Fault Analysis and Electric Field Simulation of Elbow Cable Terminal in Distribution Network

Abstract

Elbow cable terminal is widely used in ring main unit and cable branch box and is prone to causing fault. In this paper, experiment and disassembling analysis were made on a fault elbow cable terminal, which occurred faults repeatedly. It was investigated that the key processes of the fault elbow cable terminal were not well-controlled so that led to partial discharge. Finite element method (FEM) was used to calculate the electric field distribution of the elbow cable terminal and the result confirms that the key process is the main reason for the repeated faults. Finally, corresponding suggestions were proposed combined with practical operation and maintenance experience.