Partial Discharge in

Cables
Stuart Aird
Product Support Engineer
Who We Are…
• Established in the 1960s as an R&D centre to focus on electricity T&D
• Our client base includes companies involved in electricity
transmission, distribution and generation, together with operators of
electrical assets in petrochemicals, mining, process engineering,
manufacturing, transport infrastructure, health and defence.
• We also work closely with government and commercial organisations
to enable the implementation of smart grids and new low carbon
technologies.

• We deliver innovative responses to the challenges faced by our clients

via:
• Condition monitoring Instrumentation
• Specialist Electrical Engineering Services
• Power Skills Training Services
• Power Engineering Consultancy
• Forensics/Analytical services

• Condition Based Risk Management (CBRM)

EA Technology’s Credentials in
Partial Discharge
• Began investigation into non-intrusive PD
measurements in early 1970s (ECRC -
Electricity Council Research Centre)
• Dr John Reeves developed Transient Earth
Voltage principle of detection of
electromagnetic waves from PD
• First instrument (PD Locator) produced and
used in UK markets early 1980s
• Partial discharge database of results started in
1983 containing measurements on UK DNO
switchgear, expanded since to include PNOs
and surveys worldwide
EA Technology’s Credentials in
Partial Discharge
•Established PD User Group for UK and Ireland DNOs in
1993 (after introduction of PD Monitor to market)
•Instruments are being used in over 30 countries around
the world
•Established PD User Forum in Middle East (UAE) in 2007
•EA Technology Services has vast experience of carrying
out measurements on DNO and PNO networks worldwide
•Renowned failure investigation services and knowledge
of material degradation for electrical power assets
•Won Queens Award in Innovation Category in 2007 for
UltraTEV
•Won Queens Award for Enterprise:Innovation 2011 for
continuous innovation of the UltraTEV range
Cable Systems
 Cable Types
Solid Dielectric
Paper Dielectric
(Extruded)

Paper Insulated Lead Covered XLPE EPR

(PILC) Paper Insulated Corrugated
(Cross Linked (Ethylene Propylene
Aluminium Sheath (PICAS)
Steel Wire Armour (SWA) Polyethylene) Rubber)

Single Three Single Three

Belted Screened Belted Screened
Core Core Core Core

Three Single Three Three Single Three

Core Core Core Core Core Core

6
Typical Paper Insulated Belted Cables

Oversheath
Oversheath

Steel Wire Armour Corrugated

Aluminium Sheath
Lead Sheath

Belt Insulation Belt Insulation

Fillers Fillers

Core Insulation
Core Insulation

Screened Conductor
Screened Conductor

PILCSWA PICAS

7
Typical Extruded Cables

Oversheath
Oversheath
Armour/Earthing
Wires Earthing Wires

Inner Sheath
Extruded
Fillers Insualtion/Core
Screen

Extruded
Insualtion/Core Extruded Insulation
Screen

Extruded Insulation

Extruded
Extruded Conductor Screen
Conductor Screen

Conductor Conductor

3 Core Single Core

8
Nearly 100% of all Cable
Accessories Fail Due to Partial
Discharge Activity

9
Good Faulty
Termination Termination

10
Why?

11
Failing Terminations

12
Splice Void

13
Shield Delamination Causing
Partial Discharge

14
Poor Workmanship Causing
Partial Discharge

15
 Anti-track Tape Damage
Due to Poor Workmanship

16
 Termination Damage due to
Inadequate Electrical Stress Relief

17
Compound Leaks Causing
Internal Termination Voids

18
The Majority of Synthetic Cables Do
Not Fail from PD

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Cable Failures

• Synthetic Cable (XLPE, EPR) often fails by

Water Trees that get progressively worse
until they form electric trees
• Electric Trees can be detected by partial
discharge techniques, but the failure will
likely be rapid
• The Water Tree problems can be
identified using Tan-Delta/Power Factor
Tests

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Bonding Systems

Solid Bonding
Bonding Systems

- V = Standing Voltage
- For a given installation condition the magnitude of the
standing voltage is proportional to the length of the cable
- Maximum allowable standing voltage
V - 65V for 66kV & 132kV systems
- 150V for 275kV & 400kV systems
- Maximum cable length typically 1,200m
Bonding Systems

Link Box
containing
SVLs

Earth Continuity Conductor

Single Point Bonding

Bonding Systems

Earth Continuity Conductor Earth Continuity Conductor

Mid-Point Bonding

- Maximum length limited to approx 2 x 1,200m

Partial Discharge in Cables
6

Partial Discharge in Cables

• Partial Discharge is an electrical discharge across a

small region between two conducting electrodes

• Partial Discharge within a cable creates a very short

duration pulse which travels along the cable in both
directions from the discharge location

• Partial Discharge can erode the cable insulation

potentially leading to complete failure of the cable
Partial Discharge
XLPE PD Damage

Paper Cable PD Damage

Cable PD – Online vs Offline

Online Offline
Advantages Advantages
• No outage required • Not affected by noise

• Many cables can be tested in one day • Longer cables can be tested

• Less expensive solution • All circuits can be tested

• Can target offline testing

Disadvantages Disadvantages
• Requires access to cable earth and non- • Outage required
insulated cable glands • Time consuming
• Can be affected by noise • Expensive and skilled operatives

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What is the Cable Data Collector?
• A Cable Testing System that
detects Partial Discharge
activity in live MV cables

• Easy to use, portable and

rugged solution for
determining cable condition

• Can be used on Single

Phase or Three Phase cables

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0

How it works

• RFCT’s are clipped onto the earth

straps of cables to be tested
• CableData Collector measures
current pulses created by discharge
activity occurring on the cable
• High speed, wide dynamic range
Analogue to Digital converters
capture data for later analysis
• Digital Signal Processing blocks
implement filtering algorithms to
reduce the impact of electrical noise
What are we measuring ?
How Cable Discharge Traces are Formed

Cable
High Route
Ground
Voltage

Captur
ed
Trace
Dire Indire Reflection
ct ct of Direct
Puls Pulse Pulse (c)
e (a) (b)
The Reality of What Cable Discharge
Traces Look Like

33
The Whole Network is Measured!

• Anything on the
earth is picked
up – not just from
the cable being
tested
• Switchgear
• Transformers
• Other cables
• …..

34
Cable Data Collector Training
Stuart Aird
product-support@eatechnology.com
technical@eatechnology.sg
What is in the box?
• CableData Collector unit
• USB power and data lead
• 3 RFCTs
• 4 Coax leads (3 for CTs and 1 for mains
ref)
• 1 mains reference transformer
• 1 IEC mains lead
• USB Memory stick containing software

36
 CDC Unit connectors

•(From Left to Right)

•(From Left to Right)
• 1 x SD Card slot (future capability)
• 3 x RFCT input channels
• 3 x Indicator LEDs
• 1 x External Phase
• 1 x Micro USB port for PC
Reference Input
communication and power
• 1 x Ethernet Port (future capability)

37
Cable Data Collector Video

38
Phase Reference
•A phase reference is required by the CableData Collector to improve the
data analysis and allows classification of events based on the phase
position.

•A phase reference can be supplied to the CableData collector by one of

two sources:-

1. The supplied phase reference transformer, simply plug the BNC

connector from the end of the transformer cable into the AUX input
(this is the preferred method).

2. The CableData Collector will attempt to obtain a phase reference

from the sheath current flowing through the RFCTs.

39
Installing the RFCTs
• If all 3 RFCTs are being used, ensure that the arrows on the RFCT
are facing the same direction for any PD pulses to be captured

40
Connections of RFCT

41
42
Examples of setups

43
Examples of setups

44
CableData Collector Software

45
 Collector Software Overview
• Communicates with and controls the
instrument and stores all collected
data on the Laptop

• Allows the user to input data about

the cable under test which is used
during the analysis stage

• User selectable filters to help filter

out noise and improve captured data
quality

46
 CableData Collector - Installation
• Software is provided on a
memory stick

• Run the setup .exe file

• The installer will then run you

through the installation

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Configure software – First
Run • Initial configuration is required.
Also available later by clicking
the “Settings” button. This
allows default settings to be
entered

• Filters should remain as default

unless otherwise instructed by
Product-support.

• Create a root folder where you

want the software to save all it’s
data files
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Data collection form
• Each of the entries needs completing
• General customer info
• Cable/substation info
• Measurement – single/ 3phase/belted

• Configure inputs (next slide)

• Cable type – insulation

• Cable length auto configures sample rate –

leave sample rate at default

• Switch position – at the point of

measurement

• General & file details

• Consistency here is important for
network analysis
• Any joints and Tees or pot-ends should
be recorded in the notes

49
 Mandatory Fields
• Many of the inputs are needed to allow data capture to start.
• The following error shows all mandatory fields missing from an
empty form:

50
Selection of Phase Information

• Belted Cable to be selected if RFCT is clipped onto the earth

strap. Only one RFCT is to be clipped onto the earth strap
• Single Cable to be selected if RFCT is only clipped on one phase
• Three phase to be selected if all 3 RFCTs are clipped on each
phases

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Configure Channels

• Choose how phases are referred to in

top drop down box
• Define which phases are connected to
which inputs
• Only channel 1 for single phase/belted cables

• Reference transformer should be

connected to 4th connector
• Additional phase names can be added
using “other”

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Ready to “Start”

• Note filename – Path has been

created
• Folder is:
• Defaultfolder\jobnumber\date

• Filename is
• substationID_circuitID.zip

• Clicking on “Start” will check all

necessary boxes are filled and
start the data capture

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Progress Indication

• Top progress bar shows progress of data capture process

• Bottom progress bar shows progress of the current operation

• When completed, a capture report is displayed

• Optionally save this capture report

• If the phase reference source is lost or interrupted during data capture, both progress bars
will turn orange.

• If progress bar turns red, the capture has failed.

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 Software Data Capture Process
• Instrument will now automatically adjust settings and collect a complete
set of data and store it in the working folder previously defined

• Single phase process: Three phase process:

Stage Filter Data Type Trigger Channel Stage Filter Data Type Trigger Channel
1 Unfiltered Raw 1 1 Unfiltered Raw All
2 Unfiltered Waveforms 1 2 Unfiltered Waveforms 1
3 Filter 1 Raw 1 3 Unfiltered Waveforms 2
4 Filter 1 Waveforms 1 4 Unfiltered Waveforms 3
5 Filter 2 Raw 1 5 Filter 1 Raw All
6 Filter 2 Waveforms 1 6 Filter 1 Waveforms 1
7 Filter 1 Waveforms 2
8 Filter 1 Waveforms 3
9 Filter 2 Raw All
10 Filter 2 Waveforms 1
11 Filter 2 Waveforms 2
12 Filter 2 Waveforms 3

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CableData Analysis
Contents of Presentation

 Installing CDAS Software

 Importing your Data in the Cable Data Analysis Suite (CDAS)

 Introduction to cable PD analysis

 Identifying PD and Noise

 Locating PD Activity

 Quantifying Activity

 CDAS and Reporting

So You’ve Taken Some Cable PD
Measurements?
The analysis process :

1. Import the data to CDAS

2. Identify PD or not
3. Try to determine the location
4. Consider the network and point the measurement was taken
5. Consider all of the above together at the same time
6. Consider the magnitude and severity
 Importing the Data
Step 1:

• Open CDAS 2013 and select file, import.

 Importing the Data
Step 2:

• Select the folder containing your raw data and hit OK.
 Import Complete

• You will now have a tree of all the circuits tested in the left column.

• Select each circuit to display the phases of that circuit.

• Select the phase to display the captured data for that phase including
unfiltered, filter 1 and filter 2.
•NOTE: You only need to import the data once.
 Are we looking at PD?

Does the Does it have a Can you

phase plot characteristic determine the
show two unipolar location of
clusters 180 waveform? the activity?
degrees
apart?

Score each stage 1-3

1 = No, 2 = Possibly, 3 = Yes

Add up the scores and multiply by 0.11 to give a probability that PD has been identified at that
measurement location.

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Step 1 – Is it “Phase Resolved”

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 Phase Resolved Plots

Look at the Event Plot data showing PD against

phase angle

Two loose clusters 180 degrees Events occurring randomly across

apart, indicate possible PD the phase plot, indicate background
interference
Examples of Phase Plots
Interpretation of Clusters

 Void discharge pattern

66
Interpretation of Clusters

 Surface/Corona discharge pattern

67
Step 2 – Is there a PD waveform?

• Look at the waveform data

• Unipolar waveform
• Two or three pulses with decreasing
amplitudes and increasing spread
• Reflection at estimated end position

68
PD Waveform Example

69
PD Waveform Example

70
PD Waveform Example

71
Non PD Waveform Example

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 Step 3 – Can you determine
the location?
Cable Route
High Voltage
Ground

Captured
Trace

Direct Indirect Reflection of

Pulse Pulse Direct Pulse
(a) (b) (c)
CDC Mapping Example

74
Network Overview

75
Configurable Reports

76
Thank You