The introduction of the UHF PD partial discharge measurement method for identifying the status of GIS installations

The extended use of gas insulated switching installations (GIS) sets new demands for maintenance technicians. Conventional and verified diagnostic tools disable a satisfactory insight in complex gas insulated switching installations. The High Voltage Laboratory (HVL) realised a goal in 2017 to extend the range of diagnostic methods in the field of gas insulated switching devices. Two new methods were evaluated as effective and technically feasible:

• the acoustic method which uses pick up sensors to discover solid substances in the system, and

• the UHF method that uses integrated or external UHF sensors (antennas) to detect electromagnetic signals caused by partial discharges that emerge due to electrical faults in the GIS.

The AIA Compact instrument and additionally acquired spectrum analyser that is intended for more demanding analyses encompass and display the parameters of both methods.

The HVL verified the system with standard measurements of partial discharges according to the IEC 60270 and it was successfully launched in December 2017.