Combining dry type Resin Impregnated Fiberglass Paperless
Transformer Bushings
With Built-in Novel Insulation Monitoring Function
Z. Liu, T. Tu, E. Euvrard
RHM International
Brookline, MA – USA - info@rhmintl.com
Abstract— By comparing the existing types of transformer
bushings, this paper reviews distinctive features of RIF™ (Resin
Impregnated Fiberglass) paperless condenser bushings; and, in
more detail, it introduces principles, construction,
characteristics and applications of this type of bushing when
used with a new, safer and reliable built-in insulation
monitoring function. As the construction of RIF™ insulation
would delay the propagation of a core insulation breakdown
after the onset of an initial insulation defect, this type of real
time monitoring of core insulation condition provides a novel
tool to manage bushing defects without any sense of urgency. It
offers, for the first time, a very early field detection tool for
transformer bushing insulation faults and by way of
consequence, a much improved protection of power
transformers over their operating life.
Index Terms-- High Voltage Condenser Bushing, Insulation
Monitoring, RIF™, Transformer Bushing
I. INTRODUCTION
As a safe way for transformer’s power in and out, transformer
bushings are considered one of the key components of
transformers. Currently there are three major types of high-
voltage transformer bushings commonly used, i.e. condenser
oil-impregnated paper insulation transformer bushings (OIP
bushings), condenser resin-impregnated paper insulation
transformer bushings (RIP bushings) and condenser resin-
impregnated fiberglass insulation transformer bushings
(RIF™ bushings). Resin Impregnated Fiberglass bushings are
innovative products that have been operating in the field for
10 years from 15kV to 245kV according to IEC60137 and
IEEE 57.19 Standards requirements. Further, their distinctive
characteristics allow them to be customized along
specification or feature lines. In recent years, an evolution of
RIF™ bushings, N-RIF bushings, with built-in insulation
monitoring function, are able to conduct in real time, on-line
monitoring of their own insulation conditions.
978-1-4799-3656-4/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE
II. COMPARISON OF THREE TYPES OF BUSHINGS
Below is a short comparison of OIP, RIP and RIF™
bushings.
A. OIP Bushings
As a well-established (nearly centennial) product, OIP
bushings have the largest share among all installed condenser
graded transformer bushings. Their insulation body is
produced by winding alternate layers of insulation paper and
conducting layers impregnated with oil. Porcelain insulators
are usually fitted as outer insulation. The manufacturing of
this type of bushing, while representing the lowest cost of the
three types, requires a number of sealing procedures; therefore
the operation of those bushings demands specific regular
maintenance to assure constant oil tightness. Besides, if an
insulation fault initiates there is a risk of rapid and undetected
propagation to dramatic failure, sometimes ending in
explosion.
B. RIP Bushings
RIP bushings are more recent dry type paper based
transformer bushings. Their condenser cores are made by
winding insulating paper and conducting layers. They are
subsequently impregnated with epoxy resin before curing,
thus eliminating the need for insulating oil. Though more
complex and delicate to manufacture, this type of bushings
has shown good performance; but as their condenser bodies
have weaker mechanical strength, hollow porcelain insulators
or composite insulators must be used outside the bodies as
outer insulators. Therefore, another type of filling medium
has to be added between the hollow insulators and the
insulating bodies to ensure the insulating performance of the
interface, and some sealing procedures have to be included in
the design. Like OIP, reliability then may rest on sealing
robustness and the stable condition of insulating paper.
Insulating paper is sensitive to moisture, and even more so if
phenolic resin is used. As a result, the oil side of RIP
bushings (i.e. fitting inside the transformer) must be protected
during transportation and storage with a protective sleeve
filled with dry nitrogen.

C. RIF™ Bushings
RIF™ bushings, introduced in 2002, are in comparison
new dry-type transformer bushings. Their paperless
condenser bodies are wrapped with fiberglass-based
composite and conducting layers before curing. The outer
insulation is made of silicone rubber directly fitted to the
condenser structure’s core, without any gap between the two
components. This type of bushings has very high mechanical
characteristics, along with a simple construction, requiring a
very limited number of sealing procedures; hence field
operation has shown so far a distinctive robustness and
repeatable reliability while requiring only discretionary
maintenance from the end user. Simpler manufacturing
processes also shorten lead times while pricing remains
similar to RIP bushings. Figure 1 shows the construction of
RIF™ bushings.
Measurement
terminal
Coupler Draw lead Silicone
Fiberglass
condenser
cable rubber core
connector sheds
Figure 1: RIF™ Bushing Construction
III. DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF RIF™ BUSHINGS
A. A Solid Material System
The main insulating materials are an epoxy resin-fiberglass
composite system, which is significantly more resilient at
resisting moisture absorption than paper-based ones. During
transportation and storage, the oil side of the bushing doesn’t
need to be protected by nitrogen-filled sheaths. Further, since
epoxy resin and fiberglass are stable at higher temperature, the
bushings’ thermal class matches Class B (130C) levels.
Liquid-less insulation also means that sealing is not
needed, eliminating any concern about leakages.
B. High Mechanical Strength and Seismic Capability
The epoxy resin/fiberglass core composite system scores
very high in mechanical characteristics; for instance, the 252
kV bushing has passed cantilever load test with load of
5000N, although the required load by the IEC standard is
1600N.
In addition, as there is no porcelain used as outer
insulation, the bushings have higher seismic resistance
capabilities, while eliminating any hazardous deflagration.
C. High Pollution Capability with Uniform Electrical Field
As the industry has long been witnessing with many other
equipment, the use of silicone rubber as an outer insulation
confers superior pollution flashover resistance capability, due
to silicone rubber’s hydrophobic properties. But more
importantly, this generic characteristic is leveraged by RIF™
insulation’s uniform electrical field gradient, resulting from
the solid and very finely graded condenser core. The silicone
rubber sheds are directly fitted to the core’s surface leaving no
gap between the core and the rubber. This tight and relatively
thin layer of silicone rubber introduces a very limited
distortion of core’s surface gradients, conferring a comparable
voltage gradient along the surface of the bushing, that is to
say, uniform. As a side effect, it prevents premature aging of
the silicone rubber under high electrical field.
D. Maintenance is optional
RIF™ bushings are oil-free, lighter-weight, and their sheds
are less susceptible to shock damage, hence straightforward to
install. During operation, neither oil levels or internal stress
measurement, nor chromatographic analysis are needed;
detection of water ingress is not necessary either as for other
types of maintenance. This leaves the choice of maintenance
programs for those bushings to users as a company
discretionary monitoring option. And this introduces the
following feature.
E. Track Record and monitoring
From 2002 to 2013, over 10,000 units of 15 to 252 kV
RIF™ bushings have been operating safely in the grid. No
failure has been reported to date. They have delivered a
reliability that many users in the industry expect from a high
voltage dry type bushing. Still, efficient asset management of
power transformers demands a continuous access to
bushings’ condition throughout their life. This means,
continuous and accurate monitoring of core insulations.
.
IV. RIF™ BUSHINGS WITH INSULATION MONITORING
FUNCTIONS: N-RIF
A. Necessity of developing new monitoring approaches
Bushings are one of the leading causes of failures in
transformers. Users have long been expecting on-line
monitoring of transformer bushing’s insulation conditions.
The insulation condition can be assessed with sensitivity and
accuracy by reporting changes of capacitive current of the
condenser structure. If we can spot insulation faults early, as
they appear, and manage them in time, catastrophic failures
such as fire and explosions can be prevented. Therefore, safe
operation of the grid can be greatly improved when bushing
insulation monitoring can be conducted continuously and
reliably.
Currently there are two approaches to on-line monitoring
of the ground layer’s capacitive current of condenser
transformer bushings:
1) Earth Lead: The first one is through the earth lead
which is connected from the ground layer terminal, and a
micro window-type current transformer installed externally.
Since the capacitive current flowing through the ground layer
is small, the grounded lead needs to be wound a large number
of times around the CT, while connecting the CT’s secondary
to the insulation monitoring equipment. The current flowing
from the ground layer is usually of milliamp class, and after
transformation through the CT, that current degrades to
microamp levels. It just means that the current reaching the
monitoring equipment can easily be masked or distorted by
environmental interferences. Furthermore, connecting the lead
to the ground layer terminal may cause latent problems for
reliable grounding; if the lead is accidentally disconnected, the
ground layer of the bushing condenser core will discharge to
the ground, and this discharge is very likely to develop until a
breakdown of the condenser core happens with potential
serious consequences.
2) C2 Capacitance: Another method is to connect a low-
voltage capacitor C2 in series outside the bushing, forming a
voltage grader with C1. This way the capacitive current of the
ground layer can also be measured. Although the Signal to
Noise Ratio is increased, this method changes the direct and
reliable grounding of the bushing’s ground layer and may
cause display errors due to the added capacitor. More
importantly, the failure of the ground layer may lead to the
condenser core breakdown. And since the medium and
construction of the added capacitor and the condenser core are
different, capacitive current error will be introduced when
temperature and frequency change.
Listening to customers feedback, it was deemed necessary
to develop a special terminal for insulation monitoring of
RIF™ bushings, with the capability to monitor the insulation
condition accurately while avoiding the above-mentioned
limitations.
B. Feasibility of Developing N-RIF Bushings
An N-RIF bushing monitors insulation conditions by
means of capacitive current measurement. Still, generally
speaking, if a bushing capacitance is strongly affected by
temperature, measurement errors of capacitive currents will
occur as well, and the bushing’s insulation condition cannot be
precisely assessed. RIF™ bushing’s capacitance however, has
a weak sensitivity to temperature variation. From “deep-
freeze” cycle test results (cycling 20 times from ambient to -
50C) it was recorded that from -50 Υ to +20 Υ RIF™
bushing’s capacitance values remain within 3 pF; from the
high temperature thermal stability test we can see that, when
the bushing reaches thermal stability between 20Υ to 90Υ,
the capacitance variations are within 7 pF. It means RIF™
bushing’s capacitance, under large changes of temperature,
varies within a short range, and progressively.
Also, the exercise would be pointless if one observed a
rapid propagation from initial bushing insulation fault to full
breakdown, as it would not allow any time to plan for
scheduled corrective actions when fault signals are first
detected. When insulation margin tests of RIF™ bushings of
different voltage class were performed, an interesting
phenomenon was uncovered: every time breakdown happens,
it always happens to one or two capacitive layers only. If the
applied voltage is maintained, the further developing faults are
still limited to capacitive layers one or two. A large number of
tests demonstrate that RIF™ bushing breakdown happens
layer by layer, i.e., the breakdown process is very gradual;
practically it says there is sufficient time from early insulation
defect detection to scheduled repair without interrupting
normal transformer operation.
Therefore, it was worthwhile to develop versions of RIF™
bushings featuring reliable insulation monitoring functions to
leverage this “lead time” to breakdown.
C. Principles and Construction of N-RIF Bushings
The core technology of the on-line insulation monitoring
device is the design and fabrication of voltage-grading
capacitors (capacitive layers) in the bushings.
Principle of N-RIF bushings is shown in Figure 2:
+9
&
D
&
E
Earth
ൠ
Figure 2: N-RIF Bushing Principle
HV is the high-voltage terminal that is connected to the
grid, C1 is the capacitance of the bushing’s main insulation
and C2 the capacitance of the added grading layer; C2 has a
much larger value than C1. Parts a and b are monitoring
terminals connected to the two layers of C2, and to intelligent
equipment that conduct insulation monitoring. After the
grading layer terminals of the bushings are connected, the
ground layer lead can still be grounded reliably; users can
conveniently conduct on-line monitoring of insulation
condition using appropriate equipment.
When the bushing’s condenser core is produced, capacitors
C1 and C2 are created simultaneously as part of the core
structure; the C2 layer and earth lead for C2 are wound in the
continuity of main insulation C1. Capacitors C1 and C2 are
connected in series to withstand the voltage applied to the
bushing. As capacitance C2 is much larger than C1, the
externally connected monitoring equipment will under no
circumstances affect the bushing’s main insulation, even in
case of short-circuit and open-circuit. At the same time,
determination of C2 takes into account the impedance of the
external monitoring equipment so as to ensure that almost all
of the capacitive current passing through C1 also reaches the
monitoring equipment.
Thus, in the case of a core insulation fault (with
breakdown happening to the first layers), the C1 capacitance
increases, the capacitive current increases, and the monitoring
equipment detects the increased capacitive current to trigger
an early warning.
The built-in construction of N-RIF bushings and that of
RIF™ bushings are the same, with the difference being that
the measurement terminal is changed into a monitoring
terminal. Figure 4 Insulation Monitor LED Light on
Figure 3 shows the case in which the monitoring terminal
is externally connected to an indicator light. No external
power source is needed for the indicator. The light remains off
when the bushing is in normal operation and will come off
only when a breakdown happens to a predetermined number
of capacitive layers (see Figure 4). The maintenance crew can
then conduct testing and investigate the cause without a sense
of urgency

Indicator light
yy
Bell cover
Figure 5: N-RIF Bushing (front) and RIF™ Bushing

Nut

Terminal

Outer nut
Equipotential
plate

Figure 3: Construction of Monitoring Terminal with

Indicator Light

Figure 5 shows a comparison of the bushings with and

without monitoring terminals (The forefront bushing is
showing the monitoring terminal; the others on the picture are Figure 6: Pluggable Base for Indicator Light
RIF™ with taps). As can be seen the monitoring system is
But some users may prefer to get the signal collected by a
well integrated into the bushing and very compact. The
central-monitoring equipment; in this case a special connector
connection interface is simple with a pluggable indicator
can be fitted in place of the light indicator (shown in Figure 7).
located on the flange (Figure 6).

Bell cover
X terminal
Y terminal
Terminal
module
Nut
Equipotential
plate
E terminal
Figure 7: Construction of Monitoring Terminal with
Special Connector
D. Characteristics of N-RIF Bushings
1) High Safety and accuracy:
Generally, when operating condenser insulated based
products the ground layer lead must be reliably grounded or
serious accidents may occur - no intervention is allowed on
the ground layer lead of condenser insulation products.
But N-RIF bushings’ insulation monitoring device collects a
signal from an additional grading layer of the bushing’s
core, which doesn’t need to use the ground layer lead. The
material and workmanship of the additional layers are
identical to that of the main insulation, so reliability and
safety remain unchanged.
The insulation monitoring device is connected in parallel
with the additional layer. The layer also has a much larger
capacitance than the main capacitance of the bushing. This
means then that the voltage across that additional layer is
very low during operation. So the bushing’s safe operation
will not be affected even if open-circuit, short-circuit fault
or more serious damage happens to the insulation
monitoring system.
2) Greatly Improved Interference Resistance:
Conventional ways use current transformers and sensors to
receive signals from ground layer lead, and the capacitive
current is usually of milliamp class. Since the current is
weak, the signal received by window-type current
transformers can be degraded to microampere levels and
can easily suffer from interferences. Monitoring devices on
N-RIF bushings, however, have very good anti-interference
capability as they receive milliamp class capacitive current
directly from the additional layer.
3) Easy Connection with Insulation Monitoring Systems:
As N-RIF bushings can use the insulation monitoring
terminal as the output interface, users can simply connect
the on-line bushing monitoring system to their IT platform
to get direct true real-time condition tracking, from any
point on their network.
4) Experience
Since N-RIF bushings have been in use starting in 2011, 20
transformer manufacturers have been using them. Currently
there are 200 products ranging from 72.5 to 252kV are in
operation in demanding environment without any issues
being reported.
E. Application prospects of N-RIF Bushings
In view of this 10-year track record for RIF™ bushings,
with over 10,000 products installed at such high voltages, it
is foreseeable that N-RIF bushings will progressively
inspire users and suppliers to consider new approaches to
safe operation of transformer bushings. Although they are
mostly installed on transformers at present, they can also be
fitted on other power equipment such as circuit breakers and
gas insulated switchgears (GIS). The technology is bound to
develop then into further applications, with variations
around the core technology for smart grid applications.
IV. CONCLUSION
Dry-type RIF™ resin impregnated fiberglass condenser
bushings have distinctive advantages over conventional OIP
and RIP bushings, and their mature track record over 10
years and 10,000 units show a solid reliability. To further
leverage this reliability, N-RIF bushings have been
developed to provide a new, safe and reliable on-line
insulation monitoring of its core structure. It provides high
performance condenser insulation with full continuous
visibility of its condition. As breakdown of RIF™ insulation
would not happen instantaneously after the onset of an
initial condenser grading fault, it provides ample time to
deal with any fault detection on a scheduled basis. This
makes installation and operation of bushings easier, and
most importantly protects the critical investment that is a
power transformer by providing a robust tool to avoid
bushing generated transformer failures.