Fiber fabry-perot sensors for acoustic detection of partial discharges in transformers

Acoustic emission monitoring is often used in the diagnosis of electrical and mechanical incipient faults in high voltage apparatus. A great number of methods are available for condition monitoring and diagnosis of power transformer insulation, but only a few can take direct measurements inside a transformer. Partial discharges are a major source of insulation failure in power transformers and their detection can be achieved through the associated acoustic emissions. This paper reports the development of two sensing head configurations based on extrinsic and intrinsic fiber Fabry-Perot interferometers for the detection of incipient faults in oil-filled power transformers. These sensors can be placed inside the transformer tank without affecting the insulation integrity, improving fault detection and location. The performances of the sensing heads are characterized and compared with the situations where it operates in air, water and oil and promising results are obtained, which will allow the industrial development of practical solutions.