Partial Discharges in cable terminations and joints are among the principal causes of catastrophic failures in distribution substations. Acoustic Emission technique can be used for the detection of partial discharges in cables before they reach dangerous levels.

Partial discharges in the range of 5 to 50 pC can be detected using this technique.

An opportune detection of a problem reduces costs associated to unexpected failures and allows to plan the maintenance tasks based on real equipment conditions.