The effect of insulation loss and semi-conducting layers on pulse propagation behavior of power cables

Lifetime of power cable is influenced by the several factors. One of the most important factors is the occurrence of partial discharge (PD) at the dielectric. The ability to detect and locate a PD source is limited by attenuation of the high frequency PD pulses as they propagating through the cable. Attenuation is the result a range of phenomena, including: dielectric loss of the insulation and the propagation of radial current through the semi-conducting layers. This paper presents results of measurement and simulation on the semi-conducting layers of XLPE cable. The results show that the importance of computing the high frequency loss in the semi-conducting layers. In addition to the study on dielectric shows that thicker insulation will lead to lower loss and lower capacitance per unit length. The influence of tan delta of dielectric is discussed.