Review on peak detect and hold circuits and their applicability in partial discharge detection

Abstract This article reviews various designs of electrical peak detect and hold circuits and tests their applicability for the detection of partial discharge pulses. Since partial discharges are very short pulses in the nanosecond range, the peak detector circuit must be very fast and thus work precisely over a wide bandwidth up to the GHz range. The article begins with a comprehensive literature review and gives an overview of the state of the art of peak detector circuits. As a result of the literature research, four different peak detector designs are identified that appear suitable for measuring partial discharges. These four circuits are then simulatively tested for their performance in measuring the pulse height of various partial discharge pulses. It turns out that two of the identified circuits are able to measure nanosecond pulses of small amplitude. These two circuits must be further optimized for partial discharge detection in the future. In addition, the circuit should be tested prototypically with real partial discharge pulses.