Effects of the structure and insulation material of a cable on the ability of a location method by FDR

The authors have demonstrated that the estimation of the precise locations of points in cables aged thermally or mechanically or by the irradiation of gamma rays is possible by a combination of frequency domain reflectometry and inverse fast Fourier transform. This paper examines how this ability of fault location depends on the type, structure, and insulation material of the cable, using several kinds of polymer insulated cables such as a triple core cable insulated with flame-retardant ethylene propylene diene copolymer, a dual core cable insulated with silicone rubber, a dual core cable insulated with crosslinked polyolefin (XLPO), a coaxial cylindrical cable insulated with low density polyethylene, and a flat cord insulated by polyvinyl chloride (PVC). As a result, for cables with lengths from 16 to 72 m, the maximum sensitivity is attained when the highest frequency of the inputted electromagnetic waves is 1.0 GHz or higher for coaxial cables, but around 300 to 800 MHz for dual or triple core cables. For the location attempt of the position heated by a heater, cables insulated with PVC give higher signal intensities than those insulated with XLPO.