Return voltage measurements on metal oxide surge arresters

A number of diagnostics are currently available to monitor the condition of metal oxide surge arresters. Very often a number of these diagnostics do not provide meaningful interpretation about the condition of arresters. The authors have experienced one such anomaly during their involvement with multipulse operating duty tests on distribution type metal oxide surge arresters. The return voltage method was found to be very sensitive and was compared to power loss measurement for such applications. The authors have recently conducted return voltage measurements on eight distribution class metal oxide arresters. The findings from this research are presented in this paper