Partial Discharge Positioning Method in Air-Insulated Substation With Vehicle-Mounted UHF Sensor Array Based on RSSI and Regularization

Monitoring technology for partial discharges (PDs) in air-insulated substations (AISs) has undergone development and practical application. PD positioning based on received signal strength indicator (RSSI) faces a variety of interference factors, including complex environments, multipath effects of signals, expensive fees, and huge size of monitoring equipment. These factors jointly lead to the decline of PD positioning accuracy. To solve these problems, this article proposes a substation patrol vehicle positioning technology based on RSSI and vehicle-mounted ultra high frequency (UHF) sensor array. Initially, at a specific distance, multiple measurements, Gaussian filtering, and averaging are performed on a specific PD signal, to determine the RSSI at this distance, and consequently identify the parameters within the shadowing model. Subsequently, a centralized and balanced preprocessing of the positioning equation is to be performed. Then, derive regularization parameters through the L-curve method and employ the Tikhonov regularization technique to determine the coordinates of the PD source. Simulations and experiments indicate that under simulated disturbances of 0%–15% within a space of
$30\times 30\times20$
m, the proposed method maintains a positioning error within 3.6 m. The method is cost-effective and operationally straightforward.