Transformer and its insulating oil

Transformer-
transformer is is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit
to another through inductively coupled conductorsthe transformer's coils.

"the heart of the alternating current system" William Stanley Jr. In 1885
 Transformer history
Induction was discovered in the 1830's but it wasn't until 1886
that William Stanley, working for Westinghouse built the first reliable
commercial transformer.
His work was built upon some rudimentary designs by the Ganz Company
in Hungary (ZBD Transformer 1878), and Lucien Gaulard and John Dixon
Gibbs in England.
Nikola Tesla did not invent the transformer as some dubious sources have
claimed.
The Europeans mentioned above did the first work in the field. George
Westinghouse, Albert Schmid, Oliver Shallenberger and Stanley made the
transformer cheap to produce, and easy to adjust for final use.

transformer development timeline

 1830-Joseph Henry and Michael Faraday work with electromagnets and
discover the property of induction independently on separate continents.
1836-Rev. Nicholas Callan of Maynooth College, Ireland invents the
induction coil
1876-Pavel Yablochkov uses induction coils in his lighting system
1878-1883-The Ganz Company (Budapest, Hungary) uses induction coils in
their lighting systems with AC incandescent systems. This is the first
appearance and use of the toroidal shaped transformer.
1881- Charles F. Brush of the Brush Electric Company in Cleveland, Ohio
develops his own design of transformer
1885-George Westinghouse orders a Siemens alternator (AC generator)
and a Gaulard and Gibbs transformer. Stanley begin experimenting with
this system.

 application
Grid Connected Photovoltaic Inverters
Planar electromagnetic current sensor
Multi-frequency power routing for cascaded H-bridge inverters
Phase-shifting transformer application to power-flow adjustment
for large-scale PV penetration
normal magnetization curve determination
A new prospective of smart transformer application: Dual
microgrid (DMG) operation
Solid state transformer application in wind based DG system
Accurate equivalent circuit modeling of a medium-voltage and high-
frequency coaxial winding DC-link transformer for solid state
transformer applications
 Principal

depends upon Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction. mutual

induction between two or more winding is responsible for transformation
action in an electrical transformer.
Faraday's laws, "Rate of change of flux linkage with respect to time is
directly proportional to the induced EMF in a conductor or coil.
 Types with rating
Transformers are rated in volt-amperes (VA) or kilovolt-amperes (kVA). This means that the primary and the
secondary winding are designed to withstand the VA or kVA rating stamped on the transformer nameplate
Transformers are of the dry type or oil filled. From 2% to 5% of the electrical energy is lost in a transformer, mostly
due to the resistance of the windings. Large transformers circulate oil through the windings to remove the heat.
Dry transformers use air for cooling. Heat is moved from the windings to the case by conduction in smaller sizes of
the dry type. Large dry-type transformers actually allow air to circulate through the windings. Oil-filled
transformers are used by the electric utility, and for industrial or large commercial applications.
Step up and Step down Transformer
Power Transformer
The power transformers are used in the transmission networks of higher voltages. The ratings of the power
transformer are as follows 400 KV, 200 KV, 110 KV, 66 KV, 33 KV. They are mainly rated above 200 MVA. Mainly
installed at the generating stations and transmission substations. They are designed for maximum efficiency of
100%. They are larger in size as compared to distribution transformer.
Distribution Transformer
lower ratings like 11 KV, 6.6 KV, 3.3 KV, 440 V and 230 V. They are rated less than 200 MVA and used in the
distribution network to provide voltage transformation in the power system by stepping down the voltage level
where the electrical energy is distributed and utilized at the consumer end.
Instrument Transformer
Current Transformer (CT)
Potential Transformer (PT)
 Insulation in various kind of
transformer
transformers performance depends heavily on its insulation system; therefore the insulation is perhaps the most critical transformer part.
transformer consists of: (i) the main insulation, typically utilizing mineral oil which is also acting as the cooling medium, and pressboard barriers
(ii) the winding insulation: section to section, turn-to-turn.
Materials commonly used in insulation systems are: (i) insulating fluid: mineral oil, synthetic, or vegetable oil (natural esters), (ii) conductor insulation:
paper (kraft, enamel), (iii) solid insulation, i.e. barriers, blocks, spacers, made of pressboard, transformer wood (densified wood), or wood (typically it is
maple or beech wood).
durability and stability of the transformer depends upon the proper utilization of insulating materials in it. In transformers mainly three insulating
materials are used.
Transformer oil
Insulating paper
Press board
the major insulating material used is transformer oil.
Transformer oil--

transformer oil is the major insulating material used in transformer. It is one of the important factors that determine the life and satisfactory
operation of the transformer.

The transformer performs the following two functions.

1. It provides insulation in combination with the insulating materials used in the conductors and coils.

2. It also acts as a coolant to extract heat from the core and the windings.
 Transformer makes use of hydrocarbon mineral oil. It mainly consists of four generic classes of organic compounds. They are aromatics, paraffins,
napthenes and olefines. Transformer oil will provide better insulation when aromatics, paraffins, napthenes and olefines are present in it at a right
proportion. Transformer oil is desired to have more of saturated paraffins and less of aromatics, napthenes and olefines for better insulation. For
more stability, more aromatics and napthenes are necessary. To get transformer oil at insulating property and stability, there must be an optimum
mix of four organic components. This can be obtained by careful refining of crude oil. Vegetable and animal oils cannot be used in transformers
because they form fatty acids and attack the fibrous insulating materials.

The transformer is affected by its operating conditions. The presence of moisture or suspended particles in transformer oil affects its dielectric
property. Hence transformer oil it should be tested periodically. If the oil is containing moisture or suspended particles it should be filtered or
replaced by fresh oil.
Insulating paper
insulating paper is made from the vegetable fibers. These fibers mainly consist of cellulose. The main properties of these papers are listed below:
Grammagegrammage is the ratio of mass to the area. It influences most of the electrical and mechanical properties.
Air permeability-
Permeability is the rate at which the air can pass through it. The dielectric strength of paper is inversely proportional to the air permeability.
Press board
Press board is also made up of vegetable fibers and contains cellulose. Solid press board unto 6 mm to 8mm thick is ordinarily made.
Since the most difficult insulation problem in HT transformer occur at the ends of the windings and lead outs from the windings hence
moulded pressboards are widely used in these parts for insulation. Synthetic resin bonded paper based laminates are used in voltage
stressed zones. The important parameters considered are density, tensile strength, elongation, conductivity, oil absorption, moisture
content, compressibility etc.
types of insulating material
solid
 Types of insulating material

Solid
Clay (ceramic)(porcelain) - This is the standard material for high voltage and RF insulators.
Plastics - PVC, Cresyl Pthalate, DEHP and other plastics replaced rubber as an insulator for wires and other parts.
PVC and nylon are now standard in most types of wire.
Glass (silica, soda ash and limestone) - This material worked fine for telegraph and other low voltage apparatus. It
is still used today to some degree.
Paper/Cardboard - paper and cardboard are used as insulators in certain circumstances as these materials are
cheap and can work in situations without high heat or high voltages.
Mica - This is a good stable material even when exposed to the elements.
Teflon (PTFE) - (polytetrafluoroethylene) - Slippery, durable and resistant to corrosion this Dupont made material
is used in cable jackets. Other forms besides PTFE include FEP and ETFE.
Rubber - Rubber in its natural and synthetic forms was used as an insulator from before the 1870s until the 1950s.
Plastics (especially PVC) replaced rubber.
Wax and oil - in the 1880s Edison used trinidad asphaltum with linseed oil, beeswax and paraffin to insulate
copper wires mounted inside of iron pipes. This was used for durable underground power lines.
Liquids ---
Insulating Oil (Transformer Oil) - This petroleum product is used as an electrical insulator and thermal conductor. It
conducts heat away from hot transformer coils. Some capacitors also use insulator oil.

 vegetable oils originated from the need to

replace mineral oil (MO) used in transformers
with an environmentally friendly insulating
liquid providing better biodegradability, lower
toxicity and higher fire resistance than MO.
 Types of insulating oil used in power
and distribution transformer
vegetable oil insulation in power transformers with voltages of up to 123 kV.
Types of Transformer Oil---
Paraffin based transformer oil
Naphtha based transformer oil
Naphtha oil is more easily oxidized than Paraffin oil. But oxidation product i.e. sludge in the naphtha oil is more soluble
than Paraffin oil. Thus sludge of naphtha based oil is not precipitated in bottom of the transformer. Hence it does not
obstruct convection circulation of the oil, means it does not disturb the transformer cooling system. But in the case of
Paraffin oil although oxidation rate is lower than that of Naphtha oil but the oxidation product or sludge is insoluble
and precipitated at bottom of the tank and obstruct the transformer cooling system. Although Paraffin based oil has
above mentioned disadvantage but still in our country it is generally used because of its easy availability. Another
problem with paraffin based oil is its high pour point due to the wax content, but this does not effect its use due to
warm climate condition of India.
Properties of Transformer Insulating Oil
Electrical parameters : Dielectric strength, specific resistance, dielectric dissipation factor.
Chemical parameter :- Water content, acidity, sludge content.
Physical parameters :- Inter facial tension, viscosity, flash point, pour point.
 Dielectric Dissipation Factor of Tan Delta of Transformer
Oil---
When a insulating materials is placed between live part and
grounded part of an electrical equipment,
leakage current will flow. As insulating material is dielectric
in nature the current through the insulation ideally leads
the voltage by 90o. Here voltage means the instantaneous
voltage between live part and ground of the equipment.
But in reality no insulating materials are perfect dielectric in
nature. Hence current through the insulator will lead the
voltage with an angle little bit shorter than 90o. Tangent of
the angle by which it is short of 90o is called dielectric
dissipation factor or simply tan delta of transformer oil.
 New age transformer oil
(vegetabvle oil,mineral oil,nanofluid)
Transformer-oil-based nanofiuids incorporating Fe3O4 conducting
nanoparticles have considerably greater dielectric strengths than the base
oil . However,Fe3O4 nanoparticle agglomeration in the presence of an
external magnetic field causes problems . Researchers have therefore
investigated semiconducting and insulating nanoparticles in an attempt to
avoid aggregation.
Loss factor values are higher in the case of vegetable than that of mineral
oil, but this doesn't constitute an obstacle in use of the vegetable oils in
transformers' insulation systems .
Pongamia oil natural esters extracted from the seeds of Pongamia Pinnata
tree and its derivatives are investigated in this study to assess their
suitability for use in high voltage transformers as an insulator and coolant,
so as to replace the presently used mineral oil.
Pongamia oil and its derivatives show that they can be an environmentally
friendly and economically viable replacement for mineral oil used in high
voltage transformers.