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I
n June 2005, ASTM International adopted a new test method for test-
ing transformer oil. The aim of the test is to determine the gassing
pattern of an oil subjected to thermal stress under what is considered by Lance R. Lewand
to be low temperatures, i.e. 120C. The method is entitled ASTM D 7150, Doble Engineering
Company
Standard Test Method for the Determination of Gassing Characteristics
of Insulating Liquids Under Thermal Stress at Low Temperature.
Interest in the development of this test resulted from research that and
Doble performed in the early 1990s and more recently the research that
the CIGRE Task Force TF 15/12-01-11 (TF11) performed in trying to
discern the differences in gassing behavior of some transformer oils at
low temperatures. CIGRE has termed the unusual gassing behavior as Paul Griffin
stray gassing. Doble Engineering
The CIGRE research was mainly looking at the gassing behavior of new Company
oils in which transformers were exhibiting increasing hydrogen levels, yet
no apparent cause for the abnormal gassing could be determined. As a
result, the research centered on the oil and found that some oils produced
more gas (in this case hydrogen) than others when they were aged under
thermal conditions in both sealed transformers (gas blanketed, sealed or The reason that this information
bladder/diaphragm transformers) and free breathing transformers (open is so important is that it can signifi-
conservators). Doble had also observed a similar pattern and as a result cantly affect the results of the dis-
conducted a massive research study into the phenomenon that has lasted solved gas-in-oil (DGA) test. DGA
over three years and still goes on today. What was also determined was is one of the most widely used
the fact that not only could the refining process be partially responsible diagnostic tools for assessing the
for the abnormal production of dissolved gases, but different types of condition of electrical transform-
contamination in the oil, incompatible materials in the transformer, and ers and in more recent years load
the addition of additives such as metal passivators could also cause ab- tap-changers and bulk oil circuit
normal gassing to occur.
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