Partial discharge measurements for a twisted pair of insulated conductors at low pressures in air, argon and helium

Abstract

Partial discharge (PD) measurements in air, argon and helium, under pressures from 101.3 kPa (760 Torr) down to 0.27 kPa (2 Torr), have been performed for both 60 Hz AC and DC energization. The electrode arrangement is a twisted pair of insulated conductors taken from a standard aircraft wiring harness. The paper describes the physical PD test setup, the electrical connections for AC energization, and specifies the twisted pair arrangement of the insulated conductors. The results are presented in terms of PD current pulse waveforms and their analysis reflecting the effects of pressure and voltage