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Introduction and Life Cycle Management of Transformers

Prof. Dr.- Ing. habil. H. Borsi

Institute of Electric Power Systems, Division of High Voltage Engineering - Schering-Institut Leibniz Universitt Hannover Germany

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INDEX

Life Cycle in HV Equipment Quality Assurance in

High Voltage Equipments
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SOCIAL ENVIROMENT
COSTS

TECHNOLOGICAL ENVIROMENT

Social Influece Quality Enviroment Legislation

AVAILABILITY

RELIABILITY

Technological evolution Kind of network

UTILITY FITTINGS

Asset Management Philosophy: Condition based, Risk based,..

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Life Cycle Management

STARTS during manufacturing

PLANIFICATION

TECHNICAL SPEC.

PROJECT

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Planification, Technical Spec., Project

Design, Manufacturing and Acceptance Testing

Site Installation

Service Operation

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Planification, Technical Spec., Project

Design, Manufacturing and Acceptance Testing

Site Installation

Service Operation

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Planification, Technical Spec., Project

Assembly and Commisioning: - Site preparation - Transportation and assembly - Commissioning

Design, Manufacturing and Acceptance Testing

Quality Assurance: - Design Review - Manufacturing Inspections - Factory Testing ---------------------------- On site Testing

Site Installation

Service Operation

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Main Goals

- Strict and controled planning of manufacturing and acceptance testing of HV Equipment. - Complete Quality Assurance proccess of HV Equipment on a basis of homogeneity and rigour. Each part of the proccess must maximize global reliability. - Integration and coordination of Quality Assurance proccess in the whole life cycle of HV equipment.

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Supplier Qualification

Quality Assurance

Design Review

Manufacturing Inspections

Acceptance Testing
Factory Tests Special Tests Comissioning Tests

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Supplier Qualification
Quality Management: - Quality policy (real degree of implementation) - Quality control plan (incoming materials and inproduction) - Traceability Global Assessment of the factory and manufacturing processes: - General data, Incoming materials, sub-suppliers - Manufacturing processes, facilities condition, tools - HV Testing Laboratory
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Design Review

- Internal design analysis (materials, dielectrics, electrodynamics, thermal) - Identification of weak points (design and manufacturing) and design margins.
- Acceptance

tests plan (rutine, type, specials)

- Fitting with functional requeriments

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Manufacturing Inspections

Detailed assessment of manufacturing proccesses:

- Check of incoming controls and material traceability. - Warehouse management, facilities condition - Manufacturing proccesses and technology assessment - Check of in-production quality controls. - Sub-suppliers management and control - Maintenance and calibration of machinery, tools and sensors.

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Acceptance testing
Factory tests: - Checks and tests to validate a correct design and manufacturing - Compliance with tests plan and standards - Correct functionality and calibration of instruments - Laboratory personnel qualification On-site tests: - Checks and tests to validate a correct transportation and assembly - Comparison with factory testing - Initial fingerprint for predictive maintenance

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Transformers are key equipment for power transmission and distribution Power Transformers belong to the most expensive equipment of power networks Power Transformers are custom made and not available as stock equipment
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FACTORY TESTS
- Turn ratio
- Windings resistance - Insulation resistance - Capacitance and tg delta - Load losses and Zcc. - No load losses -> before dielectric tests - FQ and DGA oil analysis -> before dielectric tests - OLTC tests - Switching Impulse for 220kV trafos - Lighting Impulse (HV, LV, Tertiary and Neutrals) - Separate Source withstand voltage - Long Duration Induced voltage with PD meassurement - Short Duration Induced voltage with PD when Switching Impulse do not apply -No load losses -> after dielectric tests - FQ and DGA oil analysis -> after dielectric tests - FRA and FDS test

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COMISSIONNING TESTS

- Insulation resistance - Capacitance and tg delta (trafo and bushings) - Excitation test - Turn ratio - Leakage reactance - Windings resistance - Conmutation dynamic resistance - DGA oil analysis - FRA test - FDS test
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Definition of life time

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the life time of a transformer is defined as the life time of its rigid insulation system

The end of life time is defined by the reduction of the mechanical strength by more than 50% In general this is the case at DP-values < 200 ( - 75%) acc to IEEE C57.91-1995
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Failure Curve of Technical Equipment

Failure Rate

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Bathtub Curve

New

Time

Transformers can fail any time in life cycle

End of Design Life

Most likely early in life or near the end of life between 25 and 35 years

The average expected life time for transformers is

Due to high age and increase in load the risk for failure of transformers in service is HIGH
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Failure rates on Power Transformers

others 8% core 2% tank 15% tap changer 39%

bushings 15%

windings 21%

Most failures occur suddenly The outage time often is very long
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Aging of transformer insulation

Thermal Degradation Electrical and Dielectric Degradation Mechanical Degradation Chemical Degradation
Resistive and magnetic losses, capacity of the cooling system Alterations of the insulating material due to the electrical field

Vibrations, deposits out of pumps, fans, gaskets,...

Oxygen out of the atmosphere (for breathing type transformers) together with catalysts leads to acidification, water

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Electrical causes
Local overstressing in the insulation causes aging of the cellulose and the insulation oil
Acid generation and contamination in the oil Water content increasing Gas and sludge generation Acceleration of the cellulose depolymerisation Partial discharge or breakdown causes strong transient overstressing

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Electromagnetic causes
High Current (e.g. due to short circuit in network) generate high forces Winding deformation Paper insulation breakage in particular in the aged places

Be careful for partial discharge and breakdown

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Dielectric causes
Aging of the cellulose causes breaks of the glucose chains (Depolymerisation)
Generation of:
Water Gas (CO, CO2) Aldehyd groups (Alkaline) Carboxyl groups (Organic acids)

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Thermal causes
Eddy current losses in the core Ohm's losses in the coil
Variations in load lead to heating up and cooling
Increasing the water content of insulation due to breathing Hot spot temperature (IEC 60354: Loading Guide) has crucial influence on the life Span of the transformer insulation
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Chemical causes
Due to aging generates organic acids
They attack in particular the paper insulation

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Microstructure of Paper with NZ [mg/kg] 0.05 (left) 0.1; 0.2; 0.3 (right)

Metals such as copper, iron, aluminum and zinc act additionally as catalysts
Accelerated aging

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Aging of Insulation

Thermal aging
Electrical and dielectrical aging Mechanical aging Chemical Aging

Generation of Water

Additional water is coming from outside (free breathing transformers)

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Ageing of Paper
Due to ageing the glucose ring chains of the cellulose break (Depolymerisation)
The result
Water Gases (CO, CO2) Aldehyd Groups (Alkaline) Carboxyl Groups (organic acids)
H 2COOH C CH H OH C H H C OH O CH O CH

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H 2O
OH C H C CH

H OH H2COOH C H O

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Aging Process
Relative Depolymerisationsgeschwindigkeit Relative Velocity of Depaolarization

1000 80 C 100 C 100 120 C

10

1 0 1 2 Water Contentim in the Paper Wassergehalt Papier 3 [%] 4

Heat and water accelerate the aging process

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WATER IN THE TRANSFORMER

A temperature increase of 6 - 8C is doubling the depolymerisation speed A moisture increase of 1% is also doubling the depolymerisation speed 4% moisture at 50C leads to a moisture content in the oil of 50 ppm. Is the oil quickly cooled down (power failure during winter), is it possible to have free water already at 20 C With a too high moisture content, there is the risk of bubble formation in the insulation at much lower hot spot temperatures as 140C as with dry insulation

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Possible Measurements

Oil Analysis
DGA Oil parameter Furan analysis DP Resistance test Insulation resistance test Ratio test FRA (Frequency Response Analysis) PD (Partial Discharge)
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Electrical Failures

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Oil parameter(IEC 60422, VDE 0370-2)

Color
Insignificant General condition Particle

Water content
Important parameter

Breakdown voltage
Important parameter

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Oil parameter
Tan
Increasing with thermal stress

Interfacial tension
Aging of oil, degradation product

Acidity (total acid number)

Acidity decreases the strength of paper

Inhibitor content
Consumption is a measure for aging

Density, Flash Point, Viscosity

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DGA (Dissolved Gas Analysis)

Nitrogen N2 Oxygen O2 Carbon Monoxide CO Carbon Dioxide CO2 Hydrogen H2 Methane CH4 Ethan C2H6 Ethen (Ethylene) C2H4 Ethin (Acetylene) C2H2
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DGA

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DGA 300C < T> 700C

NORMAL

PD

PD LOW

PD HIGH T< 300C

T> 700C

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IEC 60599 Method

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Furan analysis
5-Hydroxylmethyl-2-Furfurol (5HMF) 2-Furfurylalkohol (2FOL) 2-Furfurol (2FAL) 2-Acetylfuran (2ACF) 5-Methyl-2-Furfurol (5MEF)
1200 900

200
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2FAL

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Resistance Measurement
Measuring of DC resistance for all coils at different tap changer position (typically: US about 20 m, OS about 1 )
Contacts condition (Tap changer, bushing) as well as winding shorts and disconnection in the current path

Insulation Resistance Measurement

Insulation evaluation due to measuring the insulation between coil and ground (typical a few 100 M). Determination of KrFactors=R60/R15
With Kr>3 moisture in insulation

Ratio Measurement
Ratio measurement in each position of tap changer
Maximum deviation 0,5% Determination the short circuit or disconnection in windings

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PD-measurement
Sensitive measurement for insulation condition evaluation
Chemical (DGA) Optical (e.g. UV camera for corona) Acoustic (sensors on the tank) Electric (narrowband or wide-band) UHF (antenna in transformer)

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Possible measurements Dielectric measurements

RVM (Recovery Voltage Measurement) PDC (Polarisation Depolarisation Current)

FDS (Frequency Domain Spectroscopy) The procedures use similar models. The comparison between model response and measurement is used to determine the water content in pressboard

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Recovery Voltage Measurement (RVM)

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Possible measurements PDC

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Sample Electrometer

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Possible measurements FDS

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Moisture 4%

Moisture 2,5%

Moisture 1%

Moisture 0,2%

Frequency (Hz)

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Technologies for transformer drying

Cellulose fibers Vacuum, heat Vacuum, heat Insulating liquid

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Vacuum, heat

Water molecules

Vacuum, heat

Drying potentially endangers the solid insulation as the winding coil usually is not re-fastened after drying (>>> stability in case of shorts?)
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Continuous transformer insulation drying

Applicable technologies:

Vacuum and heat Hygroscopic materials (molecular sieves, Zeolites)

Interfering the Dissolved Gas Analysis

Use of the water equilibrium at different temperatures

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Realization

Cellulose filter cartridge

Transformer vessel

Cooler Pump
Warm, wet oil

Gentle, continuous desiccation without influencing the DGA

Cooling circuit Upgraded insulating liquid

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