An Efficient Algorithm for Partial Discharge Localization in High-Voltage Systems Using Received Signal Strength

Abstract

The term partial discharge (PD) refers to a partial bridging of insulating material between electrodes that sustain an electric field in high-voltage (HV) systems. Long-term PD activity can lead to catastrophic failures of HV systems resulting in economic, energy and even human life losses. Such failures and losses can be avoided by continuously monitoring PD activity. Existing techniques used for PD localization including time of arrival (TOA) and time difference of arrival (TDOA), are complicated and expensive because they require time synchronization. In this paper, a novel received signal strength (RSS) based localization algorithm is proposed. The reason that RSS is favoured in this research is that it does not require clock synchronization and it only requires the energy of the received signal rather than the PD pulse itself. A comparison was made between RSS based algorithms including a proposed algorithm, the ratio and search and the least squares algorithm to locate a PD source for nine different positions. The performance of the algorithms was evaluated by using two field scenarios based on seven and eight receiving nodes, respectively. The mean localization error calculated for two-field-trial scenarios show, respectively, 1.80 m and 1.76 m for the proposed algorithm for all nine positions, which is the lowest of the three algorithms.

Improving RF-Based Partial Discharge Localization via Machine Learning Ensemble Method

“…In [48], the authors developed a Software Defined Radio (SDR) PD localization system based on received signal strength to infer PD location. However, they presented results for a single location estimate which we assumed to be the best location estimate; this approach yielded a location error of 1.3 m. Another RSS-based PD localization system was proposed in [49]. Here, the system involves estimating the path loss exponent and converting the RSS into distance.…”

Partial Discharge Detection and Localization: Using Software-Defined Radio

“…Received signal strength is a simple and cost effective algorithm as there is no need to install additional hardware and software, [7]. A lower quality of communication between the receiver and the transmitter is mostly caused by a lower received signal strength.…”

“…Regarding the unknown parameters, the radiated power is eliminated from the calculations and only relative received powers are used. On the other hand, the path loss index is estimated by the algorithm, [7,24]. Expected uncertainties in distance calculations are of approximately 1 meter.…”

“…The nodes measure the intensity of the PD with relation to the inverse power law due to distance. Therefore, a location algorithm based on received signal strength (RSS) can be used to locate the source of PD, an estimation error is proposed to be less than 1 meter, [7]. Individual sensor nodes are usually hardware based radiometers, [8].…”

Variability of the UHF Signals Generated by Partial Discharges in Mineral Oil

“…Of all the mentioned above methods, UHF is one of the most promising, especially regarding the noise resistivity and relative ease of application, especially in on-site conditions. Main application areas of the UHF method for PD analysis in electric power apparatus are detection [15,16,17] and localization of the source [18,19]. It also should be mentioned that several works have been done on a sensitivity check process for the UHF method, so far [20,21].…”