Condition Assessment of Electrical Equipment in Harsh Electrical Environment

The presence of harsh electromagnetic environments, as those caused by the use of power electronics in industrial assets and renewables, as well as DC in T&D and transport vehicles, will require new approaches to the design and maintenance of electrical insulations. Stresses that were not experienced under conventional, sinusoidal, power supply will most likely affect significantly life and reliability of electrical equipment. This paper looks at type of stresses, life and aging models, diagnostic properties and fast degradations processes which must be considered at the time of insulation design and diagnosed during operating life. A new algorithm for the estimation of a Dynamic Health Index is proposed, and it is shown how much effective it can be when fast-degradation phenomena, as partial discharges, incept in insulation, requiring immediate maintenance action.