Employing the mathematical morphology algorithm with pseudo-optimal structure element for accurate partial discharge location in power cables

For accurate location of a partial discharge source in the power cables, exact determination of time of arrival of initiated waves by PD source, is very important. The proposed method in this paper is based on applying mathematical morphology operators to perform this task. In this method the Opening-Closing filter of mathematical morphology is used for noise reduction of signal and gradient operator is used for edge detection. The proposed method does not need to have any information about the load and the cable. Comparison with the published methods has shown higher accuracy of the proposed method. Moreover the effect of noise level, noise spectrum, pulse shape and load impedance on PD location accuracy are investigated.