Investigating the effects of partial discharges on the life of insulation of high voltage cables

An effect has been made to study the effect of partial discharges on the life of insulation of high voltage cables. The most widely used insulation, Polyethylene, is selected for the present research work. Polyethylene specimens were carefully prepared in a clean environment and partial discharge tests were performed by application of voltage (ranging from 1KV to 18KV) to specified specimens for specified time intervals. The required data thus obtained was used to correlate the magnitude of P.D. (in P.C.) with the damage/degradation (in micron) of the insulation in order to investigate the integrity of the insulation. (author)