IEC TS 61934:2006

TECHNICAL IEC
SPECIFICATION TS 61934
First edition
2006-04
Electrical insulating materials and systems –
Electrical measurement of partial discharges (PD)
under short rise time and repetitive voltage
impulses
Reference number
IEC/TS 61934:2006(E)
Publication numbering
As from 1 January 1997 all IEC publications are issued with a designation in the
60000 series. For example, IEC 34-1 is now referred to as IEC 60034-1.
Consolidated editions
The IEC is now publishing consolidated versions of its publications. For example,
edition numbers 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 refer, respectively, to the base publication, the
base publication incorporating amendment 1 and the base publication incorporating
amendments 1 and 2.
Further information on IEC publications
The technical content of IEC publications is kept under constant review by the IEC,
thus ensuring that the content reflects current technology. Information relating to
this publication, including its validity, is available in the IEC Catalogue of
publications (see below) in addition to new editions, amendments and corrigenda.
Information on the subjects under consideration and work in progress undertaken
by the technical committee which has prepared this publication, as well as the list
of publications issued, is also available from the following:
• IEC Web Site (www.iec.ch)
• Catalogue of IEC publications
The on-line catalogue on the IEC web site (www.iec.ch/searchpub) enables you to
search by a variety of criteria including text searches, technical committees
and date of publication. On-line information is also available on recently issued
publications, withdrawn and replaced publications, as well as corrigenda.
• IEC Just Published
This summary of recently issued publications (www.iec.ch/online_news/ justpub)
is also available by email. Please contact the Customer Service Centre (see
below) for further information.
• Customer Service Centre
If you have any questions regarding this publication or need further assistance,
please contact the Customer Service Centre:

Email: custserv@iec.ch
Tel: +41 22 919 02 11
Fax: +41 22 919 03 00
TECHNICAL IEC
SPECIFICATION TS 61934
First edition
2006-04
Electrical insulating materials and systems –
Electrical measurement of partial discharges (PD)
under short rise time and repetitive voltage
impulses
 IEC 2006  Copyright - all rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission, 3, rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 22 919 02 11 Telefax: +41 22 919 03 00 E-mail: inmail@iec.ch Web: www.iec.ch
PRICE CODE
Commission Electrotechnique Internationale S

International Electrotechnical Commission
МеждународнаяЭлектротехническаяКомиссия
For price, see current catalogue

– 2 – TS 61934  IEC:2006(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.4

1 Scope.6
2 Normative references .6
3 Terms and definitions .6
4 Measurement of partial discharge pulses during repetitive, short-rise time, voltage
impulses and comparison with power frequency .8
4.1 Measurement frequency .8
4.2 Measurement quantities .9
4.3 Test objects.9
4.4 Effect of testing conditions .10
5 PD detection methods .11
5.1 General .11
5.2 PD pulse coupling and detection devices.11
5.3 Source-controlled gating techniques.15
6 Display methods.15
7 Sensitivity of PD measurement .16
8 Test circuits.17
9 Test procedures .17
10 Test report.17

Annex A (informative) Indications on the voltage impulse suppression action required
by the coupling device .18
Annex B (informative) PD pulses extracted from a supply voltage impulse through
filtering techniques .20

Bibliography.22

Figure 1 – Coupling capacitor with multipole filter .12
Figure 2 – Example of voltage impulse and PD pulse frequency spectra before and
after filtering .12
Figure 3 – HFCT with multipole filter .13
Figure 4 – HFCT between test object and earth with multipole filter .13
Figure 5 – Circuit using an electromagnetic coupler (for example an antenna) to
suppress impulses from the test supply.13
Figure 6 – Example of waveforms of repetitive bipolar impulse voltage and charge
accumulation for on twisted-pair sample .14
Figure 7 – Charge measurements .14
Figure 8 – Example of PD detection using electronic source-controlled gating (other
PD coupling devices can be used) .15

TS 61934  IEC:2006(E) – 3 –
Figure A.1 – Schematic example of overlap between voltage impulse and PD pulse
spectra (dotted area) .18
Figure A.2 – Schematic example of voltage impulse and PD pulse spectra after filtering.18
Figure A.3 – Example of impulse voltage damping as a function of impulse voltage
magnitude and rise time.19
Figure B.1 – Power supply waveform and recorded PD pulses measured using an
antenna during supply voltage commutation.20
Figure B.2 – Partial discharge pulses detected by an antenna from the record of
Figure B.1, using a filtering technique (400 MHz high-pass filter).21
Figure B.3 – Characteristic of the filter used to pass from Figure B.1 to Figure B.2 .21

– 4 – TS 61934  IEC:2006(E)
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
ELECTRICAL INSULATING MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS –
ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENT OF PARTIAL DISCHARGES (PD)
UNDER SHORT RISE TIME AND REPETITIVE VOLTAGE IMPULSES

FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
The main task of IEC technical committees is to prepare International Standards. In
exceptional circumstances, a technical committee may propose the publication of a technical
specification when
• the required support cannot be obtained for the publication of an International Standard,
despite repeated efforts, or
• The subject is still under technical development or where, for any other reason, there is
the future but no immediate possibility of an agreement on an International Standard.
Technical specifications are subject to review within three years of publication to decide
whether they can be transformed into International Standards.
IEC 61934, which is a technical specification, has been prepared by IEC technical
committee 112: Evaluation and qualification of electrical insulating materials and systems .
———————
Provisional title.
TS 61934  IEC:2006(E) – 5 –
The text of this technical specification is based on the following documents:
Enquiry draft Report on voting
112/13/DTS 112/25/RVC
Full information on the voting for the approval of this technical specification can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• transformed into an International standard,
• reconfirmed;
• withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
– 6 – TS 61934  IEC:2006(E)
ELECTRICAL INSULATING MATERIALS AND SYSTEMS –
ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENT OF PARTIAL DISCHARGES (PD)
UNDER SHORT RISE TIME AND REPETITIVE VOLTAGE IMPULSES

1 Scope
This Technical Specification is applicable to the off-line electrical measurement of partial
discharges (PD) that occur in electrical insulation systems (EIS) when stressed by repetitive
voltage impulses having a rise time of 50 µs or less.
Typical applications are EIS belonging to apparatus driven by power electronics, such as
motors.
NOTE 1 Use of this document with specific products may require specification of additional procedures.
NOTE 2 Those described in the TS are emerging technologies, so that experience and cautions, as well as
certain preconditions, are needed to apply this TS.
Excluded are
– methods based on optical or ultrasonic PD detection,
– fields of application for PD measurements when stressed by non-repetitive impulse
voltages.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition ci
...