Development of partial-discharge-emulator for smart grid monitoring system

Development of subsystems like PD emulators is an approach to operation optimization and real-time condition monitoring in future smart grid. This paper illustrates the method of PD locating based on the technique of VHF based emulator development. A partial discharge emulator consists of a spark plug and miniature electric fence circuit is developed. The system was tested by using a PD source in air to evaluate the sensitivity and the impulse behavior in correlation to the conventional measurement technique. Here the VHF method can be considered for PD detection which takes advantage of the fact that discharges emanating from the spark plug produce electromagnetic waves with frequencies that extend well into the VHF range (100 to 300 MHz). A simpler and low cost square law detector for partial discharge detection has also been developed and tested. The paper describes a novel method of radio frequency partial discharge detection method by using a simpler and low cost square law detector in radio frequency range.