LOCATING A FAULT IN AN ELECTRICAL POWER CABLE

摘要

A method of pinpointing the location between manholes of a fault (14) in an electrical cable typically buried underground in an urban environment, the fault being caused by an insulation defect which may be broken down by a high voltage includes the steps of applying the voltage to break down the fault insulation defect to induce a transient fault pulse on the cable on both sides of the fault travelling away from the fault (17, 18). By the use of a ferrite type transformed coupler producing an output voltage, the direction of the transient fault pulse is determined by relating the polarity of the output voltage to the initial high voltage pulse which was applied.