Ultra-High SNR Demodulation Method for Optical Fiber Sensors Applied in Power Transformer Partial Discharge Detection

• Main Authors: Cai, J. (Author), Qiao, J. (Author), Shao, Q. (Author), Wang, Y. (Author), Zhang, W. (Author), Zhao, H. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: 3×3 coupler; Demodulation; Demodulation method; DFB fiber laser; Distributed feedback fiber lasers; Engineering applications; Fiber Bragg gratings; Fiber lasers; Fiber optic sensors; High signal-to-noise ratio; improved optical demodulation; Improved optical demodulation; Optical coupler; optical coupler asymmetry; Optical coupler asymmetry; optical fiber sensors; Optical signal processing; Optical variables measurement; Partial discharge detection; Partial discharges; Power transformers; Signal to noise ratio; Ultra-high
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 The demodulation method of optical fiber sensors utilized in power transformer partial discharge (PD) detection is insufficient for engineering applications. We design a distributed feedback fiber laser (DFB-FL) PD detection system with an asymmetric 3 × 3 coupler and propose an ultra-high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) demodulation scheme by eliminating the main factors that affect the traditional method using an asymmetric 3 × 3 coupler. The power transformer PD detection results reveal that the proposed scheme is free from 3 × 3 coupler asymmetry issues, with an average SNR of 38.30 dB, which is much higher than the widely used demodulation method and the piezoelectric transducer sensor. The average SNR of the system is increased by 24.2 dB with the proposed method. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.