If you work in an industrial or manufacturing setting, you’re familiar with unplanned downtime. It remains a persistent challenge, with manufacturers losing up to 800 hours of production annually due to equipment failures and disruptions. And it’s more expensive than ever—industrial downtime typically costs between $10,000 and $500,000 per hour, and in large-scale operations, it can reach $1.7M per hour or more in high-value sectors.

Some issues that cause downtime are easy to identify – a tripped circuit breaker, transformer malfunction, or a blown fuse. Others are much more insidious and invisible threats , like partial discharge (PD), the inability of a portion of the insulation to withstand the electric field applied to it.

Let’s look at the specifics of partial discharge, its potential impacts on your facility, and a monitoring solution designed to prevent a loss from equipment failure.

Small sparks that add up to a big problem

Medium voltage switchgear often contains products with solid insulation commonly made of epoxy,  or elastomer type materials. Environmental factors such as severe temperature fluctuations, and high humidity cause a fast aging of these barriers to break down over time. Additionally, components like voltage transformers (VTs) may experience damage during transportation or operation, particularly due to vibrations. While this is not attributable to any single cause, it can introduce a risk of downtime as insulation weaknesses and voids begin to develop.

Even damage during transportation, storage or installation may generate failures causing partial discharge.  Superficial condensation and pollution along insulators in ambient air progressively damage their dielectric performance.

This can lead to partial discharge. It can happen anywhere in an electrical installation. Everything may look perfectly fine on the outside, but underneath, it’s a different story. It starts small, and it always gets worse. Partial discharges are in fact early warning signs of a potential flashover—the root cause of internal arc events in MV switchgear. If left undetected, they can lead to catastrophic failures and complete process shutdowns.

These discharges can happen a  several times per second – you may even hear a faint crackling, see a bluish glow, or notice tracking or erosion on insulation – weakening the insulation a. Left unchecked, it will, one day, lead to a flashover and internal arc. The result is disrupted operations, loss of productivity and revenue, and perhaps a damaged reputation.

Even though performing an annual inspection to test and clean medium voltage switchgear is a common procedure in the market, it may have limited effect. This checkup does not detect any damage, voids, deterioration between time-based annual inspections or cracks inside the insulation, and it provides only a snapshot in time of asset health, with unknown status until the next inspection.

Detect, diagnose, and solve

The focus has traditionally been to find the problem and fix it, which, after what can be a catastrophic breakdown, is not an ideal maintenance method. Just as important is the analysis – understanding the problem better and finding approaches to prevent these breakdowns.

The most effective way to track equipment health over time and reduce potential risks without prolonged shutdowns is through 24/7 monitoring. Advanced MV switchgear incorporates multiple embedded sensors, including partial discharge monitoring, to provide precise visibility into asset health. Its monitoring is often performed remotely – a perfect example is EcoCare*.

The service includes the Partial Discharge Monitoring Solution, designed for medium voltage switchgear. Backed by a team of dedicated electrical distribution experts trained in the nuances of partial discharge, customers are provided with the capability to track the issue and deterioration, with predictions and alerts.  This also helps determine root causes and corrective actions and manage daily operations proactively and efficiently.

The core of the solution is the PowerLogic PD100, which enables advanced signal processing and seamless data communication. Combined with predictive algorithms and the expertise of skilled professionals, this forms the “brain” of the solution—ensuring accurate diagnostics and a high level of service.

Active Plus connectivity with EcoCare from day one of the equipment, provides remote monitoring, expert analysis, and maintenance recommendations, all supported by EcoStruxure IoT platform and Schneider Electric’s Connected Services Hub, our remote experts’ team. Benefits include early anomaly detection to prevent downtime and cloud-powered diagnostics and insights to enhance uptime and equipment reliability.

This solution respects the higher standard of signal treatement and detection alghoritms  , and inspired by the IEC 60270 standard, which outlines the methods to measure such discharges and is essential for ensuring the reliability and safety of high-voltage electrical installations.

Let’s say the PowerLogic PD100 sensor combines humidity-measuring data from PowerLogic CL110 sensors inside the MV switchgear, and picks partial discharge activity that spikes every morning over a few months. The Connected Services Hub correlates this data and trend from the environmental and partial discharge sensors to analyze the severity and impact on the electrical system. This equipment visibility allows fast response before assets can be further damaged. Without this high level of monitoring, facility workers would likely be unaware of these partial discharge events until the equipment failed.

The Partial Discharge Monitoring Solution also integrates seamlessly, where available, factory-embedded into new panels or retrofit to existing equipment, offering an un obtrusive and elegant enhancement from the start. It also integrates with the EcoStruxure™ platform, designed to provide a full-scope, holistic approach to condition-based maintenance. This broadens the scope of services, creates a comprehensive strategy for maintenance rather than just an isolated service, and supports the equipment’s long-term health and efficiency.

Rather than simply detecting Partial Discharge, it also provides actionable insights to help you better understand your equipment’s health and plan for future preventive maintenance. The EcoCare service plan provides constant visibility into your MV switchgear’s performance.

Stop problems before they escalate

Partial discharge is a complex phenomenon that requires specific knowledge and competencies so that you can get the right insights for your equipment. With global reach, deep expertise, and award‑winning innovation—powered by 300+ AI scientists sharpening predictive accuracy and 6,000+ electrical asset performance experts supporting you across the full lifecycle—our dedicated teams monitor, analyze, and troubleshoot your critical assets remotely, 24/7.

Data flows securely through our end-to-end EcoStruxure™ architecture, built on cybersecurity and data protection best practices to deliver best-in-class digital services. Our remote experts from the Connected Services Hub (CSH) continuously monitor asset and system health, leveraging proprietary AI-driven analytics to detect anomalies early and perform advanced troubleshooting. When needed, on-site support is seamlessly deployed to ensure operational continuity.

Through a diagnostic phase and collaborative efforts between your team and Schneider Electric experts, you can identify, resolve, and even predict issues such as partial discharge before they escalate into major problems.

Are you interested in the peace of mind that comes with knowing there’s another set of eyes on your facility’s most valuable assets? And using the most accurate embedded sensing technologies. Watch the video below to learn more.

*Please verify the availability of EcoCare in your region through a local services sales representative. If EcoCare is not yet available, you can start leveraging EcoStruxure Service Plan.

This post was originally published on February 21, 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.