Study on the Possibility of Thermal Breakdown Process of Power Cable

The withstand voltage test of power cables is a traditional test that requires high test power and a long test time. With the development of partial discharge testing technology, whether partial discharge testing can replace withstand voltage testing has been discussed. The key to whether it can be replaced is whether there are defects that can cause breakdown without partial discharge. This defect exists theoretically. It has low resistance and will not cause partial discharge, but will cause heating and eventually thermal breakdown. But this only exists in theory, and whether it exists in actual cables is unclear. To this end, this article established the most serious heating defect, measured its temperature change during the withstand voltage test, and conducted an equivalence analysis. The research results show that even this most serious heating defect will not cause cable breakdown during the withstand voltage process, which further enhances the possibility of partial discharge testing replacing the withstand voltage test.