Deep Learning Based Corona Discharge Severity Classification for High Voltage Equipment

Discharges, such as partial discharges (PDs) and corona discharges (CDs) are the most common faults that occur in insulation materials used in high voltage (HV) equipment. A high repetition rate of discharge activity indicates the severity of the defects that shorten the lifetime of electrical equipment, leading to insulation failure. To solve this, this paper proposes an efficient classification technique for corona discharge defect intensity using features obtained from statistical parameters such as the ignition voltage of CDs. The Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) is proposed to identify the intensity of corona discharges. A comprehensive experimental evaluation is conducted, to demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed solution. The exceptional predictive abilities of the long short-term memory (LSTM) method are the primary benefit of the proposed approach presented, with a potential for enhancing the performance of CD detection systems. The obtained results demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed model, indicating its potential for deployment in practical applications. The innovative approaches utilized in this paper will help engineers and operators quickly determine the severity (sharpness and curvature) of the protrusions or surface defects that cause CDs, solely based on measurements of the ignition voltage.