Investigation of high frequency signal propagation characteristics on HV XLPE cables

The insulation lifetime of power cables is determined by several factors. One of the more important of these is the occurrence of partial discharge (PD) at the dielectric. The ability to detect and locate a PD source is limited by attenuation of the high frequency PD pulses as they propagate through the cable. Therefore it is necessary to understand the high frequency response of such cables. Further, to enable reconstruction of PD signals as emitted a viable high frequency model for simulation is needed. This paper presents results of measurements of PD calibration pulse and high frequency sinusoid propagation in HV XLPE cables. In addition to the tests a cable model was developed using the transient analysis software ATPDraw for simulation purposes. The simulation results are compared with the test measurement results and it was found that the model used was able to predict the measurement results accurately. It was found that the semi-conducting screen has significant impact on propagation characteristics.