Gold-diaphragm based Fabry-Perot ultrasonic sensor for partial discharge detection and localization

• Main Authors: Zhang, Wei, Lu, Ping, Ni, Wenjun, Xiong, Wanze, Liu, Deming, Zhang, Jiangshan
• Other Authors: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering; Fiber-optic Sensors; Fabry-Pero
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/147099
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Acoustic measurement is the most widely used non-electric method to detect partial discharge (PD) signals by detect the ultrasonic waves arisen from partial discharge. To solve the shortages of low sensitivity and susceptibility to interferences, a gold diaphragm based Fabry-Perot interferometer ultrasonic sensor is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Its high acoustic sensitivity and directional insensitivity shows great capability for PD detection and localization. Experimental results illustrate a well acoustic response from 20 kHz to 150 kHz when standard ultrasonic signals applied. The frequency range covers the acoustic frequencies derived from PD process. The ultrasonic signals from a discharge source is measured by the proposed fiber optic sensor with difference distances and incident angles. The output shows an attenuation of 1.32 dB/m and the sensor can detect weak signals as far as 3 m. The directional deviation coefficients are less than 10% for each measuring distance which exhibits directional independence. Two localization techniques with a sensor array (four sensors) are proposed and simulations are carried out to verify them feasible. The fiber-optic ultrasonic sensor may have a great potential in stability maintenance of electrical power systems due to its low cost, compact structure, environmentally robustness and simple manufacturing.