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Comparative study of partial discharge

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DOI: 10.1109/ICPERE.2014.7067206

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10B2-4 The 2nd IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy
ICPERE 2014

Comparative Study of Partial Discharge

Characteristics and Dissolved Gas Analysis on Palm-
Based Oil as Insulating Material

Achmad Susilo and Joko Muslim Yanuar Z. Arief and Nor Asiah Muhamad
PLN Indonesia Institute of High Voltage & High Current (IVAT)
Jakarta, Indonesia Faculty of Electrical Engineering
mat_623@yahoo.com, joko_muslim@yahoo.com Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
yzarief@fke.utm.my, norasiah@fke.utm.my

Masayuki Hikita, Masahiro Kozako, and Takashi Suzuki, Satoshi Hatada, Akinori Kanetani,
Motoo Tsuchie and Takaaki Kano
Department of Electrical and Electronics Chemical Research Laboratories,
Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu, Japan Research & Development Headquarters
hikita@ele.kyutech.ac.jp Lion Corporation, Tokyo, Japan

Suwarno and Umar Khayam

School of Electrical Engineering and Informatics
Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB)
Bandung, Indonesia
suwarno@stei.itb.ac.id

AbstractPartial discharge (PD) properties and dissolved gas I. INTRODUCTION

analysis (DGA) are investigated on two kinds of fatty acid alkyl
esters synthesized from palm oil with additive, namely Pastell
2H-08 and Palm Fatty Acid Ester (PFAE) to be adopted in power
transformers. For comparison, the properties of mineral oil
which is commercially used transformer oil were also
investigated in the research works. The results revealed that PD
repetition rate number of the ester oils with additive increase
remarkably at above 15 kVrms of voltage application than that of
mineral oil. PD charge of ester oils with additive tends to saturate
at about 10,000 pC, while PD charge of mineral oil seems to
keep increasing with increasing the applied voltage at above 20
kVrms. The amounts of generated hydrocarbon gases in ester oils
with the additive are higher than that of mineral oil. It is found
that combustible gas pattern of the ester oils with the additive are
different from that of conventional mineral oil. Duval analysis of
ester oils with additive and mineral oil are classified as high
energy electrical discharge, while for mineral oil is classified as
low energy electrical discharge.
Keywords-ester oil; alternative insulating oil; biodegradable oil;
palm-based oil; partial discharge; dissolved gas analysis; Duval
analysis.
For oil-filled power transformer, insulating oil made of
mineral (hereafter called mineral oil) is usually used. Recent
reports have appeared on the development and practical use of
environmentally friendly insulating oil for aiming at the
construction of circular type society [1-4]. Among them, ester
family insulating oils (ester oil) have good biodegradability
and safety owing to high burning point compared with mineral
oil [5-7].
The PD characteristics and dissolved gas analysis (DGA) of
fatty acid alkyl esters synthesized from palm oil, fatty acid
methyl ester synthesized from soybean oil and fatty acid
methyl ester synthesized from rice bran oil having low
viscosity have been performed in the previous research
works[8]. In this study, we investigated the PD characteristics
of two kinds of fatty acid alkyl esters synthesized from palm
oil with additive, namely Pastell 2H-08 and Palm Fatty Acid
Ester (PFAE). For comparison, the properties of commercially
used transformer oil, namely mineral oil is also investigated.
DGA was made for the oil samples suffering PD at high
voltage application. The purpose of this study is to examine

978-1-4799-6402-4/14/$31.00 2014 IEEE 232

10B2-4 The 2nd IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy
ICPERE 2014

the relation between PD and DGA results of esters oil from
palm oil as insulating material.
II. EXPERIMENTAL
A. Oil Samples Preparation
Two kinds of fatty acid alkyl esters synthesized from palm
oil with additive, namely Pastell 2H-08 and Palm Fatty Acid
Ester (PFAE) were used in this study. A commercially
available mineral oil was also taken in this study for
comparison.
The PD experiment was conducted with each kind of oil of
350 ml after expelling any remaining air. The sample oil
flowed into the test chamber by vacuuming it for 30 min.
Then, it was dehydrated and deaerated with a filtering tube
made of glass installed on the upper electrode.
B. Partial Discharge (PD) Measurement
Fig. 1 shows experimental circuit for measuring PD pulses
occurring in the oil samples. PD pulse was detected by PD
detector circuit (manufactured by NKS Co. Ltd. Japan, type
CD-6) and recorded with an oscilloscope (Tektronix
DPO7054, 500MHz) so as to obtain the repetition rate and
average charge of PD. A needle to plane electrode was used as
an electrode system. The tip radius of the needle made of
tungsten carbide was 0.01 mm. To avoid breakdown in the oil,
acrylic board with 2.4 mm in thickness was placed on the
plane electrode with a gap distance 1 mm between the surface
of the board and the needle electrode. Fig. 2 shows the detail
illustration of the electrode configuration. The number of PD
pulses and charge were measured by applying ac voltage in
the range of 920 kVrms, 60 Hz to the electrode system with a
step of 1 kVrms which was kept for 2 minutes at each applied
voltage.
than 50 pulses at voltage range of 915kVrms. Meanwhile, at
voltage application above 15kVrms, the PD repetition rate of
the ester oils increase remarkably than that of mineral oil as
shown in Fig. 3. Note that the PD repetition rate of ester oils
with additive is much more higher than that of mineral oil
because these ester oils have much higher dissipation factor
(tan) compared with mineral oil. It is considered that when
voltage application increased, the enhanced electric field
inside the oil also increases and therefore PD rapidly occurs in
higher dissipation factor of oils. Table 1 shows the main
properties of ester oil (PFAE) and mineral oil.
As can be seen from Fig. 4, PD charge of ester oils tend to
saturate at about 10,000 pC, while PD charge of mineral oil
seems to keep increase by increasing the applied voltage
above 20 kVrms. This result agrees with previous research for
PD charge of mineral oil, namely the charge quantity saturated
to about 50,000 pC [9].
PD Test Chamber
Needle electrode
Acrylic board
Plane electrode
Figure 2. Electrode configuration of PD test inside the test chamber

C. Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) Test

Dissolved gas analysis of the two kinds of palm ester oil
family with additive (Pastell 2H-08 and PFAE) and mineral oil
was conducted after 2 hours of PD test in the oil was
completed at 17 kVrms. The head space method was used for
extraction of the dissolved gas in the oil. The DGA was made
for hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), ethane (C2H6), ethylene
(C2H4), acetylene (C2H2), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon Figure 3. Voltage dependence of PD repetition number for all oil samples.
dioxide (CO2) with a gas chromatograph (Shimazu; Model
GC-2014). This integrated system can prevent the influence of
external factors and shorten the measurement time because all
processes can be done in a single chamber.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. PD Properties
Fig. 3 shows the repetition rate of PD pulses occurring for
120 s at voltage application of 920 kVrms for all of oil
samples. Fig. 4 shows the average charge of all samples at the
same range of voltage application. The results revealed that
PD repetition rate of all oil samples have similar number; less
Figure 4. Average charge of oil samples against applied voltage.

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10B2-4 The 2nd IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy
ICPERE 2014

Transformer
100 V : 25 kV

100 k
Damping Resistor

Oscilloscope Gas Tight

Syringe

100 V 1000 pF
Coupling Capacitor

CD6
TCD FID

Gas Chromatograph

Integrator

Figure 1. Experimental setup for PD measurement and released gas collecting for DGA

TABLE I. COMPARISON OF PROPERTIES OF PFAE AND MINERAL OIL additive caused by PD compared with conventional mineral
Properties PFAE Mineral Oil oil, particularly for ethylene (C2H4).
Other investigation of arcing faults on soy-based
Density (40C ) [g/cm3] 0.86 0.88
commercial biodegradable oil revealed that this biodegradable
Pour point [C] -32.5 -45 oil produced same types of hydrocarbon gases as mineral oil
Flash point [C] 176 152 with acetylene and hydrogen as the main gases together with a
Kinetic viscosity(40C ) [mm2/s] 5.06 8.13 small amount of other gases for test cell with pressboard.
However, this biodegradable oil produced higher amount of
Total acid value [mgKOH/g] 0.005 <0.01
hydrogen gas compared to mineral oil when tested without the
Moisture content [ppm] 15 <10
pressboard [10]. The similar DGA results also were found in
Breakdown voltage [kV/2.5mm] 81 70~75 the same type of biodegradable oil which was filled in a
Relative permittivity(80C ) 2.95 2.2 132 kV, 50 MVA power transformer [1, 4].
tan(80C ) % 0.31 0.001
12
Volume resistivity(80C ) cm 7.110 7.61015

PFAE exhibits larger number of PD pulses than mineral oil

under the inhomogenous electric field. These inferior PD
properties of PFAE and Pastell 2H-08 than mineral oil seem to
be similar tendency of other vegetable oils [5].
B. DGA Results
Fig. 5 shows the result of the amount of generated
hydrocarbon gases caused by PD during a given tested period
for the ester oils and mineral oil. It is obvious in the figure
that amount of generated hydrocarbon gases in the ester oils
except hydrogen is higher than that of mineral oil. It is found Figure 5. Generated hydrocarbon gases for all oil samples
that combustible gas pattern of the ester oil is different from
that of conventional mineral oil.
Fig. 6 shows the evolved hydrocarbon gases per PD pulse
for the ester oils and mineral oils. As clearly can be seen from
the figure, hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), and acetylene
(C2H2) are remarkably high in mineral oil compared with both
ester oils. Fig. 7 shows amount of generated CO and CO2
gases during the tested period for the ester oils and mineral oil.
It is obvious that generated CO is much less than CO2 caused
by PD for all of oil samples. Unlike results found in previous
research works that less amount of combustible gases were
obviously generated for large molecular structure of ester oils
[8], in this research works, it is found that remarkable Figure 6. Evolved hydrocarbon gases for all oil samples
combustible gases were generated in the ester oils with

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10B2-4 The 2nd IEEE Conference on Power Engineering and Renewable Energy
ICPERE 2014

(c) Mineral oil

Figure 7. Generated CO and CO2 volume for all of oil samples. Figure 8. Duval triangle analysis of all oil samples

The difference in the dissolved gas analysis classification

Table 2 shows the classification according to Duval analysis
arises from the fact that PDs are more likely to produce
of the ester oils and mineral oil. The Duval triangle of the oil
acetylene in mineral oil, while ethylene for the palm oils.
samples is also shown in Fig. 8. It is found that the cause of
For other electrical insulation properties, such as
the dissolved gases for both ester oils is classified as high
breakdown voltage and PDIV, PFAE exhibits superior PDIV
energy electrical discharge, while for mineral oil as low
to mineral oil in case of the composite insulation system [11,
energy electrical discharge.
12] and similar properties of breakdown and PDIV with other
TABLE 2. CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO DUVAL ANALYSIS OF OIL SAMPLES biodegradable oil (FR3). For instance, Fig. 9 shows PDIV of
mineral oil and PFAE for a section model of transformer
Pastell 2H-08 with PFAE with windings. It is obviously seen that PDIV of PFAE higher than
Mineral Oil
Gas additive additive
nl % nl % nl %
that of mineral oil. Thus, transformer manufactures should
CH4 6403.09 23.25 3602.58 19.98 1531.03 35.97 consider the esters' properties to make insulation design as the
C2H4 12074.81 43.85 8214.46 45.55 770.09 18.09 esters have various superiorities such as high flash point and
C2H2 9060.16 32.90 6217.54 34.48 1955.79 45.94 high water solvent etc.
Total 27538.06 18034.58 4256.91
D1 (Low
D2 (High Energy D2 (High Energy
Classificat- Energy
ion
Electrical Electrical
Electrical
Discharge) Discharge)
Discharge)

(a) Pastell 2H-08 with additive

Figure 9. PD inception voltage of mineral oil and PFAE in the composite

insulation model (section model of transformer windings) [11].

IV. CONCLUSION
(b) PFAE with additive
Partial discharge (PD) measurements were performed with
the palm-based ester oils with additive and conventional
mineral oil in this research work. Furthermore, dissolved gas
analysis (DGA) was made for the oil samples suffering PD at
HVAC application. The obtained results are summarized as
follows.

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10B2-4
PD repetition rate number of the ester oils with additive
increased more remarkably above 15kVrms than that of mineral
oil. PD charge of ester oils with additive tended to saturate at
about 10,000 pC, while PD charge of mineral oil seemed to
keep increase by increasing the applied voltage above
20 kVrms. The amounts of generated hydrocarbon gases in the
ester oils with additive were higher than that of mineral oil. It
is also found that combustible gas pattern of the ester oils with
additive was different from that of conventional mineral oil.
The classification according to Duval analysis of the ester oils
with additive and mineral oil revealed that the cause of the
generated gases for both the ester oils were classified as high
energy electrical discharge, while for mineral oil as low
energy electrical discharge.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM), for the use of facilities and by awarding a
research university grants (GUP) under vote number 04H67
and 08H65, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation
(MOSTI) under grant eScience vote number 4S101, and
Ministry of Education (MOE) under grant FRGS vote number
4F515.Y. Z. Arief would also like to thank The Hitachi
Foundation for awarding The Hitachi Research Fellowship
2012 to perform this research works at Kyushu Institute of
Technology.
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