A discharge locating system using waveguided acoustic signals and fiber-optics transmission

An improved system is presented which can remotely determine the position of the source of electrical discharges on high-voltage (HV) objects or apparatus, such as exposed insulators and transformers, by means of an acoustic/ultrasound waveguide and transducer combination followed by an amplification and filtering unit with its output transmitted to the recording instrumentation via a fiber-optics link. After a description of the design and implementation features of the system, its testing procedure is given along with results obtained from its application for discharge location measurements on laboratory HV objects (insulator column and transformer). These results indicate that the system can be successfully employed for location of very weak discharges with enhanced accuracy and reliability, in addition, the system in question is inexpensive and offers complete electrical or EMI isolation between the HV site and recording place.