Numerical Analysis of Partial Discharge Source Localization Using Time of Arrival Measurements and Nonlinear Least Squares Search

Partial discharge (PD) activity is a pre-cursor for insulation degradation which may eventually lead to catastrophic failure of the electrical equipment with severe social and economic consequences. It is therefore imperative that PD is detected and located at its early stages to permit repair or replacement prior to total failure. A source localization algorithm is presented for localizing defects in the insulation of high-voltage equipments based on Time of Arrival (TOA) measurements and nonlinear least squares search (NLS). Numerical simulations of the sensor array along with a partial discharge source were carried out. Simulations show 6.6 mm error in source localization for a simulated PD signal with 0.5 GHz bandwidth (BW) centered at 1 GHz. The estimation error reduced to 4.2 mm as the BW was increased to 1 GHz.