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PARTIAL DISCHARGE TESTING EXPLAINED
Introduction

One of the main functions of power magnetic components is to provide isolation between two sections
of an electronic circuit. This isolation may be necessary to comply to a relevant safety specification or
to protect sensitive circuits from high voltages or transients. In general, the isolation required is set by
the voltage present in the circuit and the level of safety insulation that is required. The design of the
magnetic can ensure that the isolation requirements are met in principle, but the design cannot ensure
that certain defects, due to variations in materials or manufacturing processes, will not lead to failures
through time. It is therefore necessary to apply some sort of test to the components to evaluate the
integrity of the insulation.
Several semi-destructive and non-destructive tests have been established to accurately determine the
isolation capability of the component.:

• Hi-pot or Dielectric Strength Test

• Impulse test
• Partial discharge test

Hi-pot test, in which a voltage is applied to both sides of the insulation and the leakage current is
measured, is the most common test performed and is effective to test the dielectric breakdown, however,
it is not effective at identifying certain long-term failure mechanisms. Impulse test which verifies if the
clearances in the device would withstand specified transient over-voltages, is also not effective enough
to provide data regarding the real time operating condition of the device.

As a result, partial discharge testing is increasingly utilized to evaluate the continuous isolation capability
of the component.

What is Partial discharge

Partial discharge is a localized electrical discharge that only partially bridges the insulation between
conductors, and which may or may not occur adjacent to a conductor.

When an isolation barrier has a defect, such as an internal void, the defect will display localized
ionization when exposed to a sufficiently high voltage. Localized ionization is the process by which the
atom or molecule acquires negative or positive charge by gaining or losing electrons. The voltage, at
which ionization starts, is called the inception voltage. As the voltage is lowered the ionization continues
until the extinction voltage is reached at which point the ionization stops.

When a high voltage is applied to the barrier the voltage will also build up across any voids or defects.
When the inception voltage is reached, the void ionizes, shorting itself out. When the voltage across the
void drops below the extinction voltage, ionization ceases. This action redistributes charge within the
barrier and is known as partial discharge.

If the voltage rises again another partial discharge cycle will begin. If the voltage is AC and is large
enough, partial discharge cycles will repeat many times during the positive and negative peaks. If the

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 ionization begins and continues, it can damage the barrier, leading to a degradation of the insulation
barrier over time and eventual dielectric breakdown. If the discharge level is minimal, the barrier receives
no damage. The inception voltage of the individual voids tends to be constant.
The total charge redistributed within the barrier is a very good indicator of the number of voids and their
likelihood of becoming a failure. Setting a very low limit on the allowable partial discharge in testing gives
a very high degree of confidence that a high voltage failure will not occur with time. Since the current
required for the partial discharge to occur is extremely low compared to that of the current in the hi-
pot test, it would not be possible to measure this long-term failure with the hi-pot test and hence partial
discharge testing is implemented.

Therefore, in addition to the knowledge of the maximum dielectric breakdown isolation capability of the
component, knowing the continuous isolation capability would be relevant to a more real-world scenario
of the component’s usage. This parameter could be determined with the highest confidence through the
partial discharge test.
Partial Discharge Testing

IEC 60664-1 and IEC 61800-5-1 provide a detailed process for performing the partial discharge
test. Below in an overview of the Pulse process, based on these specifications, for performing partial
discharge testing.

Input voltage waveform – AC voltage test

The voltage at which the continuous isolation capability of the component needs be determined is called
the partial discharge voltage and is given by UPD. The IEC-60664-1 specifies that the partial discharge
voltage needs to be sinusoidal.

However, in case where a DC constant isolation voltage capability needs to be confirmed, an equivalent
AC voltage partial discharge is implemented, the relationship between AC and DC voltages is as shown
below.
UDC
UPD =
√2

Where, UDC is the DC constant isolation voltage and UPD is the equivalent AC partial discharge voltage.

Multiplication factors
Along with the requirement that the input voltage waveform be sinusoidal, the IPC-60664-1 introduces
following multiplication factors.

F1 Environment correction multiplier

It takes into consideration factors influenced by the test environment such as temperature, humidity, etc.
These influences are taken into consideration by a factor of 1.2.

F2 Hysteresis factor
It occurs between the partial discharge inception voltage Ui and extinction voltage Ue. The factor F2 shall
not be greater than 1.25. The value of the test voltage is therefore calculated as
Test value=F1*F2=(1.25*1.2)*UPD
Test value=1.5*UPD

Where, UPD is the partial discharge test voltage.

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 F3 Safety factor for partial discharge testing and insulation
For the insulation parameter, a more stringent risk assessment is considered. Therefore, an additional
safety factor of 1.25 is considered. The test value is therefore adjusted as

Test value=F1*F2*F3=(1.25*1.2*1.25)*UPD

Test value=1.875*UPD

Where UPD is the partial discharge test voltage

Test procedure
The test equipment for the partial discharge test is as shown in Figure 1. It consists of a high voltage test
chamber, partial discharge tester and computer with the measurement software for viewing the measure-
ments.

High Voltage Test PD Tester Computer

Chamber
Figure 1: Test equipment for partial discharge testing

The test is started from a voltage that is below the rated partial discharge voltage UPD. This voltage is
then linearly increased to 1.875*UPD held for a maximum time of 5 seconds. The voltage is then linearly
decreased to 1.5*UPD and held for a maximum of 15 seconds, during which time the partial discharge is
measured. Figure 2 depicts the voltage waveform and timing.

Figure 2: Partial discharge test procedure

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 Figure 3: Transformer with stray capacitances

As per the standards IEC 60664-1 and

IEC 61800-5-1, the device is considered
to have passed the partial discharge test
if the charge on the stray capacitances
as depicted in Figure 3, is less than 10pC
during the measurement period.

Figure 4 and Figure 5 show the measurement of charge on the stray capacitances during the partial
discharge test, from Figure 4, the device under test passes the partial discharge test, UPD as the
charge on the stray capacitance during the testing period is less than 10pC, this measurement can
be seen in PD1 and PD2. Likewise, the device shown in Figure 5 fails the partial discharge test as
the charge on stray capacitance measures far greater than 10pC during the measurement period.

Benefits of partial discharge testing

Along with identifying the defects that may have occurred during system installation or the
manufacturing process, the partial discharge testing is also a predictive qualitative analysis tool
that warns of a potential upcoming system failure. As a result, insulation deterioration due to normal
operating conditions can be identified beforehand.

Partial discharge testing offers several advantages over other testing methods with the primary
advantage being that the test is non-destructive as it does not result in the device under test being
stressed to failure. Therefore it does not affect the existing insulation capability of the component.

An equally important parameter that can be identified using partial discharge testing is the
continuous isolation capability of the component. The Upd is in effect the continuous voltage rating.
An example of a Pulse component is shown below in which the Upd of the partial discharge test was
1000Vrms and therefore the continuous rating of the PH9185 is also set to 1000Vrms.

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 Pulse Magnetics with High Constant Isolation Capability
In conclusion, partial discharge testing is an excellent mechanism for identifying issues with the
insulation of a magnetic component, can identify potential long term issues and also allows a
maximum continuous voltage rating to be established.

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Written By: Shreyankh Krishnamurthy

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