Abstract: A method specially designed for detecting events associated with partial discharges (PDs) in high voltage cables includes the identification of the location and the evaluation of the amplitude and rate of repetition per period of the grid voltage, with the possibility of identifying different sources producing PD signals as a function of the location thereof and recognising the type of defect associated with PDs in the same location. Generated electric signals are measured and the discriminated in relation to the background noise. A system for carrying out the method includes devices for discriminating the noise in relation to the transient waveform of the PD, determining the parameters associated therewith, determining the map of sources of PDs along the length of the cable, graphically representing the sources, and identifying the patterns of the sources of PDs separated as a function of the location thereof along the length of the cable.

Abstract: A method for detecting events associated with partial discharges (PDs) in high voltage equipment and installations diagnoses insulation conditions in real time by using PD signal noise discrimination by the parallel use of multiprocessors, which are additionally used for the discrimination, in real time, of different PD sources located in a single position or in different positions. In order to identify the various PD sources, three-dimensional clusters are formed using the coordinates of three parameters characteristic of each pulse: the parameter associated with the front time of the impulse, the parameter associated with the tail time and the parameter associated with the pulse frequency. The diagnostic method can be performed with grid voltage or independent generators as a voltage source, and the invention particularly relates to a novel voltage source designed therefor. A system for the implementation of the method captures PDs, and performs the necessary analysis and measurement.