Adrián González Parada

System of Measurement and Analysis of Partial Discharges in Underground Power Cables

A partial discharge is a nonlinear phenomenon of electrical breakdown that is confined and localized in the region of an insulating medium between two conducting materials which are at different potentials. The damage of the insulating material, which is subjected to an AC voltage during the discharge process, can be directly or indirectly measured by the bombardment of energetic electrons. In this paper we propose a LabVIEW interface for acquisition, measurement, and analysis of partial discharges using hybrid programming. The proposed interface allows the simultaneous acquisition of sixteen input channels and a detailed analysis of the current signals in the underground electric power conductor is performed for each channel. The obtained results support the feasibility of the implemented configuration for measuring, monitoring, and analysis of several effects related to the partial discharges phenomena such as thermal, acoustic, and electrical, and thus to obtain important information about the insulating material status.