Artificial aging and diagnostic measurements on medium-voltage, paper-insulated, lead-covered cables

Present and future condition-based maintenance methods and preventive maintenance strategies will require knowledge of the present condition of the equipment. For cable networks in gen eral, and for PILC cables in particular, our understanding of the physical phenomena that occur inside cable insulation systems during operation, and their influence on the remaining service lifetime, is still fragmentary. The ICAAS system was developed primarily to facilitate an artificial aging program on MV PILC cables, based on tan δ, return voltage, and PD measurements. An extensive database was built up over a period of two years. Further results will be presented in due course. It should be noted that the ICAAS is fairly freely configu rable so that, with a little effort, it could be applied to other cable types, cable garnitures, sleeves, and terminations. It could also be used to study specific cable defects introduced during manu facture or for the general verification of production quality.