CONDITION MONITORING OF

TRANSFORMERS

K. R. M. NAIR
Chief Operating Officer
Federal Transformers Co. LLC
Abu Dhabi

1
WHY IS CONDITION MONITORING REQUIRED?

- To check the health of the transformer

- To identify any incipient faults

- To plan for preventive maintenance

2
CONDITION MONITORING METHODS

- ONLINE MONITORING
• Measures the parameters without affecting the operation of
the equipment
• Measurement can be done continuously

- OFFLINE MONITORING
• Measurements are done when the equipment is not
energised.
• This requires planned shutdown of the transformer.

3
ONLINE DATA MONITORING RELATED TO ACTIVE PART
- Load current, voltage & Frequency
- Winding temperature & Top oil temperature
- Dissolved gases in oil (Tank & OLTC)
- Partial Discharge
- Moisture in oil
- Tank to ground current
- Operating Noise
- Oil level in Tank / Conservator
- Nitrogen / gas pressure (where applicable)
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ONLINE DATA MONITORING OF ONLOAD TAP CHANGER (OLTC)

- OLTC oil level

- Dissolved gases in OLTC oil
- Moisture content in OLTC oil
- Oil temperature of OLTC diverter switch
- Current through OLTC (same as winding current)

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ONLINE MONITORING OF COMPONENTS & ACCESSORIES
- Capacitance & Tan delta of Bushings
- Leakage current of Bushings
- Bushing voltage
- Cooling system power supply
- Cooling fan status (ON/OFF)
- Fan motor current
- Status of oil pump (ON/OFF)
- Oil pump current
- Oil flow rate through pump
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OFFLINE MONITORING METHODS
- Insulation Resistance & Polarization Index
- Capacitance & Tan delta
- Oil Breakdown voltage
- Polarisation, Depolarisation current
- Recovery voltage measurement
- Optical spectroscopy
- Sweep Frequency Analysis (SFRA)
- Dielectric Frequency Response Analysis (DFRA)
- Frequency Domain Spectroscopy
- Impedance circle characteristics
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DISSOLVED GAS ANALYSIS (DGA)

- DGA detects incipient fault conditions leading to future

faults of a transformer

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GASES DEVELOPED DUE TO DECOMPOSITION OF INSULATION
MATERIALS IN TRANSFORMER OIL
Gas Formula Gas Formation Temperature 0C Source of Gas
Hydrogen H2 <150 – corona PD,
>250 Thermal fault, power discharge
Methane CH4 150-300 Corona, PD
Low / medium Temperature faults
Ethane C2H6 200-400 Low & Medium Temperature faults
Ethylene C2H4 300-700 High Temperature Thermal faults
Acetylene C2H2 >700 High Hot spot
Low Energy discharge
Carbon CO 105-300 Thermal faults involving paper, wood, press
Monoxide board
>300 Complete Decomposition
Carbon Dioxide CO2 100-300 Normal Ageing Thermal fault involving
cellulose
Oxygen O2 Vacuum when temperature Exposure to air, Leaky Gaskets, Air breathing
drops through conservator 9
STANDARDS RELATING TO DGA
- IEC 60599 – 2007 -5
“Mineral oil impregnated Electrical Equipment in service
: Guide to the interpretation of Dissolved & Free gas
Analysis”
- IEC C.57.104-2008-” IEEE Guide for the interpretation of
gases generated in oil immersed transformers”
[Rojers Ratio]
- CIGRE SC-15
- DUVAL TRIANGLE
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PARTIAL DISCHARGE (PD) MEASUREMENT
- The dielectric including insulation are under continuous
Electrical stress
- This leads to partial breakdown of minor voids
- The discharges of partial breakdown radiates high
frequency and Ultra High Frequency Electromagnetic
waves
- If these discharges are continuously increasing, it is a
sign of weak insulation, high stress concentration etc.

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SIGNIFICANCE OF PD LEVELS
100-300 PC - Presence of particles with small air bubbles

< 500 PC - Normal deterioration

[Does not affect the dielectric withstand level]

> 1000 PC - Can be due to different degradation process

a) 1000 - 2000 pc – Poor impregnation

b) 2000 – 4000pc – Increased moisture

c) >2500 pc – will cause destructive ionization if prolonged

(In cellulose)

d) >10000pc – will cause destructive ionization if prolonged

(In oil)

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PD DETECTION METHODS
1) Electric Direct connection Good sensitivity Sensor can be installed only when
through test-tap HF CT etc transformers is denergised

2) Electromagnetic Antenna Easy to use Disturbance from Ambient is very

high

3) Acoustic Easy to use Low sensitivity (can detect PD levels

Detect approx.: value of PD of >10,000 PC)

4) UHF PD Probes Can be installed in Drain Less affected by Ambient PD

valves, flanges

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FURAN ANALYSIS & DEGREE OF POLYMERISATION (DP)

- When transformer operates, the insulation becomes

weak
- The number of glucose rings in the cellulose comes
down and it is called Degree of polymerization (DP)
- New Cellulose has 1000-1200 glucose rings
- After Drying of insulation the DP value of new
transformer is nearly 950
- DP of ~ 250 is considered as the end point

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DP value of the insulation paper can be done by taking
sample from the transformer

However this can be done by switching off the transformer

and the sample collected may not be from the area of
maximum ageing

Instead of taking paper samples, analyzing the oil sample and

measuring the Furan content can identify the types of
stresses

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CONCENTRATION OF FURAN AND DIFFERENT TYPE OF
STRESSES
Type of Furan Symbol Nature of Stress

5-Hydroxymethyl – 2 Furfuraldehyde 5H2F Oxidation

Furfural Alcohol 2 FOL High Moisture

2- Furaldehyde 2 FAL Overheating

2- Furyl Methyl Ketone 2 ACF Lightning

5- Methyl 2 Furaldehyde 2 F2 F Local severe overheating

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DP values corresponding to 2FAL Values
Furan Value - Estimated DP Value
(2FAL)PPM
0.01 - 1003
0.10 - 717
0.50 - 517
1.0 - 431
2.5 - 318
5 - 232
10 - 146
15 - 95
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SWEEP FREQUENCY ANALYSIS [SFRA]
- Transformer is a RLC circuit
- Any type of damage, deformation etc will change the RLC circuit
- When different frequencies are applied to the RLC circuit, it offers
different impedance path
- The geometrical change affects the RLC circuit and the transfer
function
- When a transformer is manufactured, the SFRA measurement is
done and it can be used as reference
- If SFRA of the same transformer is not available, the same of a
transformer from same batch of production can be used as
reference
- Comparing SFRA of other phases of the same transformer also can
be used
- The frequency range used for the test is 20Hz to 1MHz
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SFRA Result

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SFRA Result

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SFRA Result

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INTERPRETATION OF SFRA RESULTS
Frequency Range Component Probable reasons of deviation of SFRA
< 2000 Hz Main core Core Deformation
Main winding Inductance Residual magnetism
Loose core joints
Open circuit of winding
Shorted Turns

2KHz – 20 KHz Shunt Inductance - Movement between winding and

clamping structures
- Loose clamping

20KHz – 400 KHz Main winding Deformation within main or tap winding

400KHz – 1MHz Main winding - Movement of main & Tap windings

Tap winding - Ground impedance variation
Internal Leads
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Application of SFRA During Transformer Transportation

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DIELECTRIC FREQUENCY ANALYSIS (DFRA)
- By measuring the dielectric response over a wide
frequency range, the moisture content of the insulation
can be determined

- Test is done by applying frequencies from 0.001 Hz to

1000 Hz

- Voltage applied is upt 200 volts

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OTHER MEASUREMENT METHODS
- Recovery voltage measurement {RVM}
- Optical spectroscopy
- Search coil based on-line diagnostics
- Polarisation & Depolarisation current {PDC}
- Embeded wireless monitoring and Fault Diagnostic System
- Frequency Domain spectroscopy {FDS}
- Monitoring of Temperature
- Load Monitoring
- Vibration Monitoring
- Monitoring of the functioning of bushings and on Load Tap
Changer
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APPLICATION OF AI TOOLS
- AI tools can be used for the interpretation of the diagnostic
results
- Most probable cause is identified by a Fuzzy Logic approach
- Diagnostics results is made into fault tree
• Select the diagnostic method
• Initiate probability of conclusions (0 to 1)
• Apply the results to the fault tree
• Perform conflict resolution
• Calculate basic assignments to the fault tree
• Repeat the procedure for all methods of measurements and
aggregate the results
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