On-line diagnostic technique for monitoring partial discharges in capacitor banks

Central Power Reseach Institute (CPRI) has necessary facilities for on-line partial discharge measurement on Capacitor banks. Measurement of switching transients, harmonics and other system disturbances appearing on the capacitor banks can also be undertaken. Such investigation will be of great help in (a) diagnosing the condition of the capacitors in operation, (b) deciding the type of circuit breakers ta be used for capacitor switching operation and also (c) to assess the performance of capacitor banks under switching transients. The proposed acoustic emission technique can be employed as a diagnostic tool for on-line condition monitoring of power capacitors as the technique is non destructive, the instrument is compact, portable and easy to operate at site as capacitors need not be disconnected from the capacitor bank.