Method of detecting partial discharging location of power device

1. A method of detecting a location of a partial discharge in a power device using partial discharge signals that arrive at a plurality of partial discharge sensors installed on an outside surface of a power device, the method comprising:

dividing the power device into a plurality of spatial sections having an identical volume;

measuring sequential positions of arrival of the partial discharge signals and differences in a time of arrival between the partial discharge signals with respect to the partial discharge sensors;

determining one of the spatial sections to be a spatial section where the location of the partial discharge is present using the measured sequential positions of arrival of the partial discharge signals, and calculating a representative location value of the determined spatial section;

setting up quaternary simultaneous equations regarding distances from the location of the partial discharge to the respective partial discharge sensors using the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals with respect to the respective partial discharge sensors, with coordinates (x,y,z) of the location of the partial discharge and a partial discharge signal arrival time (T 1 ) for a first partial discharge sensor at which the partial discharge signal has arrived earliest being set as unknowns; and

calculating the coordinates (x,y,z) of the location of the partial discharge from the quaternary simultaneous equations using a simultaneous equation numerical analysis algorithm, wherein the coordinates of the location of the partial discharge are calculated by applying the representative location value of the determined spatial section as an initial value of the simultaneous equation numerical analysis algorithm.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of partial discharge sensors are installed at an origin set at a specific point on the outside surface of the power device and locations selected to correspond to three-dimensional rectangular coordinate axes X, Y and Z based on the origin.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the spatial sections of the power device are 4 to 16 in number.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the spatial section comprises:

determining one of left and right spatial sections of the power device by comparing the sequential positions of arrival of the partial discharge signals with respect to the partial discharge sensors at the origin and along the X axis, determining one of front and back spatial sections of the power device by comparing the sequential positions of arrival of the partial discharge signals with respect to the partial discharge sensors at the origin and along the Y axis, and determining one of upper and lower spatial sections of the power device by comparing the sequential positions of arrival of the partial discharge signals with respect to the partial discharge sensors at the origin and along the Z axis; and

determining the spatial section where the location of the partial discharge is present using the determined left or right, front or back, and upper or lower spatial sections.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein measuring the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals with respect to the partial discharge sensors comprises:

measuring differences (Δt 1 , Δt 2 and Δt 3 ) between a partial discharge signal arrival time (T 1 ) for the first partial discharge sensor at which the partial discharge signal has arrived earliest and partial discharge signal arrival times (T 2 , T 2 and T 3 ) for the other partial discharge sensors.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the partial discharge signal arrival time (T 1 ) for the first partial discharge sensor is a time taken from a time point at which the partial discharge occurred to a time point at which the partial discharge signal has arrived at the first partial discharge sensor.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after setting up the quaternary simultaneous equations:

extracting a compensation value for the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals corresponding to the determined spatial section from compensation values for the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals for the respective partial discharge sensors preset with respect to the respective spatial sections of the power device; and

applying the extracted compensation value for the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals to the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals for the respective partial discharge sensors in the set-up quaternary simultaneous equations;

wherein coordinates of the location of the partial discharge are calculated from the quaternary simultaneous equations, to which the arrival time compensation value has been applied, using the simultaneous equation numerical analysis algorithm.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the preset compensation values for the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals for the respective partial discharge sensors are set with respect to sequential positions of the differences in the time of arrival between the partial discharge signals for the partial discharge sensors and with respect to the spatial sections.