Partial discharge detection and diagnosis in gas insulated switchgear: State of the art

Power utilities are struggling to reduce power failure incidents in substations and their components to operate more reliably and economically [1]. Many power failures are produced directly or indirectly because of the insulation system of utility components [2], [3]. The selection of the insulation should ensure power plant operational continuity along with completely resolving or significantly limiting the actual power system's failures [4]. Gas insulated substations (GIS) have the best insulation performance which ensures achieving minimum failure incidents, although at high installation cost. The most common insulating gas used in GIS is Sulfur hexafluoride (SF ₆ ) gas, which is widely used as an effective electrical insulation as well as an arc-quenching medium [5]. Basic GIS and gas insulated transmission lines (GITL or GIL) consist of a conductor supported by solid insulators inside an enclosure filled with SF ₆ gas or its mixture [6].