Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Gregory D Matthews

Juris A Asars

A device for monitoring an electrical cable comprising a conductor surrounded by insulation to locate insulation defects while a signal is impressed on the conductor, the device including an ion generator for creating an ionized atmosphere to envelop the cable, a sense wire assembly disposed in the vicinity of the cable and within the ionized atmosphere so that the signal impressed on the conductor is coupled into the sense wire assembly when the ionized atmosphere envelops an insulation defect, and a circuit for monitoring the signal coupled into the sense wire assembly from the cable conductor. The sense wire assembly comprises a first wire presenting a low resistance to the ionized atmosphere, a second wire presenting a high resistance to the ionized atmosphere, and a circuit unit for producing a sense wire signal which is a function of the difference between the signal coupled into said first and second wires. The device may further include a reference conductor for producing a correction signal representative of the degree of resistive coupling of the reference signal into the first sense wire and a correction circuit for correcting the signal produced by the monitoring circuit as a function of the value of the correction signal.

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Edgewood, PA, United States of America

Gregory D Matthews