On-site testing and diagnosis of long medium voltage cables

Many parameters can influence the quality of the PD measurement and various issues are important during the execution of a PD measurement. In particular when testing long lengths of MV cables the PD detection sensitivity and particularly the PD site location is affected. To increase the measurement sensitivity the measurement system can be extended with an additional PD measuring unit at the far end of the cable. This unit measures PD activity with the conventional standardized PD detection synchronized with the damped AC test voltage. This two sided measurement provides higher detection sensitivity in the case of long cable lengths. Furthermore, when the measurement data of the 2 units at both ends of the cable are combined with each other, further analyses provides the PD site location in case of measured PD activity. In this way it is possible to test and diagnose longer lengths of MV cables.