Effects of variable applied voltage amplitude towards partial discharge in solid insulation

Partial discharge plays an important role in the aging of solid insulation system. Over the past decade, partial discharge has become an interesting topic for researchers due to its complexity. Even today, a precise documentation of partial discharge is still not achievable because researchers have found new evidence of factors contributing to partial discharge occurrence. In this paper, a generalized approach of investigating the effects of variable applied voltage amplitude towards partial discharge is discussed. Partial discharge activity of a single cylindrical void, inside a solid insulator is simulated using SIMULINK. The solid insulator sample used was epoxy resin. Parameters such as voltage discharge of sampling resistance and current discharge of void are studied in order to understand the relationship between the amplitudes of applied voltage and partial discharge. From the results achieved by simulation, it was found that partial discharge pulses increases linearly with the increase of applied voltage. This shows that partial discharge occurrences are dependant of the amplitude of the applied voltage. Even though the result might be different from real model of PD, but theoretically the simulation manage to verify that voltage stress affects the value of PD in a solid insulation material.