International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2013)

SFRA Sensitivity Towards Detection of Transformer Insulation

Damage
Shubhangi Patil1, Prof. (Dr.) B. E. Kushare2
1

Crompton Greaves Limited, Mumbai

Electrical Engineering Department, K. K. W. Institute of Engineering and Research, Nasik
These issues can damage mechanical structure of
transformer system and without knowing such internal
damages; they can cause high performance loss. Such
situations may worsen the condition till it fails at site.
Many dielectric and mechanical failures in large power
transformers are generally due to mechanical damage .at
core and winding structure. If a transformer experiences
higher mechanical shock than the suggested G levels can
damage internal parts like, core and winding distortion,
inter turn insulation blocking arrangement, loosened
clamping structure due to higher vibration levels, support
parts etc. Detection of these displacements and damages in
advance of catastrophic failures can help to reduce
maintenance cost and improve reliability. Also proper
detection can help to plan in advance the repairing or future
work based on severity of damage. Various monitoring and
diagnostic techniques, which can evaluate the integrity of
transformer, are essential to evolve optimum and better
reliability of the equipment. Several techniques such as
thermal monitoring, oil analysis, partial discharge
measurement, capacitance & tan delta measurements,
recovery voltage measurements etc. are applied for
transformer wherein each one is applied for a specific type
of problem and have their own merits. One of these reliable
methods to check the mechanical integrity of core and
winding is SFRA [1-3].
SFRA is an effective mechanical condition assessment
technique for power transformers. Large power
transformers represent a complex RLC network. Frequency
response of transformer winding is sensitive to physical
parameters of the transformer. Any deformation results in
relative changes to the internal inductance and capacitance
of the winding which in turn changes the resonant pole
frequencies, phase and amplitude of voltage ratios in dB
level. These significant deviations in frequency responses
are widely used as a tool to check internal mechanical
integrity. SFRA is a comparative method, based on
comparison between the measured response with the fresh
responses taken at site for detection and diagnosis of core winding deformation or displacement.

Abstract Transportation of large power transformers is

typically costly and can sometimes become a substantial
portion of the overall lead time of procuring a transformer.
Whenever the power transformer face the internal damage
due to any fault or transportation, the utilities and
manufacturers bears a high impact on reliability, cost and
delivery cycle. There are various diagnostics methods
available to assess the mechanical integrity of the transformer.
One of the key tests applied for the detection of possible core
and winding movement during construction, assembly and
transportation of the transformer is Sweep Frequency
Response Analysis (SFRA). Sweep Frequency Response
Analysis (SFRA) is one of the effective diagnostic tools for
detection of winding movement and other mechanical faults
which affects the transformer impedance. Key advantages of
SFRA compared to other diagnostic techniques are its proven
sensitivity towards variety of mechanical faults and a lesser
dependency on previous reference measurements. In this
regards, an attempt has been made in this paper to check the
SFRA analysis sensitivity towards clamping structure and
insulation related faults. Case studies are presented here with
the details of SFRA and other tests performed during
manufacturing and transportation stages. Detailed analysis
and findings are discussed in detail.
Keywords Diagnostic techniques, failures, insulation
damage, mechanical condition, SFRA sensitivity analysis,
transportation.

I. INTRODUCTION
The deregulation of the power distribution industry in
recent years has lead to new approaches for optimizations
of the power networks. The operating stress levels in the
networks are closer to the transformers withstand levels
and the amounts of spare capacity in the networks are
decreasing. This has lead to increased quality demands on
the transformer manufacturers, and an incentive for
established transformer condition assessment routines in
the power industry. The transformer is a critical component
in the power system and its failure is a costlier event.
During operation, the power transformers are subject to
damage from faults, short circuiting, ageing or during
transportation.

774

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2013)
The internal mechanical faults can also be detectable by
electrical tests like leakage reactance, overall capacitance
and DGA results. Based on severe of damage, they show
significant variation otherwise they have very small effect
in results which can be easily overlooked and may not
indicate the fault at times. But these tests along with SFRA
analysis can help to detect the insulation and clamping
structure related faults and damage [4] [6].
An attempt has made in this paper to check the
sensitivity of SFRA analysis towards the detection of such
faults. This paper presents experimental investigations
carried out by SFRA technique for power transformers who
received several shocks while transportation. Case studies
are presented in paper demonstrates the sensitivity of
technique towards the insulation damage related faults.
SFRA measurements carried out on 120 MVA, 132 kV
Three Phase Transformer and its detailed analysis during
various stages of transportation which helped to detect such
faults are also presented.

SFRA test performed on power transformer provides

information about the impedance behavior over wide range
of frequency of 20 Hz to 2 MHz [3] [5]. Change in
impedance level and resonance shift helps to check the
internal damages. Interpretation of SFRA is based on visual
comparison of reference and fresh responses. Transformers
damage occurred during transportation can be effectively
detectable if impact recorders details along with SFRA
comparison analysis are considered.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
At manufacturing level, every power transformer has
designed with considered limit loads and stresses. During
transportation, transformer who experiences the heavy
shocks and vibrations can get damage as visible damage or
concealed damage based on severity. In such situations,
impact recorder details and analysis are essential to
consider. The mechanical shock is generally characterized
by maximum value of occurring acceleration or
deceleration and duration of shock. During shock,
acceleration increases, reaches to maximum value and then
slows down to specific level. If transformer hits with any
hard surface with its initial shock velocity, it will increase
the shock pulse and higher amplitude acceleration in
shorter time duration. Thus the power transformer can get
damage in the low frequency range of few hundred Hz. The
damage due to mechanical shock can be loss of clamping
pressure, visible damage to core and winding, damage to
bushings and parts etc.
Vibrations are periodical oscillatory movements caused
by various causes. During transportation, generated
vibrations consist of frequency spectrum with individual
frequency with different amplitudes. Whenever the natural
frequency of transformer parts coincides with the induced
vibration frequency with larger amplitude, it creates the
resonance vibrations or co-vibrations which can damage
internal parts. The damage due to vibrations can be
looseness of insulation blocks, structure components or
minor cracks etc. Transformer mechanical condition
assessment and reliability check is generally based on
various longitudinal, transversal and vertical impact levels
of loads using impact recorders details. Here few cases are
considered for transformer damage during transport.
During transportation, the impact recorders and electrical
tests like leakage reactance, DGA and capacitance at stages
are also considered.

II. SFRA MEASUREMENTS

The main purpose of SFRA is to detect core and winding
displacements after over-currents caused by through faults,
tap-changer faults and faulty synchronization etc. Other
applications of SFRA include mechanical condition
assessment after transportation and the detection of any
other problems which result in changes to the inductance or
capacitance distribution in transformers which usually a
means to provide the reliable information of confirming
that the core and winding have not suffered mechanical
damage despite sustaining shocks and vibrations during
transportation. As part of factory acceptance procedures
and quality control, a number of electrical tests are to be
performed on the transformer and its sub-assemblies.
Mostly SFRA is performed in three stages, factory level,
and site after dispatch and at intermediate stage during
transportation.
For SFRA measurements, a sinusoidal voltage signal at
different frequencies is applied to one end of winding,
(with and without core), and output voltage is taken at the
other end with respect to a common ground terminal using
SFRA. The voltage ratio of measured to reference voltage
signal gives a magnitude response in decibels and phase
response in degree as a function of frequency. These
responses are used for comparison with different
displacement. The phase responses are not considered, as
they do not give additional information.

775

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2013)
Thus the variation in G level occurred due to mechanical
shocks or vibrations are considered as one of the condition
to check the internal damage. In case impact recorders
show marginal variations then SFRA detailed analysis is
carried out.

After transportation, as per routine procedure, SFRA

was conducted on transformer. SFRA responses showed
that the open circuit condition HV winding has significant
variation in low frequency range <2 kHz and the short
circuit response of the same winding with no variation. The
responses comparison clearly indicated the lower and mid
frequency variation. Also right shift of resonances are
observed which indicates the reduction of overall LC
component. This indicated the possibilities of problem with
core magnetic circuit or with core assembly. But the LV
winding short circuit responses showed significant
variation in mid frequency range around 40 kHz.

A. Case: Detection of insulation damage

SFRA measurements are carried out on 120 MVA, 132
kV/ 33 kV transformers at various stages at factory, during
dispatch and after receipt at site.
TABLE I
TRANSFORMER NAMEPLATE DETAILS

Configuration

Three Phase Transformer

KV

132 kV/ 33 kV

MVA

120
TABLE 2
IMPACT RECORDER DETAILS

R phase

Y phase

B phase

10

8.7

Fig. 2: SFRA Response of HV winding in open circuit condition after

transportation

Fig. 1: SFRA Response of HV winding in open circuit condition at

factory

Fig. 3: SFRA Response of HV winding in short circuit condition after

transportation

776

International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering

Website: www.ijetae.com (ISSN 2250-2459, ISO 9001:2008 Certified Journal, Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2013)
After suspecting the problem with SFRA responses,
electrical tests like excitation current and capacitance tests
were performed on site. As expected, excitation current
showed variation but was very small value. Capacitance
test results did not show any variation in results.
Considering the factors, high impact levels, slight variation
in capacitance measurement and SFRA deviation, internal
inspection was decided to carry out on site to check the
condition and severity of damage. Internal inspection was
carried out at site. The unit was opened up and complete
core coil assembly and clamping structures were
inspected. Internal inspection showed the slight move
along with two core supports were loosened and winding
insulation blocks were fallen outside of phase. Due to such
blocking, there was clear indication of looseness of
structure and bringing back the transformer to factory
became essential for further actions.

Future work includes the testing the SFRA sensitivity

towards detection of damage during transportation with
large number of cases and accuracy need to be established.
Following proper transportation procedures and conditions
along with SFRA test at various stages can be helpful to
improve the interpretation.
REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]

[6]

IV. CONCLUSION
Impact recorders are helpful (in above experience) to
locate the internal insulation and clamping structure
damage during transportation. Sometimes, these recorder
events may not reveal the actual picture of internal
condition of transformer with high impact and electrical
tests may not support in minor cases. Performing SFRA at
stages like factory level, during transportation, change of
mode of transport, after dispatch etc. has become essential
to confirm the SFRA sensitivity towards insulation and
clamping structure.

[7]

777

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