OWTS® HV Technology

for on-site testing and advanced diagnosis

of high voltage power cables for rated
voltages up to 380 kV using damped
sinusoidal ac voltages
OWTS® technology has been introduced by Seitz Instruments AG in Switzerland
end of 90’s.
Since than worldwide almost 200 systems are successfully implemented for
testing and diagnosis of distribution and transmission power cables using different
OWTS® (oscillating wave test system) solutions:

‰ OWTS 25 since 1999

‰ OWTS HV 250 since 2004
‰ OWTS M-series 28 since 2005
‰ OWTS M-series 60 since 2006
‰ OWTS HV 150 since 2007
‰ OWTS HV 350 since 2008

In this brochure you will find explanation, why the OWTS® technology is the most
advanced way for on-site testing and diagnosis of new and service aged
transmission power cables.

For further information you can contact:

SebaKMT Seitz Instruments AG

Seba Dynatronic Mess- und Mellingerstrasse 12
Ortungstechnik GmbH 5443 Niederrohrdorf
Dr. Herbert Iann Str.6 Switzerland
96148 Baunach / Germany
phone 41 56 496 7480
phone +49 9544 680 fax +41 56 496 7485
fax +49 9544 2273 www.seitz-instruments.ch
www.sebakmt.com

v.2010_01
 Use
‰ as a part of commissioning on-site: to check on-site
the transportation, storage and installation possible
damage of the cable after completed factory test.

‰after on-site repair: to check bad workmanship during

complete installation of the cable (including joints and
terminations).

‰ for diagnostic purposes: to estimate actual condition of

the service aged cable system by checking the insulation
degradation due to service operation e.g. 30…40 years.

On-site testing
‰ to detect insulation defects in HV and EHV power cables
during on-site testing voltages higher than Uo

‰ up to 1.7Uo…2.0Uo to demonstrate that

ƒ the insulation is healthy (defect-free and/or non-
aged) and that insulation can withstand a high
voltage stress level,

ƒ insulation is aged and/or consists of insulation

defects should have lower level of withstand
voltage.

On-site diagnosis
‰ by PD detection to demonstrate that the
insulation is PD free by determining the PD
inception voltage (PDIV).

‰ the margin between PDIV and the Uo is a

reliability indicator of a particular cable circuit.

‰ in the case of PD activity in the cable insulation

or cable accessories detection and localization of
the discharging weak spots.

‰ with regard to service aged power cables the

dielectric loss measurement at service condition
(power frequencies, electrical stresses) is very
valuable indicator about the thermal stability of a
particular cable circuit (OF cables).

application
Applicability for
HV and EHV
power cables
Results of several successful
comparison tests as published by

‰ Cigre (1990),
‰ TU Delft/Kema (1999),
‰ Cesi (2002),
‰ EuroTest (2007),
‰ TU Helsinki (2007)
‰ Prysmian Cables and Systems BV
‰ EPRI State Grid, China

have demonstrated the applicability of

damped ac (dac) voltages.
OWTS® HV technology uses damped sinusoidal ac voltages in
the range of 20Hz up to 500Hz
Important Standards
IEC 60060-3 High Voltage test techniques –Part 3: Definitions and requirements for on-site testing;
IEEE 400 Guide for Field Testing and Evaluation of the Insulation of Shielded Power Cable Systems;
IEEE 400.3 Guide for PD Testing of Shielded Power Cable Systems in a Field Environment;
IEC 60270 Partial discharges measurements;
IEC 885-3 Test methods for partial discharges measurements on lengths of extruded power cable;
IEC 60840 Power cables with extruded insulation and the accessories for rated voltages above 30kV
up to 150kV Test methods and requirements;
IEC 62067 Power cables with extruded insulation and the accessories for rated voltages above 150kV;
IEC 60141 Tests on oil-filled and gas-pressure cables and their accessories up to and including 400kV
part 2;

TEST TYPE DESCRIPTION

AC, DAC voltage test: - AC test voltage 20-300 Hz substantially

[IEC60060-3] sinusoidal,
[IEEE 400] - Test @ 1.7 U0 / 1 h (but lower values are
also allowed),
[IEC60840] - As alternative, a test @ U0 / 24 h may be
[IEC62067] applied
AC, DAC voltage test - PD level measurement in [pC]
and diagnosis: - localization of PD in cable insulation
[IEC60270] - localization of PD in cable accessories
[IEC885-3] - dielectric loss measurement in tanδ Δ
tanδ,
[IEEE400.3]

OWTS® HV 150 system

application
OWTS® Technology

has been introduced in 1998 as a consequence of

experience in on-site ac testing on the one hand and the
technological progress in power electronics and advanced
signal processing on the other hand and it is characterized
by
‰ lightweights measured with max. 6kg/MVA
‰ compactness versus output voltage
‰ system assembling and voltage erecting effort
‰ necessary power demand for long lengths
‰ possibility of sensitive PD detection and tanδ
measurement
OWTS® HV 250 system

The damped alternating voltage (dac) is an oscillating switching impulse voltage (OSI) of quite low
damping and a frequency in the range of 20Hz up to 400Hz

Damped sinusoidal ac voltage

‰ has been introduced end of 80’s by Cigre
Study Committee 21 Insulated Cables as an
effective method for on-site testing.
‰ has lower destructiveness and the
combination with PD detection has become very
attractive.
‰ testing is since several years accepted
method for on-site PD testing and diagnosis of
polymeric and paper insulated HV and EHV
power cables networks.
‰ on-site applying of dac voltages is mostly
combined with PD measurements and dielectric
losses measurements.
OWTS® HV 150 system

method
 Principles of damped sinusoidal ac (dac) voltage generation

‰ for the generation of dac voltages the

capacitance of the HV power cable in series in HV Solid-State
Switch
Inductor L

Test Object: Power Cable

a large air-core inductor in the range of few HV Source

H’s is charged with a continuously increasing

HV voltage with a low current in the range of S Cc

10mA up to 30mA.

‰ by linear charging with continuously

increasing HV voltage no ‘‘steady state’’ DC
conditions occur in the test object. After the HV Divider

L•C loop is closed in a time e.g. < 1μs by HV Process Control Unit
Data Storage
PD Coupling Capacitor
PD detector
solid-state switch in the loop a sinusoidal PD Analysis
damped ac voltage with a frequency between Dielectric losses
estimation
20Hz and few hundreds of Hz is produced.

‰ the dac voltage frequency is approximately the

resonant frequency of the circuit L•C.

‰ the maximum capacitance which can be tested

using dac system can be calculated in dependence
of maximum test voltage applied and the
permissible ac current in the resonant circuit and is
in the range up to 13μF.

OWTS® HV 350 system

350kV HV divider and PD measuring unit

including measurement and control system

350kV external inductance build up with a

coil base, 3 coils and 1 coil with top
electrode

350kV switch unit

350 kV power unit, 2 parallel units in master

slave configuration which deliver 16 mA

method
On-site testing and diagnosis using OWTS HV® Technology

De-energizing and disconnection

of the HV power cable circuit

Connection of the OWTS® HV system

Test object definition and IEC60270 PD calibration

Energizing the cable with dac voltages

Partial discharges
detection

Voltage Dielectric loss

testing measurement

Voltage withstand
diagnosis

Disconnection of the OWTS® HV system

Analysis and report generation

features
 Major steps in using on-site the OWTS® HV Technology

Step 1: test object definition Step 2: IEC60270 PD calibration

Step 4: PD mapping generation

Step 3: voltage testing and diagnosis

Step 5: report generation

features
 Information generation using OWTS® HV Technology

Energizing using damped sinusoidal ac voltages

Dielectric loss estimation
2
1.8
1.6
1.4

Diel. Losses
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
Testing and diagnosis 0
0.40 0.80 1.00 1.36

L1 L2 L3 x Uo

Tan δ and Δtan δ in function of the test

Advanced PD pulse analysis voltage

IEC60270 standardized PD detection

TDR analysis of PD pulses

PD mapping in cable insulation and accessories PD-pattern generation

‰ due to similarity in PD occurrence at ac

voltage stresses during factory testing and
service operation it is recommended for on-site
testing and PD measurements.

‰ dac withstand test: the cable section can be

stressed with a selected DAC voltage stress for
selected time duration and the cable section
can be rejected if a breakdown has occurred.

‰ diagnosis: at certain voltage levels partial

discharges and dielectric losses can be
Multiple PD sites localization measured in function of time/voltage and used
for diagnostic purposes

information
 Application of the OWTS® HV Technology

Examples of typical damped ac voltage frequencies for different lengths of two

typical 230kV power cables
Length [km] XLPE (C=200pF/m) [Hz] Oil filled (C=350pF/m) [Hz]
0.25 258 195
0.5 183 138
1 129 98
2 91 69
4 65 49
8 46 35
16 32 24
20 29 22

Applicability for testing different power cable ratting voltages

Power cable rated Uo [kV] OWTS HV 150 OWTS HV 250 OWTS HV 350
voltages [kV] X Uo X Uo X Uo
66 38,1 2,8

110 63,5 1,7 2,8

132 76,2 1,4 2,3

150 86,6 1,2 2.0 2,8

220 127 0.8 1,4 1,9

330 190,5 0.9 1,3

380 219,4 1,1

information
 Technical data of the OWTS® HV Technology

OWTS HV 150 OWTS HV 250 OWTS HV 350

max. dac output- voltage 150 kV 250kV 350 kV
(106 kVeff) (176 kVeff) (247 kVeff)
dac frequency range 20 Hz … 500 Hz
test object capacitance range 0,025 µF ... 13 µF
HV charging current 10 mA 8mA 16mA

max. dac current 300 A

PD measuring range 1 pC ... 100 nC
PD level detection and acc. to IEC 60270
bandwidth
bandwidth for PD-localization 150 kHz ... 45 MHz (automatic bandwidth adaptation for short and long
cables)
accuracy of PD localization 1 % of cable length, (min. 3m)
dissipation factor 0,1 % ... 10 %
operating temperature -10 °C ...+ 40 °C
power supply
weight (without transport case) app. 300 kg app. 900 kg app. 1100 kg
dimensions
RAM1024 MB RAM1024 MB
USB port Integrated V.2.0
protocol feature Integrated
HV Switch LTT
data acquisition Integrated 100MHz DAQ and embedded controller
Operation control optical link (100 FX)
Calibration mode Automatic / manual
TDR joint location in calibration Integrated
mode
User interface Remote client (Notebook or Tablet PC)
Facts about OWTS® HV Technology

Applicable for HV power cables for rated voltages up to 380 kV

√
Applicable for testing long lengths of power cables
√
Reproduces ac stresses from the electrical network
√
Approved method and accepted by standards
√
Non-destructive and sensitive testing method
√
Combined with standardized partial discharge diagnostics
√
PD localization in cable insulation and accessories
√
Combined with dielectric loss measurement
√
Portable test system, compact design and low weight
√
Efficient and attractive for use in the field
√
Newest power-electronics and signal processing technologies
√
Straight forward technology and operation
√
Supports asset management decisions
√