Abstract:As an essential equipment of high-voltage system of high-speed electric multiple units, cable terminal playsan important role in energy transmission. However, partial discharge caused by detects at the interfaces of cable terminal affect seriously the insulation performance of cable terminals and the safety of trains. Cable terminals containing air gaps of different lengths are fabricated by an experimental method. The experiments are conducted at 27.5 kV to investigate the partial discharge characteristics of cable terminals with different defect lengths under different ambient temperatures. The results show that the partial discharges of cable terminals with the same air-gap length show a tendency of increasing and then decreasing with the ambient temperature under the voltage condition of 27.5 kV. According to this characteristic, it can be known that the discharge of cable terminals is mainly influenced by the temperature under a certain voltage level. The change in pressure inside the cable terminal due to temperature rise becomes the primary factor impacting the partial discharge when a certain temperature is exceeded. The partial discharge initiation voltage at the same temperature shows an increasing trend as the air gap length increases.