The Evolution of Partial Discharge Testing in Electrical Equipment

G.C. Stone, Consultant, and Andrea Cavallini, University of BolognaIndustry Topics, Spring 2024 Industry Topics

Partial discharge (PD) testing is routinely used on all types of medium- and high-voltage equipment as a factory quality assurance test for electrical insulation and as a tool to detect deterioration in the electrical insulation of operating equipment. Today, dozens of vendors supply PD instruments, but the first PD tests were made by researchers over a century ago in an …