Category Archives: Cable
Each year, millions of people and thousands of businesses are impacted by underground cable system failures. IMCORP is dedicated to advancing the understanding of how these failures occur and more importantly, how they can be avoided.
Dec 21 2017
Water Trees Don't Fail Cable
By: Ben Lanz and Bill Corrente
Posted in: Wind, Utility, Solar, Renewable, Generation, Facility, Cable
Water Trees Don't Fail Cable Decades ago we learned from many of the leading industry experts that water trees fail cable and we believed this industry myth until we collected cable performance data using the IMCORP Factory Grade&re... Read ArticleOct 28 2015
PD Activity Identified During Assessment of Aged Utility Cable
By: IMCORP
During the reliability assessment of aged underground residential distribution (URD) cable systems at a mid-western electric utility, one particular cable sample was found to exhibit low levels partial discharge (PD) activity. These PD sites were e... Read ArticleOct 27 2015
Low Signal Magnitude (pC) but Serious Cable Defect
By: Ben Lanz and Bill Corrente
Posted in: Workmanship, Wind, Utility, Renewable, Cable
While commissioning new generation project in the multiple defects were identified within the cable system. One particular cable exhibited defects in the dozens of low magnitude partial discharge signals at two times the operating voltage. Th... Read ArticleJul 30 2012
Stone in Cable 176m (578ft) from Termination
By: Ben Lanz and Bill Corrente
Posted in: Backfill, Cable, Facility, Generation, Renewable, Solar, Utility, Wind, Workmanship
IMCORP’s Factory Grade® assessment discovered a substandard location while commissioning the cable systems at a generation facility. The client used IMCORP’s Location Matching service to pinpoint the defect location. N... Read ArticleMar 27 2012
Semicon Defect During Installation
By: IMCORP
Posted in: Workmanship, Wind, Generation, Cable
The cable displayed here was compromised as a result of a semicon cutback error that was not recognized as a defect by the installer. When the cutback was made, the installer created a slight spiral instead of a radial cut leaving a thin slice of... Read ArticleMar 23 2012
Power Cable Damage From Backfill
By: IMCORP
Posted in: Wind, Generation, Cable, Backfill
These images show a PD site in a medium voltage power cable, part of a collector system designed and installed at a wind farm in Idaho during 2005. In the first few years of operation, the site experienced a very high collector syst... Read ArticleMar 23 2012
Power Cable Insulation Damage (Sabotage) at a Wind Farm
By: IMCORP
Posted in: Workmanship, Generation, Cable
The discovery of this medium voltage power cable defect at a site in Canada provided an opportunity to demonstrate the effectiveness of IMCORP’s cable diagnostics. On a cable of over 1400 feet, IMCORP was able to locate the defect within si... Read Article