that implies charging of the cable. Thus, HV pulse reflection methods based on
the discharge of a surge capacitor should be used. This decision makes sense anyway, as a
cable that cannot be charged has a low ignition voltage, which is the best prerequisite for ARM
methods.

Note:
At typical requirement for most applications is to observe the following rule.
The pulse width of the measurement pulse should not be below 500 ns for the first measurement!
Ensure the cable end is visible!
Then for short fault distances and for more details, the pulse width can be reduced carefully!
Only this will provide a reliable measurement, were no detail and important information will be
lost.
2. The components

All devices used for arc reflection methods consist of the following basic components:
1. A DC voltage source (can also be the burn down unit)
2. A surge wave generator, consisting of:
a. Surge capacitor
b. Switch that discharges the surge capacitor into the device under test
3. A filter causing the capacitor discharge extension necessary for arc stabilising
a. Inductive, a coil causes the arc extension
b. Resistive, a resistance delays capacitor discharge

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

c. Active, by another low-voltage pulse unit

4. A coupling unit that generates the pulses necessary for measurement by itself or injects
the measurement pulses generated by the reflectometer.

The following technologies for the HV arc reflection measurement (ARM) are available for
selection in addition to other processes:

ARM® For cable faults, which can or cannot be loaded, short fault distances.
Resistive as well as inductive methods are regarded as ARM processes
LSG 3E For cable faults, which can or cannot be loaded, short fault distances.
ARM® Plus For cable faults which can and cannot be charged, large fault distances
ARM® Burning For cable faults which can and cannot be charged, wet faults
DECAY Plus For cable faults which can be charged up to 80 kV

Fig. 2: Reference and fault trace

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

3. Fault types

3.1 Normal faults

Since the reflection trace created by a power cable is rarely ever clean and undisturbed but rather
shows impedance changes, joints and other influences, the user will hardly ever detect a fault in a
standard reflectogram just by looking at it.
For this reason, the ARM methods are typically based on a comparison of a reference trace and a
fault trace. An immediate identification of the fault location is mostly only possible by a direct
comparison of these two traces. Both measurements are generally carried out on the same cable.
The reference trace, which is typically taken with a lower voltage or as standard reflectogram
without high voltage, will not show the fault. The trace shows the cable in a “good” condition. A
clear negative reflection at the fault location cannot be seen unless high voltage is applied. In
some situation it can be very helpful to use all three phases and compare them to get a real
comparison.

3.2 Short Circuits

Short circuit faults will immediately appear as negative reflection already in the reference trace
due to their low resistive properties. But they are exceptions. In such a case, reference trace and
fault trace can be identical or almost identical. In a correct fault location sequence this can already
be determined by the fact that the resistance during the insulation measurement is significantly
below 100 Ohms.
In this case it makes sense to use a second conductor to provide the information for the reference
trace.
3.3 Interrupts / open circuit
A cable interrupt is a further problem; where various effects are possible.

a. The distance between the cable ends is sufficient to avoid flash-over. It is important to verify
that the visible “end” is really the end of the cable. If it turns out during fault location that there
is may be cable break, the far end should be grounded. With an intact cable, this process
would immediately be visible on the reflectometer (see fault classification). If the grounding is
not visible at the far end, i.e. polarity does not change at the “end” there is definitely a cable
break. The grounded end shows now an opposite behaviour to a standard parallel fault. The
trace of a good trace shows an “end”, the fault trace shows a longer cable with a small
reflection at the fault location but with negative reflection at the correct end location.

b. Another problem that could occur in the case of complete severed points is the flashover into
one of the parallel conductors, which should be grounded in a correct setup. This means that
the measuring pulse will not proceed to the end of the faulty core but travels instead via the
parallel core back to the grounded start of the cable. In this case the resulting reflectogram
can be very confusing du to the completely unexpected path. One way to solve this effect is
the removal of all groundings and to ground the faulty line at the far end only. In this case,
highest safety precautions are required, since the ungrounded lines can charge up to very
high voltage potentials.

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

Fig 3: Interrupt. Reference blue trace, Fault red trace

This shows the high importance of following the general fault location rules and above all, the
safety rules.

Whomsoever conducts a fault location in the correct sequence at the start will rarely be in a
situation in which the behaviour of the cable appears illogical and incomprehensible. An even
more technical fault location will not be successful if the elementary rules of cable fault location
are not followed.

4. ARM® (Arc Reflection Methods) fault prelocation methods

4.1 ARM® technology (inductive)
This classic ARM® technology was patented by HDW in 1965. In this process, the discharge of a
surge generator happens through an optimised series impedance for the extension of the arc on
the fault position without voltage reduction.
Triggering the reflectometer and activating the measurement pulse takes place in the first current
maximum of the oscillation. The measurement pulse itself is generated in the reflectometer and
the coupled into the HV by an energy separation filter (ETF or ESF). The maximum pulse
amplitude that can be achieved is about 65 V with a pulse width of 5 μs. This process is therefore
particularly suitable for the measurement of power cables with a total length of up to about 5 - 8
km. Positive results were also achieved with fault distances of up to 10 km.
The measurement pulse from the reflectometer which is smaller in amplitude has the advantage
that the begin of the reflectogram is not covered by the measurement pulse itself (dead zone).
The ARM® process is therefore particularly well suited for shorter distances (up to 5 km) and
lower breakdown voltages up to 12 kV.

Fig. 3: Simplified diagram for the ARM® process for arc stabilization

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

4.2 Double surge method

With higher surge voltages above 12 or 16 kV, the double surge method is used to stabilise and
extend the arc. (Centrix: 16/32 kV plus 4 kV, R30 system: 25/50 kV plus 12 kV surge generator).
With a double surge process the fault is first ignited with the higher voltage. But then the
ionisation phase, which happens during ignition, would not enable a stable burning and resulting
not a stable measurement at such high voltages. Therefore, as soon as a sufficiently high and
stable current is flowing, another surge generator with the before mentioned lower voltage is
discharged into the arc and extends this arc significantly which then enables a reliable
measurement.

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

Fig. 5: ARM® measurement in a 8 km cable

Systems with ARM:

EZ-Thump
Smart Thump
Surgeflex 8-1000
Surgeflex 15 kV
SPG 40/Compact city
Centrix 1 and 3
System R30

Individual unit:
M 219

4.3 ARM® process (active)

A similar process to the ARM® process and the double surge method is the arc stabilisation. In
this process an arc, which has been ignited with a normal surge generator discharge voltage, is
stabilised using an additional 2 kV surge generator and then measured with the reflectometer by
releasing a measuring pulse through a filter circuit into the burning arc. The LSG 3E can be used,
with its internal 2 kV impulse capacitor as a direct pre-location device for low voltage distributions.

Systems:
Classic

Individual unit:
LSG 3E

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

4.4 ARM® KLV method (passive / resistive)

The technically easiest way to extend an arc is carried out by using resistors.
This means, that the discharge of the surge generator is extended by a resistor with typically 300
Ohms, connected in series wit the surge generator.

The method is called KLV (short term arc process) or also known as SIM / S.I.M. (Secondary
Impulse Method). One of the fundamental disadvantages of this method is the discharge through
a resistor, which then limits the available voltage, by acting as a voltage divider. Consequently it is
not always possible to break the fault down, even if the comparison of breakdown voltage and
Surge generator output indicate sufficient voltage. Advantages of the KLV technology are the
attractive size, weight and the price of such a filter. But generally, several measurements have to
be taken. Storing the individual measurements is always recommended. When using the latest
Teleflex generation this is done automatically.

Also here the pulse width of the measurement pulse should not be below 500 ns for the first
measurement. With short fault distances, the pulse width can be reduced in the second step.

Systems:
Surgeflex 32 kV
SFX 25 kV
Classic (optional)

Individual
LSG 300

4.5 ARM® Plus technology

The ARM® Plus technology is based on the release of a high voltage surge discharge pulse for
the ignition and extension of the fault followed by a low voltage discharge for the measurement
itself. The Reflectometer operates in this case only as transient recorder and receives its data
from a Rogovski coil. Above 16 kV the ARM Plus technology works also as double surge method
where a high voltage surge generator, up to 32 kV ignites the fault. The actual stabilisation of the
arc is then achieved by the coupling of another MV surge generator level (4 kV). The arc burning
period is dependent on the oscillating frequency of this circuit, which results from the combined
parameters of test object - test system, and the insulation which again is dependent on the cable
length, and is in the range of a few ms. The measurement pulse for the fault location arises from
the impulse discharge of a pulse capacitor via ark gaps and has a maximum pulse amplitude of
1500 V. The measurement pulses, which are very powerful in comparison, enable a fault location
in power cables with up to approx. 10 km length. The fault position is detected by comparison of
the two traces (between the reference and fault trace) at the fault position.

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

4.6 Decay Plus method

The Decay Plus technology permits the fault pre-location in chargeable cables with very high
ignition voltages of up to 80 kV. It extends the ARM® Plus process from the standard 32 kV surge
voltage to the test voltage limit of 80 kV.
The arc is ignited in DC mode by charging the cable until a flashover occurs at the fault location.
The actual extension of the arc is then achieved by the coupling of the “lower” MV surge
generator level with a fixed value of 4 kV. This provides a stable burning arc at the fault location.
This is then, like in the normal ARM Plus method used to release a 1500 V measuring pulse. This
process with the powerful measuring pulse enables an 80 kV ARM fault pre-location in power
cables of up to approx. 10 km long.
The fault position is detected by the deviation of the two traces (between reference and fault
trace) at the position of the fault and has, in principle, an identical trace in comparison with the
ARM or ARM® Plus process.

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

Fig. 10: DECAY Plus, Reference and fault trace

4.7 ARM® – Burning

Despite of all of the other available technologies, burning has not completely disappeared from
the process of cable fault location. Special wet joint and similar problems can bring the normal arc
reflection methods to their physical limits. To have an effective and reliable, cable preseving burn
process, ARM® and Burning were combined. This means, during the burn process, a continuous
ARM arc reflection measurement takes place. This technology permits the observation of the fault
changing the display while the burning happens. The fault distance is immediately available and
the system stops the burning process automatically as soon as a stable low resistance or
impedance condition is achieved. Like for all ARM processes a reference and fault trace are then
compared.

An additional pre-location is not necessary, the process can directly be followed by the pinpointing
procedure.

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Pre-location with ARM arc reflection technologies

The advantage of this method compared with conventional burning is the controlled process,
which limits the burning to the shortest necessary time. As a result, this burning is fast and
comparatively non-damaging to cables

Fig. 11: Simplified diagram for the ARM® burning process

Systems
Centrix 1
Centrix 3
Classic
R30 system

Next:
In addition to the ARM arc reflection methods there are also the so-called transient methods for
impulse current (ICE) and voltage coupling (DECAY).
These methodes as well as their various application possibilities are described in the application
paper “Prelocation with Transient Methods”

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