Research on the Calibration Influence Factors of UHF Partial Discharge Detector

Ultra high frequency (UHF) partial discharge detection technology has been widely used in on-line monitoring of electrical equipment, for the influence factors of UHF signal's transfer function is complicated, the calibration of UHF method is still not realized until now. In order to study the calibration influence factors of UHF partial discharge (PD) detector, the discharge mechanism of typical PD defects is analyzed, and use a PD UHF signal simulator with multiple adjustable parameters to simulate types of PD UHF signals of electrical equipment, then performed the relative experimental research in propagation characteristics and Sensor characteristics of UHF signals. It is concluded that the calibration reliability has big differences between UHF signal energy and discharge capacity of different discharge source. The calibration curve of corona discharge and suspended discharge which can representation the severity of equipment insulation defect more accurate, and the calibration curve of internal air gap discharge and dielectric surface discharge is poorer. The distance of UHF signal energy decays to stable period become smaller with increase of frequency, and the decay of UHF signal energy is irrelevant to its frequencies when the measuring angle is changing. The frequency range of measuring UHF signal depends on effective frequency range of measurement sensor, moreover, the gain and standing-wave ratio of sensor and the energy of the received signal manifested same change trend. Therefore, in order to calibration the UHF signal, it is necessary to comprehensive consideration the specific discharge type and measuring condition. The results provide the favorable reference for a further study to build the calibration system of UHF measuring method, and to promote the effective application of UHF method in sensor characteristic fault diagnosis and insulation evaluation of electrical equipment.