A fiber optic powered sensor designed for partial discharges monitoring on high voltage bushings

In this work, we present the results of a fiber optic powered sensor for monitoring partial discharges on high voltage transformer bushings. The main advantages of the proposed system are high bandwidth, passivity, flexibility, non-intrusive, human and equipment risk free, easy installation and inherently galvanic isolation. The complete system is composed by the sensor that is one active hermetically sealed circular antenna installed near to the bushing flange, a fiber network and a control unit. The sensor is powered only by the optical power provided by one optic fiber connected to a remote optical source. At the same time, the partial discharge signals are transmitted by another optical fiber to the control unit installed in the substation room. We describe the design and the performance evaluation of the fiber optic powered antenna in laboratory.