White Paper

Benefits of transformer online dissolved gas monitoring

Introducing the ABB CoreSense intelligent
DissolvedGasAnalyzer
Luiz Cheim,
Principal R&D Engineer,
ABB Transformer Technology Center

Thomas Buijs,
Product Manager,
ABB Measurement and Analytics

ABSTRACT
Following ABBs strategic view on the ever growing
demand for sensors and techniques for the online
condition assessment of power transformers the company
has recently launched a hydrogen and moisture sensor
TM
(CoreSense ) as an initial step in a much broader and
consistent product development program to provide
utilities and users alike with the best available technology
to support their efforts in keeping transformers operating
longer and reliably.
The simplicity and at the same time robustness of the
CoreSense is a proof that ABB is employing the best
available know-how and technologies to help its customers
to have a low-cost high-quality device that can operate
as a first level diagnostic tool to flag issues and trigger
more comprehensive transformer condition assessment
techniques with the sole aim of detecting incipient

faults and act as an early warning system. This white

paper provides an insight into the most common faults
that involve the paper-oil insulation and the importance
ofhydrogen and moisture detection as a powerful means
of avoiding failure and deferring investments. It describes
the chemical structure of the solid and liquid insulation as
well as the result of the breakdown of that insulation under
thermal, mechanical and electrical stresses. Thepaper
also sheds light onto the complex issues of gas detection
and measurement such as laboratory accuracy as well
as sampling errors against the more consistent and less
subject to variability sensors readings. The authors intent
is to provide the reader with the scientific and technical
justification for a cost effective solution capable of
detecting a large number of problems that sooner or later
can take the transformer to a major failure.

Benefits of transformer online dissolved

gas monitoring
Introduction
Todays electrical grids are comprised of millions of
transformers that interconnect power generation, transmission
and distribution. These transformers are critical assets
that require proper maintenance in order toprovide long
uninterrupted electrical service.
In this white paper, welook at the typical structure of alarge
transformer and explain why it is important tomonitor
dissolved gases. Wethen look at the characteristics
of sensors that can dothis online and explain the ABB
CoreSense online dissolved gas analyzer.

Transformer Insulation
Transformer insulation is fundamentally composed of oilimpregnated cellulose paper surrounding conductors and
layers of multiple conductors that form the transformer
windings. Alarge amount of cellulose is also present in
pressboards, wood and mechanical supports utilized during
the manufacturing process as illustrated below [1-2].

the oil or through forced air and oil circulation in the presence of
fans and/or pumps.
In normal operation of power transformers, there occurs natural
aging of the insulating system due totemperature and load cycles.
This aging produces some combustible and non-combustible
gases that only become amatter of concern at higher rates of gas
formation when compared tonormal conditions.

Formation of Gases in Oil

Both mineral oil and cellulose have carbon based molecular structures rich in hydrogen as illustrated below. The decomposition of
oil and cellulose forms alarge number of byproducts, including
combustible and non-combustible gases. Hydrogen is naturally
present in most of those compounds.
Figure 2. Naphthenic aromatic molecule of insulating mineral oil
(there are several other aromatic rings present in mineral oil, all rich
in Hydrogen)

Figure 1. Transformer solid insulation windings, barriers and

supports

Figure 3. Molecular structure of cellulose

The entire structure illustrated in Figure 1 is thoroughly impregnated byinsulating oil that also serves as acooling agent
toextract heat from the windings during the operation of the
transformer. Heat may be extracted through natural convection of

Cellulose is highly sensitive toheat, oxygen and moisture. The

higher the temperature the faster the aging process of the paper
(thermal aging). In the presence of higher amounts of oxygen and
moisture, the paper breaks down through oxidation and hydrolytic
processes, which generate additional moisture, acids and other
components that accelerate the aging process even further. The

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Benefits of transformer online dissolved

gas monitoring
molecular structure of the insulating fluid also breaks down in
the presence of higher temperatures and electrical faults such
as partial discharges and arcing of several degrees of intensity.
Both cellulose and insulating oil may also degrade in presence
of contaminants, such as, for example, the ingress of moisture
through leaks, or maintenance activities, etc.
The formation of gases is common toalmost all types of insulation
degradation. These gases then dissolve in the oil, allowing detection and analysis of the defect through an adequate monitoring of
the amounts and evolution of these gases, the so-called Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) procedure.

Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA)

Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) is among the most powerful tools
for detecting faults in power transformers. DGA analytical techniques and interpretation methods are continuously being
investigated and improved. Online monitors are particularly useful
for applications where gas formation in remote electrical equipment must be followed at frequent time intervals (eg, in strategic
or expensive equipment, or where significant faults have already
been detected) which is typically not practical through off-line
laboratory analysis.
The results of years of experience bythe power industry is well
summarized in IEEE C57.104 and IEC60599.

When cellulose is involved, the faults produce methane (CH4),

hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide
(CO2). Each of these types of faults produces certain gases
that are generally combustible.

DGA Theory as in the

IEC60599:2007 [4]
4.1 Decomposition of oil Scission of some of the C-H and
C-C bonds may occur as aresult of electrical and thermal
faults, with the formation of small unstable fragments, in radical
or ionic form, such as H, CH3, CH2, CH or C (among
many other more complex forms), which recombine rapidly,
through complex reactions, into gas molecules such as hydrogen (H-H), methane (CH3-H), ethane (CH3-CH3), ethylene
(CH2 = CH2) or acetylene (CH CH) Low-energy faults,
such as partial discharges of the cold plasma type (corona discharges), favor the scission of the weakest C-H bonds (338 kJ/
mole) through ionization reactions and the accumulation of
hydrogen as the main recombination gas.
Note: underlined text introduced byABB authors in both texts

From the texts above it is clear that hydrogen is afundamental

gas that occurs in the presence of thermal and electrical issues
leading tooil and cellulose degradation and thus it plays akey role
in the early detection of any abnormal conditions or failure modes
inside the transformer.

DGA Theory as in the IEEE

C57.104/2008 [3]
4: The two principal causes of gas formation within an operating transformer are thermal and electrical disturbances. 4.1
Cellulose Decomposition The thermal decomposition of
oil-impregnated cellulose insulation produces carbon oxides
(CO, CO2) and some hydrogen and methane (H2, CH4) due
tothe oil 4.2 Oil Decomposition Mineral transformer oils
are mixtures of many different hydrocarbon molecules, and the
decomposition processes for these hydrocarbons in thermal or
electrical faults are complex. The fundamental steps are the
breaking of carbonhydrogen and carboncarbon bonds.
Active hydrogen atoms and hydrocarbon fragments are
formed. These free radicals can combine with each other
toform gases, molecular hydrogen, methane, ethane, etc., or
they can recombine toform new, condensable molecules. Further decomposition and rearrangement processes lead tothe
formation of products such as ethylene and acetylene and, in
the extreme, tomodestly hydrogenated carbon in particulate
form. 4.3 Application toEquipment Internal faults in oil
produce the gaseous byproducts hydrogen (H2), methane
(CH4), acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), and ethane (C2H6).

DGA Laboratory Issues

The main issues associated with laboratory DGA are:
a) The cost, resources and time tomanually collect samples
particularly in remote locations
b) Sample contamination (during and/or after sampling on-site)
c) Sample degradation between the time of sampling and the time
of analysis
d) Laboratory precision (or repeatability) and accuracy
e) Laboratory reproducibility
It is well known in the industry that many laboratories provide reasonably accurate DGA results totheir customers but that many
others provide quite inaccurate results. Even the best laboratories
produce results with some inaccuracy, which, therefore, needs
tobe known todetermine the reliability and accuracy of the diagnoses. It is strongly recommended that each laboratory evaluate
and provide its own accuracy figures. When this is not possible,
default accuracy values based on international surveys can be
used.
M. Duval, 2005 [5]

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Benefits of transformer online dissolved

gas monitoring
Asurvey carried out byCigre [5] SCD1 TF15.01.07 involving 25
experienced laboratories from 15 countries using gas-in-oil standards found an average repeatability of 7% at medium gas
concentrations (10 100 ppm) and 27% at low gas concentrations (1 10 ppm).
The average accuracy found was 15% at medium gas concentrations and 30% at low gas concentrations.

Amajor advantage of online monitors, as compared tolaboratory

analysis, is the capability todetect abnormal gas formation and
faults occurring in near real time between manual oil samplings. For
regular maintenance with laboratory analysis, manual samplings are
typically performed every year or every 6 months. With online gas
monitors, gas analysis is performed much more frequently thus providing apowerful early detection system that avoids excessive site
visits and manual samplings with the advantage of performing an
almost continuous observation of gas levels and trends.

Figure 4. Illustration of the interplay between precision and accuracy

Anumber of challenges must be addressed when installing, commissioning and operating gas monitoring systems toavoid missing
fault conditions (false negatives) and also toavoid false alarms
when no fault exists (false positives).

Online Gas Monitors

1 The oil sampled bythe monitor must be representative. If the

monitor is installed such that it is always sampling the same
pocket of stagnant oil there is ahigh probability that developing
fault conditions will go unnoticed giving afalse sense of security.
2 The monitoring system oil sampling mechanism must be
designed in afail-safe manner toreduce the likelihood of any
oil leaks. Even asmall leak can lead over time toadrop in the
oil level of the main transformer tank. If the oil drops below
acritical threshold asafety shut down of the transformer will
be initiated automatically or the transformer will fail
catastrophically if there is no safety system.
3 The gas-sensing elements in the monitor must exhibit longterm stability under real world transformer conditions. Indeed
the same conditions that lead tothe aging of the transformer
itself can age and/or deteriorate the electronics and sensors
present in the monitoring system. Some of the conditions that
must be accounted for are:
a. Temperature cycling
b. Presence of moisture and oxygen dissolved in the transformer oil
c. P
 resence of reactive chemicals in the transformer oil generated bythe aging and breakdown of the cellulose insulation
and the oil itself; eg, carbon monoxide, organic acids, alcohols, furans
4 The gas-sensing elements should not exhibit cross interference; eg, react toother gases that may be present and
provide an incorrect reading.
5 The monitoring system should not consume the gas in order
tomeasure it as this can lead toadepletion in the oil sample
the sensor is reading and lead tofalse trends in the gas levels.
6 The monitoring system needs toexhibit long term reliability
and should self-diagnose itself toavoid having adead sensor
be interpreted as condition normal, no gas detected.

Online gas monitors are installed on atransformer at the factory or

in service and provide frequent readings (typically several
readings per day) of gas concentrations dissolved in the oil of the
transformer without the need for amanual sample.

There are three types of online gas monitors commonly used in

the industry: one gas, gas combination and multi-gas monitors,
each with its pros and cons.

a) Low precision, low accuracy

b) High precision, low accuracy
c) Low precision, high accuracy
d) High precision, high accuracy
Repeatability or precision [6]: related toobserved differences when
multiple samples of the same oil are analyzed bythe same laboratory over ashort period of time typically of less than one day.
Accuracy is related todifferences observed between values measured byagiven laboratory and the nominal value contained in the
gas-in-oil sample prepared according tostandard procedures.
In addition tothe repeatability and accuracy limitations of laboratories, the insulating oil sample will degrade over time due tothe
mobility of the dissolved gases in general and the high mobility of
hydrogen gas in particular which will slowly escape into the
atmosphere even from asealed container.

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Benefits of transformer online dissolved

gas monitoring
One Gas Monitors

Gas Combination Monitors

These inexpensive sensors are widely deployed thanks totheir low

cost and high reliability. Most one gas monitors measure hydrogen
gas in oil due toits central role in the detection of abnormal operation of transformers. Not only is hydrogen almost always present
when afault occurs but it typically is also the first gas formed
because C-H bonds are relatively easier tobreak than C-C or
C-Obonds present in the insulating oil and cellulose.

Gas combination sensors, sometimes called Total Combustible

(oxidizable) Gas sensors are another common type of online gas
monitor commonly deployed totransformers for early fault
warning purposes. These devices use sensors that give asingle
readout in response toacombination of all the oxidizable gases.
Their typical response may look something like
Readout = Ax H2 + B x CO + C x CH4 + D x C2H2 + E x C2H4 + F x C2H6

Figure 5. Approximate gas formation temperature in C

The readout is dependent on the concentrations of all the gases

with different relative sensitivities for each gas. The idea is that the
readout will provide an early warning of gas formation regardless
of what gas is actually being formed.
The main issue with this type of sensor is that the interpretation of
the readout can be very difficult because aperfectly normal transformer always has some background gas present in its oil.
Table 1. Ranges of 90% typical gas concentration values observed
inpower transformers in l/l (Source IEC60599:2007)
C2H2
All transformers
No OLTC
Communicating
OLTC

These simple monitoring systems can be widely deployed even in

remote locations where access for routine maintenance is slow,
expensive and complicated. This leads tosome important
considerations when choosing one gas monitoring systems
Long-term reliability is critical tokeep maintenance requirements
low. In practice, this means avoiding monitoring systems that make
use of moving parts or complicated oil handling such as mechanical
circulation pumps, cooling fans, valves, membranes, etc.
The monitoring system should not require any regular calibration
effort tostay within specifications.
The monitoring system should not have any consumables that
need replacing on aregular basis.

H2
50-150

CH4
30-130

C2H4
60-280

C2H6
20-90

CO

CO2

400-

3,800-

-600 -14,000

2-20
60-280

The problem is that it is not possible todistinguish ahigh hydrogen condition from ahigh carbon monoxide condition for
example. It can be seen from Table 1, that carbon monoxide may
be responsible for asomewhat high reading of agas combination
monitor under normal conditions. This may mask the beginning of
arise in hydrogen which would otherwise indicate the development of afault. This leads toan apparent decrease in sensitivity
which reduces the overall usefulness and confidence in the monitoring system as shown in the images bellow. The one-gas
hydrogen specific sensor does not suffer this apparent decrease
in sensitivity (Figure 6).
In addition, gas combination sensors typically use an oxidizing fuel
cell as their sensor mechanism and this type of sensor functions
byconsuming oxidizable gases toproduce an electrical current.
Ifthe rate of depletion bythe sensor is greater than the rate of
local replenishment, the gases will be depleted leading toincorrect
readouts.

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Benefits of transformer online dissolved

gas monitoring
Figure 6. Example of masking effect on hydrogen trend bycarbon monoxide in gas combination monitors

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Benefits of transformer online dissolved

gas monitoring
Figure 7. Computer simulation showing stagnant oil when no thermal

Multi-gas Monitors

pump is used

Multi-gas sensors provide individual readouts for up to9 gases

simultaneously. They significantly increase the usefulness of the
monitoring system byproviding complete information on dissolved
gases in avery similar form towhat is obtained from alaboratory
DGA analysis, but in real time. This capability empowers the asset
owner todoreal time diagnostics on critical transformers
semi-continuously.
This advantage is somewhat mitigated bythe significant cost and
complexity of some of the multi-gas sensors on the market today.
The result being that this type of monitor is often deployed for the
most critical of assets or for assets known tobe developing faults.
Today many utilities use the approach of installing simple low cost
one-gas monitors toprovide awarning and then perform alaboratory DGA toget afurther diagnostic. As multi-gas sensor
technology matures, it is expected that adoption rates will
increase.
Figure 8. Computer simulation of CoreSense thermal pump showing

The ABB CoreSense Hydrogen

and Moisture Sensor

oil inflow at bottom and outflow at top

The ABB CoreSense hydrogen and moisture sensor is anew gas

monitoring system that represents ABBs answer tothe challenges
of designing agood online gas in oil analyzer. The CoreSense utilizes two solid-state sensors tomeasure hydrogen and moisture
directly in transformer insulating oil without the need for any complex sample handling tocondition the oil or separate the dissolved
gas from the oil.
It addresses the question of stagnant oil and representative sampling with an innovative thermal pump that ensures fresh oil is
always in contact with the sensors byforced convection. This
approach is very simple and ultra-reliable since it has no membrane and no moving parts.
The CoreSense can be mounted safely on any type of valve since
this does not create any intrusion tothe valve nor tothe
transformer.
The CoreSense can easily be installed bycustomers and requires
no special protective actions prior tooil treatment activities,
agreat plus over membrane based systems that can easily be
damaged bypressure fluctuations.
The solid-state hydrogen sensor used in the CoreSense has been
extensively tested and characterized for long-term stability and
reliability. It makes use of apatented protective coating toavoid
aging and degradation effects from reactive gases, acids and
other species that can be present in transformer oil. It is temperaABB white paper | Benefits of transformer online dissolved gas monitoring 7

Benefits of transformer online dissolved

gas monitoring
ture stabilized toavoid any thermal influence on hydrogen
readings and makes use of areversible hydrogen specific phase
change in apalladium metal alloy todetect hydrogen levels. In
addition, this sensor does not consume hydrogen, which eliminates the possibility that the hydrogen reading could be incorrect
due tolocal depletion.

Figure 10. The ABB CoreSense with solid metal enclosure

The CoreSense has abuilt in embedded computer that continuously monitors all of its functions. It provides status at aglance
capability with three super bright LEDs that report on the condition
of the sensor and on hydrogen and moisture levels in the transformer oil. The CoreSense also has abuilt in web server that
publishes asimple man machine interface toenable local and
remote network access tothe gas and moisture levels as well as
the current status of the monitoring system. The interface is very
intuitive, easy toread and efficient. Web pages are accessible
through any internet browsers and donot require installation of
specific software.
Figure 9. Screenshot of the web HMI

The CoreSense accurately measures hydrogen in oil down

toadetection limit of 25 ppm with an error of 10 ppm and afast
T90 time of under one minute. It is designed toprovide accurate
readings for 10 to15 years with no calibration or routine maintenance requirements and no consumables.
These characteristics make the CoreSense ideal for large-scale
deployments even in flood areas or remote locations with potential
weather extremes and access difficulties.

The CoreSense is designed for durability and long life with no

moving parts, solid state microelectronic gas in oil sensors that
function directly in situ in transformer oil and arobust all metal
IP67 rated submersible waterproof enclosure. This philosophy
was applied toall aspects of the design, including the use of
asuper-capacitor tokeep time in the event of apower interruption
instead of abattery that would have afinite lifetime and need tobe
replaced at regular intervals.

Bibliography
[ 1] ABB Transformer Handbook
[2] ABB Transformer Service Handbook
[3] ANSI IEEEC57.104/2008 Guide for the Interpretation of Gases
Generated in Oil-Immersed Transformers
[4] IEC60599:2007 Mineral oil-impregnated electrical equipment
in service Guide tothe interpretation of dissolved and free
gases analysis
[5] M. Duval, J. Dukarm, Improving the Reliability of Transformers
Gas-in-Oil Diagnosis, IEEE Elect. Insul. Mag., Jul-Aug 2005,
[6] IEC60567:2011, Oil-filled electrical equipment Sampling of
gases and analysis of free and dissolved gases Guidance

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ABB white paper | Benefits of transformer online dissolved gas monitoring 9

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www.abb.com/transformerservice

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