Conference Record of the 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Electrical Insulation

Condition Assessment Study on Stator Bars, After 40 Years of Operation

C. Wendel, C.-E. Stephan, C. Picech, G. Csaba
ALSTOM (Switzerland) Ltd Zentralstrasse 40 CH-5242 Birr, Switzerland
Abstract- The knowledge of the condition of a stator bar insulation after a long period of operation is a key point for enabling a reliable operation and for the decision on an investment for a rewind. The Insulation Competence Center (ICC) of ALSTOM had the opportunity to investigate the condition of operation-aged Micadur bars, which originate from the beginning of the modern Vacuum Pressure Impregnated manufacturing using synthetic resin. Accompanying the life expectancy studies, as they are consulted for the qualification of new insulation systems, periodically diagnostic investigations were carried out according to the ALSTOM Winding Diagnosis Program. These investigations were done in order to register the ageing pattern by measurement, among others for assessing the meaningfulness of these studies during the periodically carried out investigations. The studies of the residual lifetime behaviour were carried out in the same manner and under same load conditions as how the new bars of this insulation system also must pass this life test. In addition these bars were monitored permanently through a Partial Discharge Monitoring System. All operation-aged bars with nearly 40 years in service passed the criteria - required for new bars - brilliantly, which underlines the excellent quality of the MICADUR-insulation system. The diagnostic investigations carried out simultaneously point out the benefits and meaningfulness of supplementary diagnostic investigations - but likewise their limits also. The partial discharge monitoring is the only suitable tool to detect reliably the quality of the stator insulation during operation and to detect forthcoming breakdown early.

ble design and operation. It is still not possible to determine the remaining life of machines in operation based on diagnostic data alone. On the other hand diagnostic methods definitely supply indications, which permit an insight into the remaining operational reliability and also fault probability. The Insulation Competence Center of Alstom Power Generation had the opportunity of examining stator-winding bars, which had been in operation for almost 40 years, and to assess their condition. Electrical life tests and electrical diagnostic tests including partial discharge (PD) measurements were carried out. The test results and the limits of the diagnostic methods applied with regard to assessing the condition of the insulation are presented. The obtained results reflect the experience gathered from many years of laboratory testing and diagnoses on site. In case of well-maintained machines and proper working corona protection, the theoretical lifetime of the main insulation will be sufficient for decades. II. TEST OBJECTS UNDER EXAMINATION Bars from an aged winding which had been in operation for almost 40 years (commissioned in 1967), were made available for examination in order to assess the condition of the winding. The insulation involved was from the early days of vacuum-pressure-impregnation (VPI) with a special formulated epoxy resin. The bars had been fitted in a turbo generator with hydrogen cooling and a directly water-cooled stator winding. The 370 MVA-machine was rated at 20 kV. The bar insulation thickness was 4.83 mm, resulting in a maximum operational field strength of 2.4 kV/mm. During the operating life of the generator only the slot wedges were checked from time to time and tightened when necessary. In the active section (the core length) the bars appeared to be in original condition. The selection of the bars for the life test (Voltage Endurance Test VET) has been done in advance by performing DC leakage current measurements. Samples with high, medium and with low currents had been selected. Two bars were selected from about the middle of the phases, one from the vicinity of the star-point and one from the high-voltage side. Further bars were kept in reserve and for other tests. In spite of the long operating time, the visual impression made by the anti-corona in the winding slots was that it was in very good condition. Only at some few points the colour was slightly paler due to abrasion / erosion. The resistance of the slot anti-corona was still within the permissible range.

I. INTRODUCTION Knowing the condition of the stator bar insulation after a long period of operation is a key factor for attaining reliable operation and for making decisions with respect to investing in a major repair or even a rewind. This is all the more important, because after a certain operating time the failure probability will become greater. Faults on the stator winding insulation represent a considerable portion of the total number of faults arising on rotating electrical machines. In making such deliberations, not only the main insulation must be taken into consideration, but all the components belonging to the insulation system such as anti-corona, slot wedging, and in the case of a direct cooling system, also the condition of the hollow conductors and the winding overhang supports. In assessing the condition of a winding one is still very greatly dependent on empirical values and feedback from the field for machines with the same insulation system, compara-

1-4244-0334-0/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE

97

developed its full diagnostic potential, but for selection of the bars it was particularly useful on this one. The four bars selected were also subjected to a visual inspection; the loss factor and polarization currents were also measured periodically. In addition, during the aging process, the partial discharge behavior was also monitored by means of the permanent partial discharge measuring system PAMOS 4. Electrical life tests were carried out on the 4 selected bars at elevated voltage (2 times rated voltage) and ambient conditions, as is also usual for new windings to prove the life and thus the qualification. At 2.4 kV/mm the electrical operational field strength on the aged bars was in the same order as was absolutely usual over the last decades. Accordingly, the VET was carried out at field strength of 8.31 kV/mm. IV. RESULTS OF THE TESTS
Fig. 1: Development of breakdown channel

All bars had more or less hollow-sounding areas. One of the bars was delaminated over its whole length, but up to the time of preparing this report, still showed no signs of breakdown. In order to carry out the life tests, which above all were to determine the condition of the main insulation, new anticorona varnish was applied to parts of the overhang regions. This was necessary because while removing the bars from the machine, the surfaces in the overhang regions were scuffed in places. The active parts of the bars were left in their original condition. III. AGING TESTS AND MEASUREMENTS Leakage current measurements were carried out on a total of 10 bars to help select the four, which were to be subjected to the life tests. One of the bars did not withstand even these tests. Due to elevated force during disassembly it had several microscopic cracks within in the insulation. On this single specimen, the leakage current measurement would not have

Fig. 2. Detachments, embedded within insulation

A. Visual inspection of the tracking channels At the time of preparing this report, only 2 of the 4 bars in the VET had punctured. In spite of aging in operation, these two bars attained life values of 3088 and 3519 hours. These excellent values are more than 500% higher than todays specified minimum life for new windings at twice the rated voltage. If these values are now converted for higher operational field strengths (values of up to 3 kV/mm are realized today) and thus to a higher aging field strength of 10.4 instead of 8.31 kV/mm, then the attained life would still be clearly higher than the minimum requirement for new bars. Both of the punctured test specimens were almost identical in appearance. In each case a narrow tracking channel was visible starting from the stator copper, at the corner of the Roebel-bar, gradually widening towards the middle of the insulation thickness, about where it reached its maximum size (Fig. 1). Then, continuing further towards the outside, the size of the channel decreased and finally loses itself in a crack where the last 15 of approx. 48 insulation layers had torn apart or burst open. When examining a polished section, one can not help noticing the numerous detachments at the corners, these appear black in colour (Fig. 2). In all the polished sections, the biggest detachments are to be found at the corners, increasing in number towards the outside. Occasionally, these are also accompanied by wrinkling of the mica-tape tape. Presumably, the accelerated aging started in one of these detachments. Permanent PD bombardment would initially have damaged the insulation layers over a wide area, in the field direction and also at right angles to it, along the layers of the detached tape. The PD channel in the field direction progressed further in the field direction. As the field strength in the direction towards the copper is a bit greater than towards the bar surface this channel would have grown quicker than the channel in the opposite direction (for preventing local field concentrations, there is a inner corona protection applied, forming an electrode at the edges with a defined radius). As the size of the tracking channel presumably correlated with the dwell time in the tape layers the channel would at first have grown very slowly, then increasingly faster as the electrode

98

Strand insulation Copper

ample), the loss factor was almost constant during the aging process, a behaviour that was independent of the voltage. When the loss factor below the PD inception (4 kV values in Fig. 4.) was trended, the value increased gradually which is an indication of a certain change in the insulation structure. The change in the periodically measured real screened loss factor over the aging process turned out to be only small and there was no indication of the imminent breakdowns, whereas the irreparable damage to the insulating material was clearly recognized with partial discharge measurements. The average PD currents are presented here. Similar trending resulted for all other relevant quantities such as PD frequency, charge and quadratic rate. When additionally having the PD patterns available, irreparable damage can be detected in a very early state [1]. C. Prediction of rest life One of the greatest challenges in machine diagnosis is still the prediction of the remaining life of objects based on diagnostic methods, be this for single bars or complete windings. If one attempts to give a ranking to the bars tested here, one will discover that the very two bars with the poorest diagnostic characteristics and the greatest electrical pre-stressing had not punctured during the VET up to the time of preparing this report, whereas the two bars with only moderate pre-stressing and inconspicuous characteristics have both suffered breakdown (TABLE I. Relative values are presented therein, based on the best or minimum levels). It is surprising, that of all the bars, the very one with complete insulation detachment was shown to have moderate diagnostic characteristics and that this bar was capable of withstanding the increased stressing during the VET. None of the off-line methods carried out gave any indication of the imminent breakdowns with any certainty or great sensitivity. Even the exactly known electrical pre-aging and the degree of detachment did not offer clues as to the kind or sequence of the breakdowns. The tests did not produce an acceptable pointer with regard to the remaining life of the bars. Only the PD measurements, which can be made on-line, gave an early indication of the irreparable damage and thus had the greatest diagnostic value during these tests.

Delamination

Fig. 3. Delamination close to stator copper

path became shorter until it fully developed making point contact with the copper, this last stage would have happened very quickly. A second channel in the direction of the bar surface will have developed with a slightly lower rate of progress. Later, when the breakdown field strength was exceeded this second channel would have grown rapidly resulting in explosion-like cracking of the top-most insulating layers as seen. Furthermore, it could be seen that detachment never occurred directly at the copper or strand insulation. All detachments close to the stator copper were within the first two layers of tape (Fig. 3). In anticipation of the PD measurement it must be remarked at this point, that because of the remaining insulating layers on the copper, the PD pattern as well as the characteristics such as the charge Q, the number of discharges N and the trend parameter NQN, were absolutely symmetrical throughout the whole aging process. The observed detachment had a gap of maximum 0.1 mm. From this figure one can calculate a PD inception voltage of approx. 4 to 5 kV, which is typical for all mica-based highvoltage insulation systems. This value alone does not give any indication as to the amount of detachment involved. But the detachments explain the rapid increase in loss factor with voltage rises above this PD inception. B. Change of electrical characteristics During the aging process, the loss factor was measured periodically and the partial discharge behaviour continuously. In addition, the polarization current was measured on each bar several times. Because of the low bar capacitance the currents were very small. This resulted in the current values being disproportionately influenced by external interference. As this meant that a meaningful trending on the individual bars was not possible, this line of testing was prematurely discontinued. It was noticed that loss factor trending differed fundamentally, when measured above or below the PD inception voltage. Above PD inception (12 kV values in Fig. 4., as one ex-

Fig. 4. Trending of electrical values

99

TABLE I PRESTRESS AND RESTLIFE-PREDICTION Bar Leakage Loss Loss Pre-aging Rate of Num- current, Factor Factor stress, Detachment, Lifetime, ber [%] 4 kV, [%] 12kV, [%] [%] [%] [%] 05FC 36AC 41AC 46AC 200 813 347 100 100 118 111 118 116 133 100 101 100 0 50 50 100 15 0 30 >604 >604 604 518

The reason for the very good life obtained during the VET is the tremendously good quality of the bars, which in spite of insulation detachment still possessed practically as-new insulating properties. According to the inverse power law [2]

tt Et n

(1)

(where tt=Life during test, Et=Field strength during test and n represents the slope) the life expectancy is more than 8000 years. Its so immense, that the almost 40 years of operation are virtually of no consequence electrically, on condition that the bars are properly bedded in the slots and the corona protection is in order. And the reason why only the PD measurements recognized the aging, is that all other test methods are based on integral diagnostic methods, whereas the PD measurements responds to local damage and give an indication. Because during operation, of the tested insulation volume only small portions were subjected to truly accelerated aging, so that their components of the electrical measurable signals are simply smoothed over by the less electrically stressed components. V. DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY The measurements and tests carried out proved that the stator bars manufactured in the MICADUR technology, even after almost 40 years in operation, possess a life expectancy corresponding to the as-new condition. The manufacturing quality was at that time, as it is today; so good that these bars could even withstand todays increased requirements regarding stronger requirements for the insulation. A fact which has been repeatedly noticed in many laboratory tests could also be proven within the scope of these tests: Bars with partial or even complete detachment of the insulation in most cases show normal aging behaviour during the life tests. Therefore, one may conclude that insulation detachment, which occasionally arises on winding elements in operation, does not endanger operation - so long that they do not introduce secondary processes such as movement of these elements in the slot, or the formation of hot spots due to poorer heat dissipation. So, delamination or detachments do not unambiguously result in reduced lifetime. Determining the remaining life for single bars under laboratory conditions is still a challenge. At the beginning of the VET no signs of a change in the condition of the insulation could be observed. In the course of the investigations, the PD measurements were shown to be the only method capable of early recognition. It has to be mentioned that the theoretical

remaining lifetime would have been by far enough, enabling a reliable operation over decades. In the course of the investigations, the PD measurements were shown to be the only method capable of early recognition and indication of imminent breakdown and irreparable damage [1]. Additionally it is the only method suitable to monitor the insulation status permanently during operation. In order to obtain reliable values not only on bars and coils, but also on complete machines, the measuring unit must be capable to operate in low frequency range. This is to keep the damping effects and the cross coupling between the windings low and to use oscillating effects for benefit [1, 3, 4]. Therefore it needs to be specified in accordance with IEC 60270 [5]. For evaluating the condition of stator windings fully assembled in the generator, the conditions are different and partly more complex, as an accelerated VET. Besides, during VET, the insulation will be damages irreparably, which not applicable in machines. But even with a theoretical sufficient remaining lifetime, additional stress factors can arise, e.g. loosening of bars in slots. Such effects could lead to a fast deterioration of the insulation. Due to this it is necessary to perform from time to time diagnostic inspections and use continuous PD monitoring to ensure safe and reliable operation. What is really important in the end, from users few, is not the loss factor, the PD behaviour or any other diagnostic value. The most important still is a faultless operation of such a machine, with short downtimes and sufficient lifetime. This can be achieved by good quality of the product, but also by good maintenance. Diagnosis, whether on-line or off-line, is the best to accompany a machine from production until end of its operational period for everybodys benefit. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors like to thank all involved people for their contribution and their fruitful input. In particular, we like to thank out laboratory personnel, W. Rumpf and F. Vannay, for doing all the trivia for us - professional, and in time. G. Liptk who did thousands of such tests before well-deserved retirement and for passing his professional experience on to us. B. Rowntree for bringing our thoughts into proper English. REFERENCES
[1] [2] [3] C. Wendel, C.-E. Stephan, M- Peters, R. Stein, R. Joho, AUTOMATIC PD PATTERN EVALUATION AS PART OF CONDITION BASED MAINTENANCE STRATEGY, Paper A1-213, CIGRE 2006, in press G. Liptk and R. Schuler, Ermittlung des Langzeitverhaltens von glimmerhaltigen Isolationen bei hoher elektrischer Beanspruchung, ISH, pp. 707712, 1975. C. Wendel, T. Laird, T. Bertheau, Continuous Partial Discharge Monitoring with Assessed Condition Trending System (ACTS), Proceedings of the 2nd national CIGR-MXICO Congress, Irapuato, Mxico, June 1315 2001 G. C. Stone, Calibration of PD measurements for Motor and Generator Windings Why it Cant be done, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, January/February 1998, Vol. 14, No. 1 IEC 60270, High-voltage techniques Partial discharge measurements

[4] [5]

100