Health Monitoring for the Integrity of Electrical Power Wiring and Power System Components

An effort to utilize information from partial discharges (PD) to monitor the health of aerospace electrical-power wiring and power-system components is proposed. The Phase-I effort will define the issues related to PD detection and analysis in asubatmospheric environment with high-frequency excitation systems such as those available with current inverter technology. A pressure chamber will be employed to conduct a preliminary experimental investigation of PD performance parameters in thesubatmospheric environment. These tests and associated analysis will allow definition of the most appropriate probe, detection system, data-acquisition system, and data analysis algorithms for use in achieving an accurate diagnosis of the health of theelectrical system. Efforts in Phase II will concentrate on the actual development and testing of a prototype system, based on the findings of Phase I. The ultimate goal of this program is the development of a commercially available, cost-effective,partial-discharge detection system (PDDS). The main components of the PDDS will be (1) a specialized probe and detection device capable of detecting partial discharges in aerospace electrical and electronic circuits under actual operating conditionsincluding low pressures and high frequencies, and (2) an on-line data-analysis and diagnostic system.The PDDS to be developed will be useful for the operation of military and commercial aerospace equipment.