Understanding Partial Discharge Behavior from the Memory Effect Induced by Residual Charges: A Review

Residual charges produced in previous partial discharges (PDs) are considered as one aspect of memory effects that affect subsequent discharge behavior. In this paper, we review past studies about memory effects induced by residual charges during successive PDs. At first, surface charge dynamics for cavity and needle-to-dielectric discharges are presented. Subsequently, three methods used to unravel the memory effects are described, e.g. conditional distribution, pulse sequence analysis (PSA) and chopped PD (CPD). Then effects of residual charges on PD inception, discharge propagation and collective behavior are summarized. In addition, contributions of residual charges to the transitions between discharge modes and discharge patterns are presented. At last, some problems relevant to the memory effects are discussed, followed by suggestions for future work.