Detection of Self-Healing Discharge in Metallized Film Capacitors Using an Ultrasonic Method

Abstract

Benefiting from self-healing features, metallized film capacitors (MFCs) are widely employed to compensate reactive power (VAR) and thus improve the performance of AC systems. To ensure the aforementioned functions, self-healing testing is a compulsory quality inspection for every type of MFC. In 2014, the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) issued a standard that recommended a general and instructive test procedure based on audible noise or ultrasound signals. However, more details relevant to this high voltage (HV) test were not provided. In this paper, we focused on the ultrasonic detection technique to reveal the self-healing characteristics of two typical MFCs. By launching a series of HV tests with star and delta MFCs, the waveform features, discharge energy, and spectrum distributions were analyzed. It was observed that the partial discharge always occurs before self-healing discharge with the same spectrum features ranging above 40 kHz. To solve the entanglement of these two discharge processes, a relative amplitude difference method is proposed. Based on the experimental observations, a detection algorithm incorporated with the ultrasonic emission sensors, preamplifier, and high-speed A/D converter was developed to assist the self-healing performance test.

Keywords

• MFCs
• self-healing discharge
• performance test
• ultrasound
• ultrasonic features