2004 lnrerndional Conferenceon Solid Dielectrics, Toulouse.

France, July 5-9, 2004

Detection of Oil-Pressboard Insulation Aging with Dielectric Spectroscopy in Time and

Frequency.Domain
Measurements
.
Omar Hassanl', A. A. Shyegani', Hossein Borsi', Emst Gockenbach' E. M. Abu-Elzahab' M. I. Gilany'
'Department of High Voltage Networks, High Institute of Energy, Aswan, Egypt
'Institute of Elechc Power Systems, Schering-Institut,University of Hannover, Germany
'Department of Electric Power and Machines, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
'E-mail : ons-hassan@yahoo.com
Abstract: The insulation system of power transformers

consists of oil and cellulose, whose dielectric properties

are strongly influenced by moisture, temperature and
aging. Their condition can therefore, be evaluated using
dielectric response measurements. This contribution
describes the Return Voltage Measurement (RVM)
diagnostic method based on scanning the polarization
spectra of the oil-paper insulation in the time range of
Is to 1200s at an excitation voltage of 500V (DC).
The variation of the dissipation factor (tan 6) and power
factor (cos 0) in the frequency range of 0.0001 to 1000
Hz were measured and the effects of moisture and aging
were analyzed. Furthermore accelerated aging processes
of oil-paper samples were investigated under air
environment up to a temperature of 388 K (115OC).
Typical transformer proportions of copper, aluminum,
zinc and iron were added to oil-paper insulation during
the aging process in order to simulate the possible
oxidation processes. For the investigation of the long
time behavior, the oil-paper insulation samples were
aged at different aging times at 250, 500, 1000 and
2000 hours which simulate long time service condition
due to the used severe aging conditions.
INTRODUCTION
Power transformers are one of the most important
components of electric power distribution and
transmission systems. Therefore their reliable and
efficient operation for many years is of basic
importance for an economical electrical energy supply.
Paper and related cellulosic products are still the
preferred insulation materials for oil-filled high voltage
power transformers, owing to their low cost and good
overall electrical and mechanical properties [l]. The
insulation in a power transformer degrades under
normal operating conditions, in particular with higher
temperature, higher moisture and oxidation. Aging of
the oil-paper insulation system of power transformers is
determined by various stresses, namely dielectric,
thermal and electromechanical and chemical stresses
[21. The traditional method of moisture monitoring calls
for oil sample at regular intervals. The oil sample is
then processed through Karl Fischer titration method
that provide the total water content in oil in parts per
million (ppm). Most of the water is dissolved in the oil.
0-7803-8348-6/04/$20.00 02,2004IEEE.

However some of the measured water is chemically

bound to agents such as by products of oxidation. This
bound water is only partially available to migrate from
the oil into the paper. As the oil ages, the quantity of
chemical agents provide additional sites for the water to
bind on. Some of the water may also bind to particles in
suspension in oil, and the water would not be fully
available to move to the solid. The RVM employs
polarization measurements by applying DC charging
and discharging the insulation as shown in Figure 1 to
estimate the aging of the paper and the relative amount
of moisture present in the insulation by investigation of
polarization spectrum o f the object [3,4,5,6].In this
paper, two factors were studied separately, effect of
moisture and effect of aging.
PREPARING OF THE SAMPLES
The pressboard insulation samples were dried under
vacuum for 24 hours at 378 K (105 "C). The
impregnation was performed with degassed and dry oil
with moisture content of 5 ppm. Three different
moisture levels were investigated to study the behavior
of the insulation at different moisture contents. The
moisture content of the oil-paper insulation is
determined by the temperature and surrounding water
vapor. The oil samples were collected from the
container at ambient temperature and the moisture
contents of oil sample were measured by Karl Fischer
timtion technique. The moisture of solid insulation can
be estimated by (standard) equilibrium curves [5].

AGING OF THE SAMPLES

The accelerated aging process of oil-paper samples was
investigated under air environment up to a temperature
of 388 K (115'C). Typical transformer proportions of
copper, aluminium, zinc and iron were added to oil-paper insulation during the aging process [7]. The
oil-paper insulation samples were aged at different
aging times at 250,500,1000and 2000 hours.
TIME DOMAIN MEASUREMENTS (RVM)
The measurements have been performed on
homogeneous test sample by placing 4 mm thick
impregnated pressboard samples in a parallel plate cell

with stainless steel electrodes. The electrode

arrangement was placed in an oil-filled glass vessel.

constants for new samples is 100s. But the dominate

time constants for 250,500, 1000 and 2000 hours aged
samples are 30,20,5 and 3 s respectively.

As shown in "Fig. 1" a step voltage U, is applied over

the electrodes of a completely discharge test object.
After a short period, a recovery voltage, U&) can then
be measured under open circuit condition. The sequence
of recovery voltage measuring is repeated sequentially
for charging time T, from 1s to 1200 s. The used ratio
of charging and discharging time (Tc& ) is 2. The
polarization spectrum is obtained by plotting the peak
value of recovery voltage (U-). Charging time, taken
off l?om global maximum of the voltage spectrum
curve, is called main (dominate) time constant Tcdmn
[4].

Tc

Td

T,

Fig. 1 : Schematic diagram of the recovery voltage

measurement process
Effect of Moisture
The polarization spectrum dependence on the moisture
content of the oil paper insulation system is shown in
"Fig. 2" and Table 1. As can be seen when the moisture
increases the dominate time constant Tsdomis located in
lower time range, on the other hand in case of low
moisture content the dominate time constant T b is
located in a higher time range.

Effect of Aging
"Fig. 3" shows the influence of aging on the
polarization spectrum curves of oil-paper insulation.
These measurements show the dominate time constant
Tcdomdecrease with increasing aging. The results of
polarization spectrum measurements for the aged
samples compared with the new sample are summarized
in Table 2. It shows that the variation of the dominate
time constant for different aging times is very
significant when the measurements are carried out at
low temperature. Table 2 shows that the dominate time

Table 1: Effect of moisture on maximum peak

value of polarization spectrum voltage (U),
and the
33
rtirn;;tant(Td1,
Percentage of moisture
U,(V)
Tdm(s)
content in paper
5.8 %
6.8 %

32.34
32.29

~~

Table 2 : Effect of aging time on maximum peak

value of polarization spectrum voltage (U&) and the
(hours)
New
250
500
1000

2000

32.3
34.4
34.9
32.2
37.7

100

30
20
5
3

The RVM measurements show that the dominate time

constant is the common indicator between the moisture
and aging, which decreases with increasing moisture
and aging. The influence of moisture and aging time on
the dominate time constant shown in Fig. 2 and 4 are
measured at m m temperature Of 297 K (24C). We can
see the dominate time constant decrease with increasing
the moisture and aging time.
FREQUENCY
DOMAIN
MEASUREMENTS (FDS)

SPECTROSCOPY

0.owoi o.wo1

0.001

0.1

0.01

10

tw

iow

Fnp".n*llbJ

Fig. 4 : Dissipation factor (tan 6 ) and power factor

(cose) as a function of frequency at different moisture
contents

A recently introduced instrument allows dissipation

factor tan 6 and the power factor cos tl measurements
over the frequency range from 0.0001 Hz to 1000 Hz,

and gives information on the state of the examined high

voltage insulation. The measurement principle can be
described as follows: a digital signal processing (DSP)
unit generates a sinusoidal test signal with desired
frequency. This signal is amplified with an internal
amplifier and then applied to the specimen. The voltage
over and the current through the specimen are measured
with high accuracy using a voltage divider and an
electrometer. As a result, loss tangent is obtained as
functions of frequency. This principle is implemented in
the multi-purpose capacitance and loss factor measuring
system IDA 200 [S, 91.
FDS measurements presented here were measured by a
prototype Insulation Diagnosis Analysis (JDA200).
Unlike the RVM measurement, it was not necessary to
discharge the insulation between the measurements but
the time required to perform a frequency sweep was not
significantly less than that required for a RVM test. The
effect of moisture and aging of the oil paper insulation
on FDS measurements was investigated at 297 K
(24T) in a frequency range from 0.0001 to 1000 Hz at
a voltage of 200V.
"Fig. 4" shows the dissipation factor tan S and the
power factor cos 0 values of new oil-paper insulation
samples with 4.3% and 6% moisture content. It can be
seen that if the moisture content increases the
dissipation factor and power factor also increase. It can
be seen the dissipation factor and power factor values
are very closed in magnitude for frequencies at 0.0001
to 1000 Hz.

0.m1 0 . m

0.m

0.0t

0.i

to

100

tm

fmquncy(HI)

Fig. 5 : Dissipation factor (tan 6 ) and power factor

(cose) as a function of kequency at different aging
times
"Fig. 5" shows the variation of dissipation factor tan 6
and the power factor cos e values of new and aged
oil-paper insulation samples. It can be seen the values of
tan S and cos 8 are very closed in magnitude. The hest
agreement of the two parameters is present for high and
intermediate frequencies. At low frequencies, a split

appears between the dissipation factor tan 6 and the

power factor cos 0 values. The frequency value, at
which the split starts depends on the insulation aging
time. The relation between the split frequency and the
aging duration time is linear. Therefore, at the lowest
fkquencies, different aging cases can be detected. Also,
the effect of moisture content and aging can he
separated.
CONCLUSION
Recovery voltage measurements have heen applied to a
number of oil-paper insulation samples. The RVM
parameters vary significantly and consistently with the
aging condition of insulation systems as well as with
moisture levels. Among RVM parameters, a central
time constant and dominant time constant have heen
found to be the most sensitive to aging and moisture. At
higher temperature, RV spectra peaks shift to lower
times. That means the insulation condition is poor at
higher temperature. This method is not effective to
separate between moisture and aging effects.
The dielectric dissipation factor clearly depends on the
moisture content of paper insulation and the aging
condition. The measurements in the frequency ranges
provide a better insight into the insulation condition.
The reason is that the loss peak detected in the
measurements gives an indication of the insulation. In
the frequency domain, moisture content variations give
rise of dissipation factor tan 6. The inherent small
bandwidth makes the method relatively insensitive to
interference and there is no need for a high voltage
power supply source for measurements as RVM method
in which high voltage is applied.
An attempt has been made to separate the aging and
moisture effects on values of dissipation factor tan 6
and power factor cos 9. The values of tan 6 and cos 9
are very closed in magnitude. The best agreement of the
two parameters is present for high frequency
(50Hz-1000Hz)and intermediate frequency (1Hz-SOHz).
At low frequencies (less than IHz), a split appears
between the dissipation factor tan 6 and the power
factor cos e values. Therefore, at the lowest frequencies,
different aging cases can he detected, also the effect of
moisture content and aging can be separated.

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