Partial Discharge Monitor

Product

The electric power grid depends on reliable high‑voltage insulation. To maintain safety and uptime, utilities must continuously monitor insulation health and detect early signs of degradation. High electric fields can exceed the breakdown strength of insulation materials wherever defects exist, including cavities, delaminations, metal protrusions, or age‑related wear. Each partial discharge event, even if small at first, expands the damaged region. If thse defects go unnoticed and uncorrected, they can lead to complete insulator failure and potentially disrupt power transmission.

Working with a global leader in energy technology, Trenz Electronic developed a Partial Discharge Monitor (PDM). Utilities deploy such PDMs in power plants to continuously observe partial discharge activity in generators, motors, and other high‑voltage assets. The online measurements captured by the PDM form a critical basis for assessing the condition of the high-voltage insulation and guiding maintenance decisions.

Implementation

The PDM is built around a TE0803 compute module that integrates an AMD Zynq™ UltraScale MPSoC. This device combines flexible programmable logic with a CPU subsystem featuring four 64‑bit ARM Cortex‑A53 cores and two 32‑bit Cortex‑R5 real‑time cores. The module packages the MPSoC together with DRAM, flash memory, and all required voltage regulators, creating a robust, commoditized building block for high‑reliability embedded systems.

A custom baseboard provides eight analog channels, each with a low‑noise analog front end and a wide input range from 200 mVpp to 2,000 Vpp. The design includes a 125 Msps, 14‑bit A/D converter to cover the required bandwidth from 100 kHz to 50 MHz. The eight analog inputs and an external trigger input enable three‑phase observations across multiple systems. A dedicated 24‑bit A/D converter at 46 kSps supports precise triggering at lower frequencies. The backpanel includes two alarm relays, two analog current loop outputs, multiple current loop inputs, a USB port, and an RS‑485 port for integration with typical power‑plant equipment.

The digital signal processing runs in the programmable logic, including a bank of IIR filters for noise suppression and a detector for partial discharge events. The 64‑bit cores run embedded Linux for networking and storage of large data sets. A separate system on one of the 32‑bit cores handles precise triggering on line‑voltage zero crossings or other reference points. With optimized filtering, the system can detect subtle variations in line frequency, which is essential to accurately capture the phase of partial discharge events.

The PDM operates either as a standalone device, storing data to internal eMMC, or as a networked system that streams measurements to a server. Network mode enables expanded storage, visualization, and analysis features.

Impact

Since the earliest planning stages, Trenz Electronic collaborated closely with the client on this project. The client contributed their deep domain expertise and focused on product management and critical firmware features, particularly the detection of high‑frequency interference in noisy industrial environments. Trenz Electronic provided electrical engineering, embedded systems design, programmable logic development, and full manufacturing support, including cost estimation, assembly, and testing.

This clear division of responsibilities allowed the client to concentrate on their core strengths while relying on Trenz Electronic’s broad technical capabilities and scalable engineering team. As a result, the client locked-in product cost early, delivered within price and schedule targets, and maintained a lean, agile organization throughout the project.

Trenz Electronic’s products are available worldwide through a network of authorized distributors. In North America, Trenz Embedded provides direct coordination and support. We look forward to hearing from you and exploring how we can support your design and development needs.