PARTIAL DISCHARGE MEASUREMENTS,

AN IMPORTANT TOOL TO DETECT DAMAGED

HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATORS
Edgar Robles
Instituto de Investigaciones Elctricas
Av. Reforma 113, Temixco, Morelos, Mxico
erp@iie.org.mx

1. Introduction

Design and construction of the generators have

a great influence on partial discharge
measurements. Most of the turbo generators
used lap winding and generally have only one
circuit per phase. PEMEX used mostly gas
turbine generators up to 50 MW. All of them use
air cooling system and one branch per phase.
CFE has a great diversity of turbo generators,
ranging from 50 MW on combined cycle power
plants to the biggest, 600 MW, on a nuclear
plant. Even the largest turbo generators in
Mexico have only two branches in parallel at the
most. Manufacturers were able to handle more
power from a generator changing the cooling
system. Two types of cooling systems were
developed for large stator windings, hydrogen
direct cooling and water direct cooling systems.

One of the most important dealings of the

Electrical Equipment Department of the Instituto
de Investigaciones Elctricas has been the
assessment of large electrical generators. All
type of generators from the CFE (the Mexican
Government Utility) and from the National
Petroleum Company (PEMEX) have been
evaluated both on-line and off-line.

Partial discharge pulses have to travel relatively

small distances to the external circuit were the
coupling
capacitor
and
the
measuring
impedance is connected. The attenuation of the
PD pulses depends on the frequency bandwidth
of the amplifier [2]. A standard partial discharge
amplifier from 15 to 800 kHz is normally used
with a 10 nF coupling capacitor.

Experience has proved that the most sensitive

and reliable test on assessing stator windings
insulation
has
been
partial
discharge
measurements. Off-line measurements require a
PD free source to excite the windings. As it was
shown in last year workshop, a resonant
transformer is used to carry out this task [1]. The
resonant transformer can be tuned with the
winding capacitance either, varying the supply
frequency or the iron gap of the magnetic core.

On the other hand, hydro generators stator

windings normally have several branches on
parallel, depending on the capacity of the
generator. As a rule of thumb, each parallel
winding can deliver up to 50 MW. For instance a
200 MW generator will have four parallel
branches per phase. This type of generators
have a very large diameter and the winding can
be either lapped or wavy.

Abstract
Partial Discharge measurements can be use to
accurately determine the conditions of high
voltage generators. PD activity can be recorded
with the generator off-line during maintenance
outages at different test voltages levels or on-line
with the machine at different loading conditions.
Applied techniques and results are shown
through the discussion of two relevant cases, the
analysis of Hydroelectric generators with slot
discharges activity that were rehabilitated and
the study of a direct Hydrogen cooled turbo
generator that is in critical conditions after
suffering severe failures in the stator windings.

Fig. 5

Hydrogen direct cooling system of the generator being analyzed

3. Hydrogen direct cooled generator

A detailed track of the behavior of a turbo
generator trough on-line and off-line partial
discharge measurements is now presented. The
generator under examination is rated 346 MVA
at 20 kV with hydrogen direct cooling system.
The generator was commissioned on 1976 and
after 19 operating years suffered a severe
internal failure between phases, the stator
winding was completely destroyed [6]. It was
necessary to rewind the stator winding with
spare bars from other generators of the same
type installed in Mexico. Off-line partial discharge
measurements were carried out before
commissioning the generator. Unfortunately a
second failure occurred two years later, on
March 1997. Lubricating oil went inside the
generator and blocked the cooling ducts in the
connecting ring of the stator windings. The
generator was repaired again and put back into
service but it was noticed that the operating
temperature increased abnormally and also a
dramatic increase of partial discharge levels was
observed during off-line measurements. It is now
necessary to determine the conditions of the

stator winding trough on-line and off-line

measurements. A summary of the results and
techniques used to assess the conditions of this
generator will be presented in this article.
Hydrogen direct cooling stator windings use
cooling ducts inside the main conductors to
dissipate the heat produced by the phase
current. A schematic diagram of the cooling
system of the generator is shown in Fig. 5. The
ducts are isolated from the main conductors to
avoid circulating currents and in order to keep
the cooling ducts at the same potential with the
main conductor, the manufacturer uses a 5 k
resistor in one side of the end windings. A detail
of the cooling ducts inside the main conductor
and the interconnection between the upper and
the lower bars is shown in Fig. 6.
If for any reason, the equipotential resistor is
disconnected or damaged, a potential difference
is established, which in turn generates external
PD activity. It has been measured discharge
levels on the order of 40 nC with a failed resistor.
Due to the location of the equipotential resistor,
and the geometrical shape of the bar, it is

At the end of the cooling ducts, in the turbine

side, there is a critical zone due to the high
temperature of the hydrogen before reaching the
heat exchangers. Although the discharges do
not represent a problem for the insulation of the
stator bars, this might ignite the hydrogen. If this
happens, the gas looses its dielectric
characteristics as it is highly ionized and may
cause a flashover between cooling ducts of
different phases. This type of phenomenon can
cause extremely severe damages to the
generator.

Again, the generator was repaired and put back

into
service.
Off-line
partial
discharge
measurements were recorded after this event.
The results are shown in Fig. 8b. The generator
has been reviewed in a yearly basis and was
noticed that the discharge level is increasing.
The last reviewed was made on July 2001 and
was noticed that PD levels increased even
further. The results are shown in Fig. 8c
100

a)

80
Qmx. (nC)

estimated that the affected external surface of

the coil can be of the order of 8 cm.

60

40
20
0
2

10

11

12

10

11

12

10

11

12

b)

80
Qmx. (nC)

7
Voltaje (kV)

100

60
40
20
0
2

c)

Detailed of the cooling ducts and the phase

conductor.

3.1 Off line pd measurements

Qmx. (nC)

80

Fig. 6

7
Voltaje (kV)

100

60
40
20

As previously mentioned, the generator suffered

a severe failure in 1995, after being rewound, it
was put into service. Off-line partial discharge
measurements were recorded as part of the
testing protocol. The obtained values are shown
in Fig. 8a. After two years of being in operation,
a second failure occurred. Lubricating oil went
into the generator and blocked the hollow
conductors that interconnect the winding.
The design engineers can increase the current
density, about two to three times, when direct
hydrogen cooling is used. As the oil did not
allowed the flow of the cooling gas the heat
could not be removed from the conductor, the
insulation failed by thermal runaway. It produced
a short circuit between phases that evolved into
a three phase short circuit without any series
impedance that could limit the short circuit
current.

0
2

7
Voltaje (kV)

Fase A

Fase B

Fase C

Fig. 8 PD characteristics as a function of test voltage.

a) after being repaired from the 95 failure, b) after
97 failure, c) recorded on July 01

Just recently, PD maps were recorded at 10.5 kV

during an off-line testing of the generator. A
coupling capacitor of 145 pF with an RLC
measuring impedance was connected at the end
terminals of each phase. A 20 kHz to 1 MHz
preamplifier was used to connect the measuring
impedance. The PD detector was set at 40 to
800 kHz. Phase A registered a Qmax of 45 nC,
Phase B, 36 nC and Phase C 20 nC. It is

important to notice that the measurements

obtained with the digital instrument differ
considerably with respect those obtained with a
conventional detector with an RLC impedance.
PD maps obtained are shown in Fig. 9.

to a preamplifier with a bandwidth of 2 to 20

MHz. The preamplifier was connected to the
partial discharge detector with a low cut-off
frequency that can be selected at 40, 80 or 100
kHz and a high frequency cut-off of 250, 600 kHz
or 800 kHz. The bandwidth is selected according
to the noise condition of the environment.
Amplifier was set at 40 kHz as the low cut-off
frequency and 800 kHz as the high cut-off
frequency. A typical discharge map with the
highest level and the lowest is shown in Fig. 11.

Fig. 10

RTDs distribution on the stator winding of the

generator being analyzed.

When a low frequency set up is used (in the

range of hundreds of kHz, the calibration pulse
injected in the line side or the neutral side of the
wining is almost the same. For instance if the
coupling capacitor is connected at the end
terminal of the generator and the discharges are
occurring in the neutral side the instrument will
record practically the same value.

Fig. 9 PD digital maps obtained at 10.5 kV on phases A,

B and C respectively

Off-line discharges were also recorded from the

RTDs terminals to identify the discharge sites.
The RTDs are evenly distributed in the stator
winding as shown in Fig. 10. PD discharges
were recorded trough the RTD terminal box. A
clip on current transformer with a bandwidth of
1.2 to 40 MHz was used to couple the high
frequency signals coming from the generator to
the RTD box. The signals from the CT were fed

But, if a high frequency set up is used, the PD

pulses tend to attenuate with traveling distance.
This behavior can be used to identify the
discharge sources. Using a high frequency
system, it is possible to couple the discharges
trough the RTDs and as the position of the
RTDs in the stator winding are known, the
discharge position and possible sources can be
identified. Table 1 shows the PD level recorded
on each RTD. The biggest value has been taken
as 1.0 pu that was measured in RTD 8 on Phase
B. From the point of view of off-line
measurements, the critical discharge sites are in
the area of RTD 7 and 8, both in Phase B and
RTD 11 on Phase C.

Fig. 12

On-line PD maps obtained from RTD 5 (highest

value) on phase C

Table 2

On-line PD levels obtained trough the RTD

connections

RTD
Phase A
Phase B
Phase C
relative
position RTD PD RTD PD RTD PD
level
level
level
(Vn)
(pu)
(pu)
(pu)
Fig. 11

Table 1

Off-line PD maps obtained from RTD 18

(highest value) on phase C and RTD 8 (lowest
value) on Phase B
Off-line PD levels obtained trough the RTD
connections

RTD
Phase A
Phase B
Phase C
relative
RTD PD RTD PD RTD PD
position
level
level
level
(Vn)
(pu)
(pu)
(pu)
1.0

0.1

1.0

12

0.1

0.8

0.1

0.8

11

0.5

0.4

0.1

0.1

0.4

0.16

10

0.1

0.7

0.2

1.0 pu = 36 Nc

3.2 On-line measurements

The same technique was used to obtained
discharge maps from the RTDs with the
generator operating at 80 % of its rated load,
240 MVA and 77 MVAR with a power factor of
0.94. Maximum operating temperature was 83C
on RTD 16. The highest PD levels were
recorded on RTD 5 on Phase C. The obtained
discharge map is shown in Fig. 12 and the
relative PD values are shown on Table 2

1.0

0.2

0.2

12

0.5

0.8

0.7

0.4

11

0.9

0.4

0.4

0.4

1.0

0.16

10

0.8

0.4

0.4

4. CONCLUSIONS
It
has
been
demonstrated
that
PD
measurements are very helpful to follow the
generators behavior. On-line measurements are
relatively easy to performed even trough the
RTD terminals that all generators are provided
with. It is necessary to consider the frequency
bandwidth of the instrument that is being used.
Low frequency measurements can explore the
complete winding but interference might become
a big problem. On the other hand, high
frequency measurements have a better signal to
noise ratio but the attenuation trough the electric
circuit can be very high. It is important to take
advantage of both test methods to define the
conditions of an electrical generator.
REFERENCES
1. Correlation between the bandwidth of PD
detectors and its inherent integration errors.
W. S. Zaengl, P. Osvath, H. J. Weber.
Conference Record of 1986 IEEEE

Symposium
on
Electrical
Washington D. C. June 1986

Insulation,

2. Recognition of discharges, Paper presented

by Working Group 21.03, Electra N 11,
1969
3. Rehabilitation of El Caracol Hydroelectric
Power Plant. Project Conclusions. Marcos
Esparza, J. Garca, R. Campuzano, E.
Robles. 7 International Congress on
Rotating Machines, AMIME, October, 1997,
Veracruz, Mexico.
4. Description of a violent failure of a 346 MVA
generator. Edgar Robles, Jos Lpez,
Alfredo
Medina.
Doble
Engineering
Conference, Boston, Ma. January, 1996.