Partial discharge behavior and accelerated aging upon repetitive DC cable energization and voltage supply polarity inversion

DC cables are supposed to withstand a number of operations involving supply-voltage peak-value time variations, such as energization, switch off and polarity inversion. It is known that voltage-supply time variations cause electric field transients in cable insulation that can last for a long time before steady-state conditions are achieved, and during this time the electric field distribution is not only driven by electrical conductivity, as in steady state, but also by permittivity, as in AC. This paper shows that highly energetic degradation phenomena, that is, partial discharges, PD, can occur during voltage transients that a DC cable has to withstand during life. This results in a cumulative damage which can cause premature insulation breakdown, at times well shorter than those expected based on a cable design which is PD free under steady-state conditions. Quantification of the damage caused by PD, based on aging and residual life models, is proposed in the paper, and it is shown that damage can be significant enough to pose a threat for cable life when operation transient rate is e.g., a few per day, and that the faster the slew rate of the supply voltage variation, the highest the cumulative damage due to PD.