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US 4,063,168 AGranted
Method and apparatus for locating the source of corona discharge
AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorEarnest Allen Franke
Life of this patent
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AssigneeBell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated
InventorEarnest Allen Franke
Estimating the term…
It has been determined that unique discharge signature waveform shapes are associated with the corona discharges in the components of the power separation filters of repeaters and equalizers. These signature waveform shapes, present across the repeater or equalizer terminals, can be measured and identified by artificially contaminating and inducing corona discharges in the high voltage components. A discharge signal subsequently generated in response to a corona discharge across a high voltage component of a repeater or equalizer of a similar type will have the same shape as one of the signature waveforms. Thus, a corona discharge from a repeater or equalizer under test can be located by comparing its discharge signal with the catalog of signature waveforms. In the embodiment of the invention disclosed herein, the relationship between the spectral energies of the discharge signal at two predetermined frequencies is compared with the relationship between the spectral energies of the signature waveforms at these same frequencies. From such a comparison, the shape of the frequency spectrum of the discharge signal can be determined and thus the signature waveform it most closely approximates. The source of the corona discharge is thence readily identifiable.
A discharge detector for apparatus subject to discharges from a plurality of particular sources within said apparatus, a plurality of signature waveforms having uniquely identifiable time dependent shapes and associated frequency spectrum shapes being predetermined, each of said particular sources generating upon discharge a discharge signal being uniquely identifiable in the time and frequency domains as one of said signature waveforms comprising means for measuring the spectral energies of a discharge signal at two or more predetermined frequencies, means for comparing the magnitudes of said spectral energies at said predetermined frequencies, and means for determining from the relationship between the magnitudes of the spectral energies at said predetermined frequencies the signature waveform in the frequency domain to which said discharge signal is identified and for determining the source of said discharge from said identified signature waveform.
A method for detecting the source of a discharge in apparatus subject to discharges from a plurality of particular sources within said apparatus comprising the steps of:
A method for detecting the source of a discharge in apparatus subject to discharges from a plurality of particular sources within said apparatus comprising the steps of:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.