A Strategy to Determine Partial Discharge in XLPE Power Cables Using Acoustic Emission Detection Technique

Acoustic emission (AE) is a nondestructive technique that has unique potential for evaluating degradation and possibly for failure prediction, as well, of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) cables. This technique is more suited in high-voltage tests because of its external antielectromagnetism interference. The authors have demonstrated its capability toward failure prediction on XLPE cables. In this study, five sets of fifty identical XLPE cables were taken up for the investigation. These tests were carried out on both damaged and undamaged conditions. The AE data acquired during loading cycles is analyzed, and a lucid empirical relation is developed to predict their failure performance. Even though there is no pinpoint method spelled out in the open literature for the failure prediction of XLPE cables, one could appreciate the approach that impending failure is significant even at 50-60 % of maximum expected operating voltage with a reasonable error margin. Moreover, this methodology can also be applied to predict in real time the failure of similar XLPE cables made of other material systems.