Development of an Online Detection Setup for Dissolved Gas in Transformer Insulating Oil

The type and concentration of dissolved gases in transformer insulating oil are used to assess transformer conditions. In this paper, an online detection setup for measuring the concentration of multicomponent gases dissolved in transformer insulating oil is developed, which consists of an oil-gas separation system and an optical system for acquiring the transformer status in real time. The oil-gas separation system uses low pressure, constant temperature, and low-frequency stirring as working conditions for degassing large-volume oil samples based on modified headspace degassing. The optical system uses tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) to determine the gas concentration. Six target gases (methane, ethylene, ethane, acetylene, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide) were detected by three near-infrared lasers (1569, 1684, and 1532 nm). The stability of the optical system was improved by the common optical path formed by time-division multiplexing (TDM) technology. The calibration experiments show that the second harmonics and the concentrations of the six gases are linear. A comparison experiment with gas chromatography (GC) demonstrates that the error of acetylene reaches the nL/L level, while the other gases reach the μL/L level. The data conforms to the power industry testing standards, and the state of the transformer is analyzed by the detected six characteristic gases. The setup provides an effective basis for the online detection of dissolved gas in transformer insulating oil.

Effect of repeated electrical breakdowns on mineral and natural ester insulating oils

Transformer insulating oils are exposed to repeated electrical discharge or breakdowns inside power transformers. Durability tests are conducted to analyze the ability of oil to resist decomposition due to such high electrical stresses. With the increasing demand for alternative insulating oils for oil-immersed transformers, it is worthy to compare the performance of different types of insulating oils (conventional mineral-based insulating oil and natural ester-based insulating oil) under repeated electrical breakdown. In this paper, the AC breakdown voltage of different mineral-based and natural ester-based insulating oils is reported. Durability tests were conducted based on the AC breakdown voltage behavior of insulating oils after 50 electrical breakdown shots. The AC breakdown voltage of each insulating oil sample was assessed according to the ASTM D1816 standard test method. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the dissimilarity in chemical composition of the insulating oils has a significant effect on the AC breakdown voltage behavior of these oils under repeated electrical breakdowns.