Simulation of cross-shaped ultrasonic array applied for partial discharge location in oil

A study on a combined sensor was made for partial discharge (PD) location in oil. The sensor includes a cross-shaped ultrasonic phased array of 13 elements and four ultra-high frequency (UHF) electromagnetic sensor. The ultrasonic array can achieve the performance of 61 elements with high-order cumulant processing technology. It can improve the array aperture and direction sharpness and greatly simplify the complexity of the following circuit and reduce the manufacturing cost. The method of PD location which use expanded ultrasonic array accompanied with UHF electromagnetic array has better performance. The spatial spectrum comparing with MUSIC (multiple signal classification) method shows that virtual expanding array of the fewer number array elements with high-order cumulant processing technology has strong ability to suppress colored Gaussian noise interference. This provides the possibility for the practical application of array technology in power equipment.