MAINTENANCE FACTS

Putting Hipot Out to Pasture

As DC high-potential testing starts to show its age,
test methods recommended by IEEE are ready to fill the void
By Wally Vahlstrom, Electro-Test, Inc.

F
or many years, high-voltage
DC testing has been the tra-
ditionally accepted method to
judge the serviceability of
medium-voltage cables. DC
high-potential (hipot) tests
worked well as a withstand and condi-
tion assessment test for paper- and oil-
insulated, lead-covered (PILC) cable.
Even when plastic insulated cables were
first introduced in the ’60s, it was still the
preferred method.
Although applicable industry stan-
dards began to change in 1994, manufac-
turers, testing firms, and standards
groups still agreed that DC hipot test
equipment could be used to perform fac-
tory tests, acceptance tests, and mainte-
nance tests. As far as the installer or main-
tenance electrician was concerned, cables
that withstood the DC hipot test were good
enough to be placed—or placed back— An IEEE study on water trees shows electrical trees will likely progress to failure quickly, so PD
into service. But recent research and field testing is more valuable if performed along with dissipation factor/power factor (DF/PF) testing.
data is calling that practice into question
and raising serious doubts about whether new medium voltage cable doesn’t cause try standards began to change is only just
DC hipot testing might damage or cause any reduction in cable life. now gaining industry-wide acceptance.
extruded cables—especially field aged As noted in IEEE Standard 400-2001, Current versions of some of these stan-
cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) insu- Guide for Field Testing and Evaluation of dards no longer provide for DC hipot
lated cable—to fail prematurely. Shielded Power Cable Systems, “testing testing of extruded cables as a mainte-
After receiving reports in the early ’90s of cables that have been service aged in a nance test. Of those that still do, all have
that DC hipot testing could be to blame wet environment (specifically, XLPE) reduced the recommended test duration
for latent damage experienced by ex- with DC at the currently recommended from 15 min to only 5 min. None endorses
truded medium-voltage cable insulation, DC voltage levels may cause the cables DC hipot testing as a factory test for ex-
the Electric Power Research Institute to fail after they are returned to service. truded cables, but all continue to provide
(EPRI) funded two studies relating to The failures would not have occurred at for DC hipot testing as an acceptance test
XLPE and ethylene propylene rubber that point in time if the cables had re- on newly installed extruded cable. These
(EPR) cables. These studies, EPRI Reports mained in service and had not been tested industry standards also no longer endorse
TR-101245 and EL-6902, yielded the fol- with DC.” This standard also indicates DC hipot testing as a maintenance test
lowing conclusions regarding XLPE cable: other testing has shown that “even mas- for extruded cables that have been in ser-
• DC hipot testing of field-aged sive insulation defects in extruded dielec- vice for more than five years.
cable reduces its life. tric insulation cannot be detected with
• DC hipot testing of field-aged cable DC at the recommended voltage levels.” Deterioration mechanisms. Partial
generally increases water tree growth. The shift in opinion of hipot testing discharge (PD) and water intrusion are the
• DC hipot testing before energizing that began in 1994 when applicable indus- two age-related deterioration mechanisms

20 EC&M October 2003

of most interest for both laminated
(PILC) and extruded (XLPE and EPR)
cable designs (Table below). Although the
source of PD and the process by which
water enters the insulation are different
for both cable types, these forms of dete-
rioration have become a primary focus
for cable manufacturers and owners.
Deterioration assessment test methods.
PD can occur primarily in voids in
the insulation of cables and cable acces-
sories. Within a PILC cable, voids may
result when the insulating oil migrates—
due to elevation differences, cracks in
the lead sheath, or incorrect assembly of
terminations—away from an area within
the cable. Voids in extruded cable systems
can be caused by several things, includ-
ing extrusion problems, improper han-
dling during installation, or errors in ter-
mination assembly.
Whether water gets in through a crack
in the lead sheath of a PILC cable or per-
meates through the outer layers of an ex-
truded cable, it can result in deterioration.
October 2003 EC&M 21
MAINTENANCE FACTS
Moisture decreases the dielectric strength
of the insulation and provides a path for
leakage current or other forms of dete-
rioration within the insulation. However,
most cable experts are convinced that wet
paper insulation and water trees—named
for their characteristic visual pattern—
in extruded insulation don’t initially pro-
duce PD. In their 1997 IEEE paper,
“Mechanism for Impulse Conversion of
Water Trees to Electrical Trees in XLPE,”
Steven Boggs, John Densley, and Jinbo
Kuang proposed that transient overvolt-
ages were responsible for converting wa-
ter trees to electrical treeing, or the deg-
radation of electrical insulation by the
formation of conductive carbonized
paths, which allows for small electrical
discharges. It’s commonly accepted that
electrical trees do produce PD.
Condition assessment methods.
IEEE Standard 400-2001 establishes
six field tests for shielded power cable that
can be broken down into two categories:
withstand testing and condition assess-
ment testing. DC, very low frequency, os-
cillating wave, and power frequency are all
types of tests that fall into the first category.
Withstand tests are go/no-go tests,
that involve applying an overvoltage and
provide no trend data. A key concept of
withstand tests is that if the overvoltage
doesn’t fail the cable, the insulation
condition is then considered adequate.
To make a crude comparison, these tests
are analogous to putting a patient on a
treadmill for a predetermined time at a
predetermined speed and pronouncing
him healthy if he doesn’t die. Such a test
overlooks the possibility of smaller prob-
lems that don’t seem like a big deal at the
time. All withstand tests require the cable
to be de-energized, disconnected, and
tested with a special voltage source.
On the other hand, condition assess-
ment tests involve the measurement of Online partial discharge testing is one PD test
characteristics of the insulation. A key that will detect and measure partial discharge
concept of assessment tests is that the data in Pico Coloumbs. It’s beneficial to conduct it
they compile can be trended over time to in conjunction with DF/PF testing.
help determine whether and to what ex-
tent the insulation has deteriorated. Al-
though some methods of performing these
tests involve applying an overvoltage, it
isn’t intended as a withstand test that
might cause a weak spot to fail. Condi-
tion assessment tests can be further sub-
divided into partial discharge and dissi-
pation factor testing.
Partial discharge tests. There are sev-
eral methods for detecting and measur-
ing PD. Some methods involve de-ener-
gizing, disconnecting, and powering the
cable from a special voltage source, while
other methods allow the cable to remain
energized at normal line voltage. Both
methods will detect and measure partial
discharge in Pico Coulombs (PC). The
authors of the IEEE study on water trees
state that electrical trees will likely
progress to failure quickly, so PD testing
would be more valuable if performed in
conjunction with dissipation factor/
power factor (DF/PF) testing.
Dissipation factor tests. When AC
voltage is applied to insulation that’s in
pristine condition, the cable performs
much like a capacitor: capacitive, or
charging, current will flow based prima-
rily on insulation type, cable length, and
insulation geometry. Virtually no resis-
tive current will flow, resulting in a near-
zero power factor. Power factor (PF) is
the ratio of resistive current to total cur-
rent. Dissipation factor (DF) is the ratio
of resistive current to reactive current. For
small values of resistive current, PF and
DF are about equal. Any form of deterio-
ration that results in an increase of resis-
tive current will cause a corresponding
increase in PF and DF.
Since moisture in PILC cable decreases
insulation resistance and allows resistive
leakage current to increase, the result will
be an increase in insulation PF and DF.
Similarly, the presence of water trees in
extruded cable will increase resistive leak-
age current. The manufacturers of DF
testing equipment claim their products can
detect moisture in PILC cable and water
trees in extruded cables. All forms of
available PF and DF test equipment require
the cable to be de-energized, disconnected,
and tested with a special voltage source.
Now that the industry has soured on
DC hipot testing, cable installers and
maintenance workers have had to begin
looking elsewhere to judge the efficacy of
medium-voltage cables. The IEEE stan-
dard for field testing and evaluating
shielded power cable systems presents six
options. Each test has distinct advantages
and disadvantages. Of these methods,
four are withstand tests. Only two pro-
vide trendable condition assessment in-
formation: PF/DF and PD. Of these, only
the PD test can be performed while the
cable remains energized and in service. For
those applications where it’s impractical to
remove cables from service to perform
maintenance testing, only the online PD
test offers a practical alternative. EC&M
Vahlstrom is director, technical services for
Electro-Test, Inc. in San Ramon, Calif.