Importance of Partial Discharge Monitoring

Posted by SharonEvans on April 14th, 2014

Electricity has brought innovation and new dimension to the human lifestyle. There is not a single house which does not have a connection of electricity these days. Several appliances involved in the routine matters of daily life operate using energy from electricity. From simple machines, like phones to portable gadgets, everything requires electricity either directly or indirectly to operate. There is a complex mechanism by which electricity reaches your home, involving cables, transformers and generators. The Partial Discharge is a major component of the transformer setup. Partial Discharge Monitoring is, therefore, necessary in order to ensure the constant supply of electricity.

A number of big industrial units and big manufacturing entities have their own electricity generation plants for constant supply of energy. The Partial Discharge can be regarded as a small spark of electric impulse which is generated within a medium of insulation as a result of high voltage or voltage fluctuations. As a result of this spark, the insulation starts eroding and the complete system of electricity is disrupted. Therefore, it is very crucial that you keep a check over the insulation system of cables and make use of switchgears as well as transformers. Installation of these devices ensures the constant and fluent supply of electricity.

According to a survey, insulation disruption or breaking down is the major cause of insulation failures. This survey depicts the importance of Partial Discharge Monitoring for the setup of any institution or company. The big companies and organization ensure the safety of their electric system regularly by conducting various PD tests. This sort of testing helps the maintenance department to assess the efficiency of the electricity and conduction system and health of expensive and sophisticated instruments and apparatus. Monitoring of the advanced equipment and sensitive technology on a regular basis may help you save a great deal of money.

In addition, the Partial Discharge testing helps you assess and predict to some extent the performance of equipment. The parts of electricity conduction system which need monitoring on regular basis are the main cables, terminations, splices, generators, motors and transformers as well as switchgears and bushings. This failure is not confined to these cables and other instruments. The small and thin cables within each machine operating separately may also be affected, resulting in complete failure of the whole system. If you are running a big setup, it is important that you seek proper documentation and results of the tests performed on equipment of different kinds.

The Partial Discharge Monitoring and testing is crucial for the maintenance of your apparatus. Therefore, whenever you purchase any equipment or cables, ask the supplier or manufacturer to provide you the results of the PD assessment. When a machine operates, there produce vibrations and movements which cause further damage to the machine. The best way to assess the PD of any machine or part of a machine is through correlating the data and results obtained during working of the machines. This is the only way to predict the efficiency of any machine to the fullest and most accurately.

Partial Discharge is a very important consideration for the effective working of any machine. You should conduct the Partial Discharge Monitoring for keeping a check over health status of your machines.