IEEETransactions on Power Delivery Vol. 6, No.

2, April 1991

840

DEVELOPMENT OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM FOR HIGHLY

RELIABLE GAS INSULATED SWITCHGEAR

T. YAMAGIWA, B. YAMADA,
Member, IEEE
Kokubu Works

F. ENDO, Y. OHSHITA,
Hitachi Research Lab.
Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi-shi, Ibaraki-ken, Japan

Abstract - The concept of the gas insulated

switchgear (GIs) preventive maintenance system construction, application examples, and new sensing technologies
are presented.
Especially, higher sensitivity partial
discarge, abnormal current conduction, and very small
particle detecting methods are described.
Keywords : GIs - Preventive maintenance - Partial
discharge - Current conduction - Particle detection.
INTRODUCTION
Today's living, working, and social environments
have come to depend more and more on electrical power.
Therefore, improvements in the reliability and quality
of the power supply are more desired than ever before.
Under these circumstances, highly reliable GIs, designed
and manufactured by applying the most advanced
technologies are also much in demand in order to provide
the power supply reliability. Unattended operations in
substations are now underway and advancements have been
observed in efficiency and in labor savings for
maintenance work, but better and further ways to support
these improvements are desired.
The principle purpose of GIS preventive maintenance
system which meets these requirements is that all
equipment functions be monitored by using various kinds
of sensing techniques to detect symptoms of faults and
abnormal conditions as soon as possible so as to make
planned miintenance possible.
As a support to human
systems used to make appropriate judgments, this system
is constructed with the aid of the most advanced sensing
and electronics technologies, and is an expert system
due to if8 organic combination with rapidily advancing
software technologies.
The ,concept of the GIS preventive maintenance
system construction, application examples, and new
sensing technologies are prsented in the following
sect ions.

CONCEPT OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENAN&

SYSTEM

Hitachi, Ltd. has been developing technologies for

diagnoses of abnormal GIs conditions since the beginning
Our work has led to various new
of 1975 L 1 . 2 1 .
technologies and their implementation.
We have
considered not only simple diagnoses of abnormal
conditions, but also ways to obtain diagnoses by
continuous monitoring the conditions on-line and by
collecting and analyzing information by computer. These
points are incorporated into today's moderm preventive
maintenance system.

90 X: le0-2 ??:RE

X paper recommenc7eci and approved

by tile IKEE Switchriear Committee of t h e 1EL:i;: Power
XnSineering Society for presentation at the I;<?CE/
PZS lL,:90 Vinter lieeting, Atlantn, G e o q i a , Februarg
L - 8, 1970. Manuscript. submitted September 1 , 1989:
?:ads svailablo f o r printiiiz Deceyber 6, 1987.

IZUMI, I. YAMADA
Energy Research Lab.

S.

This system should satisfy the functions described in

Figure 1, such as prevention of accidents and faults by
monitoring to keep them prom occurring, efficiency and
labor saving for maintenance and checking work,
maintenance and repair of eqipment by planned
suspension, prompt deteetion of accident location should
an accident occur, quick restoration after an accident,
and operational support.
In order to make these
functions possible, the needs are sensing technologies
able to detect accurately the conditions of all the
equipment functions and to find abnormal conditions and
faults should any occur while they are still small, in
addition to the various technologies shown in the Figure
1.
A preventive maintenance system is constructed
based on the concepts described belor.
It should be possible to extend the system to a
comprehensive substation monitoring system by
combining it with others sytem e.g. private
maintenance monitoring/accident
monitoring
sys tems.
The diagnostic functions o f the preventive
maintenance system should be easily extended and
modified as developments in sensing and software
technologies occur and as the facilities are
changed.
In addition, each diagnostic function
should be able to be used independently, if
necessary.
The system should, be flexible so that an optimal
structure can always be provided depending on the
user's needs or equipment.
The system should be a man-machine system with
full supporting functions for operations and
maintenance and it should be easy to use and
economical.
The system should accurately detect symptoms of
abnormal conditions and faults in equipment as
soon as possible.
The system should be applicable to either new or
existing equipment.
The system should monitor on-line equipment
without stoppimg it, if possible.
The system should not damage the reliability of
the equipment units.
The system should match with the intensive
monitoring control and protection of power
systems.
[Function]

[Technologies]

Prevention of accidents
and faults

Abnormal
conditions
diagnosis/
prediction

Efficiency and labor

saving for maintenance/
check work

SENSING

Planned suspension

__
Quick restoration
after accidents
Operation support
Figure 1.

Equipment
conditions
monitoring
Accident
locat ion
detection
Expert system

Functions and Technologies Required of and

for Preventive Maintenance Systems

0885-8977/91/0400-0840$0
1.ooO1991 IEEE

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84 1

Partial Discharqe Sensinq Technoloqies

SENSING AND DIAGNOSTIC TECHNOLOGIES

Monitorinq Items
The GIS functions, as shown in Table 1, are
roughly classified into four parts: insulation
functions, current conduction functions, switching
functions and lightning arrester functions. Sensors
monitor their corresponding functions. If a function
becomes abnormal o r faulty for some reason, symptoms
of very slightly abnormal conditions appear first.
After this stage, as indicated in the table, more
serious abnormal symptoms appear, and finally an
accident such as a dielectric breakdown o r a disabling
operation occurs.
The capability of quick and exact detection and
diagnoses of fault symptoms at the very early stage
determines the performance of the preventive
maintenance system. Therefore, the following are even
more required than they were in the past:
(1) more
sensitive and more accurate sensing
technologies.
( 2 ) more advanced diagnostic algorithms.
Advancements in sensing technologies allow both
detection of fault symptoms at an earlier stage than
was previously possible and the diagnosis of such
conditions as type, level, location and causes of a
fault with better accuracy by combining several
reports of sensing information. Accordingly, the
diagnostic algorithm can be advanced even further by
sensing technologies. In the next section, recently
developed highly sensitive and accurate sensing
technologies are described.

Table 1.
G I S Operation

Function
Insulation

With partial discharge inside the GIS, high

frequency pulse voltage/current,
sounds, light,
decomposition gas, electromagnetic waves, etc. are
generated. Various methods, shown in Table 2 , have been
developed as detection methods for these phenomena
[3,4].
Even if a method is highly sensitive in the
laboratory, the sensitivity is lower in the field where
i t is noisier and i t is usually about 1OOpC.

Table 2

Conventional Discharge Sensing Technology

Detection Method

Principle

Spacer coupling
method

Discharge pulse
voltage is detected by
u s i n g suacercapacitance

lOOpC

Tank potential
method

Pulse voltage on a
tank induced by discharge is detected

lOOpC

lOOpC
groundins conductor is
detected
Magnetic radiation Magnetic field radiamethod
tion is detected by
loop antenna

2OOpC

Vibration method

50 to

Tank vibration
generated due to
discharge is detected

Abnormality/Fault
Causes
.Insulator change

Sensor1

Fault Development
+Partial Discharge

.Partial discharge
.Acoustic

.Particles

Gas Decomposition

.Decomposition gas

.Gas pressure drop

.Gas density

etc.
.Excessive overload

Breakdown
-Local heating-Gas

decomposition

.Tank temperature

.Poor tightening

Contact resistance

.Infrared camera

.Poor contact force

increase

.Vibrations

.Contact consumption,

Partial discharge

.Accumulated

etc.

breaking current
Breakdown

Switching

lOOpC

GIS Operation Function, Fault Development and Sensors

.Insulator crack

Current conduction

Sensitivity

.Large mechanical
friction
.Fault of control

+Stroke change/strain

----i

Stroke

Switching speed change/strain boperation .Switching time

disabled
monitor

circuit
.Gas/oil leakage,
etc.
Lightning
Arrester

+Leak current increase

.1
Temperature rise -Thermal

Breakdown

.Leakage current

7
runaway

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842
A successful method with higher sensitivity has
been achieved by the introduction of a new technique
wherein the electromagnetic wave generated
in
association with partial discharge is captured and its
frequency spectrum is analyzed.
Figure 2 shows an example electromagnetic wave
noise spectrum from a substation.
The field noise is
extremely large in the frequency band of 300MHz and
below, while there is almost no noise in the frequency
band above this level. The spectrum around 750MHz seems
to be a communication wave and differs in level and
frequency depending on the area. In the laboratory,
artificial partial discharge is generated from a voltage
application line to a simulated GIS and the generated
electromagnetic wave is measured by an antenna mounted
on the side o f the GIs. For example, the spectrum shown
in Figure 3 is obtained. The level rapidly attenuates
with an increase in frequency and there is almost no
electronagnetic wave in the G H z region.
This
electromagnetic wave is attenuated due to the impedance
of the application line and bushing in the process of
entering the GIS interior via the voltage application
line and bushing. Thus, the high frequency components of
several hundred MHz and more almost disappear. However,
the generation of partial discharge inside the simulated
GIs in such a manner as by using metal particles o r
forcibly cracking a spacer results in the discharge of
an electromagnetic wave with a spectrum intensity nearly
uniform over the area from MHz to GHz. Since the high
voltage conductor and the tank form a coaxial conduit
line inside the simulate GIs, the electromagnetic waves
with frequencies less than those expressed by Equation
(1) are cut off and electromagnetic waves with greater
frequencies propagate with almost no attenuation:

'

TLk?seA
cl

300

600

900

Frequency
Figure 2 .

1200

1500

(MHz)

Substation Field Noise Spectrum

rl

cl

300

600

900

1200

1500

Frequency (MHz)
Figure 3 .

Spectrum of Electromagnetic Wave from

Partial Discharge in Air
(Discharge Level : 11OOpc)

$-?y/T

P a r t i a l discharge sensor
~

Grounded tank

GIS bus

where Ro and Ri are the outer and inner electrode radii

of the coaxial cylindrical conduit line, respectively,
and c is the propagation speed of the electromagnetic
wave. fc differs depending on the GIs bus dimensions but
is usually 10 to 30MHz. Of the electromagnetic waves
Measuring
conditions
Outside
partial
discharge
(application
line)

kP a r t i c l e k W

Analyzer

Feature

In partial discharge
generated outside the
GIs, components
at frequencies of
5OMHz and more are
small even if the
level is high.

Partial discharge
generated inside
the GIS appears
in the band from
750 to 1500MHz.

Inside
partial
discharge
Q = 8pC

600 900 1200 1500

Frequency (MHz)

300

3I

Ultrasonic sensor
Amp. : a m p l i f i e r

Frequency spectrum

C e n t r a l conductor

Acceleration sensor

400pC

1 Outside
partial
discharge
and
2 Inside
partial
discharge
are added
together

It is possible to
distinguish and detect
the GIS inside discharge
even if partial
discharge occurs
inside and
outside the GIS
simultaneowly.

Figure 4. Partial Discharge Sensing Technology by Frequency Analysis

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843
associated with partial discharge generated inside the
GIs,
electromagnetic waves with frequencies of some
lOMHz to G H z propagate without being cut off. Due to
this, detection of a electromagnetic wave frequency band
o f several hundred MHz o r more with no external noise
leads to the detection of partial discharge in the
inside of a G I S at a high S/N ratio.
Figure 4 shows this new sensing technology. An
antenna with good frequency characteristics, i.e. a
partial discharge sensor, is placed o n the inside of the
The detected electrogrounded tank of the G I S bus.
magnetic wave is analyzed by a frequency analyzer and
processed by a computer. If 400pC partial discharge is
purposely generated outside of the G I s ,
only an
electromagnetic waves with a frequency of 300MHz or less
propagate into the G I s , (condition 1). Electro-magnetic
waves with frequencies of several hundred MHz and more
are detected if partial discharge is generated inside
the G I S (condition 2 ) [ 5 , 6 ] .
This frequency band tends
to extend with an increase in the discharge level.
Simultaneous generation of the 400pC G I S outside partial
discharge and 8pC G I S inside partial discharge gives a
spectrum of the shape created by adding the shapes of
conditions 1 and 2 .
Therefore, it is possible to
distinguish the inside partial discharge from the
outside partial discharge based on the frequency.
According to this method, if the S/N ratio is extremely
large, the detection sensitivity can be improved by o n e
order compared with the conventional methods, and lOpC
is detectable.
One of the causes of a reduction in the G I S insulation function is metal particles.
With metal
particles mixed in, partial discharge occurs at a
voltage quite lower than the flashover voltage.
The
quantity of charge by the discharge differs depending o n
the length of the particles and has the value shown in
Figure 5. This value becomes almost one order smaller
if the suspended particles attaches itself to the
conductor o r spacer.
According to the new sensing
technology shown in Figure 4, lOpC can be detectable and
thus metal particles several millimeters long can be
detected with certainty.

Very Small Particle Sensinq Technoloqy

A very small particle, in the inside of the G I s ,
moves up and down repeatedly due to charge and makes an
impact sound when it collides with the tank.
The
frequency spectrum of this impact sound differs
depending o n the type of particle.
Therefore, harmful
particles are distinguished from harmless ones by means
of spectrum analysis.
The acceleration sensor and
ultrasonic wave sensor, shown in Figure 4, are installed
f o r this purpose.
Figure 6 shows an example of a
detected waveform. Acceleration sensors have a property
such that the output is small when a rigid body collides
and large when a soft body, such as a water drop or
plastic particle, collides.
The use of the ratio
between the two allows distinguishing of metal particle
from other particles and noise.
In this method,
detection sensitivity (particle weight) is improved
almost two orders above that of conventional methods,
and particles of several micrograms are detectable.

Metal particle (80 um in diameter, 5mm long)

falling sound

U
a
v

20

10I

aru
$4

4 7
ala
v u
4
U 0
7
I

-40L

Pp

-50

10
20
30
Particle length (mm)

4iE
7

Figure 5.

.B

a 7
0
E

Discharge Level from Partial

Discharge When Metal Particle
Are Mixed In

i2z

wa wa

o a oar
a u
a0 nrn
o
u 0
L
L

t j n

.rl

z
0

Noise Source
Figure 6.

Sensing Technology for Very Small

Particles in GIS

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844
Abnormal Conductinq Condition Sensinq Technoloqy
Bad contact in the electrical section results in a
reduction in conducting condition area and current
flowing in concentration to a local area. As a result,
the contact microscopically expands and contracts
repeatedly so that the vibration propagate to the tank.
The contact, as shown in Figure 7, can be regarded as an
assemblage of point contacts, and Joule heat q is
represented by Equation ( 2 ) 1 7 , 8 1 .
Ari
q

p (1

aTi)-

at the contact exceeds O.lV, indicating the presence of

an abnormal condition.
The relationship between the
voltage and the temperature at which a metal softens,
melts and vaporizes is as shown in Table 3 [ 9 1 . In this
sensing technology, a comparison between Figure 9 and
Table 3 detects symptoms of an abnormal condition at the
stage where the metal softens. This is at a time before
spotty melts appear on the contacts.

LI

I*

Si
where p is resistivity, a is temperature coefficient, Ti
is the temperature at element i, Si is the sectional
area, ari is the thickness of the point contact and I is
the current.
This heat generation causes a higher
harmonic strain in the contact potential difference of
the contact point, resulting in the generation of a very
small vibrations at a frequency proportional to the
product of the integral multiplication of the power
source frequency. The detection of abnormal conducting
condition can be attained if an acceleration sensor is
mounted in the tank as shown in Figure 7, and the signal
detected by the sensor is analyzed by a frequency
A
analyzer. A detection example is shown in Figure 8 .
normal vibration (Figure 8 (a)), has components of
relatively low frequencies.
If a bad contact occurs,
components of high frequencies of the integral
multiplication of commercial frequencies appear as shown
Monitoring of these vibration
in Figure 8 (b).
components allows the detection of an abnormal condition
at a very early stage.
Next, consideration is given to the relationships
between the detection sensitivity and softening, melting
and vaporizing
o f metals.
Vibration
energy
(proportional to the sum of the square of the vibration
speed) is calculated from the signal detected by the
acceleration sensor in order to find a relationship with
voltage at the contact.
The result is shown in Figure
9. The vibration energy changes stepwise if the voltage

. Frequency (KHz)
(a) Tank vibration when normal

Frequency (KHz)
(b) Tank vibration when abnormal
condition
Figure 8.

Example of Abnormal Current Conduction

Sensing by Vibration Spectrum Analysis

\Acceleration/

Contact voltage (Vrms)

Figure 9.

d
Point contact
condition

Figure 7.

Relationship between Vibration Energy

and Contact Voltage

i
Table 3

Voltage and Temperature at which Metals Soften

and Vaporize [ 9 I

Analytical model

Simulation of Abnormal
Current Conduction

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845

Partial discharge
sensor

Stroke sensor

Acceleration
sensor

I t __ t
Example of sensors for GIS

Local
monitoring
unit
for G I S

Local
monitoring
unit
for
transformer

Main monitoring

__
-1

Optical fiber cable

I*

Example of sensors for transformer

LTC torque
sensor

Figure 10.

Rogowsky coil

Ultrasonic
microphone

Dissolved gas in o i l
SenSer

Structure of the Preventive Maintenance System

APPLICATION EXAMPLE OF PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SYSTEM

An example of the system introduced in an existing
substation is show in Figure 10.
The objective is
monitoring
the major equipment compositing the
substation.
Signals from all the sensors are
digitalized by local monitoring unit installed
in the
yard, based o n voltage class, and transmitted to the
main monitoring unit in the main building through
optical fiber cables. The local monitoring unit is
equipped with a microcomputer to perform signal
processing diagnoses, etc. threrby making i t flexible.
Consideration is given to the electric circuits in the
local monitoring unit regarding their ability to
withstand severs conditions such as surge voltage,
sunlight and external noise.
CONCLUSIONS
The present status of an advanced GIS preventive
maintenance system has been introduced.
This type
system is constructed with the aid of the most advanced
sensing technologies below.
(1) Partial discharge sensing technology:
An antenna with good frequency characteristics is
placed o n the inside of the grounding tank of GIs.
The detected electromagnetic wave is analyzed by a
frequency analyzer. According to this method, the
detection sensitivity can be improved by one order
compared with the conventional methods, and lOpC is
detectable.
( 2 ) Very small particle sensing technology:
The acceleration sensor and ultrasonic wave sensor
are installed for detecting harmful particle in
GIs. The use of the ratio between the two signals
allows distinguishing of metal particle from other

particles and noise.

In this method, detection
sensitivity is improved almost two orders above
that of conventional methods, and particle o f
several micrograms are detectable.
( 3 ) Abnormal conducting condition sensing technology:
The detection of abnormal conducting condition can
be attained if an acceleration sensor is mounted in
the tank of GIs, and the signal detected by the
sensor is analyzed by a frequency analyzer.
Monitoring of these vibration components allows the
detection o f an abnormal condition at a very early
stage.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors express their appreciation
to
Mr. Y. Miki
of
Head
Office,
Mr. S . Nakano,
Mr. M. Fukuoka, Mr. S . Maruyama, of Kokubu Works, and
M r . Y. Kamata, D r . J . Ozawa of Hitachi Research
Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.
All of these persons kindly
cooperated in the study and made many helpful
suggestions in the preparation of this paper.
REFERENCES
[l]

[2]

K.Okumura et al., "Diagnostic Techniques to Detect

Abnomal Conditions in Gas Insulated Switchgear",
Proceedings of the International Symposium o n GAS
Insulated Substations, Canada, Sep. 1985, Pergamon
Press, pp. 2 6 7 - 2 7 5 .
T.Fukuda et al., "Recent transmission and transformation technologies and their future prospects.",
Hitachi Hyoron Vol. 70, No. 8, pp 833 -837 (August
1988).

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846

[3]

Transformation Investigation Expert Committee,

"Testing method
for
field
insulation of
transforming equipment.", Technical Report of the
IEE of Japan (Part 11) No. 124,
pp 23 - 24
(November 1981).
[4]
Electric Joint Study Meeting, "Measures for
reliability
improvement
of gas
insulated
equipment", Electric Joint Research, Vol. 4 4 , No.2
(October 1988).
[5] B.F.Hampton et al., "Diagnostic Measurement at UHF
in Gas Insulated Substations", IEE Proceeding, Vol.
135, Pt.C, No.2, March 1988.
[61 D.Lightle et al., "Monitoring of GIs at Ultra High
Frequency", 6th ISH No.23.02, New Orleans, August
1989.
[7] Y.Oshita et al., "Study of abnormal electrification
detection method for gas insulated switchgear by
vibration measurement.", National Convention Record
of IEE of Japan in 1988, No. 1147.
Y.Oshita et al., "A diagnostique to detect abnormal
conditions of contacts measuring vibrations in
metal enclosures of gas insulated switchgear.", 89
WM 073-8-PWRD, 1989 IEEE Winter Meeting.
K.Tsuchiya., "Electric contact technology. ", Sogo
Denshi Shuppan Co. ( J u l y 1980).

Fumihiro END0 was born in Tottori

Prefecture, Japan on November 25,
1945. He received his B.S. and
Eng.Dr.
degrees
from Osaka
University in 1968 and
1989
respectively. In 1968 he joined
Hitachi Research L a b o r a t o r y ,
Hitachi, Ltd. and has been engaged
in the study of SF6 gas insulation
and the development of GIs and
GCB. Now, He is a senior research
engineer
in
Hitachi
Research
Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd.
Dr. Endo is a member of the IEE of Japan.

Youichi OHSHITA was born

in
Okayama Prefecture, Japan on March
6,
1951. He received the M.S.
degree in electrical engineering
from Hiroshima University in 1975.
The same year, he joined Hitachi
Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd.,
where he has been engaged in
research and development work on
gas circuit breakers. From 1982-86
he was involved in development
work on the magnetron sputter
apparatus for magnietic thin films.
Mr. Ohshita i s a member of the IEE of Japan.

BIOGRAPHIES
Tokio YAMAGIWA (M'87) was born in
Nagano
Prefecture, Japan on
February 12, 1949. He received the
B.S.
degree
in
electrical
engineering
from
Science
University of Tokyo in 1971. Then
he
joined Hitachi
Research
Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. and
engaged in the research on SF6 gas
insulation,
gas
insulated
switchgears and bushings.
Since 1 9 8 7 he has been
engaged in the development of S F 6 gas insulated
apparatus and diagnostic techniques for them. Now, he is
a senior engineer in Kokubu Works, Hitachi, Ltd.
Mr. Yamagiwa is a member of the IEE of Japan.

Shiqeru IZUMI was born in Tokyo,

Japan, on November 22, 1940. He
received the B.S. and M.S. and the
Ph.D.
degrees
in
nuclear
engineering from Tokyo Institute
of Technology in 1965, 1967 and
1985, respectively. Since 1967, he
has been with Energy Research
Lab., Hitachi, Ltd. His current
fields of interest include digital
signal processing and nuclear
measurement and instrumentation.
He is a member of t he Society of Instrument and Control
Engineers of Japan and the Atomic Energy Society of
Japan.

Hiroshi
YAMADA was b o r n
in
Niigata, Japan on January 15,
1945. He received the B.S. degree
in electrical engineering from
Tokyo Institute of Technology,
Tokyo in 1968. Since 1968 he has
been with Kokubu Works, Hitachi,
Ltd., working in the Power System
Control h Protection Engineering
Department.
Mr. Yamada is a member of the
IEE of Japan.

Izumi YAMADA was born in Akita,

Japan, on December 22, 1949. Since
graduating Akita Technical High
School in 1968, he has been with
Energy
Research
Laboratory,
Hitachi, Ltd. and has been engaged
in research of nuclear measurement
and instrumentation. He is a
member
of
the
Society
of
Instrument and Control Engineers
of Japan and the Atomic Energy
Society of Japan.

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847

Discussion
RUNDE (Norwegian Electric Power Research I n s t . ,
Trondheim. Norway): The a u t h o r s have d e s c r i b e d s e v e r a l
i n t e r e s t i n g concepts f o r d i a g n o s i s of CIS. I n p a r t i c u l a r t h e u s e of a c o u s t i c s e n s o r s t o monitor t h e
c o n d i t i o n s of t h e c o n t a c t s i n s i d e a g a s compartment
seems t o m e as a novel and very i n t e r e s t i n g approach.

M.

Q u e s t i o n 1:
Table 3 shows t h e s o f t e n i n g , m e l t i n g and evaporation
v o l t a g e s and t h e corresponding temperatures for a
number o f m e t a l s . I am n o t a b l e t o s e e how t h i s is of
r e l e v a n c e t o t h e v i b r a t i o n e n e r g i e s . The d i s t o r t i o n of
t h e v o l t a g e waveform is s o l e l y a r e s u l t of t h e nonuniform r e s i s t i v i t y caused by t h e temperature i n c r e a s e
i n t h e s m a l l c o n t a c t spots. T h i s temperature and t h u s
also t h e v o l t a g e waveform a r e , t o my
knowledge,
b a s i c a l l y independent of t h e c o n t a c t material or its
thermoelastic p r o p e r t i e s .

Have t h e a u t h o r s made o t h e r o b s e r v a t i o n s ? Is t h e
s e n s i t i v i t y of t h e method found t o correspond t o t h e
softening
voltage?
I f so, is t h i s confirmed by
experiments on o t h e r c o n t a c t m a t e r i a l s , as f o r example
n i c k e l ? I would a p p r e c i a t e v e r y much i f t h e a u t h o r s
could elaborate on t h e s e matters.
Q u e s t i o n 2:
The a u t h o r s c l a i m t h a t t h i s technique a l l o w s for
d e t e c t i o n o f abnormal c o n t a c t s i n a very e a r l y s t a g e of
t h e i r d e g r a d a t i o n , and t h a t t h e s e n s i t i v i t y is s u p e r i o r
to thermal monitoring of t h e metal e n c l o s u r e [l]. What
type of thermal monitoring does t h i s r e f e r t o ?

shown i n F i g . 9 t h e d e t e c t i o n l e v e l is t h e c o n t a c t
r e s i s t a n c e t h a t y i e l d s a v o l t a g e drop across t h e
i n t e r f a c e of about 100 mV. These r e s u l t s w e r e o b t a i n e d
by a p p l y i n g a c u r r e n t of 1050 A rms [ l ] . and consequently the heat generation i n the contact i n t e r f a c e
w a s i n e x c e s s of 100 W. I assume t h a t t h i s y i e l d s a
s i g n i f i c a n t temperature rise on t h e surrounding metal
e n c l o s u r e . Standard i n f r a - r e d cameras with a tempera t u r e r e s o l u t i o n of t h e o r d e r of 0 . 1 K a r e now
a v a i l a b l e , and I have a f e e l i n g t h a t t h i s h o t region
would be e a s i l y o b s e r v a b l e through such a camera. Have
t h e a u t h o r s t r i e d i n f r a - r e d imaging t o locate t h e
degraded c o n t a c t s ?

As

Q u e s t i o n 3:
Has t h i s technique been a p p l i e d on c o n t a c t s i n C I S i n
s e r v i c e ? If y e s , d i d you o b t a i n t h e same s e n s i t i v i t y ?
Our e x p e r i e n c e is t h a t v a r i o u s n o i s e s o u r c e s p r e s e n t i n
a s u b s t a t i o n have a n e g a t i v e impact on t h e s e n s i t i v i t y
of a c o u s t i c methods, e s p e c i a l l y t h o s e o p e r a t i n g i n t h e
l o w kHz range.
Reference

[l]. Y. O h s i t a . A. Hashimoto and Y. Kurosawa, "A diagn o s t i c technique t o d e t e c t abnormal c o n d i t i o n s of

c o n t a c t s measuring v i b r a t i o n s i n metal e n c l o s u r e s
of g a s i n s u l a t e d switchgear".
IEEE Trans. Power
D e l i v e r y , v o l . 4. pp. 2090-2094. 1989.

Manuscript received February 27, 1990.

T.YAMAGIWA, H.YAMADA, F.ENDO, Y.OHSHITA, S.iZUM1, and

1.YAMADA: The authors wish to thank Dr. M. Runde for his
valuable discussions o n our paper.
The distortion of the voltage waveform available
through measurements, as described in the literature

1)

[l], can be calculated with a simple model.

The results
obtained show that a temperature change exceeding 100C
takes place at the contact spot portion following the
current charge of the commerical frequency under the
condition that the voltage distortion appears. When the
distortion of the voltage waveform starts to appear o n
the copper electrode, it almost corresponds to the
softening voltage and the detecting level for conductive
abnormalities is in the vicinity of the softening
temperature.
Near the softening temperature welding
traces etc. do not occur, s o there is no substantial
change into the electrode state. Since abnormalities do
not progress even with
the heat generation,
abnormalities can be detected in a very early stage o f
their progression.
In measurements regarding other electrode materials, though many measurements were made with silverplated electrode besides copper, the results turned out
to be almost the same as for copper.
In the aluminum
and coppertungsten alloy electrode the occurrence of
vibration was confirmed but no quantitative discussion
has been made.

2 ) The results of measurements by means of a circuit

breaker 50Omm in diameter as shown in Fiq. 7 indicated
that the temperature rise in the normal state was a
maximum of 8K and 18K, respectively, when heat
generation at the abnormal portion was 140W and 350W.
Accordingly the authors supposed in the laboratory test
any measuring method could detect abnormalities from
measuring temperatures.
In other data regarding the
2K
temperature rise, the temperature rose by about.
when the heat was generated by 500W at the bottom of the
bushing in an outdoor test using a 300kV ground tank
type gas circuit breaker(GCB).
Due to the large tank
diameter and possible effects such as from wind, etc.,
the latter value was smaller than the former.
When automatically monitoring these temperatures at
a substation site, the following problems would occur.
First a spot measurement employing thermocouples, etc.
using sunshine is the largest noise source and a
temperature rise exceeding 10K easily appears on the
tank surface. To avoid this, a largescale sunshade is
required. On the other hand, a method using an infrared
camera has another problem with reflection of the
background temperature, although much information is
aquired and it is technically possible to avoid this
problem, another dilliculty remains with identifying the
pattern of temperature distribution.
After comprehensive evaluation of these subjects,
the authors field test system adopts the following: the
portions judged abnormal by vibrational measurements are
measured by an inspector in detail by means of an

infrared camera and the abnormality judgment precision

is confirmed by visual diagnosis.
3 ) Two kinds of vibratory noises are conceivable.

The
first ones are those which do not have features as shown
in Fig. D ( b ) , in the frequency region of rain, walking,
nearby construction, etc. and can be removed by
averaging and simple feature extraction, etc.
The

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848
second ones are caused by electromagnetic force and
magnetic distortional vibrations due to conductive
current, which show the same pattern as the crest value
in the integer mutiple frequency of the power frequency.
Treatment is difficult when the noise level is large.

Measured vibrations in all parts of 300kV GIs of the

actual system showed that they were as large as for the
specimen in the laboratory.
Manuscript received September 10, 1990.

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