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CIGRE 2016

Application of Partial Discharge Diagnostic technique on High Voltage Cable

sealing ends to predict catastrophic failures with supportive case study

KARTHIK SRIRAMKAVACHAM, B.Eng.

Al Ezzel O&M CO. (ENGIE)
Bahrain

SHAMALJI SOLANKI, B.Eng, MBA

Al Ezzel O&M CO. (ENGIE)
Bahrain

SUMMARY
Online Partial discharge (PD) testing has been used for decades to help maintenance
personnel to detect problems in High voltage Systems. Most of the failures in todays extra
high voltage cable system is due to PD under AC voltage stress. Continuous or periodic
monitoring of this PD is a very vital activity to confirm the healthiness & early detection of
upcoming failures in extra high voltage systems. Condition based maintenance of power
cables required reliable significant diagnosis methods for the integrity of operation of cable
systems. Low PD magnitudes are very critical in extra high voltage cables & accessories.
Measuring such low magnitudes of sensitive PD is challenging and possible by an improved
Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio adopted measurement technique.
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) technique due to its ability to perform in MHz ranges will
enable us to establish periodic / continuous PD monitoring practice on critical assets. This
paper describes importance of PD measurements, case study based experience with PD
measurements as a part of periodic monitoring system and timely detection of an evolving PD
fault in a 220kV wet type cable sealing end at Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) side. This
cable is an interconnection between Generator step up transformer and GIS. Non conventional
PD measurement techniques like Ultra High Frequency (UHF) & High Frequency Current
Transformers (HFCT) are explained in this paper with some focus on practical problems and
challenges experienced in interpreting the PD measurement.
KEYWORDS
Partial Discharge, UHF Sensors, HFCT Sensors, Wet Type Cable Sealing end, PRPD.

1.0 Introduction
Partial Discharge is often defined as a localized electrical discharge that only partially bridges
the insulation between conductors and which can or cannot occur adjacent to a conductor [1].
PD is both the cause and symptom of a deteriorating insulation system. Internal to all
insulation systems exist some imperfections known as Voids. Causes for these Voids can be
numerous but these voids will act as a catalyst for the creation of PD.
Monitoring the partial discharge (PD) on site in cables accessories is now a more effective
method of cable tests. Meaningful PD measurement can obtain reliable information on the
condition of sealing ends and joints after installation or several years of operation.
Measuring frequencies of maximum 500 kHz are recommended as per IEC60270, however
such frequency ranges are not suitable for the site related PD measurements as the noise
signals dominate the signal strength. For an improved signal to noise ratio, measuring
frequency ranges need to be >500 kHz.
2.0 Ultra High Frequency method
The UHF (ultra high frequency) method is an effective PD detection method. It shows out the
superiority in measurement sensitivity and suppressing interference. It has been confirmed
that the frequency of the PD pulse generated in cables can reach up to GHz, while the
frequency of background noise usually lies below 400 MHz.
UHF based PD measurement due to its strong attenuation of PD pulses is highly applicable to
confirm the integrity of power cable accessories such as joints & terminations.
The UHF partial discharge measuring (PDM) system is consisting of the ultra-high frequency
measuring instrument the Pre-amplifier and the UHF partial discharge sensor (Figure 2 :
UHF-PD-coupler). [2]
Capacitive type
Sensor

Figure 1: UHF Measuring Circuit

Figure -2: UHF Sensor

3.0 High Frequency Current Transformer (HFCT) method

The HFCT method uses inductive coupling to detect PD pulses flowing to earth, converting
the high frequency (HF) current pulses from the discharges into HF voltage pulses. The splitcore HFCT is clipped around the cable earth strap at the bottom of the switchgear. The HFCT
sensor (bandwidth 100 KHz - 50MHz) is capable of picking-up both local discharge from
the switchgear and also lower frequency PD pulses coming from down the cable. [3]

Figure 3: HFCT Measuring Circuit

Figure 4 : HFCT Sensor

4.0 Acoustic PD Measurement method

Acoustic PD measurement on GIS is based on the detection of mechanical waves emitted
from defects. These signals are picked up by the acoustic sensor located outside the enclosure
when e.g. free-moving particles impinge the inside of the enclosure or when discharges occur
within the insulating gas, creating pressure waves which propagate towards the enclosure.[4]
The sound propagation within a metal enclosure is almost free of attenuation (aluminum: 13dB/m) and flange connections cause considerable attenuation of approx.10 dB. The level of
sound attenuation in the SF6 gas must also be taken into account for the purpose of PD
diagnostics, as this is highly dependent on both the measuring frequency and the gas pressure.
A measuring frequency of 50 kHz and a gas pressure of 400 kPa will result in an attenuation
of approx. 40 dB/m. The lower the gas pressure and the higher the measuring frequency, the
higher the attenuation will be. For acoustic PD measurement usually acoustic emission
sensors with a high-pass characteristic, several points of resonance and a low cut-off
frequency of approx. 20 kHz are used.

Figure 5: Acoustic PD measuring system

2

5.0 Case study

Case study of Al Ezzel plant in Kingdom of Bahrain explained as below.
5.1 Al Ezzel Plant Description
Al Ezzel Power Plant is an Independent Power Producer (IPP) which supplies power to
Electricity & Water Authority (EWA), Bahrain (formerly Ministry of Electricity and Water
MEW), under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
The Plant consists of 4 x V94.2 (Version 6) Gas Turbines Generators (GTG), 4 x Heat
Recovery Steam Generators (HRSG) and 2 x Steam Turbine Generators (STG). Plant nominal
capacity is 950 MW at PPA reference conditions.
5.2 Cable Sealing End (CSE) Details

CSE Type
Di electric Media inside CSE
Voltage Rating
Cable Size

Wet
Silicon oil
220 kV
400 mm

5.3 Periodic PD monitoring Strategy

Annual online Partial Discharge (PD) measurement schedule for all 220kV Cables sealing
ends (CSE) for both GIS & transformer ends will be performed using UHF & HFCT methods.
Trend record for the annual PD measurement will be maintained. In the event of any
suspicious PD patterns other measurement techniques like Acoustic measurement technology
will be adapted for re-confirmation & further tracing of fault location.
5.4 Suspicious PD on GTG-12BAT GIS CSE
As a part of routine annual online PD measurement in August 2013 using HFCT technique
detected some PD pulses in R-Phase of 12BAT01 GT12 Generator transformer
interconnection cable at GIS side cable termination. But the pulse magnitude was less &
repeatability of signal was also less.
PD tests were re performed using UHF coupler and HFCT sensor, PD results indicated the
presence of low intensity PD pulses observed at GIS side in the R-phase but the source for
the PD was not clear either originated at GIS side or from the Transformer side.
To eliminate the possibility of the source from the GIS side SF6 gas quality was analyzed &
no abnormalities found.
Possible areas of the fault location are now from the transformer itself or inside the CSE
chamber at the GIS side where in the insulating media was silicon oil.
With this possible suspicion monitoring frequency was increased and the results are explained
further.

SF6 Media

Cable sealing end

Figure 6: GIS and CSE Interconnection circuit

5.5 PD pattern record
Sweep frequency method was adopted to decide the critical measuring frequency with high
Signal to Noise (S/N) ratio. Sweep was performed from 110 MHz to 800 MHz Critical
frequency was decided as 270 MHz as the maximum S/N ratio was recorded.
Phase resolved PD (PRPD) pattern using UHF method at 270 MHz was recorded as shown in
the fig-7, the PD intensity was low to medium level and the pulse repletion rate was also low.

Figure7: Phase resolved PD pattern of fault

Graph-1: PD Magnitude Trend in

periodic monitoring
4

As the fault location was not confirmed & the PD magnitude was also low periodic
monitoring of PD activity is planned to track the PD pulses and intensity. Below trend shows
the trend record of the PD activity.
In order to maintain the uniformity of ambient conditions with respect to critical frequency
its decided to keep the critical frequency value at 270 MHz & trend of PD pulse by time is
monitored almost close to every month to track the magnitude of the PD pulses & rate of
increase. Below graph clearly shows that by time there is not much increase in pulse
magnitude but more or less the value is maintained in the range of 400-600 V.
5.6 Visual Inspection of CSE
Even though the increase in PD magnitude is not significant but PD presence was detected in
almost all the measuring methods in view of the equipment criticality and associated risk in
the event of catastrophic failure it was planned to have a visual inspection to evaluate the
healthiness of the cable sealing end.
Dismantling of CSE connection chamber was done & the observations are explained below.
i. Drained oil level from the R-phase CSE chamber was less by 6 liters when compared
to the total chamber capacity.
ii. XLPE cable surface indicated surface tracking due to loss of dielectric media
(silicon oil). Figure-8 explains the surface tracking phenomena.
Silicon Oil

Silicon Oil
Seepage

Figure8: PD Fault location on R-phase

XLPE cable

Figure 9: CSE cross section & Silicon oil

5.7 Root Cause Analysis & Corrective action

Desired level of Silicon oil is not available in the R-phase CSE chamber which is designed to
support the necessary dielectric strength between the XLPE cable & ground. Lack of
dielectric strength created the surface tracking & subsequent PD activity due to 220kV AC
voltage stress.
Seepage of Silicon oil was occurred under the cable lead sheath through the lead plumb. Loss
of oil was less which avoided the catastrophic failure. This design deficiency was covered by
increasing the lead plumb area to avoid any further seepage towards the sheath.
5.8 PD measurement after CSE repair
CSE repair was performed by arresting the possible seepage paths with increased lead mould
strength & post repair PD measurement activity was performed for 24 hours by charging the
220 kV voltages at no load condition. Both the UHF & HFCT PD measurements revealed no
abnormalities. PD measurements were also performed in load condition & observed normal.
Figure below shows the resemblance of post & pre repair improvement in the PD magnitudes.

Figure-10: PD Pattern before repair

Figure-11: PD Pattern on after repair

6.0 Major Challenges

Reliable PD measurement method to be adopted among UHF, HFCT & Acoustic PD
measurement, especially for GIS to Transformer interconnection cables.
Critical measurement frequency value selection from 1 MHz to 800 MHz to cover all
possible PD types was a big challenge.
Interpretation of PD magnitude level to the fault severity, when such high level surface
tracking too resembled in few micro volts PD in UHF method.

 Acceptable PD magnitude level to confirm the healthiness or defect in a system was

not clear.
To localize the PD using the available PD patterns was a challenged which will be
crucial information if a visual inspection to be planned otherwise the strategy will be
more of trial and error type.
To identify the PD for the short length HV cables where one faulty termination send
PD pulses to other CSE end. In case of both end CSE having PD the conditions
become more complex.
The cross talk among other phases as well other CSE also needed special attention
for PD diagnostic. Cross talk is defined as the travel of stress related sounds through
the hallow gas chamber inter connection piping in GIS.
7.0 Conclusion
Perfect condition monitoring plan with suitable diagnostic method will be of great use in
identifying critical faults at early stages prior to any disastrous affect.
Suitable PD measurement technology should be evaluated based on asset type and then the
periodic monitoring of PD activity to be repeated with the same technology for a trend of PD
pulses.
For wet type cable sealing ends in addition to the periodic or continuous PD monitoring
practice it is also recommended to install any continuous online silicon oil level monitoring
systems to alarm about the loss of oil.
Wet type cable sealing ends should be monitored carefully in the event any suspicious PD
pulsed visual inspection to be planned at the earliest possibility & if possible immediately.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] IEC60270: High Voltage Test Techniques - Partial Discharge Measurements
[2] UHF PD Sensor manual- Doble-lemke Manual version 3
[3] High Frequency Current transformer HFCT-3000 user manual version 00
[4] Partial discharge diagnostics on GIS using UHF and Acoustic Method

AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY
Karthik Sriramakavacham, Graduate in Electrical Engineering & Lean Six Sigma certified
Green belt professional. He had total 12 years of experience in Condition monitoring of
electrical assets associated with power & process sector. Associated with numerous projects
related to fault finding, residual life assessment studies & preventive maintenance / diagnostic
testing of critical electrical assets. Worked for Alstom & ABB in India as a Testing engineer.
He is working in GCC last 8 years in the field of electrical condition monitoring & diagnostic
testing activities. Currently working as Head of Electrical Condition monitoring for Al Ezzel
Operation & Maintenance Company and based at Aldur Power & Water station, 1234 MW
combined cycle power plant with 49 MIGD water production plant based on Reverse Osmosis
technology at Kingdom Of Bahrain.
Shamalji Solanki, Graduate in Electrical Engineering and Master of business administration
(MBA) in Project Management. He had total 19 years of experience in power sector. He has
worked 9 years in Electrical maintenance department for Reliance Industries Ltd-India for
their 450MW Combined Cycle Captive Power Plant feeding power to the one of the largest
petroleum Refinery and Petrochemical complex. He is working in GCC last 9 years for
combined cycle power plant. Worked in Qatar for power plant maintenance and presently
working as Head of Electrical maintenance for 950MW Al Ezzel power plant, Al Ezzel O&M
Co. (GDF SUEZ)-Bahrain.