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A2-205

CIGRE 2008

POST MORTEM INVESTIGATION OF INSULATION MATERIAL OF POWER TRANSFORMERS AND COMPARISON WITH DIAGNOSTIC MEASUREMENTS T. LEIBFRIED* University of Karlsruhe M. STACH 1 and N. MAJER 2 1 E.ON Engineering GmbH 2 E.ON Netz GmbH M. SCHFER EnBW Regional AG H.-G. SCHWABE and W. DEWES 3 DB Energie GmbH
3

I. HHLEIN, U. THIE and J. CHRISTIAN Siemens AG K. ETZKORN Grosskraftwerk Mannheim AG Germany SUMMARY

W. Dewes left the DB Energie GmbH in 2007

A huge part of the power transformer population all over Europe, maybe worldwide, has been in service since 30 years or even more. In Germany, the liberalization of the energy market resulted in a more frequent start-up and shut-down of power stations and therefore in a more intensive breathing of generator transformers which accelerates their ageing progress. A safe and economic operation of the power system requires deep knowledge about the condition of power transformers. An important parameter defining the end-of-life of a power transformer is the mechanical strength of the solid insulation material. A measure for the tensile strength of insulation material is the Degree of Polymerization (DP) of the Cellulose. However, determination of the DP of transformer insulation material means taking material samples out of the active part. Since this method is not non-invasive and requires a high effort, it is not an approach which can be easily applied. Under the influence of temperature, oxygen and moisture Kraft cellulose decomposes in various low molecular products, among which are gaseous products, mainly carbon oxides, as well as oil soluble products e.g. furane derivatives. The major furane derivative, formed from thermally non stabilized Kraft paper is 2-furfuraldehyde (2-FAL). A lot of research all over the world is devoted to the correlation between furane concentration and ageing of the solid insulation in terms of rest life evaluation. This paper describes investigations on power transformers from which material samples have been taken during scrapping. The analysis of these samples provided valuable information for defining a correlation between DP and furan content in the oil of the investigated transformer family as well as about the minimum DP in a transformer and its location. KEYWORDS Power transformers, short circuit resistance, tensile strength of the insulation material, material samples, correlation between furan content in the oil and the degree of polymerization.
Equation Section 1

Email address of the main author: leibfried@ieh.uni-karlsruhe.de

INTRODUCTION A huge part of the power transformers being in service all over Europe has an age of 30 years or even more. For that reason, the condition assessment of power transformers is of great importance. Besides of failures the end-of-life is given by the condition of the cellulose. The mechanical strength of cellulose determines among other parameters the short circuit resistance of a power transformer. Ageing mechanisms such as hydrolysis, oxidation and pyrolysis reduce the chain length of the cellulose molecules and due to the reduced twist of the individual chains also the mechanical strength is reduced. The average chain length of the cellulose molecules is expressed by the Degree of Polymerization (DP). Thus, there exists a relationship between the DP and the mechanical strength of the solid insulation material (paper, transformer board) shown in Figure 1 [1]. Taking a certain reduction of the tensile strength (/0) which is correlated with a definite ageing period out of the first plot, the DP can be taken out of the second plot for this ageing period and the same temperature (Figure 1a). This gives a relationship between the reduction of the tensile strength (/0) and the reduction of DP (DP/DP0) as shown in Figure 1b. In the region of low DP and tensile strength, a linear relationship can be derived out of Figure 1b:
= 0,1 + 5 DP 0 3 DP0

DP = DP0 3 0,1 5 0

(1)

A reduction of the tensile strength down to half of the initial value results in
DP = DP0 3 ( 0,5 0,1) = 0,24 DP0 5

(2)

Thus, having initial values of DP0 = 1000 or DP0 = 800, the DP at /0 = 0.5 would be 240 or 192, respectively. Thus, a DP value of 150200 defined as the end of lifetime of a transformer corresponds to the reduction of the tensile strength of the solid insulation material down to 40%-50% of the initial value [5].

Ageing period Degree of Polymerization (DP)

= 0,1 + 5 DP 0 3 DP0

a. Figure 1

b. Relationship between Degree of Polymerization (DP) and tensile strength /0 a. Dependencies of DP and /0 from the ageing period according to [1] b. Combination to a relationship /0 = f (DP/DP0) 2

Ageing period

CONDITION ASSESSMENT OF POWER TRANSFORMERS USING FURAN ANALYSIS Basically, there are several non-invasive methods to assess the condition of power transformers. Oil in power transformers can be compared with the blood by people. Oil samples can easily be taken even during service of transformers. Analysis of the oil parameters gives information about the oil itself. The analysis of gases dissolved in the oil (DGA, Dissolved Gas in Oil Analysis) is the most powerful tool for power transformer condition assessment and the recognition of incipient faults. Electrical measurements are appropriate for the detection of active part defects such as defective soldering in windings or mechanical deformations of the core-and-coil assembly. Some of them give information about the over-all condition of the insulation system or the moisture content in the solid insulation material. However, these methods do not provide any information about the condition of the cellulose which determines the short circuit resistance of a power transformer. The Degree of Polymerization (DP) can be measured by taking insulation material samples out of the transformer and analyzing them. However, this requires either the destruction of the transformer or the samples can be taken only from the leads but not from inside the coils. Another method is to detect the content of furans in the transformer oil and estimate on that basis the DP value. Furanes is the denomination of a group of chemical compounds which are formed by the degradation of cellulose. The most important furans are 2-furfural (2-FAL), 2-acetylfuran (2-ACF), 5-methyl-2-furfural (5-MEF), 2-furfurylalcohol (2-FOL) and 5hydroxymethyl-2-furfural (5-HMF). These compounds are dissolved in the oil. Thus, the determination of the content of furanic compounds in the oil would give information about the condition of the cellulose if there exists a correlation between DP and content of furans in the oil. Since the furan analysis offers an easy and non-invasive way to get valuable information about the solid insulation material out of the transformer, several research projects have been carried out in the past in order to establish a correlation between furans in the oil and DP value of the aged paper insulation. The correlations known from the literature [2-4] are based on laboratory conditions with constant temperature and well known conditions, therefore they have a limited application in reality. Further, the amount and fate of furans in transformer oil is dependant on many factors, e.g. temperature, moisture, oxygen content, transformer design, oil condition etc. In the following, some of the correlations from the literature are given: Heisler and Banzer [2]:
2FAL
19 1 325 DP + 13 = 10

19 DP = 325 lg(2FAL) 13

for

100 DP 900

(3)

Chendong [3]:
2FAL = 10(
1,51 0,0035 DP

DP =

1 (1,51 lg(2FAL) ) 0,0035 1850 2FAL + 2,3

for

150 DP 1000

(4)

DePablo [4]:
2FAL = 1850 2,3 DP DP = for 150 DP 600

(5)

However, it is not reported whether the paper samples have been taken in a systematically manner, e. g. equidistantly in axial direction, from the paper insulation of the individual windings or from leads. Further, it is reported in [5, 7] that the content of furans in the oil depends not only on the degradation of cellulose but also on the temperature and the water content. If these dependencies play a key role, the furan analysis can hardly be used for condition assessment of power transformers. Thus, it was decided to establish a research project which systematically analyses DP profile in power transformers together with the furan analysis. 3

ANALYSIS OF THE SOLID INSULATION IN AGED TRANSFORMERS In order to establish a correlation between furans in the oil and an average DP of the paper insulation a joint research project was defined between several utilities, power plants and the IEH Karlsruhe. During scrapping of aged or damaged power transformers material samples have been taken out of each individual winding in a systematical manner. At the beginning of the project, material samples were taken in axial direction equidistantly at 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the winding length. Thereby, 100% corresponds to the top of the winding and 0% corresponds to the bottom. However, the first few investigations showed bigger changes of the DP at the top of the winding in the range from 75% to 100%. Therefore, after a few investigations material samples have been taken additionally at 83.3% and 91.6% in order to get more detailed information about the DP profile in axial direction. In radial direction the sampling depends strongly on the accessibility to the individual places. In case of disk windings material samples are usually taken at the inner and outer diameter and in the middle of the coil (Figure 2). In case of layer windings each individual layer has to be dismounted in order to get access to the next layer. Due to the high effort, in the case of layer windings sampling is usually limited to the inner and outer diameter and one or two layers in between. The accessibility to windings of larger power transformers, say beyond 40 MVA, is perfect if the individual windings (HV, MV, LV) can be pulled from the core limb after disassembling the upper yoke by the scrapping enterprise. In the case of smaller power transformers the HV winding can be partially or entirely dismounted during sampling in order to get access to the LV winding. However, in that case it is usually difficult to get material samples from all axial locations at the inner diameter of the LV winding. It is of great importance to clarify the time schedule of scrapping in advance between the utility and the scrapping enterprise. The best way is to fix the material sampling in the contract with the scrapping enterprise.
DPUS = 513,9 100 % (2075 mm) 430 430 440 DPOS = 508,5 460 370 DPST = 582 570 100 % (1955mm) 91,6 % 1790 mm 83,3 % 1630 mm 75 % 1470 mm 100 % 1835 mm 91,6 % 1680 mm 83,3 % 1530 mm 75 % 1380 mm

91,6 % 1900 mm 83,3 % 1730 mm 75 % 1560 mm

460 440

480 520

480 440

380 410

490

470

420

460

480

50 % 1037 mm 500 590 500 520

540

50 % 980 mm

50 % 920 mm

25 % 520 mm 520 480

470

620

570

25 % 490 mm

25 % 460 mm

630 590 0% 0 mm 630

530

660

750 0% 0 mm 0% 0 mm

Figure 2

Location of material samples and their DP values for a 50 Hz three phase transformer, 385 MVA, 110/21 kV 4

CALCULATION OF AN AVERAGE DP FOR THE INDIVIDUAL COILS AND THE ENTIRE TRANSFORMER First the method for the calculation of an average DP of an axial column of samples is presented. Figure 3 shows the sampling locations in axial direction. Basic idea is: if axially as many as desired DP values together with their locations would be available, averaging would be arithmetically correct if equidistant samples from the winding middle would be used. Thus, in order to calculate a correct average DP value for an axial column, for each sample taken at the upper half of the winding a corresponding sample from the lower half has also to be taken into account for average DP calculation. The corresponding sample to the lower half of the column at X% exists at the upper winding half at (100-X)% of the winding length (0 X 50%). It was decided to take additional samples at 83.3% and 91.6% of the winding length. This corresponds to 8.3% and 16.6% at the lower half of the winding as shown in Figure 3. The average DP value is given by
DPColumn,i = =
< 50 1 DP (50) + [DP (100 L) + DP (L)] N L =0

. (6)

1 {DP (50) + DP (100) + DP (0) + DP (75) + DP (25) + DP (91.6) + DP (8.3) + DP (83.3) + DP (16.6)} 9

However, since there is not much change in the DP in between 0% and 25% of the winding length, usually no samples are taken at 8.3% and 16.6%. Another reason for omitting of samples at these locations is also to limit the number of samples to a reasonable quantity. Thus, the DP values at 8.3% and 16.6% of the winding length are calculated as average values out of the 0% and the 25% values. Missing DP values in between L1 and L2 can be calculated by
DP (L1 + k L) = DP (L1) + k DP (L2 ) DP (L1) M +1 mit k = 1,..., M

(7)

Thereby, M is the number of missing DP values, L1 and L2 are the lower and upper winding length for which the DP values are given, here L1 = 0(%) and L2 = 25(%). Applying this equation to the given problem results in
DP (8.3) = DP (0) + 1 DP (25) DP (0) 2+1 DP (16.6) = DP (0) + 2 DP (25) DP (0) 2+1 .

and therefore 1 DPColumn,i = {2x(0) + 2x(25) + x(50) + x(75) + x(83.3) + x(91.6) + x(100)} 9

(8)

Using the average DP of each column, the average DP of a winding can be determined by
DPWinding = 1 Ncolumn
Ncolumn k =1

DPColumn,k

(9)

where Ncolumn is the number of columns for the winding under investigation.
DP0% DP25% DP50% DP75% DP100%

DP8,3%

DP16,6%
Middle of the coil

DP83,3% DP91,6%
Coil length L in per cent

50

100

Figure 3

Sampling locations in axial direction 5

It is assumed that their entire insulation material consisting of cellulose contributes to the furans in the oil in the same degree. Then, a weighted average DP must be compared with the furan content in the oil:
DP = DP HV mPaper ,HV + ... + DP LV mPaper ,LV + DP Rest mRest mPaper ,HV + ... + mPaper ,LV + mRest

(10)

There is a lot of so-called cold insulation inside the transformer such as wooden supports, pressure rings, etc. Those insulation parts do not contribute much to the furans in the oil. Therefore, it is justified to neglect these parts. Then, only the paper insulation of the windings must be taken into consideration:
Nwindings k =1

DP =

DPWinding k mPaper ,Winding k

(11)

Nwindings k =1

mPaper ,Winding k

where Nwindings is the number of windings. Using equation (11) for the calculation of an average DP for the entire transformer, the typically higher DP of the regulating winding with its low insulation paper mass is weighted to a lower degree than the typically lower DP values of HV and LV winding with their higher paper masses. A difficulty in practise is the correct determination of the insulation paper masses for each winding. For some of the investigated power transformers no detailed technical and layout data are available. Thus, it was decided to use a more simple approach for the calculation of an average DP for the entire transformer. Due to the typically higher DP of the regulating winding in comparison the HV and LV windings, the contribution of the regulating winding to the furans can be neglected as a first approach. In another approach the masses of LV and HV windings are assumed to be equal. Then, the average DP of a transformer is given by
DP = 1 DP OS + DP US 2

(12)

RESULTS The table (Figure 4) shows the main electrical data of the investigated power transformers, the average DP value of their windings, the average DP of the entire transformer, the minimum DP value found in the transformer and the furan content in the oil. The furans have been either analyzed by the Siemens laboratory in Nuremberg or by the E.ON laboratory. Transformers No. 4 and No. 5 could not be taken into account for establishing the DP Furan correlation because it was not possible to take enough samples from their windings. Transformer No. 6 was scrapped after an electrical breakdown occurred initiated by a thermal fault. The DP values shown in Figure 2 are relatively high. The over-all DP was over 500 and the lowest DP was 370. However, the content of furans was with 2.82 ppm (2-FAL: 2.63ppm, 5HMF: 0.19ppm) surprisingly high. Presumably, the overheated insulation parts inside the transformer caused an additional production of furans. Thus, this transformer is also not used for establishing the DP Furan correlation. Transformer No. 9 was degassed several times before scrapping must therefore be regarded with caution. It is well known that degassing and oil regeneration reduces the furan content in the oil. These examples show that each case must be carefully investigated. Figure 5 shows the correlation between average DP of the transformer and content of furans in the oil for the transformers shown in Figure 4 (besides No. 4, 5 and 6) as well as according to the literature [2], [3] and [4]. 6

Number

Manufactured in

Scrapped in

Voltage ratio [kV/kV]

S [MVA]

DPmin

DPLV

DPHV

DPRW

DPmed

2-FAL content [ppm]

Generator Transformers 1 2 3 4 6
+) 1)

1970 1970 1992 1970 1971 1973

2005 2005 2006 2005 2007 2007

107/10,5 235,8/21 400/27 400/21 236/21 110/21

110 380 650 360 225 385

90 70 705 215 220 370

166 212.7 865.5 507 513.9

334 225.1 991.5 405 483.9 498.5

755 582

250 218.9 928.5 456 483.9 506.2

2.36 4.53 0.14 0.43 2.82

5 1)
2)

Interconnection Transformers 7 8 9 3) 1964 1973 1967 2006 2006 2007 110/22 104.89/ 22 220/66/ 10.5 23 40 100 729 610 490 838 745 683.1 908.7 836 696.4 966.2 900 873.4 790.5 689.7 0.1 0.05 0.11

16.7 Hz Transformers (Railway Transformers) 10 11 12 1964 1971 1971 2006 2007 2007 115/10.75 115/6.6 115/6.6 62.5 33.3 9 405 85 160 543.9 153.2 265.8 541.9 226.5 371.5 634.4 542.9 189.9 318.6 0.11 2.752 3.12

Figure 4

List of all investigated power transformers with their main electrical data, the average DP values of the windings and the furan content in the oil
+) no furan analysis available 1) not enough samples could be taken 2) Failure inside the transformer caused thermal overheating and therefore with high probability additional furanic compounds 3) Transformer was degassed several times before scrapping. This might have some influence on the furan content

DP = 150...200

Figure 5

Correlation between average DP of a transformer and furans in the oil according to the literature and according to investigations performed by IEH Karlsruhe together with partner utilities and industry partners 7

The individual experimentally found points (symbol o in black shown in Figure 5) can be connected by a medium curve shown as dotted black line in Figure 5. However, there are huge deviations of the individual points from this medium curve, especially for high DPs or low contents of furans. However, at present there are not yet enough experimental results for a definite statement or even for establishing a mathematical description for the medium curve content-of-furans = f (DPmedium). More power transformers have to be investigated, especially in the high-power and high-voltage range. Comparing the experimental results obtained by material analysis on scrapped transformers with the correlations of other researchers [2] [4], it is obvious, that the equations (3), (4) and (5) describe the correlation between content of furans in the oil and medium DP of the transformers. Interesting is the correlation between content of furans in the oil and minimum DP shown as dotted blue curve in Figure 5. The difference between the medium curve (black, dotted) and minimum curve (blue, dotted) is about 150200 in DP. This is of big importance. If a certain furan content leads to a medium DP of the transformer, then, the minimum DP in this transformer is about 150200 lower than the medium DP. Thus, the experimental results allow a coarse estimation of the minimum DP which has to be expected in a transformer. CONCLUSION This paper describes an experimental methodology to establish a correlation between the content of furans in the oil of power transformers and the Degree of Polymerization (DP) together with some first results. More power transformers in the high-power and high-voltage range in a severe aged and medium aged condition have to be investigated in order to get more reliable data. Furthermore, influencing factors such as temperature and water content have to be investigated thoroughly since it is well known that these parameters play a certain role which presumably cannot be neglected.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] [2] [3] HP. Moser/V. Dahinden, Transformerboard II, H. Weidmann AG, CH-8640 Rapperswil, 1987, S. 153/154 A. Heisler, A. Banzer, Zustandsbeurteilung von Transformatoren mit Furfurol-Bestimmung, ew, Heft 16, 2003, Jg. 102 X. Chendong, Monitoring Paper Insulation Ageing by measuring Furfural Contents in Oil, 7th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering (ISH), August 26 30, 1991, Dresden A. De Pablo, Interpretation of Furanic Compounds Analysis Degradation Models CIGRE WG D1.01.03, ehemals WG 15-01, Task Force 03, 1997 M. C. Lessard, M. Koncan-Gradnik, I. Hhlein, B. Finlay, Furan Analysis as a Transformer Life Management Tool, Cigre Cession Paris, 2006, A2, PS1, Question 1.2 I. Hhlein, A. J. Kachler, Ageing of Cellulose at Transformer Service Temperatures. Part 1. Influence of Type of Oil and Air on the Degree of Polymerization of Pressboard, Dissolved Gases and Furanic Compounds, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, March/April 2005, Volume 21, Number 5, pp. 15-21, ISSN 0883-7554 I. Hhlein, A. J. Kachler: Ageing of Cellulose at Transformer Service Temperatures. Part 2. Influence of Moisture and Temperature on Degree of Polymerization and Formation of Furanic Compounds in Free-Breathing Systems, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, September/October 2005, Volume 21, Number 5, ISSN 0883-7554

[4] [5] [6]

[7]