Design of Partial Discharge Test Environment for Oil-Filled Submarine Cable Terminals and Ultrasonic Monitoring

Abstract

Based on the principle of operating an oil-filled-cable operation and the explanation of the oil-filling process provided in the cable operation and maintenance manual of submarine cables, this study investigated oil-pressure variation caused by gas generated as a result of cable faults. First, a set of oil-filled cables and their terminal oil-filled simulation system were designed in the laboratory, and a typical oil-filled-cable fault model was established according to the common faults of oil-filled cables observed in practice. Thereafter, ultrasonic signals of partial discharge (PD) under different fault models were obtained via validation experiments, which were performed by using oil-filled-cable simulation equipment. Subsequently, the ultrasonic signal mechanism was analyzed; these signals were generated via electric, thermal, and acoustic expansion and contraction, along with electric, mechanical, and acoustic electrostriction. Finally, upon processing the 400 experimental data groups, four practical parameters—maximum amplitude of the ultrasonic signal spectrum, Dmax, maximum frequency of the ultrasonic signals, fmax, average ultrasonic signal energy, Dav, and the ultrasonic signal amplitude coefficient, M—were designed to characterize the ultrasonic signals. These parameters can be used for subsequent pattern recognition. Thus, in this study, the terminal PD of an oil-filled marine cable was monitored.