2004 Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena

The effect of tape overlappings in winding insulations on tree growth and breakdown time
R. Vogelsang', R.Briitsch2 and K. Frohlichl
'High Voltage Laboratory of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland
2Swiss Insulation Works Von Roll kola, Breitenbach, Switzerland

Abstract: The propagation of electrical trees in bent Experimental setup

mica tapes of tape overlappings is described. The
investigations were made because tapes in winding Test setup and sample structure
insulations of high voltage rotating machines are
regularly bent at those sections. Geometrical sizes of Treeing tests were canied out at a needle-plane-
bent mica tapes were analysed in micrographs and its arrangement similar to that described in [3,4]. The test
influence on time to breakdown was determined in circuit consists of a 5 kVA, 50 Hz high voltage power
treeing experiments in a needle-plane-arrangement. It transformer, a 1:lOOO capacitive voltage divider and a
was found that a bent tape, which is penetrated by the 700 pF coupling capacitor. Electrical tree growth was
tree, can lead to significantly reduced time to break- observed with a CCDcamera via telephoto lenses. The
down values. The probahiltiy of penetrating a tape test samples were made of epoxy resin of type
depends on the size of bending and the support material. Araldite D (E, = 4.0) and had a size of 40 x 40 x 40 mm.
The results can be used by manufacturers to choose To promote treeing from the beginning of the voltage
mica tapes that assure a higher quality of the insulation. application, needles with a tip radius of 1 pm were used.
Furthermore, the results provide a basis of developing The distance between the needle and the plane was
tapes with lower sensitivity to damages at bends. 5 mm. High voltage (28 kV rms) was applied to the
needle, whereas the plane surface of the sample
opposite the needle tip was grounded. The number of
Introduction samples for each test was n = 8. To simulate the effect
of tape overlappings on tree propagation, bent mica
Winding insulations of high voltage rotating machines tapes of 4Ox2Omm in size were centrally placed
consist of a composite of mica tapes and binder resin. between the two electrodes as shown in Figure 1.
The main electrical degradation mechanism of such
insulations is the process of electrical treeing [l]. An
electrical tree degradates the insulation by propagating
around undistorted mica tapes [ M I . However, in
winding insulations, the mica tapes are circularly bent at
the edges of the conductor or within the insulation [4].
The electrical tree, which can penetrate such bent tapes
mostly leads to significantly reduced time to breakdown
values [4]. It was shown, that the probability of the tree
to penetrate circularly bent tapes depends on the
material and the bend radius [4].
Beside such stmctures, the tapes can also be bent at
regions of tape overlappings. As the tapes have a limited
width, tape overlappings cannot be prevented and occur
very often in the insulations. The questions arise, of
what sue are bends at tape overlappings and whether
the tree can penetrate the tape or not. Industrially-made
winding insulations were therefore analysed to specify
the size, bent mica tapes have at tape overlappings. In a
model needle-plane-an;lngement, the values detected
were used to determine at what size a tree can penetrate
the tapes and how this affects time to breakdown. The Material A Material B Material C
aim of the investigations was, to provide qualitative PETP-rdrn
Support mmial and PEV-film Glass fabbric
specifications for minimum bends at tape overlappings,
for which the tree cannot penetrate the mica tape itself. Thickness [mm] 0.20 0.16 0.15

0-7803-8564-5/04/$20.0002004 IEEE 294

Preparation of bent mica tapes
Bent mica tapes were prepared in special moulds, which
had the shape of the bend that shall be tested. Figure 2
shows such a mould with a mica tape. In a fist stage,
the tapes were placed in the mould. In order to keep the
tapes bent, the moulds were heated together with the
tapes to 60 "C, kept at 60 "C for 2 hours and then cooled
down to 20 "C in 4 hours. During the heating period, the
hinder resin in the tapes melts, and when it cools down,
the resin cools down as well and the mica tapes remain
in the desired shape.
Figure 2: Mould to prepare tapes with bends oftape overlappings
Results
Size of bent mica tapes at tape overlappings in
winding insulations
As mica tapes have a limited width, they overlap in a
regular distance. Whereas the overlapping distance
depends on the width of the tape and the overlapping
grade, is the size of the bend depending on the thickness
of the tapes. Bends are classified either by its width w
and its height h, or by the apex angle %p as illustrated in
Figure 3. A typical picture of a tape overlapping in a
winding insulation is shown in Figure 4. The following
values for tape bends at overlappingswere detected
0.15 mm< h <0.3 m m and 0.5 mm< w < 1.0mm
or
1 4 9 O < &p < 172
m
Figure j: Texture of a bent mica tape at a tape overlapping
295
Figure 4: Picture of a bent mica tape at a tape overlapping. detected in
a winding insulation.
As bends with dimensions below 1 mm are difficult to
manufacture, the tests were carried out at IO times the
values of the actual tape length and width. Those values
still represent overlappings in winding insulations as the
apex angle &p was kept constantly.
Tree growth at bent mica tapes of tape overlappings
Tree growth at unbent mica tapes was already
investigated and is described in detail in [3,4].
Similar to the results in [41, the measured values are
divided into two different types, either the tape was
penetrated by the tree or it was not. Figure 5 shows the
number of tape penetrations. Figure 6 shows the time to
breakdown values where the tree propagated around the
mica tapes, whereas Figure7 shows the values
measured for time to breakdown where the tree
penetrated the tape. Time to breakdown values of the
samples are compared to that with unbent tapes of [4]. It
has to be mentioned, that the tapes were bent convex
and concave and for all materials tested, no significant
difference in the time to breakdown values were
measured. Therefore, no distinction is made between the
two bending directions.
The results in Figure 5 show that with increasing
apex angle, the number the tree can penetrate bent tapes
decreases. At an apex angle of 2 172 ",the tree cannot
penetrate the mica tape. The number of tape pene-
trations is different for the three materials. Material A,
the mica tape with PETP-film and fleece as support
material, is the most sensitive since it was mostly
penetrated by the tree. Material 9,the tape with PETP-
film as support material is less sensitive. The most
robust tape is material C, the tape with glass fabric as
support material as it was fewest penetrated by the tree.
Altogether, tape A was penetrated by the tree 7 times,
tape B 4 times and tape C 3 times.
When the tree propagated around the mica tapes,
the values for time to breakdown are similar to that of
undistorted ones as can he seen in Figure 6. When the
tree penetrated the mica tape, the values for time to
breakdown are decreased and show a large scatter as
can be seen in Figure 7. Time to breakdown values vary,
between that of samples without a hanier and samples
with unbent harriers.
 probabilities of the tree to penetrae the tapes can be
related to the support materials. Micrographs showed
that the support material PEW-film is only weakly
attached to the layers of mica flakes. During the bending
of the tape, the PEW-film detaches from the mica,
which leads to a separate bending of the film and the
flakes. Whereas the PEW-film is flexible enough to
follow the bending, the mica flakes separate from each
other and leave a gap within the tapes as shown in
Figure9. The gap between the mica and the support
material is filled with binder resin during the
impregnation process. Traces of tree propagation were
mainly detected in the regions of the binder resin.

-Needle

Figure S: Tree as it penewates a bent mica tape in the needle-plane-

arrangement.

140 150 160 170 180

Apex angle of the mica tape L'l

Figure 6: Time to breakdown at tape overlappings when the tree

propagated around the M c a tapes.

LSeparatedXca flakes
Fi- 9:Detached support m a t e d and separated mca flakes in a
bent mca tape.

140 750 1M 170 180
Apex angle %of the mica tape ['I
Elgum 'I: lime to breakdown at tape averlappings when the me
penetrated the mica tapes.
Tree propagation path through the mica tapes
In order to derive hints for development of tapes with a
higher resistance to tree penetration, the tree
propagation path through the material was analysed. A
tree as it penetrates a bent mica tape in the needle-plane-
arrangement can be seen in Figure 8. The different
Discussion
Mica tapes are used to increase treeing resistance in
winding insulations of high voltage rotating machines.
For this purpose, the harriers must be even and
undistorted. In industrially-made insulations, the mica
tape is bent at regions of tape overlappings. The results
of the experiments show that an electrical tree can
penetrate such bent tapes as can he seen in Figures.
Different time to breakdown values in Figure6 and
Figure 7 prove that time to breakdown can significantly
be reduced when the tree penetrates a bent mica tape.
The reduction can he so severe that the harriers seem to
be almost not existent. This is considered to be very
critical for the insulation since the impact of the tape as
a treeing resistant barrier in the insulation, is weakened.

296
The probability of the tree penetrating the material is
higher at smaller bendings as shown in Figures 5 and 7.
This is due to the fact that the mica is not very flexible.
During bending, the mica flakes in the tape lose its
perfect plane parallel orientation, as shown in Figure 9.
As the areas between the separated mica flakes are filled
with binder resin and the tree can propagate more easily
through the resin than through the mica, time to
breakdown values are reduced. The degree of mica-
flake separation is responsible for the fact that the tree
can penetrate the tape quickly, slowed down or not at
all, which leads to low, medium or high time to
breakdown values as measured and shown in Figure 7.
The flexibility of the tapes is mainly given by the
support material. Glass fabric as a support material
gives the highest flexibility since it adheres best to the
mica flakes and they separate less, which lead to the
lowest number of tape penetrations as can be seen in
Figure 5.
The ability of the tree penetrating bent mica tapes
was shown for the model-needle-plane arrangements
above. For winding insulations, the electrical tree
usually propagates along the layers of mica tapes [I].
Micrographs of a tree propagation path in winding
insulations showed that the tree can also penetrate a
bent tape in the insulation as shown in Figure 10 [7]. By
comparing Figure 8 and Figure 10, it can be seen that
the tree propagation in the needle-plane-arrangements
and in the winding insulation, is the same. The tree
takes a “shortcut” through the tape and it can be
assumed that this leads to a significant reduction of the
Lifetime of winding insulations similar to that measured
in the needle-plane-arrangement. Furthermore, it is
assumed that tape bends in several layers of winding
insulations have a much more severe influence on time
to breakdown than that in just one layer, as tested.
mgure 1 0 Picture of a tree as it penerrates the mica tape at a tape
overlapping in an industrially-made winding insulation.
297
Conclusions
I. Since mica tapes in industrially-made winding
insulations are bent at regions of tape overlappings
and the electrical tree can penetrate bent tapes, thus
reducing time to breakdown significantly, the
number of tape overlappings must be reduced in the
insulations, e. g. by using tapes with a higher width.
2. Because the tree could not penetrate the tapes at
apex angles t 172”, tape bends at overlappings
should have that minimum size, which can be
achieved by using tapes with a smaller thickness.
3. As the critical size of bends for which the tree could
penetrate the tapes is material dependent, and tapes
with glass fabric as a support material show less
sensitivity for tree penetrations, it is recommended
to apply glass fabric to tapes with a higher thickness
or to insulations with more tape overlappings.
References
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Authors’ addresses:
Ruben Vogelsang, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology,
ETH Centre, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland,
Email: voeelsane@eeh.ee.ethz.ch
Rudolf BrStsch, VonRoll Isola AG Switzerland,
Email: rudolf.bruetsch@vonroll-isola.com