REGENERATION OF CELLULOSE INSULATION OF WINDINGS

OF LONG-LIFE POWER TRANSFORMERS

V. B. Komarov,
1
M. Yu. Lvov,
1
Yu. N. Lvov,
1
B. G. Ershov,
1
V. N. Bondareva,
1
A. V. Rubtsov,
1
and A. F. Seliverstov
1
Translated from lektricheskie Stantsii, No. 6, June 2004, pp. 63 67.
Main aspects of the physicochemical condition of cellulose insulation of windings of power transformers with
a long-term service life are analyzed with the aim of determining criteria on the possibility of prolonging the
life of the insulation by washing with surface-active substances.
Keywords: transformer, cellulose insulation, regeneration.
Publications devoted to repair of power transformers
mention individual cases of washing their cellulose insula-
tion with organic compounds for extending the service life
[1 3]. However, data on the washing process are quite
scarce and contradictory. The mechanism of physicochemi-
cal transformations in the process is not described, and the
question of the degree of degradation of the insulation at
which the washing is expedient and gives positive result or is
useless remains open.
The present paper is devoted to an analysis of the physi-
cochemical condition of the insulation of windings of power
transformers after long-term operation, which is aimed at de-
termining criteria on the possibility of extending the insula-
tion service life by washing it with the use of surface-active
substances or on the uselessness of this operation.
It is known that washing of long-serving insulation with
transformer oil commonly improves the insulating character-
istics. The positive effect of this operation is connected with
the removal of slime from the clearances and a decrease in
the moisture content of the insulation. Some Russian organi-
zations performing such works have turned to the use of or-
ganic liquids with a high dissolving power and water absorb-
ing capacity, which also contain various washing additives
including those based on esters of organic acids, like penta-
erythritol [2].
Washing from slime and low-molecular fractions of
polysaccharides is a widely used operation in the production
and utilization of cellulose. In the production of cellulose and
its esters this operation usually narrows the molecular and
mass distribution of the polymer due to the removal of its
low-molecular fractions and, as a consequence, raises some-
what the degree of polymerization and the strength [4 6]. It
seems that these processes occur to a certain degree in wash-
ing of solid cellulose insulation by organic compounds.
However, the use of surface-active substances (SAS) in
organic washing compounds can have more consequences
than removal of slime from insulation clearances of a trans-
former. The oxidized groups, 60 80% of which are con-
tained in the low-molecular fraction of the degraded cellu-
lose material, produce a solubilizing action due to interaction
with polar molecules of the solvent. This causes solvation
and removal of a considerable part of short-chain oxidized
cellulose molecules during its washing, which may be ac-
companied by a certain increase in the degree of polymeriza-
tion of the paper insulation and by changes in the permolecu-
lar structure connected with recrystallization [7, 8].
There is no doubt that such phenomena can be treated as
positive ones at a high enough degree of polymerization of
the cellulose insulation (500 600 units of anhydroglucopy-
ran monomer fragments). However, at polymerization de-
grees close to ultimate wear (350 units and lower) the use of
SAS in washing can cause failure of the insulation material
due to its solvation and formation of aggregates of oxidized
macromolecules of cellulose with molecules of the active
part of the washing solution. Such interactions between the
solvent and the material cause removal of the oxidized part
of the latter into the solution. A reverse process, i.e., inclu-
sion (sorption) of a part of the active components of the
washing solution into the cellulose insulation [7], also takes
place. The new chemically active components may intensify
degradation of the washed insulation in further operation.
Some foreign companies show interest in processes of
washing of transformer insulation and use special regenera-
tion oils for the purpose. It should be specially noted that
power transformers of foreign producers are usually not
Power Technology and Engineering Vol. 38, No. 3, 2004
178
1570-145X/04/3803-0178 2004 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.
1
Institute for Physical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
RAO ES Rossii (United Power Systems of Russia) Co., Electric
Power Research Institute, Irkutsknergo Co., Russia.
equipped with a system of thermosiphon filters. For this rea-
son the condition of the outside layers of the insulation of
such transformers, which are washed with oil in long-term
operation, is sometimes worse than that of internal layers,
which contact the copper current-carrying parts [1]. The lat-
ter fact is undoubtedly connected with the considerable effect
of the oxidized and acid products of aging of the cellulose in-
sulation and of oil on the total degradation of the insulation
[9]. In this connection, foreign specialists often resort to peri-
odic cleaning of transformer oil from acid and oxidized prod-
ucts of aging of the paper-oil insulation and use special re-
generation oils for cleaning the insulation from the aging
products that accelerate the formation of slime and dehydra-
tion of the insulation of the windings [1, 10, 11]. In fact,
these operations are an alternative to the process of washing
of paper-oil insulation with the use of organic washing
compounds.
In domestic long-life power transformers equipped with
a system of permanently functioning thermosiphon filters the
picture of degradation of external and internal winding layers
is somewhat different. Table 1 presents data on the degree of
polymerization of external and internal (contacting copper)
layers of insulation of upper coils of windings of power
transformers of various types and with various service lives
and degrees of wear of the insulation. It can be seen from the
data of Table 1 that the degree of polymerization of the exter-
nal layers of the coil insulation is higher than that of the in-
ternal layers.
It is known that the kinetics of degradation of the exter-
nal layer of insulation of domestic transformers is describ-
able by a first-order equation [10]. The existence of such a
kinetic dependence in addition to the presented data on deg-
radation of external and internal layers of winding insulation
indicates that the dynamics of the degradation depends pri-
marily on the loading mode of the transformer, which deter-
mines the operating temperature of the insulation.
The concentration of acid and oxidized products of aging
of paper-oil insulation and of colloidal products of corrosion
of the structural materials in transformer oil, which catalyti-
cally accelerate the destruction of the insulation, its dehydra-
tion, and slime deposition, is determined by the condition of
the transformer oil and, obviously, by the presence and effi-
ciency of operation of thermosiphon filters. The latter fact is
confirmed by the data of Table 2, where we give examples of
dynamic of variation of the acidity index of oil in power
transformers equipped with thermosiphon filters.
It follows from Table 2 that the order of the acidity in-
dex, which determines the concentration of acid and some
oxidized products in the oil, is quite stable and ranges within
10 2 mg KOH/g. Upon planned replacement of silica gel
the acidity index drops, i.e., the concentration of acid and ox-
idized products of degradation of paper-oil insulation in the
oil that washes the windings during regular operation of
thermosiphon filters and planned replacement of silica gel in
them, is quite low. Note that in the given case it is the con-
centration that plays the determining role in the kinetics of
the process of slime formation in the degradation of cellulose
insulation. In scheduled operation of transformers equipped
with a system of thermosiphon filters the acidity index of the
oil, which characterizes the general concentration of prod-
ucts of degradation of the insulation that accelerate slime for-
mation, remains stably low until the exhaustion of the service
life of the solid cellulose insulation.
In foreign long-life transformers not equipped with ther-
mosiphon filters the equivalent order of the acidity index and
its adequate lowering are ensured by periodic regeneration of
the oil with the help of sorbents that absorb polar molecules
from the oil [10, 11], which produces an effect analogous to
the operation of thermosiphon filters and is an alternative to
the washing process.
Thus, at optimum operation of thermosiphon filters that
maintain a low enough concentration of catalysts of dehydra-
tion and slime formation in transformer oil, the procedure of
washing of solid cellulose insulation from the aging products
is redundant in principle until full exhaustion of the service
life of the cellulose.
Some publications (for example, in [1, 2]) contain data
on recovery of the mechanical properties of the insulation
of long-life transformers, including cases of fully exhausted
Regeneration of Cellulose Insulation of Windings of Long-Life Power Transformers 179
TABLE 1
Transformer Service period, years
Medium-viscosity degree of polymerization of turn insulation, P
v
external layers internal layers
TDTs 400000/500, prod. No. 89677 19 368 237
TRDTsN 80000/110, prod. No. 1026479 26 244 140
AOTsG 138000/220, prod. No. 683254 16 1046 741
TABLE 2
Transformer Data of analysis
Oil acidity index,
mg KOH/g
TDNGU 63000/110,
prod. No. 871684
4/18/1996 0.021
3/6/1997 0.032
8/5/1998 0.037
8/7/1999 0.043
TRDTsN 80000/110,
prod No. 1026479
5/30/1996 0.014
3/20/1998 0.015
7/15/1998 0.012
4/19/1999 0.006*
* After replacement of silica gel.
life of the insulation, after repair consisting of washing the
insulation with organic compositions. This operation was re-
ported to increase the degree of polymerization, which is ac-
companied by growth in the crystallinity index of the cellu-
lose insulation by 10 20%. In this connection we should
note the following. As a rule, the insulation with exhausted
the service life is dehydrated and oxidized [9, 13]. Therefore,
the observed increase in the degree of its polymerization due
to washing with surface-active substances should be con-
nected with solvation and removal of a part of the oxidized
low-molecular fraction of the cellulose insulation together
with slime by the washing liquid, i.e., in the process of wash-
ing of insulation with high or almost maximum wear a part
of the material of the insulation deteriorates and is removed.
This is the reason behind the apparent growth in the degree
of polymerization and increase in the crystallinity index. The
latter circumstance leads to increased brittleness of the dehy-
drated material at low degrees of polymerization [13].
It is shown in [14] that when the paper insulation of a
transformer winding exhibits maximum permissible wear pa-
rameters, i.e., when the degree of polymerization of the insu-
lation falls to 250 units, the risk of damage of the transformer
due to the appearance of turn-to-turn faults resulting from the
decrease in mechanical strength of the paper and local in-
crease in the moisture content due to the development of de-
hydration of the cellulose insulation increases. An analysis of
the damage of power transformers with a capacity of at least
63 MV A and a voltage of 110 500 kV after 25 years of
operation has shown that about 45% of damage cases (with-
out allowance for defects in high-voltage leads and on-load
tap-changing devices) accompanied by internal faults are
connected with turn-to-turn faults due to considerable wear
of the insulation.
In is obvious that one of the main strength characteristics
of the cellulose insulation of windings is fracture determined
by the number of double kinks of the insulation paper [15].
We studied the interrelation between the degree of poly-
merization and the number of double kinks upon -irradia-
tion of electroinsulation paper K-120 (with initial degree of
polymerization P
0
= 860 units) at 60C in a medium of trans-
former oil of grade GK at 90C. At a polymerization range of
from 450 to 85 units, the upper boundary of which is men-
tioned in some works ([16], in particular) as the beginning of
the risk zone and the lower boundary is strictly lower than
the figure corresponding to ultimate wear of the insulation,
the dependence of the number of kinks n on the degree of
medium-viscosity polymerization P
v
with correlation coeffi-
cient exceeding 0.99 is described by the equation
ln n = (5.1 0.4) + (0.047 0.002)P
v
, (1)
i.e., is represented by a straight line.
Upon an experimentally determined decrease in the de-
gree of polymerization of the paper from 890 to 280 units,
i.e., to a value close to full exhaustion of the service life of
the insulation, the number of double kinks decreases from
about 12,000, which corresponds to the standard fracture
characteristic of the initial electroinsulation paper, to 3,300,
i.e., by about a factor of 4. This fully coincides with the inter-
dependences between the strength and the degree of poly-
merization of paper-oil insulation of power transformers
known from operational experience [9, 17]. For the external
insulation layers to correspond to the rated degree of poly-
merization (according to [18], it corresponds to ultimate
wear of 250 units) the insulation of the internal layers should
withstand, according to Eq. (1), at least four double kinks.
With further decrease the probability of damage of the insu-
lation increases.
Since the running value of the degree of polymeriza-
tion of insulation at service primarily depends on the loading
mode of the transformer, the difference in the degrees of de-
struction of external and internal layers of a winding at the
same level of plasticization of the insulation paper by oil will
be determined by the amount of heat received by them dur-
ing the service. Under the conditions of scheduled trans-
former load the fluence of the heat flow from internal layers
of the insulation to external layers is quite constant, because
it depends primarily on the heat capacity and thermal con-
ductivity of the paper-oil composition, which do not change
substantially in the operating period. Under these conditions
and at the same order of concentration of acid and oxidized
products of hydrocarbon oil compositions, which is deter-
mined by the operating mode of thermosiphon filters, and
with allowance for the monotonic nature of the destructive
process for internal and external turns of the degrading insu-
lation, we can write the following identity:
a
a
1
2
0 1
2
1
0 2
= - - ( ) ( ), P P
P
P
P P
v v
v
v
v v
(2)
where
1
and
2
are the degrees of degradation of internal
and external layers of the turn insulation and P
v
0
, P
v
1
, and P
v
2
are the degrees of polymerization of the initial insulation and
its internal and external layers, respectively.
For high degrees of degradation of the insulation at ulti-
mate or close-to-ultimate wear (P
v
0
@P
v
1
; P
v
0
@P
v
2
) we
can assume that

1
/
2
P
v
2
/P
v
1
. (3)
For the studied power transformers (Table 1) the values
of the P
v
2
/P
v
1
ratio are rather close and amount to 1.55 and
1.74, respectively. This shows that at low running values
of P
v
proportion (3) is obeyed well enough, and its value
ranges within 1.60 0.05. This conclusion allows us to de-
termine the boundary of the risk zone for external layers of
upper coils of a winding proceeding from the condition that
P
v
1
= 250 units. We will obtain P
v
2
= 400 15 units. This re-
sult agrees well with data of other researchers.
180 V. B. Komarov et al.
It is obvious that the regeneration of the insulation of
power transformers by washing it with organic compounds at
a degree of polymerization below the boundary of the risk
zone is fraught with the possibility of failure both in the
washing process due to solvation and removal of a part of the
material and in further operation. The positive effect of re-
generation of the insulation of a winding due to washing with
an organic compound, which is connected with the removal
of slime from clearances and the decrease in the moisture
content, can be attained without the risk of deterioration of
the material in the washing process and subsequent
long-term operation of the insulation at a degree of polymer-
ization exceeding 450 units, as we have shown above. Taking
the decision on the expediency of washing we should pro-
ceed from the medium-viscosity degree of polymerization of
the insulation of the upper coils of the winding, which is
measured with the help of a cadmium-ethylenediamine com-
plex (Cadoxen) [19].
CONCLUSIONS
1. We have analyzed the mechanisms of physicochemi-
cal processes occurring in cellulose insulation of windings of
power transformers during regeneration with the use of or-
ganic washing compounds.
2. In the operation of power transformers with sched-
uled functioning of thermosiphon filters the degree of poly-
merization of external layers of the cellulose insulation of the
windings is higher than that of internal layers contacting cop-
per due to the permanently low concentration of catalysts of
slime formation and dehydration.
3. Regeneration of the paper insulation of the windings
of power transformers with the use of surface-active sub-
stances at degrees of polymerization of the insulation close
to the limiting value is inexpedient because of the possibility
of fracture and removal of some of the material and increase
in its brittleness during the regeneration process and the risk
of mechanical damage in further service.
4. Washing of the insulation with the use of surface-ac-
tive substances can be expedient at degrees of polymeriza-
tion of the external layers of the upper coils of a winding ex-
ceeding or equal to 500 units, if the insulation is slimed. The
criterion for taking a decision on the possibility and expedi-
ency of regeneration of the insulation of a winding with the
use of surface-active substances is the degree of polymeriza-
tion of the external layer of the turn insulation of the winding
taken from the upper coils and measured with the use of a
cadmium-ethylenediamine complex (Cadoxen).
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Regeneration of Cellulose Insulation of Windings of Long-Life Power Transformers 181