Partial discharge measurements using tailored excitation waveforms

This paper proposes that the injection of an impulse, at a suitable time on a power frequency voltage wave, can trigger the inception of partial discharges. In this way a deterministic component is introduced into the observation of partial discharge activity and the ability to minimize the influence of noise in a measurement is enhanced considerably. Two simple experiments are described which demonstrate the triggered inception of partial discharges and the strong `focusing´ effect of the triggering impulse, whereby the discharge activity is concentrated immediately after the injection of the impulse and a significant `quiet´ period follows in which minimal discharge activity occurs