Test Cells to Generate Reference Partial Discharge Series

This paper describes the design and characterization of test cells developed to generate a reference data bank of partial discharge (PD) series. The reference PD signals reproduced in these cells are useful for the evaluation of AC and DC PD diagnosis instruments. Technical functionalities such as PD sensitivity, PD clustering and PD source recognition can be checked using these test cells. A testing procedure to detect the existence of a specific defect in HVDC installations is proposed. This work is part of a task of the European co-funded project on metrology 15NRM02-UHV-EMPIR, which is focused in the achievement of valuable results for the IEC/CENELEC standardization.