Optimized Arrival Time Determination of UHF Pulses for Localization of Partial Discharges in Power Transformers

Abstract

Location of a partial discharge (PD) fault inside a transformer can be determined using the Ultrahigh Frequency (UHF) PD measurement technique. Hereby, the electromagnetic (EM) waves that propagate due to the PD are captured using specially designed probes that are inserted into the transformer tank through its oil drain valves. The difference in the arrival time (AT) of these signals is the base of an equation system, where the PD location and the PD inception time are unknown. In this contribution, the influence of erroneous determined ATs on the localization error is investigated using a two-dimensional analogy model. Furthermore, a novel method based on detection of abrupt changes in a certain statistical property of the signal for the AT determination is proposed. A test setup is utilized to evaluate the localization algorithm. Finally, the results are presented and the precision of the proposed method for PD localization using the UHF measurement technique is discussed.