Electrical Insulation Conference, EIC/EMCW’99, October 26-28, 1999, Cincinnati, USA
PD Diagnostics on Rotating Machines
Possibilities and Limitations
Martin Hoof and Stefan Lanz
ABB Industrie AG
Insulation Systems for Rotating Machines
CH-5242 Birr, Switzerland
Abstract: A short overview is given of typical PD sources
within large rotating machines. Characteristic pros and cons of
on- and off-line measurements are presented and their signifi-
cance with regard to condition based machine maintenance is
discussed. The possibilities as well as the limitations of PD
measurements as a tool to assess the insulation conditions of
rotating machines are outlined. Examples are given for on-line
PD measurements on generators that allow a clear diagnostic
decision and therefore a reliable condition assessment to be
obtained. However, it is additionally shown that PD measure-
ments have some intrinsic limitations and therefore can not
detect virtually all insulation related problems.
Introduction
A sudden unexpected in-service failure of the stator winding
insulation of large rotating machines would cause considerable
expenses for non-availability and unplanned repair work.
Therefore, modern diagnostic methods are applied to assess
the condition of the insulation system. Diagnostic tests are
usually performed in regular intervals either on- or off-line.
Off-line tests and inspections of a machine are mainly con-
ducted as routine tests at scheduled outages according to a
time-based maintenance strategy. However, on-line tests are
carried out during normal operation of the machine on either
continuous or periodic basis. These on-line monitoring meth-
ods can be efficiently used for trend analysis and especially for
optimizing the timing of routine outages for off-line diagnostic
tests and thus allow condition based maintenance work to be
performed. When applying a condition based maintenance
program the availability can be increased and down times as
well as life-cycle costs of the equipment can be significantly
reduced.
One of the most important tools used today for diagnosis of
large rotating machines like generators and high voltage mo-
tors is the partial discharge (PD) measurement and analysis
[1]. PD diagnosis can be applied both on-line and off-line and
is (apart from visual machine inspection) the only method that
allows locally confined insulation defects to be reliably de-
tected. The results, however, strongly depend on the individual
machine design. Other non-destructive methods like loss fac-
tor measurements, insulation resistance / leakage current or
charging / discharging current measurements are typical off-
line tests that give an ‘integral’ information on the insulation
condition [2]. Even if these tests provide a lot of useful diag-
nostic information, that in several cases can not be obtained by
PD measurements, they are usually not sensitive to a few local
insulation deficiencies. Consequently, in order to get reliable
information on the performance of the entire stator winding
insulation, due to the complexity of rotating machines, it is
highly recommended to apply a combination of PD measure-
ments (ABB-PAMOS®) and additional, well defined diagnos-
tic tests and inspections (ABB-WIDIPRO®) at regular inter-
vals.
PD Sources in Rotating Machines
The stator winding insulation of high voltage machines is
subjected to several stresses during operation that may signifi-
cantly influence the performance of the insulation system and
especially its long-term properties due to various aging phe-
nomena [2]. Modern insulation systems for high voltage ma-
chines are inherently resistant to partial discharges due to their
inorganic mica components. However, the occurrence of PD in
high voltage machines can be efficiently used to detect insula-
tion aging caused by thermal, electrical, ambient and mechani-
cal stress factors (TEAM-factors). In contrast to other high
voltage equipment, like polyethylene insulated power cables, a
certain amount of PD activity in high voltage machines can be
tolerated without having significant influence on the insulation
properties. Nevertheless, depending on the individual process,
PD in machines may also directly attack the insulation possi-
bly resulting in an insulation fault. The main sources of PD
activity in high voltage machines are shown in Fig. 1.
Voids / Delaminations: Voids within the main insulation are
usually present in modern synthetic resin impregnated mica
tape insulation systems. Depending on the quality of the im-
pregnation process both the void content and the void size may
vary slightly, but in principle a certain amount of PD activity
from small voids embedded in the main insulation is accept-
able. Delaminations at the interface of the copper conductor
and the main insulation, that primarily result from thermal
overstressing are more dangerous, since the turn or strand in-
sulation of the conductors may be severely damaged. In addi-
tion delaminations within the main insulation or at the inter-
face to the conductor will reduce the thermal conductivity of
the insulation which may lead to accelerated aging or even a
thermal runaway.
 Electrical Insulation Conference, EIC/EMCW’99, October 26-28, 1999, Cincinnati, USA

iron core main insulation

bar / coil
slot corona protection

field grading
slot discharges
copper conductor

voids / delaminations

damaged end-corona
protection

iron core

spacer

slot-exit discharges
(damage due to vibration) overhang part / phase separation
endwinding discharges
overhang support system

Fig. 1: Typical partial discharge sources in large rotating machines

Slot / Slot Exit Discharges: In high voltage machines the

straight part of the coils or bars will have a semi-conductive
surface coating. The slot corona protection is intended to
minimize the electric field at the interface between the main
insulation and the stator core. Potentially damaging surface
discharges are therefore reliably suppressed due to a good
electrical and mechanical contact between the grounded iron
core and the surface of the winding element. The semi-
conductive coating is usually extended beyond the slot exit to
provide a connection to the electric stress grading paint/tape in
the endwinding area (Fig. 1). However, if this semi-conductive
coating is damaged due to bar/coil movement in the slot or slot
exit area (e.g. loss of wedging pressure due to settling effects,
material erosion, abrasion) high energy discharges will occur Fig. 2: Discharges in the slot / slot exit area
that will additionally damage the main insulation finally re-
sulting in an insulation fault.

Endwinding Discharges: Partial discharges in the endwind-

ing area may occur at several locations with high local electric
fields. Usually these discharges occur at interfaces between
different components of the stator winding overhang part. If
the end-corona protection becomes ineffective because of
poorly designed interfaces, contamination, porosity, thermal or
other effects, i.e. reliable field grading is no longer ensured,
surface discharge will develop gradually eroding the materials.
In addition PD may occur in the area of the phase separations,
e.g. due to inadequate interphase clearance, or at components
of the overhang support system.
Fig. 3: Discharges in the endwinding area
 Electrical Insulation Conference, EIC/EMCW’99, October 26-28, 1999, Cincinnati, USA
Motor / Generator
Off-Line On-Line
Fig. 4: Arrangement for the measurement of PD on rotating machines (off-line / on-line)
Measurement of Partial Discharges
The measurement of PD on rotating machines can be per-
formed either on- or off-line according to Fig. 4. With each of
these methods there are several advantages and disadvantages
that must be considered when performing diagnostic testing
and especially when analyzing PD measurement results [3].
Off-line PD testing: The stator winding is energized with an
external power source while the machine is out of service.
When performing off-line measurements the interference level
resulting from external noise sources is usually quite low and
due to the voltage variability a detailed analysis of the PD be-
havior of each phase can be carried out. The measurement of
PD inception and extinction voltages and the evaluation of the
PD behavior with both increasing and decreasing voltage can
be efficiently used to obtain information on the stator winding
insulation condition. During a short machine outage easy lo-
calization of PD sources is possible and additional dielectric
measurements or visual inspection can be performed.
However, off-line testing is more time consuming and more
expensive than on-line testing since the machine must be out
of service. In addition there are no realistic stress conditions
during the measurement (e.g. no thermal and mechanical
stresses) and in contrast to normal operation the entire winding
is at high voltage. Consequently, there will be a certain
amount of PD from additional sources that are not active dur-
ing operation. This situation makes the analysis more difficult
and thus requires a considerable amount of experience in as-
sessing the measurement results.
On-line PD testing: On-line PD testing is generally more cost
effective than off-line testing since no service-interruption is
required, once the couplers are installed, and no external
power source is needed to energize the winding. The meas-
urement is performed during normal operation of the machine
and therefore under realistic stress conditions (thermal, me-
capacitive
couplers
Amplifier / Filter
ABB PAMOS® II
High speed
A/D converter
Data Base
Expert System
chanical and electrical stresses). When analyzing the PD be-
havior at various load conditions of the machine additional
information on the insulation condition, that can not be ob-
tained by off-line testing, is available. Since on-line measure-
ments on either periodic or continuous basis can easily provide
PD data for trending, an early detection of impending insula-
tion faults is possible. Furthermore, this allows preventive
maintenance work to be planned and intervals for off-line di-
agnosis to be optimized.
The interference level resulting from several noise sources is
usually considerable higher than for off-line testing. Since
heavy noise may mask PD resulting from actual machine
problems, sophisticated procedures for noise elimination (e.g.
adaptive digital filters) and especially a profound experience
in PD data analysis are required for making a reliable diag-
nostic decision.
Regardless whether PD diagnosis is performed on- or off-line,
it is essential to examine PD results obtained at regular inter-
vals from one machine for trends over time in order to detect
progressive aging and to determine whether or not additional
diagnostic or even maintenance activities are needed. The
main benefits of applying PD diagnosis as a tool for condition
assessment especially to generators and high voltage motors in
key functions are:
• early detection of deteriorating insulation components
• reduction of in-service failure rates, i.e. reduction of un-
scheduled and costly downtimes
• planning of preventive maintenance
• optimized reinvestment planning
• optimized availability and reliability for operational effec-
tiveness
Thus, the overall life-cycle costs can be significantly reduced.
Even though these benefits are quite promising, PD diagnosis
has some inherent limitations that have to be considered.
 Electrical Insulation Conference, EIC/EMCW’99, October 26-28, 1999, Cincinnati, USA

Limitations of PD Diagnosis occur within stator winding insulation systems. Commonly

Even though PD measurements are widely accepted and have
been made on stator windings for over 40 years, there are no
agreed PD specifications for rotating machines where limits
are defined, e.g. as acceptance criteria during production or
operation [3]. This is due to various reasons, but mainly be-
cause a reliable comparison of PD measurements is only pos-
sible on certain conditions.
used PD measurement methods are in principle not able to
detect so-called pulseless discharge phenomena or each phe-
nomenon that involves low local electric fields but high cur-
rents, e.g. leakage currents. In the area of high voltage motors
with form-wound coils for example about 70% of all winding
failures can be attributed to turn-to-turn insulation faults that
can hardly be detected by PD measurements.

In comparison to other high voltage equipment (e.g. power

Examples for On-Line PD Measurements
cables, transformers, switchgears) rotating machines experi- In this section some examples are given for on-line PD meas-
ence both static and dynamic stresses with quite complex in- urements that were performed on turbogenerators and that
teractions. In addition there are many different design features, could unambiguously be attributed to typical insulation prob-
production and operation conditions for different machines lems.
and various insulation systems from different manufacturers.
Consequently, the evaluation of PD measurement results on
rotating machines requires extensive knowledge of machine
design, insulation material characteristics and complex inter-
actions of several physical and chemical processes.

Since stator windings are large inductive components, pulse

propagation phenomena that significantly influence the meas-
urement results have to be considered [4]. The specific transfer
function from a PD source within the stator winding to the PD
couplers is in principle unknown and depends significantly on
the machine design. Therefore, the individual ‘filter charac-
teristics’ of a stator winding result in PD signals at the termi-
nals that are characteristic of the machine under test. Further-
more, the frequency response of the PD detection system will
also considerably influence the measurement result. These Fig. 5: Normal inner discharges / voids
pulse propagation phenomena also lead to difficulties with Turbogenerator: 500 MVA / 24 kV / 60 Hz
regard to a calibration of the measurement, since a calibration
In Fig. 5 a φ-q pattern from a 500 MVA turbogenerator is
at the terminals does not adequately represent PD pulses actu-
shown that is typical of inner discharges resulting from voids
ally occurring somewhere within the stator winding [5].
within the main insulation. These discharges can usually be
found for synthetic resin impregnated mica-tape insulations
Due to these difficulties, one individual PD measurement on a
since these systems can not be produced void free. If the level
particular machine gives no reliable information about the
of PD activity does not increase over time, these discharges
actual condition of the insulation system. A reliable interpre-
are assumed to be rather uncritical.
tation of PD data can only be obtained when examining trends
of the PD behavior over time on the same machine under
similar conditions using the same measurement equipment.
However, a direct comparison with machines of similar design
and insulation system may provide additional useful informa-
tion. This requires not only appropriate experience of the en-
gineer conducting the diagnostic tests but also a large database
of PD measurements. This database should comprise several
categories like machine design, manufacturer, insulation sys-
tem and especially the complete history of PD behavior and
operational as well as maintenance data of each machine under
test.

Even though the trend of using PD diagnosis for large rotating

machines is very much increasing during the last few years, it
should be considered that PD measurement and analysis is not Fig. 6: Endwinding discharges / end corona protection
a tool that allows to detect all insulation problems that may Turbogenerator: 20 MVA / 13.8 kV / 60 Hz
 Electrical Insulation Conference, EIC/EMCW’99, October 26-28, 1999, Cincinnati, USA

Typical endwinding discharges resulting from an ineffective

end-corona protection are shown in Fig. 6. This type of defect
can usually be fixed by reapplying special potential grading
paints in the overhang parts of the winding.

Fig. 7: Endwinding discharges / floating metallic particles

Turbogenerator: 180 MVA / 13.8 kV / 60 Hz
The φ-q pattern shown in Fig. 7 was measured on a 180 MVA
Turbogenerator that is operated at a steel production site. The
diagnostic expert decision indicated that there were floating
metallic particles within the endwinding area. This decision
led to a shutdown of the machine within a few hours including
a subsequent visual inspection. Indeed, there was highly con-
ductive dust found within the overhang part. The whole ma-
chine was carefully cleaned and afterwards it was put into op-
eration again. The further on-line PD measurement did no
longer show any critical PD behavior.

The on-line PD measurements on turbogenerators shown in

Figs. 5 to 7 unambiguously allowed a diagnostic decision to
be obtained with regard to the need of corrective activities on
the machine and therefore allowed a reliable condition as-
sessment to be made. However, there may be also conditions
where an on-line PD measurement does not indicate any insu-
lation problem even in the case of an impending insulation
fault as will be described in the following.
Fig. 8: Insulation breakdown without pre-indication by PD
An on-line PD measurement was performed on a 448 MVA Turbogenerator: 448 MVA / 24 kV / 60 Hz
turbogenerator in July 97. The analysis of the data did only
The insulation breakdown within the overhang part of the ma-
show normal inner discharges within an expected range. No
critical PD behavior was found and therefore it was recom- chine is shown in Fig. 8. An extensive examination of the ma-
mended to perform a further measurement within one year to chine damage revealed that there had been a kind of ‘interturn’
get more data for trend analysis. The subsequent measurement insulation fault leading to circulating currents that finally
carried out in June 98 did not show critical PD either. How- caused a thermal runaway and therefore an insulation break-
down. This type of insulation defect could not be detected by
ever, one of the RTDs of the machine showed a temperature
that was about 25% higher than that of the others indicating a PD measurements since there were no pulse-shaped local
local overheating within the stator winding. Before the actual electric discharges, i.e. PD. Instead, this breakdown of the
cause for this increased temperature could be determined, stator winding insulation was associated with continuous leak-
shortly after the second measurement, an insulation break- age currents without locally high electric fields that are re-
quired for PD inception.
down occurred without any pre-indication by PD.
 Electrical Insulation Conference, EIC/EMCW’99, October 26-28, 1999, Cincinnati, USA

ABB - WIDIPRO® diagnostic inspection of a machine ABB - PAMOS®

diagnostic database expert system

method n machine m experienced computer
engineer system

method 1 machine 1 expert / design neuro / fuzzy

knowledge algorithms

operating
inspection i
conditions
data analyses / trend analyses
inspection 1 maintenance condition assessment
actions

diagnostic decision
preventive maintenance

Fig. 9: Concept for stator winding insulation diagnosis on rotating machines

Conclusions and Further Developments References

PD measurement and analysis is a powerful tool for a reliable
detection of locally confined insulation defects that often can
not be found by other dielectric methods. Especially the appli-
cation of on-line monitoring allows condition based machine
maintenance to be performed. Consequently, the overall life-
cycle costs can be significantly reduced.
However, PD diagnosis on rotating machines requires pro-
found human experience in the assessment of PD results and
a large database for comparative analysis and trend investi-
gation. In addition, it must be considered that PD diagnosis is
not a tool that allows to discover all insulation problems
within stator winding insulations, e.g. pulseless discharge phe-
nomena. Therefore, PD diagnosis needs to be combined with
other diagnostic tools and should be integrated into a general
diagnostic concept.
A typical concept for the assessment of diagnostic measure-
ments on large rotating machines is shown in Fig. 9, which
includes PD diagnosis as one of several diagnostic methods.
Especially with regard to PD diagnosis latest developments
involve the worldwide remote access to on-line measurements
in power plants in order to optimize strategies for condition
based maintenance. The application of novel discharge pa-
rameters, e.g. ∆u, and patterns derived from the Pulse-
Sequence-Analysis [6] in combination with expert-systems
comprising modern pattern recognition algorithms [7] are cur-
rently under intense investigation. These systems are intended
to support the human expert decision. First promising results
of these new approaches that will be published soon, show that
considerable improvements of today’s techniques in PD diag-
nosis on rotating machines can be obtained.
[1] Hutter, W.: Partial Discharge Detection in Rotating Electrical
Machines. IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, Vol. 8, No. 3,
(1992), 21-32
[2] Culbert, I.M.; Dhirani, H.; Stone, G.C.: Handbook to Assess the
Insulation Condition of Large Rotating Machines. Power Plant
Electrical Reference Series, Vol. 16, EPRI, USA, (1989)
[3] Draft IEEE Guide to the Measurement of Partial Discharges in
Rotating Machinery. IEEE P1434, Draft 9, (1998)
[4] Holbøll, J.T.; Henriksen, M.: Frequency Dependent PD-Pulse
Distortion in Rotating Machines. IEEE Int. Symp. on Electrical
Insulation, Montréal, Canada, (1996), 192-96
[5] Zhu, H.: Analysis of Partial Discharge Calibration Difficulties
in HV Rotating Machines. Int. Symp. on High Voltage Engi-
neering, Montréal, Canada, (1997)
[6] Hoof, M.: Pulse-Sequence-Analysis: A New Method of Partial
Discharge Diagnosis (in German). PhD-Thesis, University of
Siegen, Germany, (1997)
[7] Hoof, M.; Patsch, R.; Freisleben, B.: GNC-Network: A New
Tool for Partial Discharge Pattern Classification. Electrical In-
sulation Conference, Cincinnati, USA, (1999)
author's address:
Dr.-Ing. Martin Hoof, Dipl.-Ing. Stefan Lanz
ABB Industrie AG, Dept. IME
Insulation Systems for Rotating Machines
P.O. Box 126
CH-5242 Birr
Switzerland
Fax: +41-56-466 6902
E-mail: martin.hoof@ch.abb.com
stefan.lanz@ch.abb.com