A Passive RF Sensor for Detecting Simultaneous Partial Discharge Signals Using Time–Frequency Analysis

In this paper, a passive radio-frequency (RF) sensor has been presented for non-invasive radiometric detection of simultaneous partial discharge (PD) signals in high-voltage (HV) equipment. The sensor is a multi-resonator-based passive circuit with an antenna for capturing PD signals. The low-cost RF sensors are installed in HV sensing units for monitoring multiple units simultaneously. Each sensor captures PD signal and processes it with distinct spectral signatures as identification data bits and transmits the signal to a single sampling channel. From the captured RF signal, both the PD level and the source identification can be retrieved. Our proposed passive sensor addresses both aspects of PD monitoring, PD detection, and faulty source identification. Moreover, in identifying the data bits, the time-frequency analysis is utilized for superior detectability. This analysis enables the detection of multiple PD events separated by a defined time delay, although they occur at the same instance. Thus, the sensor can distinguish simultaneous PD occurrences from multiple sources, which is a novel contribution in PD detection. The proposed sensor system provides low-cost, passive condition monitoring of HV units in a distribution substation.