Fundamental aspects of excitation and propagation of on-line partial discharge signals in three-phase medium voltage cable systems

On-line partial discharge (PD) detection of three-phase belted medium voltage cable connections results in a number of interpretation differences as compared to off-line measurements where only one phase is energized. The induced currents and charges in the phase conductors and earth screen upon a PD not only depend on the discharge site, but also become phase angle dependent. Furthermore, simulations show that the PD distribution itself varies with the amount of eccentricity of the rotating electric field and may differ from the off-line distributions obtained with a linear field. Finally, the PD propagation in a multi-conductor cable also alters the signals measured at the cable terminals. In this paper, induced charges and PD distributions are studied by means of computer simulation. The cable propagation characteristics are verified by measurements.