Laboratory measurement results of a spatially-resolved diagnostic method for power cables using travelling waves

In this paper, laboratory measurement results of a spatially-resolved diagnostic method for power cables will be presented. This new method uses travelling waves and their interference characteristics to generate local energy losses inside the test object. This losses can be measured and give a qualitative indication of the local physical condition of the cable insulation. The method has been tested in several simulations, which are based on discretized cable models, which were sectionally degraded. Also different lengths and different types of cables have been tested. From this set of laboratory measurements, the most significant results will be presented in this paper. In the described measurement results, the proposed approach of a diagnostic method shows local degradations of power cables and coaxial signal cables both in simulation and laboratory measurements, which cannot be detected by established reflectometry methods.