CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
Paper 0134
EXPERIMENTAL MODEL FOR DIAGNOSING ON-LOAD TAP CHANGER CONTACT
AGING WITH DYNAMIC RESISTANCE MEASUREMENTS
Jur ERBRINK Edward GULSKI
Seitz Instruments AG Delft University of Technology
Switzerland The Netherlands
je@seitz-instruments.ch e.gulski@ewi.tudelft.nl
ABSTRACT
It is known that many failures of power transformers are
related to aging effects of the on-load tap changer.
Especially the OLTC contacts are prone to several aging
mechanisms. To understand the aging mechanisms and to
develop knowledge rules to interpret different failure
mechanisms a test model has been developed. The effect of
the several aging stages of tap changer change-over
selector contacts on dynamic resistance measurements
(DRM) has been considered, by several experiments with
aged tap changer contacts. These aging phases include
clean contacts, contacts with an oil film layer and contacts
with coking. Based on these experiments it is shown that the
DRM method is very sensitive to aged change-over selector
contacts of an on-load tap changer.
In addition to laboratory experiments, the same
measurements are performed on naturally aged change-
over selector contacts at a Dutch utility. This change-over
selector was accessible so the physical status of the tap
changer contacts can be compared with the measurement
results.
INTRODUCTION
The most important cause of power transformer failures in
the Netherlands is the tap changer, a transformer component
used for voltage regulation. On-load tap changers are
responsible for at least 50% of power transformer failures in
the Netherlands [1,2]. By keeping the tap changer in good
condition, by means of adequate maintenance, the
transformer failure rate can be reduced. Tap changer
diagnostics are important to determine when and which
maintenance is necessary on the tap changer. Nowadays
several on-line and off-line diagnostics are in use. This
paper focuses on off-line diagnostic measurements on tap
changers using dynamic resistance measurement (DRM).
FAILURES OF ON-LOAD TAP CHANGERS
A tap changer is the only movable part of a power
transformer and therefore suffers from various aging
mechanisms. The insulation oil inside the tap changer
compartment becomes dirty due to switching arcs, therefore
CIRED2009 Session 1 Paper No 0134
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
Johan SMIT Rory LEICH
Delft University of Technology Liandon
The Netherlands The Netherlands
j.j.smit@ewi.tudelft.nl rory.leich@nuon.com
weakening its insulation properties. Electrical treeing along
the supporting resin-bonded paper cylinder and insulating
drive shaft can occur. Other aging effects are caused by the
switching arcs that wear of the arcing contacts.
Fig. 1. The on-load tap changer model used for laboratory
experiments. This hand-driven one-phase tap changer is
connected in series with a transformer.
An important aging mechanism is the so-called long term
effect on the change-over selector and tap-selector, which
occurs when the tap changer is motionless. The long term
effect starts with the formation of a thin layer of oil. This
organic film is a less conductive layer build from
polymerized oil: organic components in the transformer oil
bond to silver or copper oxide and sulphide that is formed
on the stator blocks [3]. This oil film layer will not cause
tap changer failures directly. The increased contact
resistance due to the oil film layer will cause coking
(creation of pyrolitic carbon) at places where the load
current flows. Fig. 1 shows typical damage of coarse tap-
selector contacts due to the long term aging effect.
The long term effect is accelerated by high temperatures,
high load current, infrequent movement and low contact
pressure. Due to its infrequent movement, the change-over
selector is prone to the long term effect. However, the
change-over selector is not accessible during normal
maintenance, so diagnostic measurements are necessary.
DYNAMIC RESISTANCE MEASUREMENT
[4] describes an in 1993 developed off-line method,
designed to diagnose the long term effect inside a tap
changer. This tool is based on DRM, originally used for
circuit breaker analysis. [5] describes another measurement
device, the TPC analyzer, that is used for the experiments in
CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
this paper. Both devices use a fixed voltage source and a
test current of 1ADC to measure the resistance. A short
circuit at the secondary side of the transformer also allows a
fast response of the test current. Dynamic resistance
measurements use this fast response to detect increased
contact resistances. When applied to a power transformer,
DRM is able to detect deviant contact resistances when the
on-load tap changer switches. These deviant resistances can
be caused by the long term aging effect on the change-over
selector contacts or by other defects inside the OLTC.
EXPERIMENTS WITH OLTC CONTACTS
Measurement setup
Laboratory experiments on several aged tap changer
contacts are performed to get more insight in the way aged
contacts influence the dynamic resistance. Different stages
of aging are considered. A test model is used for testing
artificial tap changer aging. The test model is connected in
series with the power transformer that is tested. The design
of the test model is based on a common selector switch type
tap changer in the Netherlands. The model consists of one
phase of this tap changer and uses resistors to simulate the
transformer windings. Fig. 2 shows a schematic
representation of the test model.
Fig. 2. The on-load tap changer model used for laboratory
experiments. This hand-driven one-phase tap changer is
connected in series with a transformer.
A fixed DC test voltage is applied to the test model (and the
in series connected power transformer) with such amplitude
that the initial test current is 1ADC. After stabilizing the
current, the test model is switched through all its tap
positions and the current and voltage are recorded. Fig. 3
shows an example of such a current profile in case no aging
is put on the contacts (the reference measurements). The
transition resistors cause a short decrease of the test current
each time the tap changer selects another tap. The slope of
the test current is caused by resistors that simulate the
winding resistance of the transformer’s tapped windings.
Oil film layer
As discussed above, the long term effect starts with the
formation of an oil film layer. For these experiments an
artificial grown oil film layer is used, grown from used tap
changer oil at higher temperatures to accelerate the growth
rate. This growth rate of oil film under Shell Diala
CIRED2009 Session 1 Paper No 0134
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
Paper 0134
insulation oil on copper contacts is according to [6]:
−6 3.862 0.3559
s = 1.883 *10 θ 0 t (1)
Where s is the thickness of the oil film layer in Å, θ0 is the
contact surface temperature in ˚C and t the duration of the
aging test in hours.
To form a representative artificial oil film layer, simulation
parameters are selected based on the transformer population
of a Dutch utility. The average age of power transformers is
30 years. The long-term effect is measured (using DRM) at
transformers of at least 25-35 years old. The population of
transformers with disruptions in the DRM current pattern
has an average age of 40 years.
Fig. 3. An undisrupted current pattern as measured with dynamic
resistance measurement on the test model. The slope of the current
profile is caused by resistors that simulate the winding resistance
of the transformer's regulating windings. Each time the tap
changer selects another tap; its transition resistors shortly change
the test current.
An oil layer corresponding to 40 years is formed in the high
voltage laboratory, based on an operation temperature of
60ºC, using oil of 165ºC. The selected oil film layer
therefore has a calculated thickness of 1300Å.
Several dynamic resistance measurements show that this
layer of oil film is not measurable with this method. All
measured DRM current profiles are without any disruptions
and look like fig. 3. Additional measurements with test
currents of 100ADC show an average increase of contact
resistance of 300µΩ, which are outside the measurable
range of the test setup.
Because the local contact temperature of tap changer
contacts can be higher, the experiments have been extended
to thicker oil film layers (up to 15h at 200ºC). Fig 4 shows
that an advanced oil film layer is indeed able to disrupt the
current pattern. The disruptions decrease during the
experiment due to the wiping effect of the contacts: the oil
film layer is damaged and a good contact is restored again.
Coking
When the oil film layer grows, coking will occur. Coking
accelerates itself because the carbon will increase the
resistance and act as heat insulator. Local thermal runaway
is likely to occur [7].
Two levels of coking are artificially applied to the tap
changer model, using semi conductive paint used for field
CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
Fig. 4. A typical dynamic resistance current pattern as recorded
on the test model. A thick oil film layer is applied to all contacts.
The tap changer constantly moves over this layer, resulting in a
decreasing spiky current pattern.
control in power cable terminations. This artificial aging
showed to have the same resistive behavior as naturally
grown coking when a test current from 0 to 100ADC and
back to 0 is applied.
A thin layer of artificial coking results in an increased
contact resistance, but this layer is damaged by the tap
changer contacts in most of the cases, see fig. 5 (left). The
conductive path is fully restored, only one of the six aged
tap positions shows a deviant resistance.
A thick layer of coking is always measurable, see fig. 5
(right). The amplitude is equal.
Fig. 5. A typical dynamic resistance current pattern as recorded
on the test model. A thin (top) and thick (bottom) layer of artificial
coking is applied to some tap positions.
These defects mostly produce quite stable and reproducible
current patterns because the model is motionless between
the tap change operations. A third test concerns the constant
movement of tap changer contacts over a layer of artificial
coking. Fig. 6 shows a spiky current pattern as measured
with DRM. These current spikes are quite common at field
CIRED2009 Session 1 Paper No 0134
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
Paper 0134
measurements on tap changers which suffer from the long
term effect.
Fig. 6. A typical dynamic resistance current pattern as recorded
on the test model. A thick layer of artificial coking is applied to all
contacts. The tap changer constantly moves over this layer,
resulting in a spiky current pattern.
Contact wear
Contact wear of the arcing contacts results in a small
difference of the contact timing. The worn contact will
break the current earlier and the transition resistor is used a
little longer. This difference can easily be detected by
DRM. Fig. 7 shows the time the transition resistor is used
divided by the total switch time at the test model. Contact 3
has worn arcing contacts.
Fig. 7. The time that the transition resistor is used for each tap
change operation. The arcing contact of contact 3 is worn. This
results in longer use of the transition resistor.
SERVICE AGED OLTC CONTACTS
Measurement data from more then hundred different tap
changers have been examined within this project. The
selector or diverter switch of all these tap changers was
taken out of service for maintenance. However, only a
limited number of change-over selectors were available for
visual inspection because of their accessibility. One of these
change-over selectors is measured extensively during an
overhaul.
CIRED 20th International Conference on Electricity Distribution
Fig. 8. Left: a stator contact of the tested change-over selector
suffered from the long term effect. Deep pitting and coking is
visible at the top, the oil film layer is visible in the middle. Right:
silver plated stator contacts are measured after the overhaul.
The measured tap changer is a common selector switch type
tap changer in the Netherlands and is almost equal to the
laboratory model used for the experiments described above.
However, this tap changer has a change-over selector which
doubles the number of tap positions. DRM data from this
tap changer showed deteriorated contacts due to the long
term effect. Based on these diagnostic measurements, it was
decided to overhaul the transformer and to plate the contacts
of the change-over selector with silver.
All aging and damage from the long term effect was
removed during this overhaul. The tap changer has been
tested extensively before and after this process. Fig. 8
shows two representative stator contacts of this tap changer.
Typical DRM data before (collapsed current pattern) and
after cleaning (undisrupted current pattern) are shown in fig.
9. It can be clearly seen that the dynamic resistance
measurement is very sensitive for the long term effect on
the aged change-over selector contacts.
Fig. 9. A typical dynamic resistance current pattern as recorded
before (top) and after (bottom) the tap changer was cleaned. The
tap changer suffered from the long term effect.
CIRED2009 Session 1 Paper No 0134
Prague, 8-11 June 2009
Paper 0134
CONCLUSION
This paper focused on the contact diagnosis of on-load tap
changers for high voltage power transformers using DRM.
In particular the following can be concluded:
1. The contact deterioration of OLTC’s can be
described by different aging mechanisms.
2. Modelling and laboratory investigation of the
deterioration processes is helpful to gain more
systematic knowledge about the applicability of
DRM.
3. Dynamic resistance measurements provide more
information about the contact status compared to
static resistance measurements.
4. Laboratory investigation has shown that light aging
(the thin oil film layer as presented above) is not
measured with DRM while advanced aging (coking)
is measurable. Thick artificial coking is measured at
every measurement while a thin layer of artificial
coking tends to break due to contact pressure and is
therefore not always measured.
5. Transitions resistors are used longer when the arcing
contacts are worn and this can be measured by DRM.
6. Laboratory experiments and a test case showed that
DRM is indeed effective for assessing the long term
effect on the tap changer contacts.
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[4] H. F. A. Verhaart, 1995, “A diagnostic to determine
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