Medium and Low Voltage Cable Measurements - TD, PD, LIRA

Abstract

Elmont d.o.o. Krško – We have spread our main scope of the services from electrical maintenance, modifications implementations and quality control to cable testing area. The main reason for expanding our scope was to support Nuclear Power Plant Krško Cable Aging Management program and the world trend of LTE (Life Time Extension) in power plants. Scope of work – We are identifying potential downgraded conditions for safety and operational important cables in special areas (heat, water, radiation). Our main scope is visual control, and testing with analysis. For low voltage cables the main testing method is Line Resonance Analysis (LIRA). LIRA technology is based on the transmission line theory, through the estimation and analysis of the complex line impedance as a function of the applied signal frequency. We can monitor the global, progressive degradation of the cable insulation due to harsh environment conditions (high temperature, humidity, radiation) and detect local degradation of the insulation material due to mechanical impacts or local abnormal environmental conditions. For medium voltage cables we are using new methods with a power generator that uses Very Low Frequency – 0,1Hz (VLF). The main reason for this is that the measurement unit needs 500 times less energy than the unit which uses 50Hz frequency (50/0,1=500). With this power source we are performing dielectric loss measurements – Tan delta (TD) and Partial discharge measurements (PD). TD measurements show the severity of Water treeing in the measured cable. Water trees mainly come from moisture and are therefore present in cables that lie in manholes filled with water or they submerged in any other way. PD measurements show the severity of voids or other types of defects in cable insulation. These defects can arise during the manufacturing of the cable or they can arise during the installation of the cable or from an accident with the cable during the operational time.