Moisture Diagnostics of Power Transformers by a Fast and Reliable Dielectric Response Method

Maik Koch, Stephanie Raetzke, Michael Krueger

Omicron Electronics Klaus, Austria maik.koch@omicron.at
Abstract This contribution introduces a newly developed dielectric response method to measure the dielectric response and calculate the moisture concentration in oil-paper insulated power transformers. This method combines the measurement of charging and discharging currents in time domain (Polarization and Depolarization Currents PDC) and the dielectric spectroscopy in frequency domain (Frequency Domain Spectroscopy FDS). The frequency range from 5 kHz down to 0.1 Hz is measured in frequency domain, whereas the range from 0.1 Hz down to 0.1 mHz or below is measured in time domain. During the measurement the time domain data are continuously transformed into frequency domain. This results into a reduction of the time need of 47-75 % compared to the conventional measurement in frequency domain. Two novel features improve moisture analysis: First, the influence of conductive aging byproducts is compensated, and next, the low frequency data are weighted. Moisture analysis is based on the comparison of transformer measurements to a modeled dielectric response as derived from a data pool. This data pool consists of dielectric responses of new pressboard samples measured at various temperatures and moisture contents. The time dependent properties of oil conductivity are also considered. This follows into a reliable moisture analysis even of aged oil-paper insulations. Examples of onsite moisture determinations compare this new method to other measurement methods like oil and paper sampling with subsequent Karl Fischer Titration. Keywords-mositure diagnostics, transformer, dielectric response analysis

and water titration has the major impact [1]. Karl Fischer titration suffers from moisture ingress during transportation to the laboratory, different procedures releasing water from the sample leading to unsatisfying comparability of the results [2]. Therefore dielectric diagnostic methods were developed, which deduce moisture in paper and pressboard from dielectric properties. Nowadays two approaches are applied; the measurement of charging and discharging currents in time domain (Polarization and Depolarization Currents PDC) and the dielectric spectroscopy in frequency domain (Frequency Domain Spectroscopy FDS) [3]. Recent publications proved the reliability of the mentioned methods, but nevertheless reported weaknesses as too high moisture analysis results at high oil conductivities and at high insulation temperatures. Additionally, the measurement procedure in frequency domain takes a very long time. Up to now it is impossible to discriminate between the dielectric influences of water and the dielectric influences of aging byproducts. Thus an aged insulation will appear to be more wet than it actually is. Based on extensive research and practical experiences a new dielectric response method was developed, which combines time and frequency domain measurements. Its methodology improves the measurement itself and also the moisture analysis. Therefore, it also provides reliable results for aged transformers. II. DETERMINATION OF DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES

I.

INTRODUCTION

Power transformers represent the most expensive chain links connecting generation to utilization. Due to the cost pressure of a liberalized energy market the utilities shift maintenance from time based to condition based approaches. This development requires reliable diagnostic tools for assessing the ageing parameters among which moisture plays an important role. Water in oil paper insulations causes three dangerous effects: it decreases the dielectric withstand strength, accelerates cellulose aging and causes the emission of bubbles at high temperatures. Therefore knowledge about the actual moisture concentration is required in order to decide for further actions as for example on-site drying. State of the art for moisture measurements are equilibrium diagrams, where one tries to derive the moisture in the solid insulation (paper, pressboard) from moisture content in oil (ppm). This method fails for several reasons, where aging of oil

A. Dielectric Response of Oil-Paper Insulations The multilayer insulation of power transformers consisting of oil and paper shows polarization and conductivity phenomena. Dielectric diagnostic methods measure the interfacial polarization effect, which originates from the interfaces between cellulose and oil. Polarization is superimposed by the DC conductivity of cellulose and oil. The resultant total current density in frequency domain J() caused by a sinusoidal field strength E() can be expressed by (1), [4]:

0 J ( ) = j 0 () + ( ) j + ( ) E ( ) capacitive component 0 resistive losses

(1)

978-1-4244-6301-5/10/$26.00 @2010 IEEE

The imaginary part of the current density represents its capacitive component caused by the high frequency part of permittivity and the low frequency susceptibility '. The real part includes a resistive current due to the DC conductivity 0 and a resistive current due to dielectric losses ''. The inertia of the dipoles and charge carriers moved by the electrical field cause these dielectric losses. Moisture, temperature and conductive aging products influence these phenomena. The discrimination of moisture from other effects is a key quality feature for the analysis of dielectric measurements. B. Combination of FDS and PDC Measurement The dielectric response of insulations can be recorded in time domain or in frequency domain gathering the same information about conductivity and polarizability [5]. A time domain current measurement records the charging and discharging currents of the insulation. They are also known as Polarization and Depolarization Currents PDC. Frequency domain measurements are derived from the well known Tangent Delta measurements with a frequency range much enhanced especially to low frequencies. The derived measurement method is called Frequency Domain Spectroscopy FDS. The new dielectric response method uses a combination of time domain and frequency domain measurements [7]. The data of the polarization currents, which are recorded in time domain, were transformed to the frequency domain by using the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) [5]. The discrete Fourier transform creates the frequency domain representation for an input function made by sampling a continuous function. The sequence of n time domain current samples i0, ..., iN1 is transformed into the sequence of n complex current samples I0, ..., IN1 by the DFT according to the formula:
I ( ) =

Already after 10 s of measurement time in time domain, correct frequency domain information is available up to 20 mHz. The extrapolation improves if more data is available, e.g. up to 100 and 10'000 s. C. Acceleration of the Measurement by the New Dielectric Response Method The combination of time domain polarization current measurements with frequency domain spectroscopy drastically reduces the test duration compared to existing techniques. Essentially, time domain measurements can be accomplished in a short time but are limited to low frequencies (typically below 1 Hz). In contrast, frequency domain measurements are feasible for high frequencies as well but take very long time at low frequencies. The new instrument named DIRANA (DIelectric Response ANAlyzer) uses this combination approach. It acquires data in frequency domain from 5 kHz to 0.1 Hz and in time domain from 0.1 Hz to 100 Hz or less. However, also a full sweep in frequency domain is possible. Figure 2 illustrates the combination of dielectric measurements in time and frequency domain.
100 Current [nA] 1 Dissipation factor 0,001 0,1

Time [s]

10000 1

1000 Frequency [Hz]

Transformation

i e
n n=0

N 1

j n

(2)

The DFT can be computed efficiently using a fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm, is flexible for any shape of time domain data but needs information about the very short and long times, so that special data processing is needed as for example extrapolation [6].
102 DF
1 1 10 00s 0s 00 0s

0,001 0,0001

Dissipation factor

Frequency [Hz]

1000

Figure 2. Combination of time and frequency domain measurements

transformation from TD measurement in FD

100

10-2

10-4 10-6

10-4

10-2

100

f/Hz

104

Figure 1. Dissipation factor as measured directly in frequency domain and transformed from time domain after 10, 100 and 10'000 s measurement time

The extrapolated function can also be used to forecast the frequency domain data and, advantageously, to save additional measurement time. Figure 1 illustrates the forecast of frequency domain data by extrapolating time domain currents.

The new method reduces the time duration of a measurement by 47-75 % compared to pure frequency domain measurements. A frequency range of 1 kHz down to 0,1 mHz is suitable for most transformers. For this range the time need is 5.5-11 h for a frequency domain measurement, but less than 3 hours for the new approach (Figure 3). A polarization and depolarization current measurement will need 5.5 h to record data from 1 s to 10000 s which corresponds to 1 Hz to 0.1 mHz, so the high frequency part is not covered. However, the time required for the real life measurement at a specific insulation depends on the condition of that insulation. For the succeeding analysis of moisture content the properties of the solid insulation should become visible as explained in Figure 4. Dry or cold insulations require to measure down to very low frequencies. Hot or highly conductive insulations require a much smaller frequency range of e.g. 1 kHz to 0,1 Hz, thus the duration will decrease to a few minutes.

Duration / h

12 10 8 6 4 2 0 FDS PDC DIRANA

100 10 1 0,1 0,01

Frequency range / Hz

14

1000

only of pressboard, its volume fraction is negligible compared to that of pressboard particularly for HV transformers and secondly, the dielectric response of the two materials is very similar, [11]. The dielectric properties of aged pressboard were investigated as well in order to compensate for the influence of aging. To ensure the reliability of the achieved data base the results were compared to previous investigations, e.g. [9].
Measurement Temperature Oil XY-model Data base

0,001 0,0001

Figure 3. Required time duration and acquired frequency range for the different measurement techniques

III.

ANALYSIS OF DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES

Comparison moisture content, oil conductivity

A. Interpretation in Frequency Domain Dielectric response analysis deduces moisture in paper or pressboard from dielectric properties like polarisation and depolarisation currents, complex capacitance and dissipation factor. Moisture strongly influences these quantities. The dissipation factor plotted via frequency shows a typical s-shaped curve. With increasing moisture content, temperature or aging the curve shifts towards higher frequencies. Moisture influences the low and the high frequency parts. The middle part of the curve with the steep gradient reflects oil conductivity. The interfacial polarization process between oil and cellulose causes a loss peak, visible as a "hump" (insulation geometry) on the left of the steep gradient. In order to determine the moisture content of the insulation, the measurement should also provide data left of the "hump", where the properties of the solid insulation dominate (Figure 4).
Dissipation factor 10

Figure 5. Programming flowchart of the automatic analysis algorithm

A fitting algorithm rearranges the modeled dielectric response and calculates moisture content and oil conductivity. The moisture content is also classified by the software using the moisture categories according to IEC 60422 (Table 1).
Table 1. Moisture categories according to IEC 60422 moisture content w moisture category dry 2.2 % w < 2.2 % moderately wet 2.2 % w < 3.7 % wet 3.7 % w < 4.8 % extremely wet 4.8 % w

moisture of cellulose, aging

high high low

0.1

low

moisture of cellulose and aging

C. Consideration of Conductive Aging Byproducts Aging of cellulose and oil causes conductive byproducts as for example carboxylic acids. These compounds are deposited in the solid insulation and dissolved in oil. Their DCconductivity increases the losses and thus imitates water. Figure 6 compares the dissipation factor of aged pressboard to that of new material. At similar moisture content the losses in aged materials are much higher than in the new material.
Dissipation factor 10 1 0,1 0,01 0,001 1E-04 0,001 0,01 2,1% aged 1,2% aged 2,0% new 0,8% new

0.01

insulation geometry

high

0.001 0.0001 0.001 0.01

oil conductivity
0.1 1

low

10 100 1000 Frequency (Hz)

Figure 4. Interpretation scheme for dissipation factor providing discrimination between the influences of various physical phenomena

B. Moisture Determination by Automatic Analysis Moisture determination is based on an automatic comparison (curve fitting) of the transformers dielectric response to a modeled dielectric response (Figure 5). Therefore, an accurate database is needed for the modeled dielectric response. The data pool constitutes of measurements on new pressboard at various temperatures, moisture contents and oils used for impregnation [8]. Though the cellulose insulation of power transformers consists also of paper and not

0,1

10 100 1000 Frequency [Hz]

Figure 6. Dissipation factor for new and aged pressboard samples having similar moisture contents measured at 20C insulation temperature

Accordingly, a moisture analysis algorithm without compensation for conductive aging by-products will

overestimate moisture content. This may mislead to unnecessary drying of transformers. The newly developed software compensates for the influence of conductive aging byproducts, resulting in a more reliable moisture analysis at aged transformers. Still more practical measurements will be used to improve the functionality of the compensation algorithm. IV. APPLICATION AT ONSITE MEASUREMENTS Generally the dielectric response of all kinds of insulation systems can be measured; power transformers, bushings, papermass insulated cables, generators and motors. However the software is designed for moisture determination of oil-paper insulations. A. Comparision of Different Moisture Analysis Methods from the Example of a Heavily Aged Transformer Here the example of a heavily aged transformer dedicated for scrapping should be considered. Mineral oil type Shell Diala 6KX having a neutralization number of 0,49 mg KOH/g oil filled the transformer. This high value together with an oil conductivity of 900 pS/m indicates a strong influence of conductive aging products and therefore a progressed aging state. Paper samples were taken after measuring the dielectric properties (polarization and depolarization currents, frequency domain spectroscopy) and oil sampling. Figure 7 compares the moisture results of the different measurement and analysis approaches. Karl Fischer titration at paper samples came to 2.6 % moisture by weight (KFT). The analysis results of the dielectric response methods differ from each other: Two algorithms had no compensation for conductive aging products and determined 3.8 and 4 % moisture by weight (FDS, PDC). The new analysis software having a compensation for conductive aging products indicates 2.9 % moisture relative to weight (Dira).
Moisture content [%] 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 KFT PDC FDS Dira PPM RS Paper Dielectric Oil sample sample response 2,6 4,0 3,8 2,9 2,5 6,0

capacity cannot transformers [1].

reliably

evaluate

moisture

in

power

To conclude, the findings for this very aged transformer show, that a compensation for aging products is necessary both for the measurement based on moisture equilibrium and those based on dielectric properties. B. Dielectric Response an Old Transformer Before and After Drying In this second application example a transformer with a rated power of 133 MVA was investigated. Since the transformer was manufactured in 1967 it was not clear whether a drying of the insulation is necessary and worthwhile. The red graph in Figure 8 shows the result of the dissipation factor for the before drying. It can be seen, that the graph significantly increases in the frequency range below 0.01 Hz referring to a high moisture content in the cellulose. Moisture determination by dielectric response analysis lead to 2.5 % water content for the insulation from HV to LV winding, but 3.8 % for the insulation MV-LV. The lower temperature of the LV (tertiary) winding may be the reason for this difference. Equilibrium diagrams based on moisture saturation in oil (RS) led to a moisture content in paper of 3.0 %.
Dissipation factor
2.0 1.0 0.5 0.2 0.1

CHL before drying 2.6% CHL after drying 1.5%

0.05 0.02 0.01 0.005 0.0005 0.01 0.1 1

frequency / Hz

10

100

1000

Figure 8. Dissipation factor of the insulation between HVand LV (CHL) before and after transformer drying

Moisture in cellulose / %

5 4 3 2 1 0 2,5

3,8 3,0

5 4 3 2 1 1,5 2,6 1,8

Figure 7. Moisture content in the solid insulation as obtained from various measurement methods

HV-MV MV-LV

DR

Equil.

RS

HV-MV MV-LV

DR

Equil.

RS

In an oil sample the moisture saturation was measured directly onsite and also the moisture content in ppm by Karl Fischer titration in a laboratory. Via a moisture sorption isotherm [11] the relative saturation reading lead to 2.5 % moisture in cellulose (RS), which agrees well with the paper samples and the dielectric response analysis compensating for conductive aging products. An equilibrium chart based on moisture content in oil in ppm [12] determined a too high moisture content of 6.0 % (PPM), proving that equilibrium diagrams not adopted to aging state and moisture adsorption

Figure 9. Moisture content in the solid insulation between HVand LV (CHL) and between LV and Tertiary (CLT) before and after drying as obtained by dielectric response analysis (DR) and by relative moisture saturation of the oil (RS), [1]

On-line drying by oil circulation was applied for 1.5 years. The long drying time is necessary to take out the water from solid insulation. The result of the dissipation factor after drying (blue graph in Figure 8) shows that the drying was successful. The dissipation factor at low frequency is decreased, indicating

a lower moisture content of 1.5 %. A comparison of moisture content before and after drying shows Figure 9. The lower moisture content has the effect of slower cellulose deterioration and prolonged insulation lifetime. V. CONCLUSION The determination of the dielectric response of power transformers can be considerably accelerated by combining time domain and frequency domain measurements. The newly developed instrument measures the frequency range from 5 kHz down to 0.1 Hz in frequency domain and the range from 0.1 Hz down to 0,1 mHz or below in time domain. During the measurement the time domain data are continuously transformed into frequency domain. This results in a reduction of the time need of 47-75 % compared to the conventional measurement in frequency domain. Additional measurement time can be saved by an extrapolation of the measurement data, which is possible due to the monotonically decaying dielectric response of oil-paper-insulations. The moisture analysis in this new approach is based on the comparison of onsite measurements to a modeled dielectric response modeled from a data pool. This data pool consists of dielectric responses of new and aged pressboard samples measured at various temperatures and moisture contents. The time dependent properties of oil conductivity are also considered. This follows into a reliable moisture analysis even for aged oil-paper-insulations. The moisture analysis is improved by a compensation of the influence of conductive aging byproducts. Furthermore the low frequency data are weighted. Therefore a reliable moisture analysis can be done even for aged oil-paper-insulations. Two examples of onsite moisture determinations conclude this investigation. In the first example, the analysis results are compared to other measurement methods like oil and paper sampling with subsequent Karl Fischer Titration. It was shown, that dielectric response methods, which do not compensate for conductive aging byproducts, deliver too high moisture content. In the second example the insulation drying process could be evaluated by dielectric response analysis. After the drying process, the moisture content was found to be significantly decreased, slowing down the cellulose deterioration and enhancing the insulation lifetime.

REFERENCES
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