Partial Discharge Monitoring and Arc Protection Based on Multispectral Detection in High Voltage Switchgear

As one of the most important equipment in power system, the safe and stable operation of high voltage switchgear directly affect the reliable operation of the system. At present, the relay protection system used by power sector can respond to extreme arcs immediately, but it can’t give reliable warnings of intermittent discharges in the early stage of arc development, which means it can only prevent power system from further damage, rather than avoid the arcing faults in the early time. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a method that can take into account early PD warning and reliable protection to reduce the damage of high voltage switchgear. In this paper, the activity of PD and arc in the ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared spectra is explored by simultaneously measuring optical signals of partial discharge and arc discharge in the three bands using SiPM sensor. A reasonable PD warning threshold, as well as arc protection threshold is determined according to the experiment results.