The Impact of the Inclusion of MgO Nano-Fillers in a Polyethylene Matrix on Dielectric Strength and Resistance to Partial Discharges

One commonly used strategy to enhance polymers specific properties such as the resistance to partial discharges erosion is the incorporation into the polymeric matrix of inorganic micro or nanoparticles. This study focused on the dielectric properties of Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE) filled with nano-sized Magnesium Oxide (MgO) particles compounded by thermo-mechanical process and one of the purposes was to establish appropriate processing parameters in order to reach the desired dielectric properties. LDPE was used as a matrix and was reinforced by MgO particles having a nominal average size of 30 nm. The MgO nanoparticles were treated with a silane coupling agent (3-Glycidyloxypropyl Trimethoxysilane). The samples were initially prepared in a melt-mixing chamber with a MgO content of 1% wt. These pre-mixed samples were further treated by the means of thermo-mechanical mixing in a conical co-rotating twin-screw extruder in order to improve the dispersion and distribution of the MgO particles. In this report, both lifetime under a PD activity and AC dielectric strength of pure and nano-filled LDPE samples have been measured and compared. Nano-filled LDPE samples were found to exhibit an improve lifetime, without any detrimental impact on their short-term dielectric strength. This suggests that nano-filled LDPE may be for electric applications for which the dielectric materials may be exposed to partial discharge activities. This is significant result for the use of MgO-reinforced PE as an insulating material for HV cables since the resistance to PD is closely related to treeing resistance which is the main electrical degradation mechanism that leads to failure for shielded extruded power cables.

GIS partial discharge data enhancement method based on self attention mechanism VAE-GAN

The reliability of gas-insulated switchgear(GIS)partial discharge fault diagnosis is crucial for the safe and stable operation of power grids.This study proposed a data enhancement method based on a self-attention mechanism to optimize the VAE-GAN method and solve the problem of the lack of partial discharge samples and the unbalanced distribution between different defects.First,the non-subsampled contourlet transform(NSCT)algorithm was used to fuse the UHF and optical partial discharge signals to obtain a photoelectric fusion phase resolved partial discharge(PRPD)spectrum with richer information.Subsequently,the VAE structure was introduced into the traditional GAN,and the excellent hidden layer feature extraction ability of the VAE was used to guide the generation of the GAN.Then,the self-attention mechanism was integrated into the VAE-GAN,and the Wasserstein distance and gradient penalty mechanisms were used to optimize the network loss function and expand the sample sets to an equilibrium state.Finally,the KAZE and polar coordinate distribution entropy methods were used to extract the expanded samples.The eigenvectors of the sets were substituted into the long short-term memory(LSTM)network for partial discharge fault diagnosis.The experimental results show that the sample generation quality and fault diagnosis results of this method were significantly better than the traditional data enhancement method.The structure similarity index measure(SSIM)index is increased by 4.5%and 21.7%,respectively,and the average accuracy of fault diagnosis is increased by 22.9%,9%,5.7%,and 6.5%,respectively.The data enhancement method proposed in this study can provide a reference for GIS partial discharge fault diagnosis.

A Compact UHF Antenna Based on Hilbert Fractal Elements and a Serpentine Arrangement for Detecting Partial Discharg

Efforts to protect electric power systems from faults have commonly relied on the use of ultra-high frequency(UHF)antennas for detecting partial discharge(PD)as a common precursor to faults.However,the effectiveness of existing UHF antennas suffers from a number of challenges such as limited bandwidth,relatively large physical size,and low detection sensitivity.The present study addresses these issues by proposing a compact microstrip patch antenna with fixed dimensions of 100 mm×100 mm×1.6 mm.The results of computations yield an optimized antenna design consisting of 2nd-order Hilbert fractal units positioned within a four-layer serpentine arrangement with a fractal unit connection distance of 3.0 mm.Specifically,the optimized antenna design achieves a detection bandwidth for which the voltage standing wave ratio is less than 2 that is approximately 97.3%of the UHF frequency range(0.3–3 GHz).Finally,a prototype antenna is fabricated using standard printed circuit board technology,and the results of experiments demonstrate that the proposed antenna is capable of detecting PD signals at a distance of 8 m from the discharge source.

Study of partial discharge characteristics in HFO-1234ze(E)/N2 mixtures

HFO-1234 ze(E)(trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene,chemical formula:C3H2F4)is an extremely environmentally friendly SF6 alternative gas with high electrical strength.In this paper,the partial discharge(PD)characteristics of HFO-1234 ze(E)/N2 mixtures were studied using the gas insulation test platform.The PD inception voltage of insulating gas under positive and negative half cycles of power frequency was tested.Using SF6/N2 mixtures as a control group,the effects of electrode spacing,mixing ratio and pressure on the insulation performance of HFO-1234 ze(E)/N2 mixtures were explored.The test results show that the PD inception voltage of the negative half-cycle of pure HFO-1234 ze(E)under short electrode spacing can reach 0.96-1.04 times of pure SF6 under different pressures;the PD inception voltage of40%HFO-1234 ze(E)/60%N2 mixtures at 0.3 MPa is 0.67-0.89 times that of SF6/N2 mixtures under the same conditions,which has great application prospect.

Characteristics of the propagation of partial discharge ultrasonic signals on a transformer wall based on Sagnac interference

The acoustic emission(AE)method has been widely recognized for the detection of incipient insulation fault phenomenon(partial discharge,PD)in power transfomiers,nevertheless,the installation and placement of AE sensors should be taken into full consideration.In this manuscript,a three-dimensional multiphysics model was established and simulated to research the characteristics of the propagation in the transformer wall.Furthermore,a piezoelectric transducer was used to detect PD ultrasonic signals and verify the simulation results in the laboratory.To ensure the accuracy of the detection,an optical fiber sensor based on the Sagnac interference principle was designed and adopted.The variation of the amplitude of the ultrasonic signal with distance reveals the characteristics of the ultrasonic signal propagating in the transformer wall.The distribution of sound pressure on the upper and lower surfaces of the simulation model proved that ultrasonic waves propagate in the form of symmetrical Lamb waves in the transformer wall.Moreover,the amplitude of the AE attenuates due to absorption and refraction loss,and local fluctuations on account of acoustic interference.Thus,a stable signal detected by an AE sensor does not represent the absence of PD in a transfomier.To improve the reliability of AE detection,it is proposed in this manuscript that repeated movement of the AE sensor is necessary to obtain a suitable measurement position.Similarly,it is necessary to adjust the position of the AE sensor in order to locate the PD source well.In addition,this study is expected to provide a theoretical analysis and a fiber sensor to address the problem of sensor placement in AE detection.

THE STUDY ON MEASURING TECHNIQUE OF PARTIAL DISCHARGE IN GAS INSULATED SWITCHGEAR USING ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY METHOD WITH EXTERNAL SENSORS

Objective In order to find early latent faults and prevent catastrophic failures, diagnosis of insulation condition by measuring technique of partial discharge(PD) in gas insulated switchgear (GIS) is applied in this paper, which is one of the most basic ways for diagnosis of insulation condition. Methods Ultra high frequency(UHF) PD detection method by using internal sensors has been proved efficient, because it may avoid the disturbance of corona, but the sensor installation of this method will be limited by the structure and operation condition of GIS. There are some of electromagnetic (E-M) waves leak from the place of insulation spacer, therefore, the external sensors UHF measuring PD technique is applied, which isn't limited by the operation condition of GIS. Results This paper analyzes propagated electromagnetic (E-M) waves of partial discharge pulse excited by using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. The signal collected at the outer point is more complex than that of the inner point, and the signals' amplitude of outer is about half of the inner, because it propagates through spacer and insulation slot. Set up UHF PD measuring system. The typical PD in 252kV GIS bus bar was measured using PD detection UHF technique with external sensors. Finally, compare the results of UHF measuring technique using external sensors with the results of FDTD method simulation and the traditional IEC60270 method detection. Conclusion The results of experiment shows that the UHF technique can realize the diagnosis of insulation condition, the results of FDTD method simulation and the result UHF method detection can demonstrate each other, which gives references to further researches and application for UHF PD measuring technique.

Effects of packing particles on the partial discharge behavior and the electrical characterization of oxygen PBRs

Packed-bed reactors(PBRs)hold great promise for environmental applications,but a deeper understanding of the behavior of plasma discharge within PBRs is required.To this end,a partial-discharge alternative equivalent circuit for PBRs was established in this work.Dielectric particles(glass beads or glass sand)were used to place focus on the effects of the particle size and shape on the partial discharge behavior of the oxygen PBRs.Some electrical characterizations were explored(e.g.the effective dielectric capacitance,partial discharge coefficient,and corrected burning voltage)that may differ from long-standing interpretations.The findings indicate that the suppressive effect of surface discharge on filament discharge is stronger with the decrease of the particle size.For partial discharge,the effective dielectric capacitance is always less than the dielectric capacitance.The corrected burning voltage and partial discharge tendency increase with the decrease of the particle size.As compared to an empty reactor,the average electric field in the PBR was found to be improved by 3–4 times,and the ozone energy efficiency and production were promoted by more than 20%and 15%,respectively.The plasma processing capacity can therefore be improved by choosing a relatively large size or a complex,irregularly-shaped packing material that is suitable for the discharge gap.

Analysis of capacitive voltage rise during off-line partial discharge tests on power transformers

Partial discharge test on a transformer is carried out according to the items in IEC 60. During the test, unproved measuring system is calibrated by proved system at a voltage no less than 50% the rated testing voltage. The result is then extrapolated linearly, leading to an error related to the distribution of stray capacitance, which varies with the testing frequency, especially to large transformers. In this paper a factor, named the capacitive rise fact, is introduced to assess the rise. The factor can be adjusted to some extent by changing the reactance that is connected to the LV side of the testing circuit to lower the capacity of the power source. However, the factor changes when the voltage divider on the high voltage side is removed after the voltage ratio has been calculated, and a great error is resulted under unfavorable conditios.

Denoising Method for Partial Discharge Signal of Switchgear Based on Continuous Adaptive Wavelet Threshold

Partial discharge(PD)is an important reason for the insulation failure of the switchgear.In the process of PD detection,PD signal is often annihilated in strong noise.In order to improve the accuracy of PD detection in power plant switchgear,a method based on continuous adaptive wavelet threshold switchgear PD signals denoising is proposed in this paper.By constructing a continuous adaptive threshold function and introducing adjustment parameters,the problems of over⁃processing of traditional hard threshold functions and incomplete denoising of soft threshold functions can be improved.The analysis results of simulated signals and measured signals show that the continuous adaptive wavelet threshold denoising method is significantly better than the traditional denoising method for the PD signal.The proposed method in this paper retains the characteristics of the original signal.Compared with the traditional denoising methods,after denoising the simulated signals,the signal⁃to⁃noise ratio(SNR)is increased by more than 30%,and the root⁃mean⁃square error(RMSE)is reduced by more than 30%.After denoising the real signal,the noise suppression ratio(NRR)is increased by more than 40%.The recognition accuracy rate of PD signal has also been improved to a certain extent,which proves that the method has a certain practicability.

Design of DC Partial Discharge Detecting System for Electrical Equipment

A balancing method was used to build a DC partial discharge （PD） testing circuit for electrical equipment,and a narrow-band detection system was designed using detection resistance and a filter. After signal accessed a high-speed digital acquisition （DAQ） card,the system was triggered to extract a single partial discharge （PD） signal. To eliminate the interference pulses caused by power supply ripple,etc.,the time domain and frequency domain features of pulses were extracted. Based on the features,cluster analysis was used to exclude interference pulses. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional histograms were obtained by use of the Δt method. Then,22 discharge statistical operators were calculated for the two-dimensional charts. Lastly,the defective capacitors were tested to verify the system＇s ability. The results show that the system is capable of PD detection in electrical equipment.

Detection of Partial Discharge in Power Transformers Using Rogowski Coil and Multiresolution Analysis

Partial discharge detection in power transformers is discussed using a new approach that exploit the broad band of the Rogowski coils and the potential of two signal processing tools： discrete wavelet transform and empirical mode decomposition. Detecting and analyzing incipient activities of partial discharge can provide useful information to diagnostics and prognostics about transformer insulation. So, partial discharge signals embedded in the electric current at ground conductor are measured using the Rogowski coil. These signals are submitted to noise suppression and the partial discharges waveforms are extracted through different ways： using discrete wavelet transform and using empirical mode decomposition. The comparison of these two methods show that the extraction with discrete wavelet transform results in a faster and simpler algorithm than the empirical mode decomposition. But this one produces more precise waveforms due its adaptive characteristic.

Chaotic Characteristic of Time Series of Partial Discharge in Oil-Paper Insulation

The chaotic characteristics of time series of five partial discharge （PD） patterns in oil-paper insulation are studied. The results verify obvious chaotic characteristic of the time series of discharge signals and the fact that PD is a chaotic process. These time series have distinctive features, and the chaotic attractors obtained from time series differed greatly from each other by shapes in the phase space, so they could be used to qualitatively identify the PD patterns. The phase space parameters are selected, then the chaotic characteristic quantities can be extracted. These quantities could quantificationally characterize the PD patterns. The effects on pattern recognition of PRPD and CAPD are compared by using the neural network of radial basis function. The results show that both of the two recognition methods work well and have their respective advantages. Then, both the statistical operators under PRPD mode and the chaotic characteristic quantities under CAPD mode are selected comprehensively as the input vectors of neural network, and the PD pattern recognition accuracy is thereby greatly improved.

Effect of toughened epoxy resin on partial discharge at solid-solid interface

A series of solid-solid interfaces, consisting of ceramic-epoxy resin interface samples with a tip-plate electrode, were investigated by performing partial discharge tests and realtime electrical tree observations. A toughening agent was added to the epoxy resin at different ratios for comparison. The impact strength, differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） and dielectric properties of the cured compositions and ceramic were tested. The electric field strength at the tip was calculated based on Maxwell＇s theory. The test results show that the addition of a toughener can improve the impact strength of epoxy resin but it decreases the partial discharge inception voltage （PDIV） of the interface sample. At the same time, toughening leads to complex branches of the electrical tree. The simulation result suggests that this reduction of the PDIV cannot be explained by a change of permittivity due to the addition of a toughening agent. The microstructural change caused by toughening was considered to be the key factor for lower PDIV and complex electrical tree branches.

Characterization and comprehension of corona partial discharge in air under power frequency to very low frequency voltage

For the partial discharge test of electrical equipment with large capacitance,the use of lowfrequency voltage instead of power frequency voltage can effectively reduce the capacity requirements of test power supply.However,the validity of PD test under low frequency voltage needs to be evaluated.In order to investigate the influence of voltage frequency on corona discharge in the air,the discharge test of the tip-plate electrode under the frequency from 50 to0.1 Hz is carried out based on the impulse current method.The results show that some of the main features of corona under low frequency do not change.The magnitude of discharge in a positive half cycle is obviously larger than that in a negative cycle.The magnitude of discharge and interval in positive cycle are random,while that in negative cycle are regular.With the decrease of frequency,the inception voltage increases.The variation trend of maximum and average magnitude and repetition rate of the discharge in positive and negative half cycle with the variation of voltage frequency and magnitude is demonstrated,with discussion and interpretation from the aspects of space charge transportation,effective discharge time and transition of discharge modes.There is an obvious difference in the phase resolved pattern of partial discharge and characteristic parameters of discharge patterns between power and low frequency.The experimental results can be the reference for mode identification of partial discharge under low frequency tests.The trend of the measured parameters with the variation of frequency provides more information about the insulation defect than traditional measurements under a single frequency（usually 50 Hz）.Also it helps to understand the mechanism of corona discharge with an explanation of the characteristics under different frequencies.

Correlation Between Geometrical Parameters of Electrical Tree and Corresponding Partial Discharge Parameters in XLPE

This paper deals with the experiemental study on the correlation between the geometrical parameters of electrical tree and corresponding partial discharge (PD) characteristic parameters in the course of eletrical tree aging within cross linked polyethylene (XLPE) insulation. The electrical tree aging tests were performed on specimens removed from a section of 220 kV transmission cable. The PD macroscopic characteristic parameters were found to be significantly dependent on the corresponding geometrical parameters of eletrical tree channels in the course of aging of XLPE, and different kind of electrical tree has different characteristics, and there is obvious correlation between the type of electrical tree and the pre-applied power-frequency stress. Beside, using regression analysis, the expression of the relation between them were obtained, and from which it can be seen that there is significant nonlinear correlation between geometrical parameters of electrical tree and corresponding PD characteristic parameters in the course of aging of XLPE. Therefore, the aging degree of XLPE can be effectively evaluated by recognizing the changing regularity of the PD macroscopic characteristic parameters. Key words XLPE - electrical tree aging - partial discharge - mathematical model CLC number TM 121 Foundation item: Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (59677018)Biography: Wang Hong-xin (1963-), male, Associate professor, Postdoctoral fellows, research direction: electrical insulation condition monitoring, EMC

Extraction of Partial Discharge Acoustic Signal by Wavelet Transform with Teager′s Energy Operator

To develop a measurement system for monitoring partial discharge （PD） without the effect of external interferences,an algorithm of PD signal extraction based on wavelet transform with Teager＇s energy operators was presented. Acoustic signal generated by PD was selected to remove excessive interfering signals and electromagnetic interferences. Acoustic signals were collected and decomposed into I0 levels by wavelet transform into approximation and detail components. “Daubechies 25” was proved to be the most suitable mother wavelet for the extraction of PD acoustic signals. Compared with conventional wavelet denoising method, Teager＇s energy operators were adopted to the PD signal reconstruction and the signal to noise ratio was in creased by 20%-25% inthe experiment,without lost in energy and pulse amplitude.

Partial Discharge Characteristics in the Course of Aging within XLPE Insulation

This paper deals with the experimental study on the correlation between partial discharge （PD） characteristic parameters and corresponding aging degree of insulation in the course of the aging within eros,s-linked polyethylene （XLPE） insulation. The aging tests were performed on a section of 10 kV transmission cable by means of water needle method. The PD macroscopic characteristic parameters were found to be significantly dependent on the corresponding aging degree of insulation in the course of aging of XLPE, and different kind of aging stage has different characteristics. Beside, there are similar regularity but different PD amplitude in the course of aging of XI.PE insulation in different electrolyte, and their insulation life is different. Therefore, according to the chan ging regularity of the PD macroscopic characteristic parame ters within XLPE insulation judging the aging degree of XLPE insulation will be an effective method.

Spatial mask filtering algorithm for partial discharge pulse extraction of large generators

A spatial mask filter algorithm （SMF） for partial discharge （PD） pulse extraction is proposed in this paper. In this algorithm, firstly, a ＇Teager＇ operator is used to strengthen wavelet coefficient local energy; then direct multiplication of coefficients at two adjacent scales is used to detect singularity points of the signal and to obtain scale based spatial mask filter; finally, an ＇ AND＇ logic operator is used in different filters to obtain the last spatial mask filter. By multiplication of wavelet coefficients with the final mask filter and wavelet reconstruction process, partial discharge pulses are extracted. The results of digital simulation and practical experiment show that this method is superior to traditional wavelet shrinkage method （TWS）. This algorithm not only can increase the signal to noise ratio （SNR）, but also can preserve the encrgy and pulse amplitude.

Wavelet packet decomposition entropy threshold method for discrete spectrum interferences rejection of on-line partial discharge monitoring

The frequency domain division theory of dyadic wavelet decomposition and wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) with orthogonal wavelet base frame are presented. The WPD coefficients of signals are treated as the outputs of equivalent bandwidth filters with different center frequency. The corresponding WPD entropy values of coefficients increase sharply when the discrete spectrum interferences (DSIs), frequency spectrum of which is centered at several frequency points existing in some frequency region. Based on WPD, an entropy threshold method (ETM) is put forward, in which entropy is used to determine whether partial discharge (PD) signals are interfered by DSIs. Simulation and real data processing demonstrate that ETM works with good efficiency, without pre-knowing DSI information. ETM extracts the phase of PD pulses accurately and can calibrate the quantity of single type discharge.

Air Cored Rogowski Coil for Measurement of Partial Discharges

A Rogowski coil was designed to measure partial discharge （PD） signal with low currents and high frequency. The possibilities of obtaining better measurements of PDs were explored by changing the inductance, mutual inductance, resistance, and capacitance of the coil. The designed Rogowski coil was calibrated under square wave voltage and arbitrary sine wave voltage. Then, according to the parameters of the Rogowski coil, the effect of changing some of these variables was simulated using a bode plot. Comparison shows that the simulation results were consistent with the experimental ones. A needle-plate in air gap model was set up and its PD under impulse voltage was measured. The results demonstrate that the Rogowski coil is adapted to measurement of PDs.