High Voltage Engineering A brief introduction to Partial Discharge Analysis

1 What is a partial discharge?

Partial discharge (PD) is an electrical discharge that occurs across a portion of the insulation be-
tween conductors, without completely bridging the conductors [1]. By other hand, in the standard
[2] PD is defined as an electric discharge that only partially bridges the insulation between conduc-
tors. Such discharge may, or may not, occurs adjacent to a conductor. In this last standard also is
mentioned that the general term “Ionization” should not be used to denoted te particular case of
partial discharge.
The above definition give an idea of the physical meaning of the PD, but How and Why occurs a
partial discharge? The next paragraph try to answer briefly this question. For that, it explains first
the electrical breakdown process in gases, and starting from this it explains the electrical breakdown
process in liquids and solids.

1.1 Electrical breakdown in gases

For understand How the electrical breakdown occurs in gases it is necessary understand first some-
thing about of the kinetic theory of gases.

1.1.1 Gases theory

This section is based in the Classical gas laws [3]. This laws are summarized by the state equation
of an ideal gas give by the equation (1.1).

pV = nRT (1.1)

where:

p : pressure of gas
V : volumen of gas
n : number of moles of gas
R : universal gas constant numerically equal to 8.314J/°Kmol
T : temperature of gas

The equation (1.1) can be written in several ways. A useful way to write this equation, is
presented in the equation (1.2) in where k = 1.3804·10−23 J/K is the universal Boltzmann’s constant
and N1 is the number of molecules in a volumen V of gas.

pV = N1 kT (1.2)

Since the equation (1.2) can be derived the law of partial pressures, which states that for n gases
combined should be satisfy the equation (1.3).

p = p1 + p2 + · · · + pn (1.3)

By other hand, one important theoretical law that it must be considered is the kinetic theory of
gas developed by James Clerk Maxwell in the middle of the nineteenth century. This law is based
in the following assumptions:

1. Gas consists of molecules of the same mass which are assumed spheres.

2. Molecules are in continuous random motion.

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High Voltage Engineering A brief introduction to Partial Discharge Analysis

3. Collisions are elastic – simple mechanical.

4. Mean distance between molecules is much greater than their diameter.

5. Forces between molecules and the walls of the container are negligible.

Using the above assumptions and the equation (1.2) is possible to demonstrate that the mean
energy per molecule W is given by the equation (1.4).

3
W = kT (1.4)
2
It has been shown that the velocity u of gas molecules has a statistical distribution given by the
Boltzmann-Maxwell distribution according the equation (1.5)

dNU 4 u 2 du
f (u)du = = √ ( )2 [e−(u/up ) ] (1.5)
N π up up

where up is the most probable velocity and dNu /N the relative number of particles whose in-
stantaneous velocities lie in the range u/up and (u + up )/up .
Introducing the relative velocity ur = uup is obtained the equation (1.6)

4 2
f (ur ) = √ u2r e−ur (1.6)
π
Then, it has been shown that the average velocity u is given by the equation (1.7), while the rms
velocity is given by the equation (1.8).

2
u = √ up (1.7)
π
r
3
urms = up (1.8)
2
In abscense of external field, difussion, etc. And considering a thermal equilibrium situation, if
the gas contains electrons or ions or other atoms, the average particle energy of such mixture is
given by the equation (1.9).

1 1 1 3
mu2rms = me u2erms = mi u2irms = · · · = kT (1.9)
2 2 2 2
where m, mi , me are the respective masses of the gas molecules, ions, electrons, and uef f , uief f ,
ueef f are their corresponding velocities.

The free path λ

Another concept that it is important bear in mind is the free path λ of a particle, which is defined
as the distance molecules or particles travel between collisions. The free path is a random variable,
and depend upon the concentration of particles.
In the figure 1.1 it is presented the model for determining the free paths. The particles with
radio r1 are stationary molecules, while the particles with radio r2 , where r1 > r2 . As long as the
particles travel to the right, their density will decrease due to the collisions with the bigger particles.
Assume that the particles are solid sphere, then the collisions will occurs every time the centres of
two spheres come within a distance r1 + r2 like it seen at the figure 1.1. The area per collision is
(r1 + r2 )2 π

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High Voltage Engineering A brief introduction to Partial Discharge Analysis

Figure 1.1: Modeles for determining free paths λ

References
[1] Min Wu, Hong Cao, Jianneng Cao, Hai-Long Nguyen, João Bártolo Gomes, and Shonali
Priyadarsini Krishnaswamy, An Overview of State-of-the-Art Partial Discharge analysis Tech-
niques for Condition Monitoring, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., vol. 31, pp. 22-33,2015.

[2] Partial discharge measurements, IEC Standard 270, 1981.

[3] E.Kuffel, W.S. Zaengl, J. Kuffel, Electrical breakdown in gases, in High Voltage Engineering:
Fundamentals, 2nd ed. Oxford, Great Britain: Newnes, 2003, ch.5, pp. 281-299.

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