On-line partial discharge insulation condition monitoring of complete high voltage (HV) networks

The authors present a novel on-line partial discharge (OLPD) high voltage (HV) insulation condition monitoring (CM) solution for complete HV network monitoring of petrochemical refining facilities. Continuous, (24/7) OLPD insulation monitoring of the HV insulation condition of cables, switchgear, transformers and rotating machines (operating at 3000 V and above) provides operators with an early warning against incipient HV insulation faults, that manifest themselves through high partial discharge (PD) activity. Knowledge of the severity and source of any site(s) of PD across the HV network enables pinpointed preventative maintenance interventions to be carried out to help avoid unplanned outages. To achieve OLPD monitoring coverage of the complete HV network, OLPD sensors and monitoring nodes are distributed at strategic locations across the network. All of the monitoring data from the distributed monitoring nodes is passed to a central server that runs an advanced OLPD monitoring database for the logging, display, benchmarking trending and visualization of the monitoring data. A graphical user interface (GUI) displays the condition criticality (from 0-100%) of individual HV plant items on a mimic of the network's single-line diagram (SLD). The paper concludes with a case study showing how a complete HV network OLPD monitoring solution was implemented at a crude oil processing facility in Eurasia.