Severe degradation of the conductor screen of service and laboratory aged medium voltage XLPE insulated cables

The main purpose of this paper is to show the strong correlation between corrosion of the metallic aluminum conductor and the formation of interconnected cracks / voids in the conductor screen, creating initiation sites for vented water trees in service aged medium voltage XLPE cables. The results show that porous structures in the conductor screen previously reported for laboratory aged insulation systems, also develop in the conductor screen in service aged medium voltage XLPE cables. These structures can bridge the screen and serve as path for contaminants and corrosion products from the aluminum conductor and initiate water trees. A prerequisite for the formation of such structures is the presence of liquid water at the interface between the conductor and conductor screen causing corrosion. The initiation site of such structures has been identified, and is likely caused by environmental stress cracking (ESC). Initiation sites were determined in all cables, but porous structures in the conductor screen were only observed in the cable suffered from service failure, where liquid water had entered the cable conductor between the strands. Severe degradation of the XLPE insulation was observed at the initiation sites for water trees growing from these structures.     

Correlation between AC breakdown strength and low frequencydielectric loss of water tree aged XLPE cables

This paper describes experiments performed on laboratory aged 12 kV and service aged 24 kV XLPE cable samples. Results from measurements of residual AC breakdown strength, degree of water treeing and dissipation factors are presented. The dissipation factor at low frequencies was determined by both time and frequency domain measurements. The relationship between these methods are discussed and it is shown that both can be used for assessing the average ageing state of the cable, The results show that water treeing causes reduced residual AC breakdown strength and high and nonlinearly increasing low-frequency dielectric loss     

Understanding water treeing mechanisms in the development ofdiagnostic test methods

Recently, several diagnostic methods for measurement of permittivity and dielectric loss have been developed for non-destructive testing of water-tree degraded XLPE cables. Critical degradation is found to be associated with a more than proportional increase of the dielectric properties when increasing the applied test voltage above a certain level. In this paper an explanation for this nonlinearity will be presented, using a mechanical approach to the water treeing phenomenon. The water treed insulation is considered to consist of small water filled voids separated by crazing zones. At relatively low water content and low applied test voltage, several of these crazing zones are likely to be closed and insulating. When increasing the test voltage, Maxwell mechanical stresses will cause water to penetrate into the crazing zones, thus making electric contact between the elongated water droplets. Results from finite element method (FEM) calculations of electric fields and losses show that the effect of this will be to enhance the electric field at the tip of these conductive channels and to increase the dielectric losses of the water treed insulation     

Calculation of water ingress in a HV subsea XLPE cable with a layered water barrier sheath system

The main aging mechanism of electrical cables with polymeric electrical insulation is the growth of water trees. Water trees are initiated if the relative humidity (RH) in the electrical insulation is above a critical level. Delaying the water ingress into the electrical insulation system delays the water tree initiation and reduces water tree growth, thus extending the service life of the cable. For a cable without any metallic water barrier, the water ingress can be significantly delayed by the use of an outer sheath material with low water permeability. An even greater delay in the water ingress into the electrical insulation can be achieved using a layered sheath system. To explore the possibilities of a layered sheath system, calculations of water ingress into a typical cable cross section has been performed using a finite element method. The water diffusion and sorption data used in the calculation has been measured for typical cable materials. Calculations have been performed for uniform temperature conditions and for a temperature gradient due to resistive current heating. The time to reach critical humidity levels and stationary humidity levels in the insulation system has been determined for several different arrangements of the sheath system. A sheath system with an outer layer of a material with low water permeability and an inner layer of a material with a high water absorption capacity is shown to give a significant delay of the water ingress into the electrical insulation. For the sheath materials used in this study, there is an optimum distribution of thickness of each layer. The calculations also show that a temperature gradient across the insulation system of a cable in operation gives an advantageous RH profile. With a temperature gradient the equilibrium RH level in parts of the electrical insulation can be lower than the critical value for water tree initiation. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Condition assessment of 12- and 24-kV XLPE cables installed during the 80s. Results from a joint Norwegian/Swedish research project

This paper reports the results from the condition assessment of 12- and 24-kV cross-linked polyethylene (XPLE) cables using a technique based on dielectric spectroscopy initially developed at KTH in Sweden. The work aims to examine whether the method could detect water tree degradation for the second generation medium voltage (MV) cables with long, but not bridging, water trees. While the overall cable condition was better than expected for second generation XPLE cables, water trees were found in most of the selected cables. The diagnostic method based on the measurement of the dielectric response could only detect water tree degradation in the examined second generation cables when the water trees bridged the insulation wall. Condition assessment above service stress may, in some cases, be required to detect bridging water trees. The results indicate that there is a correlation between the voltage level and the breakdown voltage of the cable. This can be used as a diagnostic criterion for this group of cables.