The First in Northwest China!
The Ultra-High Frequency Partial Discharge Monitoring System Goes Live in Xinjiang
Recently,
The State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power Company has completed
the ultra-high frequency partial discharge online monitoring system
which has been operating stably for 10 days after passing acceptance tests.
This system
is the first of its kind in the five provinces of Northwest China to achieve networked monitoring
marking a breakthrough in the intelligent operation and maintenance of equipment in the Xinjiang power grid.
By monitoring the internal status of circuit breakers and GIS equipment in real-time,
it can accurately achieve early warning and diagnosis of partial discharge,
significantly improving operational inspection efficiency
and providing a “smart eye” for the safe operation of the power grid.
What is Ultra-High Frequency Partial Discharge Detection Technology?
Ultra-high frequency partial discharge detection is a non-destructive testing technology aimed at detecting partial discharges inside high-voltage electrical equipment. It captures the ultra-high frequency electromagnetic wave signals generated by partial discharges (typically in the frequency range of 300MHz – 3GHz) to monitor and diagnose the insulation status of the equipment.
What is Ultra-High Frequency Partial Discharge Online Monitoring Networking?
GIS equipment (Gas Insulated Switchgear) acts like a “capsule” for the power grid, enclosing live components within a metal shell filled with sulfur hexafluoride gas. Circuit breakers, as core equipment of the power grid, can experience early failures due to insulation aging and electric field distortion, which cannot be directly observed with the naked eye. Long-term accumulation may lead to insulation breakdown or even power outages.
Ten Years in the Making, Becoming the First in Northwest China!
In the past, maintenance personnel acted as “general practitioners” for the equipment, requiring regular manual inspections. However, the traditional model has significant limitations; testing a single monitoring point takes 20 seconds, making it difficult to capture sporadic discharge signals that occur only a few times a day. Fault localization also requires repeated testing at adjacent points and manual calculations, often taking nearly a day to inspect a substation.
To solve this problem, starting in July 2024, the State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power initiated the construction of a wired network for GIS, HGIS, and tank-type circuit breaker equipment. The system adds functions such as “cumulative PRPD” and “PRPS” spectrum analysis and diagnosis, partial discharge spectrum AI diagnosis, etc. Through online platform sound and light alarms, warning pop-ups, intelligent discharge type recognition, and three-dimensional twin model positioning, it achieves real-time uploading of circuit breaker partial discharge data, effectively reducing on-site testing time and errors.
The construction process was not smooth. “Just measuring the length of the busbar on-site before modeling took a week of preparation for one substation,” said Zhang Licheng, head of the equipment department of State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power. The team also overcame issues such as slow loading of the three-dimensional model and insufficient realism of the images, ultimately achieving networked monitoring with a technology level that is leading in the country.
Technical Highlights
1
High Sensitivity Perception
The system records every signal emitted by the equipment in real-time, automatically alarming when sporadic signals accumulate to a threshold, completely solving the limitations of traditional inspections. By capturing weak electromagnetic wave signals inside the equipment through sensors,the sensitivity reaches 10 millimeters, allowing real-time analysis of the intensity, frequency, and location of partial discharges.
2
Intelligent Diagnosis Engine
The system is equipped witha database of 2 million partial discharge signals, combined with PRPD and PRPS spectrum analysis technology, can automatically identify discharge types and generate trend reports, initiating graded alarms upon detecting anomalies.The accuracy of identifying insulation defect types exceeds 95%, and through the three-dimensional twin model, the location of fault points is visually displayed, aiding in quickly pinpointing the root cause of faults.
3
Spatial Precision Positioning
The system uses a multi-sensor time-difference positioning algorithm to automatically complete signal analysis between two points,achieving decimeter-level positioning within 15 minutes. Combined with the three-dimensional twin model, operational inspection personnel can accurately locate fault points.
Technological Innovation
The successful acceptance of this system marks that the technology has reached the national promotion standard, promoting substations to upgrade to “unmanned inspections”.
This technology fills the gap in domestic GIS, HGIS, and tank-type circuit breaker ultra-high frequency partial discharge online monitoring technology. Its characteristics of high sensitivity, strong anti-interference, low-cost operation and maintenance, precise display, and accurate positioning provide a replicable model for the intelligent transformation of the power grid.
Staff Comments
“Previously, such internal discharge issues could only be discovered through on-site testing. Now, relying on the platform, our operation and maintenance personnel can monitor system alarms in real-time, significantly advancing the time for identifying potential hazards.”
Zhao Hexiang from the State Grid Xinjiang UHV Company’s operation and maintenance department stated, “It used to take a day to travel from Urumqi to the site for testing; now, analysis can be completed in 10 minutes from the office, greatly reducing the time for identifying potential hazards.”
As of now, the State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power has completed the installation of1,873 points of 750kV and 220kV GIS, achieving a coverage rate of 65.3%. In the next step, the State Grid Xinjiang Electric Power will further integrate the platform, incorporating information from monitored devices, establishing a database of typical cases of anomalies in similar equipment, and using advanced digital models to comprehensively display and monitor the operational status of main equipment in 750kV substations, providing a solid guarantee for the safe and stable operation of the ultra-high voltage power grid.
Editor: Wang Qitai , Zhao Hexiang
Proofreader: Huang Tingting
Reviewer: Lu Jinbao
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