Interference characteristics of leaking SF6 on photoacoustic detection of dissolved C2H4 in transformer oil

Abstract SF6 leaked from gas insulation equipment will interfere with the detection of dissolved characteristic gases in transformer oil. In order to determine the impact of SF6 on the detection of dissolved C2H4 gas in oil, a photoacoustic (PA) C2H4 detection system based on the combination of mid‐infrared thermal radiation source and near‐infrared laser was constructed. The excitation light from two bands was incident on a non‐resonant PA cell. The thermal radiation light source and the laser light source were switched to evaluate the interference level of SF6 on the detection of C2H4. The experimental results show that SF6 has significant interference to C2H4 when using a mid‐infrared thermal radiation light source. The interference coefficient is 2014%. The near‐infrared laser based on PA detection method can effectively suppress the interference of SF6 on C2H4. The minimum detection limit of C2H4 reaches 0.6 ppm when the average time is 60 s.