Abstract
Power transformers' reliability can be seriously affected by partial discharges. For this reason, it is necessary to implement technical methods to identify endangered equipment before catastrophic failures occur. A well-known method that can be applied either in the laboratory or in the field is the detection and localization of partial discharges, by means of the analysis of the acoustic signals they produced. An innovative partial discharge detector was developed based on the analysis of an acoustic or electrical PD signal envelope. This paper describes the architecture of the developed acoustic detector, which is composed of a set of ultrasonic sensors, signal conditioning and control modules, a graphical interface and the required software for the location of the affected area within the transformer. The conditioning and control modules perform analog to digital conversion, arrival time measurement, communication and control operations. Finally, some power transformer diagnostic testing is presented and discussed.