Partial discharge pulse pattern recognition using Hidden Markov Models

An approach for the classification of cavity sizes based on their maximum charge transfer characteristics, applied voltage partial discharge pattern using Hidden Markov Models, is described. In these models, the partial discharge patterns for different cavity sizes are represented by a sequence of events rather than by the actual curves. In the training phase, each cavity size represents a unique class, which emits its own eigen sequence. Vector Quantization is deployed to assign labels for this particular sequence of events. A Hidden Markov Model is trained for each class, using a set of training patterns consisting of the labels produced by Vector Quantization. During testing, the sequence of events to be recognized is quantized and then matched against all the developed models. The best-matched model pinpoints the cavity size class. Experimental results demonstrate the remarkable capability of the proposed algorithm.