The scope of optical fibre sensing for high voltage equipment and systems monitoring has been illustrated with respect to circuit-breaker applications. The techniques are equally applicable to other high voltage equipment such as transformers. Already the use of optical fibre distributed sensors for monitoring temperatures and hot spots is apparent in relation to the windings of transformers. A number of extension of the fibre sensor types described above for circuit-breakers are possible to other equipment. For instance, the optoacoustic fibre dyne interferometer has been deployed for monitoring partial discharges in gas insulated systems and in power cables. Modified forms of the chromatic particle monitor have already been utilised for oil monitoring in the semiconductor industry and for kerosene monitoring in the nuclear industry and have the potential for application to transformer oil monitoring. The chromatic approach to optical fibre sensing is synergetic with the broader issue of intelligent monitoring discussed via the utilisation of the chromatic processing for extracting information about complex systems operation. The methodology therefore permeates through the intelligent monitoring system illustrating how intelligence may be distributed therein.

Inspec keywords: transformer oil; power cables; power apparatus; distributed sensors; temperature measurement; power transformers; fibre optic sensors; circuit breakers

Other keywords: partial discharge monitoring; gas insulated systems; high voltage power equipment; optical fibre distributed sensors; intelligent monitoring; nuclear industry; circuit breaker; semiconductor industry; power cables; optoacoustic fibre dyne interferometer; power transformers; transformer oil monitoring; kerosene monitoring; transformer windings; optical fibre based monitoring; temperature monitoring; hot spots

Subjects: Fibre optic sensors