A Study of Multilayer Perceptron Networks Applied to Classification of Ceramic Insulators Using Ultrasound

Abstract

Interruptions in the supply of electricity cause numerous losses to consumers, whether residential or industrial and may result in fines being imposed on the regulatory agency’s concessionaire. In Brazil, the electrical transmission and distribution systems cover a large territorial area, and because they are usually outdoors, they are exposed to environmental variations. In this context, periodic inspections are carried out on the electrical networks, and ultrasound equipment is widely used, due to non-destructive analysis characteristics. Ultrasonic inspection allows the identification of defective insulators based on the signal interpreted by an operator. This task fundamentally depends on the operator’s experience in this interpretation. In this way, it is intended to test machine learning applications to interpret ultrasound signals obtained from electrical grid insulators, distribution, class 25 kV. Currently, research in the area uses several models of artificial intelligence for various types of evaluation. This paper studies Multilayer Perceptron networks’ application to the classification of the different conditions of ceramic insulators based on a restricted database of ultrasonic signals recorded in the laboratory.