Experimental Investigation of the Corona Discharge in Electrical Transmission due to AC/DC Electric Fields

Abstract

Nowadays, using of High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission to maximize the transmission efficiency, bulk power transmission, connection of renewable power source from wind farm to the grid is of prime concern for the utility. However, due to the high electric field stress from Direct Current (DC) line, the corona discharge can easily be occurred at the conductor surface leading to transmission loss. Therefore, the polarity effect of DC lines on corona inception and breakdown voltage should be investigated. In this work, the effect of DC polarity and Alternating Current (AC) field stress on corona inception voltage and corona discharge is investigated on various test objects, such as High Voltage (HV) needle, needle at ground plane, internal defect, surface discharge, underground cable without cable termination, cable termination with simulated defect and bare overhead conductor. The corona discharge is measured by partial discharge measurement device with high-frequency current transformer. Finally, the relationship between supply voltage and discharge intensity on each DC polarity and AC field stress can be successfully determined.