Partial Discharge Analysis of a Solid Dielectric Using MATLAB Simulink

Abstract: Insulators plays an important role in the high voltage power equipment. Various types of insulators are used in high voltage (HV) electrical power system to protect the power equipment. For the purpose of safety and better efficiency, insulators should be kept in a healthy condition during its operation [1]. As the insulators are always in impure form due to presence of impurities inside the insulators, the local electrical breakdown known as partial discharge (PD) takes place due to the HV stresses. The magnitude of these discharges though small, but can cause progressive deterioration and ultimate failure and hence it is essential to detect these discharges as nondestructive control test to keep the high voltage power equipment in healthy condition. In this work, an electrical circuit model of an epoxy resin as an insulator with a cylindrical void as an impurity is taken for the analysis of actual PD activity inside the insulator with respect to the application of high voltage using MATLAB Simulink software [3].

Keywords: PD (partial discharge), Void, HV, Ca, Cb, Cc.