Partial discharge pulse sequence patterns and cavity development times in transformer oils under AC conditions

Discrete partial discharge (PD) pulse occurrence times within the PD pulse bursts in transformer oils were found to extend from approximately 0.42 to 2.9 μs, with the discrete pulse separation times evincing a weak dependence on the inverse of the oil viscosity. Many PD pulse burst patterns exhibited substantial deviation from the classical behavior, which is normally characterized by successive discrete pulses of ascending amplitude with well defined increases in the pulse separation times. The average elapsed time from the incipient formation for the cavity to the onset of the first partial discharge event extended downwards from 0.62 to 0.42 μs with increasing oil viscosity.