Testing New Design Partial Discharge Detector Using Vector Network Analyzer and Charge Calibrator

Partial discharge is a localized electrical discharge that only partially bridges the insulation between conductors and can or cannot occur adjacent to a conductor. In the manufacture of a PD detector, several steps need to be carried out, such as circuit simulation, dynamic characteristic testing using Vector Network Analyzer (VNA), and partial discharge measurement testing. In addition to these three stages, it is also necessary to calibrate the detector using a charge calibrator to find the charge measured by the detector during the PD measurement test. Dynamic characteristic testing using VNA and detector calibration will be the main focus of this paper. In this research, three detectors will be tested, namely a detector with an impedance value of 3dB (detector A), a detector with an impedance value of 4dB (detector B), and a detector with an impedance value of 5dB (detector C). In the VNA test, the gain and the return loss of the detector are measured. Meanwhile, in calibration using a charge calibrator, a relationship between the charge and the voltage generated by the detector will be obtained. The voltage shown in the calibration of the PD detector will be greatly influenced by the gain of each detector. Based on the VNA test results, detector A has the largest gain with a gain of 12dB, then detector B has a gain of -13dB, and detector C has a gain of 10dB. The calibration is done by giving an impulse signal with a fixed charge of 100pC, 1nC, and 10nC. Based on the calibration results, the voltage measured by the detectors is different. The largest voltage is generated by detector A and the smallest voltage value is generated by detector B.