An Inverse-Filter-Based Method to Locate Partial Discharge Sources in Power Transformers

Partial discharge (PD) occurrence in power transformers can lead to irreparable damage to the power network. In this paper, the inverse filter (IF) method to localize PDs in power transformers is proposed. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the inverse filter method has been used to localize PD sources in the electromagnetic regime. The method comprises two phases: the forward phase and the backward or backpropagation phase. In the forward phase, the waveform emitted from the PD source is recorded with one or several sensors. In the backward phase, the recorded signal is transformed into the frequency domain, inverted, transformed back into the time domain, and then back injected into the medium. Finally, a suitable criterion is used to localize the PD source. The efficiency of the proposed IF method is assessed considering different scenarios. It is shown that, for the considered configurations, the proposed IF method outperforms the classical time-reversal technique.