MV-105 cable - Field acceptance testing - A cable manufacturer's perspective

It is better than 20-years since the newer cable field-testing methods of Very Low Frequency (VLF), Tan Delta, and field partial discharge testing have been introduced to the field-testing arena. Over time these technologies have matured, spawned a new testing industry, IEEE standards, technical committees, and a plethora of technical papers. How has this affected the cable manufacturer and what is his perspective on this area of field-testing both as an acceptance and maintenance test method? This paper intends to discuss the guidelines established and some of the shortcomings that have been found. Although this paper may review the various standards and testing methods, its focus will be with the VLF test.