Patent ID: 6922060

Claim:
A method for detecting partial conductor short circuits between a first end and a second end of a first conductor, the first conductor including plural mutually insulated partial conductors which extend substantially in parallel between said first and second ends and which are short-circuited at said first end, said second end, or both, the method comprising: arranging an auxiliary conductor in parallel with said first conductor at a distance, thereby creating a first combined conductor; feeding a time-varying electrical signal into an end of said first combined conductor; measuring the propagation behavior of said time-varying electrical signal on said first combined conductor; comparing the measured propagation behavior with a known propagation behavior of a second combined conductor comprising a second conductor as a reference conductor, said second conductor being similar to said first conductor but without partial conductor short circuits; and determining the presence of partial conductor short circuits within said first conductor from the changes in propagation behavior from said comparing.