Study of electrical treeing phenomena in XLPE cable samples using acoustic techniques

Electrical trees were generated experimentally in the actual 33 kV underground XLPE cable insulation material under the AC voltages. A tree like structure and a bush type of tree structure can form from the point of defect site under the AC voltages. Acoustic emission technique was adopted to identify the point of inception, propagation and termination of electrical trees. A variation in the dominant frequency content of the acoustic signal was observed as and when the tree propagates in the insulation structure. The characteristic variation in the magnitude of the acoustic emission signal with time, indicates that tree propagation as an intermittent growth process. The energy content of the acoustic signal characterizes that the energy released due to partial discharges, at every step growth of the tree structure is not the same. The partial power measurement in the present study provides an indication to the growth process of electrical trees and to the near point of failure of polymer insulation material due to electrical treeing.