Improved Quantification of Partial Discharges for Reliable Diagnostics of Multipath Connections in MV Substations

The reliability of a diagnostic system depends on the measurement accuracy of the signals used to detect faults and understanding of the factors affecting the critical characteristics of these signals. Partial discharge (PD) monitoring is an effective tool to detect and predict insulation faults in power equipment. This paper focuses on the behavior of PD signals considering multibranch connection points, which significantly affect the amplitude of the PD signals as compared to straight connections in the power grid infrastructure. The study is conducted on an experimental setup in the laboratory environment. The implications of the splitting of PD energy have been discussed from the perspective of quantification of the PD activity. The presented study provides an understanding and interpretation of PDs in the multipath connection scenarios in order to improve the accuracy of PD diagnostics in the critical components such as switchgear, busbars, and cable networks.