System and method for assessing the remaining useful life of an insulation system

1. A method for simulation of an electrical tree representative of partial discharge events within an insulation system, the method comprising:

representing a potential electrical tree within an insulation system, the potential electrical tree comprising a plurality of charged spheres and a plurality of potential tree links between any two of the plurality of charged spheres;

applying a voltage to the insulation system at a tree inception point;

calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links resulting from the application of the voltage to the insulation system;

accumulating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links;

identifying a potential tree link of the plurality of potential tree links as a failed tree link if the accumulated incremental damage energy exceeds a critical damage energy level; and

adding the failed tree link to the tree inception point to simulate the electrical tree.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising calculating a partial discharge based at least in part on the accumulated damage energy.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of charged spheres are interspersed within the insulation system.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links further comprises:

calculating a charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres resulting from the applied voltage;

calculating the electrical potential between any two of the plurality of charged spheres comprising a potential tree link based upon the calculated charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres; and

calculating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links based upon the calculated charge of the two charged spheres comprising the potential tree link.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying characteristic parameters of the insulation system.

6. A method for predicting a time-to-breakdown of an insulation system, the method comprising:

simulating an electrical tree representative of partial discharge events within the insulation system, wherein simulating the electrical tree comprises;

representing a potential electrical tree within an insulation system, the potential electrical tree comprising a plurality of charged spheres and a plurality of potential tree links between any two of the plurality of charged spheres;

applying a voltage to the insulation system at a tree inception point;

calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links resulting from the application of the voltage to the insulation system;

accumulating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links;

identifying a potential tree link of the plurality of potential tree links as a failed tree link if the accumulated incremental damage energy exceeds a critical damage energy level;

adding the failed tree link to the tree inception point to simulate the electrical tree;

calculating a partial discharge based at least in part on the accumulated damage energy;

obtaining a fractal dimension of the electrical tree; and

predicting the time-to-breakdown of the insulation system based at least in part upon the fractal dimension of the electrical tree and calculated partial discharge.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the plurality of charged spheres are interspersed within the insulation system.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links further comprises:

calculating a charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres resulting from the applied voltage;

calculating the electrical potential between any two of the plurality of charged spheres comprising a potential tree link based upon the calculated charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres; and

calculating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links based upon the calculated charge of the two charged spheres comprising the potential tree link.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising identifying characteristic parameters of the insulation system.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of running a software program on a computing device for the simulation of an electrical tree representative of partial discharge events within an insulation system, the computing device operating under an operating system, the method including issuing instructions from the software program comprising:

representing a potential electrical tree within an insulation system, the potential electrical tree comprising a plurality of charged spheres and a plurality of potential tree links between any two of the plurality of charged spheres;

applying a voltage to the insulation system at a tree inception point;

calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links resulting from the application of the voltage to the insulation system;

accumulating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links;

identifying a potential tree link of the plurality of potential tree links as a failed tree link if the accumulated incremental damage energy exceeds a critical damage energy level; and

adding the failed tree link to the tree inception point to simulate the electrical tree.

11. The medium of claim 10 , the method further including issuing instructions from the software program comprising calculating a partial discharge based at least in part on the accumulated damage energy.

12. The medium of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of charged spheres are interspersed within the insulation system.

13. The medium of claim 10 , wherein calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links further comprises:

calculating a charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres resulting from the applied voltage;

calculating the electrical potential between any two of the plurality of charged spheres comprising a potential tree link based upon the calculated charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres; and

calculating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links based upon the calculated charge of the two charged spheres comprising the potential tree link.

14. The medium of claim 10 , the method further including issuing instructions from the software program comprising, identifying characteristic parameters of the insulation system.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing a method of running a software program on a computing device for predicting a time-to-breakdown of an insulation system, the computing device operating under an operating system, the method including issuing instructions from the software program comprising:

simulating an electrical tree representative of partial discharge events within the insulation system, wherein simulating the electrical tree comprises;

representing a potential electrical tree within an insulation system, the potential electrical tree comprising a plurality of charged spheres and a plurality of potential tree links between any two of the plurality of charged spheres;

applying a voltage to the insulation system at a tree inception point;

calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links resulting from the application of the voltage to the insulation system;

accumulating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links;

identifying a potential tree link of the plurality of potential tree links as a failed tree link if the accumulated incremental damage energy exceeds a critical damage energy level;

adding the failed tree link to the tree inception point to simulate the electrical tree;

calculating a partial discharge based at least in part on the accumulated damage energy;

obtaining a fractal dimension of the electrical tree; and

predicting the time-to-breakdown of the insulation system based at least in part upon the fractal dimension of the electrical tree and calculated partial discharge.

16. The medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of charged spheres are interspersed within the insulation system.

17. The medium of claim 15 , wherein calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links further comprises:

calculating a charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres resulting from the applied voltage;

calculating the electrical potential between any two of the plurality of charged spheres comprising a potential tree link based upon the calculated charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres; and

calculating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links based upon the calculated charge of the two charged spheres comprising the potential tree link.

18. The medium of claim 15 , the method further including issuing instructions from the software program comprising, identifying characteristic parameters of the insulation system.

19. A system for predicting a time-to-breakdown of an insulation system, the system comprising:

a first computing device comprising a processor configured to run a software program capable of simulating an electric tree representative of partial discharge events within the insulation system, wherein simulating the electric tree comprises the steps of:

representing a plurality of charged spheres and a plurality of potential tree links between any two of the plurality of charged spheres,

applying a voltage to the plurality of charged spheres and the plurality of potential tree links at a tree inception point,

calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links resulting from the application of the voltage,

accumulating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links,

identifying a potential tree link of the plurality of potential tree links as a failed tree link if the accumulated incremental damage energy exceeds a critical damage energy level,

adding the failed tree link to the tree inception point;

calculating a partial discharge based at least in part on the accumulated damage energy and obtaining a fractal dimension of the electrical tree, and

a second computing device comprising a processor configured to run a software program capable of performing the steps of:

receiving the calculated partial discharge from the first computing device, and

predicting the time-to-breakdown of the insulation system based at least in part upon the fractal dimension of the electrical tree and calculated partial discharge.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein calculating an incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links further comprises:

calculating a charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres resulting from the applied voltage;

calculating the electrical potential between any two of the plurality of charged spheres comprising a potential tree link based upon the calculated charge for each of the plurality of charged spheres; and

calculating the incremental damage energy across each of the plurality of potential tree links based upon the calculated charge of the two charged spheres comprising the potential tree link.