The High Cost Of Partial Discharge Cables

Posted by adairsawyer on August 28th, 2011

The term “partial discharge” is most definitely not a term that is commonly used, and many people do not know what it refers to. This is most certainly not surprising. Partial discharge is a technical term used to refer to an electrical phenomenon that takes place when the insulation on electrical equipment has been damaged in some way. Partial discharge is usually not a serious problem in and of itself, but it is almost always a precursor to a much more serious failure. Because of that, however, partial discharges can actually be used as a sort of early-detection system – by detecting the partial discharges early and addressing the problem, more serious failures can be prevented. Partial discharge cables are a particular problem for many operations, regardless of industry, and they are the reason why almost any operation would benefit from partial discharge monitoring services.

First, it is necessary to understand what partial discharge monitoring is. Because partial discharges are basically electrical phenomena, they cannot be detected by the naked human eye. It is therefore necessary for specialized equipment to be installed in order to detect such discharges, and this process is known as partial discharge monitoring. The partial discharge monitoring equipment will then continuously measure the levels of electricity in the environment and when a partial discharge develops and those levels go up, it will alert the operator in charge of looking after the monitoring equipment and repairs can be made to correct the problem and remove the partial discharge.

Partial discharge cables are a particular annoyance for many operations because they can occur wherever electrical cables are used, which usually means just about anywhere on a premises. Partial discharge monitoring can be used to effectively monitor for partial discharge cables, however, by locating the monitoring equipment at critical junctures where there are confluences of electrical cables. Partial discharge cables develop because the electrical insulation on the cables partially fails, and this usually takes place where the cables are connected to other equipment such as plugs and sockets or where cables have been joined together with other cables. By locating critical points where this has been done, partial discharge monitoring equipment could be deployed to detect partial discharge cables when they develop.

The main advantage to detecting partial discharge cables early is the prevention of power outages. Outages in the local power supply are usually enough for operations to contend with, without the added frustration and expense of power outages caused by problems with the electrical cabling. Power outages can be extremely expensive, particularly in manufacturing operations dealing with high-value components, as those components often are rendered useless when left partially completed due to a power outage. There is also the simple loss in revenue of the products that could have been completed and sold during the length of the power outage.

Partial discharge monitoring to detect partial discharge cables is therefore essential for any operation that wants to protect itself from such power outages and to make an investment that will probably save the operation large amounts of money in terms of averted disasters later on.

With partial discharge monitoring equipment from Dynamic Ratings installed in your operation, you will never need to worry about partial discharge cables and the enormous costs they might have ever again.