NON-DESTRUCTIVE DIAGNOSTICS OF INSULATING SYSTEMS

Water trees in cables: generation and detection

RPatsch and J.Jung

Abstract: The paper describes a new selective detection method for water trees developed in consideration of the electrophysical concept of the water treeing phenomenon. As most of the liquid water is not chemically bound in the water trees it can move out or in, depending on the actual physical conditions such as the solubility of water in the surrounding polymer. An increase of the insulation temperature finally leads to a drying out of water trees and the water tree correlated loss tangent decreases. This change is very specific and characteristically different from that of cable insulations without water trees. Hence the differential variation of loss tangent and capacitance in dependence on the temperature can be used as a measure of water tree degradation of polymer insulated medium voltage cables.

Introduction

Although the phenomenon has been known for more than 30 years, the generation process of water trees and especially diagnostic methods to measure the degradation of buried HV-cables are still under discussion. It is known from field experience that, after some years in a humid environment, water trees may be generated in the cable insulation, but for some reasons cables with the same construction under identical load and environmental conditions may behave differently with regard to the liability to generate water trees, and even the phenomenological appearance of the generated water trees may be different. Water trees in cables consist of permanent local changes of the morphology of the insulation, possibly associated with chemical changes, but in all cases with local precipitates of liquid water. The danger of water trees comes from the fact that those precipitates change the dielectric properties of the polymer. Under service conditions the electric field distribution in the surrounding of water trees is changed and due to displacement currents or the charge movement within the water trees, a local heating may occur and especially in the case of overvoltages an electrical tree may be generated that leads to a failure of the cable. It is generally accepted that, for the generation of water trees, an electric field, humidity and specific initiation points are necessary. In ths context, besides impurities in the insulation that create the so-called bow-tie trees also foreign inclusions or ions in the semicons are of importance since these may lead to boundary water trees mote 11. From these findings and the experimentally verified influence of salt particles on the generation of bow-tie trees [l], it can be concluded that ions, in particular, may play an important role in the generation process of water trees in the insulation. Hence, in the following after a brief descrip0IEE, 1999
IEE Proceedings online no. 19990486 DOL IO. lO49iipmt:19990486 Paper first received 9th December 1998 and in revised form 7th April 1999 The authors are with the University of Siegen, Institute of Materials & Diagnostics in Electrid Engineering, Hoelderlinstr. 3, D-57068 Siegen, Germany
IEE Proc.-Sci. Mcas. Technol., Vol. 146, No. 5. September 1999

tion of the experimental findings published in the literature, firstly the generation mechanism of water trees will be discussed, and secondly the consequences of the morphology of the water trees on the chances to detect them in a buried cable by means of an appropriate diagnostic system will be discussed.
2
Morphology of water trees

General agreement exists that water trees consist of agglomeratesof precipitates of liquid water within the polymer matrix. In the late stage, a connection between isolated micro-droplets or continuous channels may exist, and have been verified in some cases by microscopic examinations. With regard to the local electric properties there is a change in the dielectric constant [2], and mobile charge carriers within the water trees are available. If an electric field is applied, in addition to internal polarisation effects charge carriers will be moved withn the water tree and, as there is an effective hindrance for the movement of charges in the polymer, wdl be accumulated at the boundaries of the water tree to the non-degraded polymer. This effect is the reason for a local increase of the electric field at the tips of a water tree, by which an electrical tree and finally a breakdown of the cable may be initiated, and also a chance for the detection of the water trees. Any concept of the generation process of water trees has to start from these experimental findings and has to explain the influence of different parameters on the generation and growth of water trees. In a similar way any attempts to detect water trees in a cable have to start from the electrically relevant local morphological changes due to water trees. In service, only externally measurable currents as a consequence of charges moved within and in the proximity of water trees after the application of an electric field to the insulation can be used for the detection of water trees in cables.
Note 1: Water trees growing from the boundary of the insulation are misleadingly often called 'vented' trees, although no vent-hole is necessary for the process. Ventilation is important in the growth process of electric trees, but meaningless for the growth of water trees.
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Relevant parameters

As mentioned in the title the paper will be restricted to

effects that are relevant for cables. Hence the influence of exotic conditions and parameters in laboratory tests (e.g. frequencies higher than 50 or 60Hz, liquid fdled pinholes, etc.) that are of academic interest but not relevant for real cables will not be dealt with here. It is known that after removal of the external voltage water trees will dry out and the electric strength of the cable is increased, although a small amount of water in the water trees that might be chemically bound will eventually remain. Water trees can also be dried out if the insulation is dried by driving a stream of dry gas through the stranded conductor [3]. Initially an additional treatment of the insulation with a silicone based fluid was used to stabilise the achieved improvement. Nowadays the injection of the fluid along the conductor is supposed to be sufficient without a prior drying pr.ocess [4]. The influence of external parameters, such as temperature, temperature gradient across the insulation and impurities, are well known and must be taken into account in any concept of the water treeing phenomenon. In this context it might be helpful, to be reminded of the extremely favourable conditions for the generation of water trees in buried cables in case the conductor, whose temperature is usually higher than that of the insulation, contained water. This situation can be very effectively simulated in the laboratory to significantly increase and speed up the generation of water trees in laboratory specimens [5] or in short lengths of commercial cables by applying a temperature gradient across the insulation and a supply of water at the hgh temperature side [6, 71. A purely mechanical mechanism by Maxwell forces or a purely chemical degradation process of the material seem not to be sufficient [8]. Chemical changes within the water treed region are well known [9], yet this is more a secondary than a primary effect in the water treeing process [lo]. The critical influence of water trees on the electric strength of cables is strictly correlated to water that is not chemically bound in the water trees. If the electric field is switched off and/or the mean concentration of water in the insulation is sufficiently reduced, water can move out of the water trees just by diffusion. In insulating liquids, water-tree-like structures can be generated in nonhomogenous electric fields [ll], and in solid polymers water trees can be generated with polar liquids other than water [12], findings that contradict the need of specific chemical reactions included in chemical theories of the water treeing phenomenon. Salt particles w i t h the polymer favour the condensation processes by which the micro-droplets (essentials of all water trees) are formed. In laboratory experiments the influence of a reduced saturation pressure of aqueous salt solutions outside the polymer may act in the opposite direction. If different salt concentrations of LiBr are used as electrolyte in water needles, with higher salt concentrations smaller water trees are generated. In this case the reduction of the saturation pressure of the aqueous solution outside the specimen predominates over other effects, that could result from the diffusion of ions into the specimen. The results are in full agreement with the finding that 20kV XLPE cable specimens stressed in a concentrated solution of NaCl show much less water treeing than specimens stressed in pure water [6]. Cables dug in the sea-bottom do not show significant water tree degradation, a consequence of the salt in the sea water and of the fact that the supply
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of water at a lower temperature than the temperature of the insulation prevents water tree generation. Anyway the water treeing process only works in the case where a high humidity exists exterior to the cable insulation or still worse in the heated conductor, and there are areas of locally increased electric fields within the insulation. In the following Section the influence of the electric field on the water treeing process will be discussed.
4

Generation process, electrophysical concept

Dielectric forces on water molecules in a nonhomogeneous electric field are generally accepted in principle. The direct numerical proof of an effective concentration increase of water on this basis versus a diffusion processes is still lacking, but there are indirect indications for this effect. When an electric field has been applied an increased water uptake by polyethylene [ 131 and XLPE-cables [14] has been observed. In addition an increase of the electrical tree inception voltage was found after prestressing a needle plane arrangement with water at the plane electrode with moderate voltages [151. Under these conditions, the electric tree inception voltage increases in the same way as it does effect is simiwith polyethylene saturated with water. T h ~ s lar to the increase of the endurance of polymers by absorbed water [16] or the increase of the electrical tree inception voltage by polar additives, that are assumed to accumulate in regions of high electric fields and presumably lead to a local field grading [17]. Hence there is sufficient evidence for a marked local accumulation of water in regions of increased electric field. The filling or refilling of water tree structures due to water driven by the electric field is generally accepted and included in other theories, but interestingly the precipitation phenomenon as the decisive process to produce the micromechanicaldamage of the polymer, commonly known as water tree structure, is very often not taken into account. A schematic flowchart of the electrophysical concept of the water treeing phenomenon is shown in Fig. 1.

enhancement,
fieldgradient

salts, ions w o m o a e n e o u ! l y distributed

DIELECTROPHORESIS ielectric forces on polar or polarisable objects

chemical changes

Fig. 1 Electrophysicul concept of water tree generution andgrowth

IEE Proc.-Sci. Meas. Technol., Vol. 146, No. 5, September 1999

In a nonhomogeneous electric field as a consequence of dielectric forces in the field gradient a local accumulation of water molecules or small clusters of five water molecules [18] takes place in the h h field region. The local enrichg ment continues until, against diffusion processes that tend to homogenise the water concentration, an equilibrium is established, or the local concentration exceeds the solubility in the polymer and precipitation of liquid water droplets occurs. In this case, at first small droplets are formed preferentially in the free volume of the polymer. If the supply of water continues, and there is no reason for a change as long as the equilibrium concentration (dielectrophoresis against diffusion) is higher than the solubility, the precipitates will grow. If there is no free space for further precipitation left, mechanical damage of the surrounding polymer, cleavage of molecular bonds, crazing or cracking will occur. The mechanical properties of the polymer play only a minor role, because the hydraulic pressure due to precipitation will always overcome the local strength of rigid polymers. A supersaturation of 10% will generate a pressure of 130 atm [19]. Rubber-like polymers may behave better in this context, because additional space can be formed by elastic deformations and less chemical bonds are ruptured, i.e. less permanent damage occurs. In the presence of salts with reduced saturation pressure of their aqueous solutions a liquid precipitation can be formed even before the solubility of water in the polymer is exceeded. In t h s case liquid precipitates may occur even without a locally increased electric field. Except for the case with such a particle as the starting point of a water tree, diffusion processes always tend to move water away from the water trees and only dielectric forces drive them to regions of locally increased electric stress in which the water trees are generated. The mechanical rupture of polymer chains due to growing liquid precipitates facilitates any consecutive chemical attacks such as, for example, oxidation. Hence chemical changes in the water treed region as found in many experiments are not surprising and fit into the electrophysical concept. Chemical differences between water trees grown in the field and (under application of higher electric stresses) in the laboratory are in full agreement with this concept, since as a consequence of the quicker growth rate in the laboratory there is not enough time and oxygen available for the high level of oxidation, whch often occurs during the slow growth process of water trees in cables during service life. Using SEM-photographs, outside the water tree region (defined by the region that can be stained with methylene blue), pre-deteriorated regions were found that also contain numerous microvoids. The diameter of the voids in the predeteriorated region is smaller than 1w, while in the watertreed region it is in the range l 4 p n [20]. In accordance with the electrophysical concept described, such a pre-stage of a water tree should exist, because water molecules are supposed to move through the polymer to the tips of the water trees [21] and to precipitate as liquid water after the establishment of a local supersaturation. In particular, there is no need for a channel to transport water to fill cavities or microvoids. Hence it is obvious that the essentials in the water tree generation are dielectrically induced local accumulation of water and consecutive precipitation of the liquid phase followed by a mechanical rupture of the polymer. The detrimental influence of a temperature gradient across the insulation combined with a water supply at the high temperature side [6] fits well into this concept, while being in
IEE Proc -Sei Meas Technol, Vol 146, No 5 , September 1999

contradiction to other water treeing concepts. The mechanical damage of the polymer in the water treed region is permanent, whle the amount of liquid water enclosed can be changed by changing external parameters such as temperature of the insulation, temperature gradients, supply of water, etc. The decisive parameter is the balance between the local concentration of dissolved water and the solubility in the polymer.

Influence of salt particles and ions

Salt particles in the polymer are often found to be starting points for water trees, but there is still some discussion with regard to the influence of the chemical properties of salts or ions on the generation and growth of water trees. The influence of particles that reduce the saturation pressure over their aqueous solution is well known [l, 191. This would indicate that precipitation is promoted. In addition to salt particles that are more or less evenly distributed in the insulation due to their existence in the raw material, ions are known to move under the influence of an electric field or as a consequence of a local concentration gradient. Ions may move into the polymer and accumulate in regions of increased electric stress and form initiation points for water trees. Fig. 2 shows such an increase of the concentration of bromide ions in a nonhomogeneous electric field p o t e 21. If the local concentration of ions is high enough to act like a salt particle, surrounding water molecules will start to form an aqueous solution. As a consequence, the reduced saturation pressure over the aqueous salt solution leads to a diffusion process of additional water molecules into the regions of high electric field and the liquid precipitates grow more quickly. Boundary water trees are often a consequence of ionic impurities in the semicon. In some cases even small channels withm the semicon are found close to boundary water trees [23].
I

v -

100 200 depth from defect tip, prn

300

Fig.2 Accumulation o bromide wm in divergent fEld o a water needle f f stressed m KBr-solution (aier 1221)
,

-0-

4 ._
C

E#O E=O

d,

130 E L

20

c
c

25
c c

m%ules (ajier 1241) 0 ,A water tree length water tree development ratio

Fi . 3

2 4 6 8 enthalpy of hydration per molecule, eV Water tsee generation in dependence on hydration enthrrlpy o salt f

Note 2 Even in an alternating nonhomogeneous electric field, due to a nonsymmetric hopping probability in the field gradient, ions will move into regions of higher electric stress.
255

An additional influence comes from the hydration of ions, i.e. the attachment of water molecules to ions and the movement of the hydrated spheres in the electric field gradient in accordance to the electrophysical concept. As shown in Fig. 3, the hydration enthalpy of salt molecules shows a surprisingly good correlation to water tree initiation and growth. The polarisability and hence dielectric forces on these spheres seem to be very important parameters in the water treeing process. 6

treed cables can be restored by an appropriate drying process and/or liquid treatments (mainly with water reactive silicone), but to save costs, one should treat the most heavily damaged cables first. Hence one needs to know the amount of deterioration of each cable. Also for replacement strategies the sequence should be based on the actual amount of deterioration of the cables under discussion. Hence in the following Sections different diagnostic approaches will be discussed.
8

Influenceof the semicons

Detection of water tree degradation

To ensure good electrical contact and to avoid partial discharges at the boundaries of the insulation, today all medium and high voltage cables are manufactured with inner and outer semicons. Besides the problem of the smoothness of the surfaces of the conductive polymers, a serious problem may come from impurities contained in the carbon black used to establish the desired conductivity of the semiconducting polymer. To check this influence experimentally, two pieces of a triple-extruded 20kV XLPE-cable were aged in the laboratory under accelerating conditions applying a temperature gradient across the insulation, whereby the outer semicon of one of the specimens had previously been removed. After 2000h the cable specimen with outer semicon showed a much higher concentration of bow-tie trees than the specimen without semicon after 4000h, although the insulation was identical in both cases. The experiment was repeated with another cable. In this case, not only the concentration and size of water trees were measured but also the dielectric response of the aged specimens. Again the specimen with semicon showed more severe degradation than the specimen where the semicon had been removed mechanically before ageing. It is worth mentioning that the semiconductive polymer, or rather some impurities in the material, influenced the generation of bow-tie trees some millimetres from the semicon. Hence the diffusion or the field-induced movement of impurities (contained in the insulation or the semicons) and their impact on the precipitation process seem to play an important role in the water treeing phenomenon, and special care has to be taken to use very clean materials only.
7

Improvement of cables

It is important to be able to detect water trees in general but especially very long water trees, since such a local degradation may lead to a failure of the cable. If there are only a few long water trees, then the large volume of non- or only slightly degraded polymer will diminish or prevent an easy detection of these critical defects. The problem is to find a specific signal whch is typical for a water tree and significantly different from that of the nondegraded polymer in which other molecular polarisation processes may occur. The first attempt to detect water trees started twenty years ago with the measurement of the charge stored in polarisation processes of water trees [25]. Other attempts for water tree detection started from the classical loss tangent measurements. Herewith the use of lower frequencies is much easier from the experimental point of view as well as more effective from the diagnostic point of view [26]. For the diagnosis E' and E" can be used. Another approach involves the response of the cable to a DC voltage step. Owing to polarisation processes there is a time-dependent current, and after a short circuit of the specimen, a corresponding depolarisation current occurs. A third approach uses the return voltage after a poling period of the cable with a direct voltage and a discharge of the geometric capacitance. Slow depolarisation processes lead to a return voltage after opening the short circuit. Other methods, such as a nonlinear dependence of parameters on the voltage height [27] or the occurrence of harmonics in the current waveform [28], are also under discussion. With all methods it is of importance not to use voltages hgher than the voltage used in service, to avoid additional degradation or a premature failure. Due to the build-up of space charges especially the use of very high DC-voltages has also to be avoided.
9

So far the generation process of water trees is understood, at least in principle, and during the last decade many improvements especially in the cable technology and the materials used (especially in cleanliness) have led to cables that are much less liable to water treeing. It is worth mentioning that the use of water-tree-retardant materials has not been successful. This result is not too surprising because the laboratory tests, by which the 'beneficial' water tree retarding influence was 'proven' were far from the real conditions in cable life. As a result of the geometry chosen for the laboratory specimens, the use of higher frequencies of the test voltages and other specific conditions the material selection was made on the basis of misleading parameters. Although in general cables produced now are less liable to water treeing than cables produced one or two decades ago, there exist thousands of hlometres of old cables in the networks, and some of them contain a huge number of water trees. As mentioned already, in accordance with the water tree concept of liquid precipitates, the electric strength of water
256

Efficiency of standard methods

At the moment different equipments are commercially available, and all are more or less capable of detecting severely damaged cables [29]. If the loss tangent is significantly above 0.1%, or if a leakage current is detected, a severe degradation can be assumed, and a corresponding decrease of the residual electric strength of the cable has been found in most cases [26]. For loss tangents below 0.1% there may or may not be a reduction of the electric strength. A problem can arise with cables produced with new insulating compounds or, for example, water-treeretardant polymers. Under these conditions a comparatively high loss tangent may occur even with nondegraded cables. Hence the absolute value of the loss tangent is not always suficient for a reliable classification of the degree of degradation of a cable [30]. Better results can be gained if not only the absolute value but its dependence on the magnitude of the applied voltage is taken as an indication of a severe water tree degradation [27]. Although such a
IEE Proc-Sci. Meas. Technol., Vol. 146, No. 5, September 1999

dependence should be expected, it is not quite clear whether or not it will occur with every type of water tree degradation.

Because of the local conditions in and around a water tree, there are certain limits for the magnitude of any electric signal that can be used for diagnostic purposes. Starting from the equivalent circuit the change in the capacitance of the polymer corresponds to the ratio of the volume of the water trees compared to the whole insulation [31], and hence only 0.1%0or less can be expected realistically in cables. On the other hand, a few single big water trees may be very dangerous and lead to a breakdown even though the overall fraction of water trees is far below O.1Y0. Even with old cables early stages of degradation that may lead to a decrease of the electric strength of the cable cannot be detected unambiguously by the standard methods used today. With a tan 6 between 0.0130 and 0.130 the breakdown voltage of a cable may lie between 4 and 11 times the rated voltage of the cable [26] without any correlation. The harmfulness of water trees strongly depends on the amount of precipitated water. If this amount is reduced, the risk that water trees may lead to a premature failure of the cable is also reduced. In the same way the probabilities for their detection are also reduced. Under sufkiently dry conditions aged cables can dry out within days (at least to some extent). The refilling of water trees takes more time, but can be accelerated by the application of an AC-voltage [32, 331. The fundamental problem with all methods is the fact that it is possible to measure a response of the cable to the applied voltage, but this response is not necessarily characteristic of water trees. In general, with old cables one cannot be sure whether the measured value is a result of changes within the insulation or has been at thls high level from the beginning. Many new insulation compounds have a higher loss tangent than polymers used in older cables, and hence a high loss tangent is not necessarily an indicator of a significant degradation due to water trees. Other signals such as the maximum height of the return voltage or other parameters may show a nonlinear dependence on the magnitude of the applied voltage, although reasons other than water trees can be found. Hence the only chance for a successful diagnostic method lies in a successful search for a parameter that is specifically characteristic for water trees. If no characteristic signal can be found, an alternative is to find dfferential behaviour between water trees and unaffected polymer to systematic changes of the measuring conditions.
10

elevated temperature that leads to a drying of water trees, a decrease of the loss tangent with time can be expected, whereby no such change will occur with losses due to the polymer. Hence there seems to be the possibility of differentiating between losses due to water trees and losses due to the molecular properties of the polymer or additives.
11 Response to a temperature change

To examine the feasibility of such an approach, starting at room temperature, several water treed and non-aged cable specimens (about 7m long, cut from commercial 20kVXLPE cables) were heated by induction heating with their rated currents in a short circuit loop, and loss tangent and capacitance at 50Hz were recorded every 2 min during the heating period. The increase of the temperature leads to a decrease of the capacitance due to the geometric expansion of the insulation. This change does not depend on the amount of water trees in the cable and can be taken as a reference parameter for the temperature of the insulation. Fig. 4 shows some results of the correlation between loss tangent and capacitance for different temperatures of the cable during the heating up. The maximum temperature of the conductor was about 90C. To eliminate the influence of the absolute reading, loss tangent and capacitance were normalised to the corresponding values at room temperature.

0.6 0.96

0.97

0.98
CGT

0.99

1.oo

Correlation behveen loss tcmgent and capacitcuzce for specimens cut jiom dgerent cables
Index RT = room temperature D, field aged + lab aged in water B, field aged + hb aged in water -AH, field aged + dry storage - - G, field aged + dry storage 0 -VR, nonaged + dry storage

Fig.4

-A-0-

Differential behaviour of loss tangent

It is well known that the loss tangent of polyethylene is temperature dependent. In general, starting at room temperature, with increasing temperature the loss tangent first decreases [34], passes through a minimum and increases again [35]. The absolute values are different for different cable insulations, but the basic behaviour is the same. As the phenomena that lead to dielectric losses associated with water trees (mainly space charge build-up and boundary polarisation) are different from those occurring in the insulating material itself, a different temperature dependence can be expected. The solubility of water in the surrounding polymer also varies with temperature. Hence increasing the temperature of a cable insulation should lead to characteristically different changes in the loss tangent, depending on whether mainly water trees or other material-dependent properties contribute to the losses. Keeping the cable at an
IEE P I O L -Sei mea^ Teclinol, Vol 146, No 5,September 1999

The non-aged cable specimen (R) shows an initially very steep decrease of the loss tangent with increasing temperature. At higher temperatures the decrease slows down. Field-aged, but dried, cables (G, H) show a less steep decrease. The cables with water-filled water trees (B, D, field-aged and additionally aged with 20kV in the laboratory) initially show a comparatively small, nearly linear decrease followed by a steeper decrease in the high temperature region. This final decrease at nearly constant temperature is due to the fact that at elevated temperatures (due to the higher solubility of water in the polymer) water trees will dry out and the corresponding part in the loss tangent will decrease. A very interesting result has been found with a cable specimen that had been cut in two pieces (each about 3m long) after field-ageing and additional laboratory-ageing. One part (F2) has been kept without water and with no applied voltage in the laboratory, while the other part (FI) was kept in water with high voltage (20kv) applied. As can be seen in Fig. 5, a marked difference occurred. Specimen F1 initially shows only a slight decrease and only in the high temperature region of the measurement run does a
251

pronounced decrease of the loss tangent occur (water trees dry out). For comparison, cable D that also shows a marked decrease in the high temperature region is included in the diagram. Cable F2 behaves sirmlarly to cable G; both cables show no such a decrease.

the diagnostic loss tangent measurements only after the cable had cooled down to ambient temperature. These results show that the proposed method, using a deliberate change of the temperature of the insulation, is even capable of differentiating between water filled and dried water trees. With plotting the daerential changes instead of the absolute values, individual variations between different cables disappear and a selective diagnostic signal of the water trees can be found.
12 Conclusions

0.61 0.96

0.97

0.98
CGT

0.99

1.oo

4 - F1, field aged + lab aged in water 4 F2, field aged + lab aged in water + dry storage -AD, field aged + lab aged in water

Fi .5 (Y FI

Correlation behveen loss tungent md capacitancefor cables with wet dry( E )wata trees

The proposed method is not restricted to measurements at 50Hz. Results obtained with a commercial Insulation Diagnostic System [36, 261 at lOHz show an even more marked difference between the cable specimens F1 and F2 (Fig. 6). An interesting result comes from the comparison of the absolute values of the loss tangents. Fig. 7 shows that the additional part due to water filled water trees in F1 compared to F2 increases with increasing temperature.

Using the differential variation of loss tangent and capacitance in dependence on the temperature the degree of water tree degradation of polymer-insulated medium-voltage cables can be monitored without being influenced by material-dependent differences between cables of different origin and ageing state. The theoretical background of this new diagnostic method is in full coincidence with the predictions of the electrophysical concept of the water treeing phenomenon. This model predicts that water is locally accumulated around technological defects that act as initiation points for the generation of water trees. Most of the liquid water in water trees is not chemically bound. Hence, depending on the actual conditions, water trees can dry out or rewet again. The specific dependence of the evaporation and precipitation phenomena on the temperature of the insulation can be effectively used by the new selective detection method for water trees in cables.
13 References

0.6I 0.96

0.97

0.98
C%T

0.99

1.oo

Fi .6 Correlation between loss tungent and capacituncefor cables with wet (F?) and dry (IQ) water trees, m m r e d with IDA at lOHz 1361 0 F1, field aged + lab aged in water 0 F2, field aged + lab aged in water + dry storage
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.....................................

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1

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0 F1, field aged + lab aged in water 0 F2, field aged + lab aged in water + dry storage difference between F1 and F2

(FYI and dry( E )water trees, meamred with IDA at lOHz [36]

The phenomenon of an increase of the loss tangent at 0.1Hz in dependence on an increase of the conductor temperature has been reported in the literature [37]. To avoid misinterpretations the authors gave the advice to perform
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1 S L E T B k , J., and BOTNE, A.: A study of inception and growth of water trees and electrochemical trees in polyethylene and crosslinked polyethylene insulations, IEEE Trans. Electr. I m l . , 1977, EI-12, pp. 218-223 2 MULLER, K.-B., and STUCKI, F.: Eigenschaften individueller Water Trees in VPE-Kabeln, Elektrizitatswirtschaft, 1993, 92, pp. 1732-1740 3 EAGER, G.S., KATZ, C., FRYSZCZYN, B., FISCHER, F.E., and THALMA, E.: Extending service life of installed 15-35 kV extruded dielectric cables, IEEE Tram. Power Appar. Syst., 1984, PAS-103, pp. 1997-2005 4 MITHOFER, D., and KAMINSKY, T.: CableCure-Sanierung water-tree-geschadigter Mittelspannungskabel - Erfahrungsbericht Deutschland, Elektrizitatswirtschaft, 1996, 95, pp. 1785-1788 5 POHLER, S.: The dependence of water tree growth on water penetration through semiconducting layers. Proceedings of ISH89, Wew Orleans, 1989 6 PATSCH, R.: Water treeing in cable insulation - are laboratory tests meaningful?. Proceedings of DMMA88, Canterbury, UK, 1988, pp. 242-245 7 FREDRICH, D., and KALKNER, W.: Onthe examination of the water treeing behaviour of XLPE-insulated cables. Proceedings of ISH87, Braunschweig, Germany, 1987 8 BULINSKI, A., BAMJI, S., DENSLEY, J., GUSTAFSSON, A., and GEDDE, U.W.: Water treeing in binary linear polyethylene blends, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., 1994, 1, pp. 949-962 9 ROSS, R., and SMIT, J.J.: The chemical and physical composition of water trees in XLPE. Proceedings of IC-PADM91, Tokyo, Japan, 1991. DD. 156-159 IO PATSCH, R.: Electrical and water treeing - a chairmans view, IEEE Trans. Electr. Imul., 1992, 27, pp. 532-542 11 AUCKLAND, D.W., CHANDRAKER, K., AHMUDlARTO, Y., and VARLOW. B.R.: The mechanism of water tree formation in insulating liquids. Proceedings of ISEI94, Pittsburgh, USA, 1994, pp. 41W13 12 MIYASHITA, Y., MAKISHI, Y., and KATO, H.: Mechanism of water generation and propagation in XLPE, Proceedings of ICPADM91, Tokyo, 1991, pp. 214-217 13 AUCKLAND, D.W., ABDER-RAZZAQ, M., CHANDRAKER, K., and VARLOW, B.R.: Water absorption in composite dielectrics. Proceedings of ICSD95, Leicester, UK, 1995, pp. 561-565 14 NIKOLAJEVIC, S.V.: The inhence of the water on water absorption and density of XLPE cable insulations, IEEE Trans. Power Deliv., 1998, 13, pp. 297-303 15 PATSCH, R.: Water treeing - model concepts and experimental evidence. Proceedings of ISH87, Braunschweig, Germany, 1987 16 NAYBOUR, R.D.: The influence of water on the electric strength of an ethylene-propyleneinsulation, IEEE Trans. Electr. I m l , 1978, EI13, pp. 5 M 1
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- PATSCH, R.: Ontree mhibition in polyethylene, IEEE Trans. Electr. I/

I m l , , 1979, EI-14, pp. 20g206 18 PATSCH, R., and HOOF, M.: Clustering of water molecules, the key to understand the water treeing ohenomenon. Proceedings of ISH93. . Yokohama, Japan, 1993, V01.7,~pp.83-85 ILDSTA 19 ILDSTAD, E.: Water migration and water treeing in crosslinked polUniversity ythylene cables., PhD thesis, Umversity of Trondheim, Norway, 1992 T.. 20 KING, J.A., CUMBERBATCH, E., KIM, S., and PAULOS, T.: Analysis of a new sample configuration for the growth and study of vented water trees, ZEEE Trum. Electr. Znsul,, 1991, 26, pp. 285-290 21 PATSCH, R., PAXIMADAKIS, A., and ROMERO, P.: The,roleof dielectrophoresis in the water treeing phenomenon. Proceedmgs of ISEI90, Toronto, Canada, 1990, pp. 160-164 22 GALCERA, T., GROOMBRIDGE, A.B., MACKERSIE, J., and MARTINEZ, J.: A comparative study of water tree growth in low density polyethylene aged in different electrolytes. Proceedings of DMMA92, Manchester, UK, 1992, pp. 298 23 STEINFELD, K., and KALKNER, W.: Stress induced electrochemical degradation of the inner semicon layer of extruded cable insulation. Proceedings of ICDI97, Budapest, Hungary, 1997, pp. 257-260 24 PATSCH, R., ORTOLF, M., and TANAKA, J.: Hydration of ions - how does it influence water treeing?. Proceedings of ICPADM97, Seoul, Korea, 1997, pp. 41M13 25 ISSHIKI. S.. and YAMAMOTO, M.: Development of water tree detecting de&, Fujkuru Tech. Rev.,1979,.pp. f9-24 26 WERELIUS, P., HOLMGREN, B., and GBFVERT, U.: Diagnosis of medium voltage XLPE cables by high voltage dielectric spectroscopy. Proceedings of ICSD98, Visteras, Sweden, 1998, pp. 79-84 27 HEIZMA, T.E.: Eh Verfahren m Bestimmung des Alterungszustandes von verlegten polymer-isoherten Mittelspannungskabeln. Dissertation, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, 1994 28 NAGAO. M.. TOKORO. T.. YOKOJAMA. A.. and KOSAKI. M.: Newapproach to diagnostic method of water trees. Proceedings of ISEI90, Baltimore, USA, 1990, pp. 296299 PLATH, R., KALKNER, W., and KRAGE, I.: Vergleich von Diagnosesystemen zur Bcurtcilung des Alterungszustandcs IEAPE-isolierter Mittelspannungskabcl. ~ / ~ ~ r ~ ; ~ ; r u / ~ i i , ; ~ / ~%./ lpp.~ ; , 1997. ~ u
~~ ~~~~~ ~

the index PE represent sound insulation material in series Or parallel to water The capacitance C,, corresponds to a cylindrical capacitor with ;he two electrodes (the diameter equivalent to the cross-section of the water tree perpendicular to the electric field) in a distance equivalent to the length of the water tree. The numerical values of the different capacitors characterise the amount and mean geometric dimensions of the water trees. In some cases it may be necessary to take more The is than one pair Cwt,RWt. resistor RWt the resistance of a path connecting the two electrodes, or rather the two boundary regions, at the tips of the water tree.

Symbol at the very left represents a component with a nonlinear and/or a rectifying characteristic(after [31, 381)

Fig.8 &ivulent

b circuit of apolymric insulation containing water trees

1130-1140

33 34

35

36 37 38 39 40

41

FAREMO, I]., and ILDSTAD. E.: Dissipation factor and wdtcr treeing in WTR-XLPE cable insulation. Proceedings of DMMA92, Manchcster. UK, 1992, pp. 3 6 3 0 9 ROMERO. P.: Entwicklung von Prufapparaturen zur Untersuchung water tree gcschadipcr Mirtclspannungskabel mit Glcich- und Wechdspannung. Dissertation, Cniversity of Sicgen. Gemiany. 1994 PAXIMADAKIS. A.: ParametereintluB auf Art und Momholoeie von Water Trees &d deren Auswirkung auf die Betriebssichefheit v& Anlagen. Dissertation, University of Siegen, Germany, 1994 HOLMGREN, B.: Dielectric response, breakdown strength and water tree content of medium voltage XLPE cables. Dissertation, TH Stockholm, Sweden, 1997 NAKATSUKA, T., TAKAHASHI, T., MIYATA, H., YOKOYAMA. A.. ISHIKAWA. I.. and A, T.: The effect on dielectric loss of polyethylene caused by acetophenone and cumylalcohol. Proceedings of IEEE ISEI94, Pittsburgh, USA, 1994, pp. 574577 KUSCHEL, M., PLATH, R., and KALKNER, W.: Dissipation factor measurement at 0.1 H z as a diagnostic tool for service-aged XLPE insulated medium voltage cables. Proceedings of ISH95, Graz, Austria, 1995 IDA, dielectric spectroscopy measurement system for diagnosis and characterization of electrical insulation. WaBtech AB, Sweden, 1998 BACH, R., KALKNER, W., and OLDEHOFF, H.: Verlustfaktormessung bei 0,l Hz an betriebsgealterten PENPE-Kabelanlagen, Elektrizitatswirtschujl,1993, 92, pp. 107G1080 PATSCH, R.: Electrical signals from water trees and their interpretation. Proceedings of CEIDP91, Knoxville, USA, 1991, Ann. Rep., pp. 3 9 M 1 HVIDSTEN, S., FAREMO, H., and ILDSTAD, E.: Mechanisms cansing non-hear dielectric remonse of water treed XLPE cables. Promudings of ICSD98, Visteras, Sweden, 1998, pp. 73-78 LI, Y., KAWAI, J., EBINUMA,Y., FUJIWARA,Y., OHKI, Y., TANAKA, Y., and TAKADA, T.: Space charge behaviour under AC voltage in water treed PE observed by the PEA method, IEEE Trans. DGlectr. Electr. Instil,, 1997, 4, pp. 52-57 KATSUTA, G., TOYA, A., KATAKAI, S., KANAOKA, M., and SEKII, Y.: Influence of defects on insulating properties of XLPE cable. Proceedings of ICPADM91, Tokyo, Japan, 1991, pp. 48-89

14

Appendix: Electric equivalent circuit

For a better understanding of cable diagnostics the equivalent circuit of a water treed cable insulation is discussed in the following. Fig. 8 shows an equivalent circuit of polymeric insulation containing water trees. The elements with

The equivalent circuit does not state that the resistor is ohmic, and the capacitor is just a description of the existence of charges (possibly spread in the volume close to the tips of the water trees) of opposite polarity at some &stance from each other, but the basic behaviour should be reproduced correctly. Analytical calculations on the basis of this concept produce a dependence of the loss tangent on the frequency similar to that found in cable specimens after accelerated ageing in the laboratory [31]. Recently a more sophisticated calculation on the basis of ellipsoidic voids connected by narrow paths has been published [39]. Measurements of space charges generated in laboratory specimens in connection with boundary water trees [40] can be taken as a direct proof of the correctness of the equivalent circuit to describe the polarisation phenomena in water trees. In addition to the result that, after DC-poling, space charges accumulate in the vicinity of the tips of water trees [41], it was found that, also under AC-load, space charges also accumulate at the tips of water trees. In accordance to the prediction of the equivalent circuit, the amount of space charge is proportional to the magnitude of the applied voltage, and higher frequencies lead to less space charge. In the equivalent circuit the resistor R,, is characteristic for the movement of charges in the water tree and for a water tree of given morphology determined by the amount of liquid water within the water tree. If, for example, the temperature of the surrounding polymer is increased, the increased solubility of water in the polymer wdl reduce the relative humidity around the precipitates and lead to an evaporation of liquid water from the water tree. Hence the electric properties of the water tree will be changed and, speaking in terms of the equivalent circuit, the resistance R,, wdl increase. In general this will reduce the loss tangent. Dipolar groups attached to the polymer chains or polar additives will react differently on a temperature change. Hence there is a chance to differentiate between different contributions of the polymer insulation per se and water trees.

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