Smartening cable connections by an intelligent health monitor system

A new technology for smartening existing cable connections by means of implementing an intelligent heath monitoring system is described. The system is called PD-OL and monitors the condition of power cable connections continuously by means of partial discharge detection and location while the cable connection remains in-service. The system (called PD-OL) is able to locate the origin(s) of PDs from a complete cable connection by using only two inductive sensors, each at one cable termination. Data is measured continuously and measurement results are collected in a centralized Control Center, in which the results are analyzed and interpreted. The paper describes the system and gives field results. The effectiveness in which the system was able to detect weak spots shows to be over 80%. This means the system can help significantly to prevent outages, have continuous insight in risks and determine optimal replacement moments. Thereby intelligence is brought to cable connections.