The Frequency Response Analysis approach (FRA) is useful in the fault diagnosis of transformers. However, its usefulness in diagnosing any potential sources of Partial Discharge (PD) in transformers has not been thoroughly investigated so far. In this work, the use of Impulse voltage-based FRA (IFRA) in diagnosing inter-turn shorts and potential sources of PD were investigated on a 315 kVA, 11 kV/433 V transformer. Inter-turn shorts and PD sources were emulated and the usefulness of IFRA in their diagnosis was investigated while using switching impulse voltage at different magnitude levels as the test signals. For emulating the inter-turn shorts and the PDs, special tappings were provided on one of the 11 kV windings through the low capacitance bushings. Low voltage impulse was successful in diagnosing the inter-turn shorts, but unsuccessful in identifying the sources of PDs. During the test condition, the test voltage was adjusted with the presence of artificially created PD sources. The frequency response of the transformer before and after the inception of PD was observed and analyzed in this article. The FRA results demonstrated that the switching impulse voltage based IFRA approach at moderate voltages could be useful in diagnosing the presence of the potential sources of PDs.
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