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HOME > SUBSTATIONS > LISTENING FOR EARLY SIGNS OF EQUIPMENT FAILURE

ListeningforEarlySignsOfEquipmentFailure

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MarkN.Theyerl,AlliantEnergy|T&DWorldMagazine
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Nov1,2001
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Industrycompetitivepressureshaveforcedutilitiestooptimizeoperationandreduce
maintenancecosts,inotherwords,domorewithfewerresources.In1993,utilitiesmade
amajorefforttoreevaluatepreventivemaintenanceactivitiesbasedonextensive
personnelexperience,andelectricalanddiagnostictestingmethodsavailableatthattime.
Mostutilitiesuseatimebasedpreventiveapproachtosubstationmaintenance.This
approachdictatesmaintenanceschedulingstrictlyrelatedtotimeinserviceratherthan
equipmentcondition.Frequently,fundsaremisdirectedformaintenanceperformedon
equipmentthatdoesnotrequiremaintenance.Thismisdirectionoffundscreatedthe
needforanonlineconditionassessmentofpowertransformersandassociatedsubstation
equipment.
TheEPRIM&DCenter,workingincooperationwithpredictivemaintenance(PDM)
memberutilities,implementedaPDMprogramthatincorporatedthefollowing
technologies:

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Researchersdevelopedaformalplan,whichincludedthenewlyproposedpreventive
maintenanceactivitiesandfrequenciescombinedwithPDMconditionmonitoring
technologies.ThismaintenanceoptimizationeffortincludedaPDMprogram
developmentandimplementationprojectcontainingthefollowingtasks:

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PartialDischargeDetection

AspartoftheSubstationPredictiveMaintenance(SPDM)program,researchersinitially
performedPDDontransformers,loadtapchangersandcircuitbreakersusingtypical
offtheshelfPDDequipment.Thistypeofdetectorcountsactivityatapproximately150
KHz.Althoughthistechniqueisusefulforquantifyingactivitylevels,mosttransformers
donothavelevelsofinternalactivityhighenoughtotriggerthedetectors.Thedifficulty
thenisthatnodataissavedfortrendingand,therefore,nojudgmentoftransformer
conditioncanbemadeovertime.

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TransformerProblems

Asignificantfindwasona138/69kV93.3MVApowertransformer.Thelocationofthis
transformerinthetransmissionsystemmadethisdiscoveryacostbenefit.Itisanormal
procedureforAlliantPDMtechnicianstolistentotheonloadtapchangerswhile
changingitsposition(stepping).Thetechnicianshearthearcingasthetapchangergoes
throughthestep.Aftercompletingthestep,thereshouldbenoarcing.Inthiscase,the
arcingcontinuedatafrequentrateandahighlevel.Whenopeningthetapchanger,crews
discoveredacrackinthebridgecastingsupportingthedrivemechanism.Thisallowedthe
gearstoslipandthemechanismtogetoutoftimeononephase.Thisisapotentialfailure
pointforthetransformerasthestepsdonotcompleteandthearcingcontinues(Fig.1).
Alliantcrewsperformedasurveyonanother138/69kV33MVApowertransformerwith
theTriple5faultdetector.TheinstrumentdetectedapartialdischargebelowtheX1
bushingataboutthe5ft(1.5m)level.Thedischargewasintermittent(about2to3
minutesapart)andatahighlevel.
Thecrewsdecidedtoseeiftheproblemwasloaddependent.Whileincreasingtheload,
thelevelandfrequencyofthepartialdischargerespondedinalinearfashion.Dissolved
gasanalysis(DGA)testsdeterminedtheconcentrationofacetylenegaswasincreasing.
Crewstookthetransformeroutofserviceandperformedadegasificationprocessonthe
transformeroil.Thetransformerwasthenputbackinservicewithloadconstraintsand
monitoredbyDGA.Thistransformerremainedinserviceforthreemoreyears,allowing
AlliantEnergytoplan,budgetandengineerthesubstationupgrade.
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Assumingthatinternalarcingmightbelowlevelrandomactivitycontainingmultiple
frequencies,usersdecidedtoacquiredataintwodifferentfrequencybandsandlistento
thedatainadditiontologgingoverallrootmeansquare(RMS)levels.Triple5Industries
(Yardville,NewJersey,U.S.)developedasonic/ultrasonicfaultdetectorthatmeasures
RMSlevelsinbothfrequencybands.Applyingthistechniqueprovidestheabilityto
documentthedetectionoflowlevelrandomevents.OfftheshelfPDDequipment
detectedthisactivity,evenatverylowlevels.However,theeventswereusuallylessthan
100countsanddifficulttodetectinanymodeexceptpeakholdbecauseofits
randomness.Withthisinmind,AlliantnowusesthePDD(150KHz)equipmentfor
quantifyinglevels.Otherequipment(Triple5Model5550FD)hasbeensuccessfulin
identifyingpartialdischargeactivity.Combiningtheusageofthesedevicesyields
UltrasonicNoiseAnalysis/PDD.
Partialdischargeproducesacousticsignalsthataredetectablewithanacousticsensor
heldagainstthetransformerwallwiththetransformerinservice.Theacousticemission
emanatingfromthepartialdischargesourceswithinapowertransformerdisplayaburst
typesignal(Fig.2)withacharacteristicfrequencyof150KHz.Theamplitudeofthestress
waveofthepartialdischarge,whichexcitesthesensor,determinesthenumberof
oscillationscontainedwithineachburst.Thenumberofoscillationsoccurringwithina
onesecondintervalcontainsinformationrelativetothenumberandamplitudeofthe
discharges.Keepinmindtheoilofthetransformerattenuatestheamplitudeofthestress
wave.Thecountingtechniqueforthesesignalsisthemethodusedtodeterminethe
approximatelocationofapartialdischargesourceaswellasitsseverity.

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earlysignsofequipmentfailure

ADGAperformedona69/13.09kV11.3MVAtransformershowedsomeincreasein
combustiblegases.Aprofilingofthetransformerwiththefaultdetectorrevealedsome
loudcoronaactivitynearthetopofthetankatthenoloadtapchanger(NLTC)location.
Afteropeningthetransformertankmanhole,thecrewdiscoveredablack,crustydeposit
onthemovableandstationarycontactsoftheNLTC(Figs.3and4).Ananalysisrevealed
thedepositstobeasulfurcontaminationonthecopperpartsinthetransformer.Knowing
atleastoneidenticaltransformerfailedbecauseoftheNLTC,allthesimilartransformers
withinthecompanywerechecked.Allthetransformershadthesameproblem.
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Themonitoringoflightningarrestorswiththe5550FDwasdiscoveredbychance.While
approachinga138/69kVtransformerforanannualprofilesurvey,anultrasonicnoise
washeardintheheadphonesandseenonthelevelmeterofthefaultdetector.Thisnoise
washeardontheradiatorslocatedonthe138kV(high)sideofthetransformer,aswellas
onthetransformersideoftheoilcircuitbreakerfeedingthetransformer.Careful
investigationdeterminedthenoisewasgeneratedexternallyfromthetransformer.The
bottomoftheH2arrestoronthe138kVhighsidewasthesourceofthenoise.
Thetransformerwastakenoutofservice,andthelightningarrestorswerepowerfactor
tested.Theresultsshowedthesuspectarrestorhadsignificantlyhighercurrentandwatt
readingsthantheothertwoidenticalarrestors.Replacingthelightningarrestor
eliminatedtheultrasonicnoise.
AlliantEnergyhasfoundseveralmoresimilarproblemswithlightningarrestorsusing
thismethod.Therealadvantagesofthismethodaretheonlinetestingofthearrestorsat
theiroperatingvoltageandtheabilitytodetectpartialdischargingatanearlystagebefore
failuremode.
Anotherpracticalandprovenuseforthefaultdetectoristheonlinemonitoringof
instrumenttransformers.Ononeoccasion,theinspectorlistenedtothreesinglephaseto
ground69kVpotentialtransformers(PTs).TwoofthePTshadultrasoniccountsof28,
whichisthebaselinenumberseenonanormaloperatingpieceofequipment.Thethird
PThadcountsof1000andhigher.Also,theinspectorcouldhearthepartialdischargein
theheadphonesataconstantrate.

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ThepositioningofthePTscreatedasituationsuchthatatotalbusoutagewouldoccurif
thePTfailed.AlliantcrewstookthePToutofserviceimmediatelyandchangeditout
withinacoupleofhourswithoutanoutage.Anoilsamplerevealedveryhighlevelsof
combustiblegases,particularlyAcetyleneatalevelover900ppm.Theearlydetectionof
thepartialdischargepreventedapotentiallyhazardoussituationandprolongedoutage
foranentirecommunity.
Itisimportanttogiveyourmaintenanceprogramareallygoodlook.Askyourselfthese
questions:
Areyoucomfortablewithyourcurrentsubstationreliability?
Haveyouhadanyrecentequipmentfailures?
Istheresomewayyoucouldhavepredictedtheprobabilityofthesefailures?
Wouldyouliketoknowwherethemostatriskequipmentisonyoursystem?
MarkN.TheyerlhasbeenwithAlliantEnergy(formerlyWisconsinPower&Light)for
18years,workinginsubstationconstruction,maintenanceandtestingforthelast16
years.Theyerlbeganworkinginthefieldofsubstationpredictivepreventivemaintenance
in1996.HeisanAVOcertifiedsubstationmaintenancespecialistandinfrared
thermographer.

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