A Review on Water Tree Phenomenon and Incipient Fault in Underground Cable

This paper presents details about water tree phenomena and incipient fault in the underground cable. The water Tree phenomenon is a type of fault that occurs due to old insulated cables exposed to high levels of moisture. Being a high-impedance fault, standard techniques of detection are not found much suitable and thus it becomes necessary to design a mechanism to analyze the level of destruction caused. An early warning system can be used for predictions of water-tree occurrence so that we can keep the remedial measures ready beforehand. The breakdown of cable mainly initiates due to electrical ageing phenomena, which is a slow degradation method. During ageing process, changes in various physicochemical properties may occur which will probably affect the electrical properties of cross-linked polyethylene cable insulation. This ageing will slowly convert to a permanent fault.