Incipient faults are known as faults mainly occurring on the junctions of underground power cables. Clearing quickly, these faults are difficult to detect by conventional protection equipment, leading to insulation degradation and permanent fault in the power cable over time.
Incipient faults are internal faults that constitute no immediate hazard. But it these faults are overlooked and not taken care of; these may lead to major faults. These faults are initially minor Faults, but they result in serious damage to the power system. Such faults damage the equipment gradually. These faults include loose connections in conducting paths, sparking, small arcing, etc. and grow into major faults.
Such type of active fault starts with a low magnitude and gradually increases with time into a solid fault or emergency situation. Incipient faults at their initial stage is a low-level fault such as discharge that eventually becomes solid fault.