Chromaticity-based optoacoustic condition monitoring of high voltage circuit breaker

An approach is described for monitoring and characterizing the operating condition of high voltage circuit breakers. The approach employs optical fiber acoustic sensors to detect vibro-acoustic signals from the circuit breaker. The optical outputs are converted into electronic signals via a remote acoustic monitoring unit (AMU). The signals are then processed using a chromatic analysis technique to characterize the complex operation of the circuit breaker using only three parameters. The preliminary results obtained indicate that it is possible to distinguish changes in hydraulic pressure of the circuit breaker operating mechanism during final contact separation post-arc window for switching various levels of fault currents. This provides a means to monitor non-intrusively on line with good high voltage insulation capability and immunity to radio frequency interference.