It is generally accepted that the presence of bubbles severely degrades the electric strength of liquid dielectrics, but the influencing factors and mechanisms have yet to be elucidated. Dynamic behavior, partial discharges (PDs) inside bubbles, and their effects on the breakdown of transformer oil are investigated experimentally and theoretically in this study. The results show that, under a nonuniform electric field, the presence of bubbles does not significantly affect the PD inception voltage (PDIV) and breakdown voltage (BV) of the liquid, as bubbles migrate to the region with lower field strength under dielectrophoretic force. In a uniform electric field, conversely, bubbles greatly reduce PDIV and BV; an increase in the number of bubbles or a slower voltage rise rate appears to exacerbate this effect. The PDIV observed in the experiment is much higher than the theoretical value calculated by the Townsend theory or streamer criterion, which may be due to the lack of free electrons inside the bubble, thus resulting in scarce internal discharge. The addition of X-rays enhances the radiation ionization and then eliminates the inconsistency between the theoretical and measured values of PDIV, which supports our hypothesis. The bubble-triggered breakdown of liquid dielectrics, namely, once a discharge occurs inside the bubble, likely triggering the breakdown of the liquid gap, is observed. The electric field enhancement caused by surface charges and the instability of the gas–liquid interface may account for this.

For continuous or spiral windings which feature multiple continuously transposed conductors (CTC) wound in parallel, the transposition structure is commonly used to suppress circulation between conductors. This introduces a local asymmetry in transformer windings. Fault analyses have shown that building an asymmetric structure in transformers increases deformation risk in these windings. Researchers have yet to fully investigate this asymmetric structure. This study was conducted to observe the influence of transposition structure in a 110 kV transformer. The conductor's relative position forms three patterns during the transposition process; two parameters are established to describe the position-changing process. A finite-element method (FEM) model is built to investigate the magnetic field and electromagnetic force distributions. The results indicate that the transposition structure distorts the magnetic field distribution. The maximum distortion factor of the axial component of magnetic flux density (B _z ) along the axial direction caused by the transposition structure is 14.6%. The transposition structure only changes the radial change slope of B _z . The gap caused by the transposition process aggravates imbalance in the ampere-turns distribution, increasing the amplitude of the radial component of magnetic flux density (B _r ) at the middle height of the transformer low voltage (LV) winding. The maximum amplitude of B _r at the transposition structure increases by 513%. The Lorentz force over the CTCs remains constant from before to after the transposition process, though its linear density over the CTCs is unevenly distributed throughout. The axial component F _z varies from -31 to 10 kN/m, while the radial component F _r varies from -146 to -51 kN/m. The results show that the initial stage of the CTC height rising segment is a weak point and should be strengthened in the manufacturing process.

Partial discharge (PD) causes different physical processes in different mediums, exciting acoustic signals with wide frequency distribution. And the attenuation and catadioptric process of the acoustic signal caused by the propagation medium weaken the acoustic signal and further complicate the characteristics. As a result, the characteristics of PD acoustic signals are closely related to the properties of insulating mediums. Therefore, it is necessary to select an appropriate acoustic sensor based on the characteristic of the PD acoustic signal. The optical acoustic sensing technology has high sensitivity, fast response speed and strong anti-interference ability, which is the most potential PD detection sensor, ensuring the safe and stable operation of power equipment. But the response characteristics of the sensor limited the accurate characteristic analysis of acoustic signals in the previous research. This paper reviewed the characteristics of PD acoustic signals in typical insulating mediums obtained by previous research, analyzed the optical acoustic sensor suitable for partial discharge detection, which aims at selecting the sensors suitable for PD detection of different types of power equipment based on the current sensor technology and prospecting the development direction of the optical acoustic sensor for PD detection.

Gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) is widely used today in electrical power systems because of its reliability, compaction, long maintenance cycle, and small impact on the environment [1]. In its use the normal operation of the disconnector generates very fast transient overvoltages (VFTO) with frequencies ranging from 1 to 100 MHz [2] and amplitudes up to 2.5 p.u. [3]. For systems above 330 kV, the insulation strength of the GIS under VFTO is of concern as insulation failures caused by VFTO have exceeded those caused by lightning impulse (LI) [4]. This characteristic has attracted the attention of researchers worldwide and currently is a hot topic in the field of ultra-high-voltage (UHV) GIS insulation.

Bubbles, as typical defects of oil–paper insulation systems, pose a great threat to the insulation state. In this article, the characteristics and mechanisms of the partial discharge (PD) inception, evolution, and induced breakdown of bubbles embedded between oil-impregnated paper (OIP) layers are investigated. The results show that the PD inception has a significant statistical time delay due to the lack of free electrons. The PD inception time delay (PDTD) follows an exponential distribution and leads to the large dispersion of the PD inception voltage (PDIV), which follows a Weibull distribution. The changes in PD behavior [charge, repetition rate, pulse current waveform, and phase-resolved PD (PRPD)] over time all show two separable stages (stages 1 and 2). The continuous recording of bubble area and gas composition under PD reveals that the evolution of bubble PD is attributed to the change in gas composition rather than the change in surface conditions as believed by researchers. The OIP breakdown induced by bubble PD indicates two breakdown modes, fast and slow, which correspond to direct-induced breakdown in stage 1 and cumulative-damage breakdown in stage 2. The former occurs because of the severe distortion of the electric field by the space charge at the head of the discharge channel inside the bubble, whereas the latter occurs because of the gradual deterioration of the OIP due to the continuous PD action. This study increases our understanding of the mechanisms of bubble discharge and of oil–paper insulation deterioration, and it provides guidance for fault diagnoses.

Conductive particles are one of the most important defects which can greatly degrade the performance of gas-insulated metal-enclosed switchgear (GIS). Many efforts have been made to clarify the influence on the withstand voltage, understand the flashover mechanism, and build a comprehensive model to describe the particle-initiated flashover. In this study, a partial discharge (PD) signal detected through a photomultiplier (PMT) and recorded by a high-speed data acquisition (DAQ) system was used to analyze the discharge development of a conductive particle-contaminated GIS insulator under constant high AC voltage. An additional PMT was used as a reference to eliminate the dark count of the PMT and the data collection method of a DAQ system was optimized to capture the pulse waveform of each PD to obtain detailed physical information. Spectra of the PD pulse amplitude over pulse width, PD counts within various amplitude ranges over time and phase resolved partial discharge (PRPD) patterns of the PDs in different stages are obtained through the captured PD waveforms. Characteristics of the PDs from the application of the high AC voltage up to the flashover of the insulator were then analyzed, and it was found that the features of the PDs in the near-flashover stage were significantly different to the previous stages.