Measuring and evaluating leakage currents of cable protection material under non-uniform electric field

ATALAR F., Ersoy A.

ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS RESEARCH, cilt.258, 2026 (SCI-Expanded, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 258
  • Basım Tarihi: 2026
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.epsr.2026.113140
  • Dergi Adı: ELECTRIC POWER SYSTEMS RESEARCH
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, Compendex, Environment Index, INSPEC, Academic Search Ultimate (EBSCO), Engineering Source (EBSCO)
  • İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa Adresli: Evet

Özet

The use of underground high-voltage power cables provides significant advantages in energy distribution, particularly in terms of durability against environmental stresses compared to overhead lines. However, high operating voltages induce substantial electric field stresses within the insulation. Variations in soil conditions and sharp irregularities in cable insulators can intensify these stresses, especially under localized field enhancements where non-uniform electric fields can promote discharge activity; therefore, a rod-plane configuration is used as a controlled laboratory surrogate to impose repeatable non-uniform stress. Accurate analysis of these discharge phenomena is essential for developing protective and reinforcement strategies. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the dielectric stability of polyurethane filler material under non-uniform electric fields using the Enhanced Empirical Wavelet Transform (EEWT). Leakage current signals were acquired from a mineral-oilimmersed rod-plane setup with varying insulation thicknesses (1, 2 and 3 mm) to eliminate environmental interferences. The analysis reveals that discharge behavior is strongly thickness-dependent: increasing thickness shifts the dominant spectral energy from the 46-50 Hz band toward higher frequencies. Crucially, the identification of right-half-plane poles across all samples indicates a persistent risk of instability in the leakage current dynamics, regardless of thickness.