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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

MONITORING OF DIELECTRIC LOSSES AT CAPACITOR-TYPE


BUSHINGS
DOREL NEDELCUT,
Research, Development and Testing National Institute for Electrical Engineering –ICMET
Craiova, Calea Bucuresti, 144
ROMANIA
dnedelcut@icmet.ro http://www.icmet.ro
DUMITRU SACERDOTIANU
Research, Development and Testing National Institute for Electrical Engineering –ICMET
Craiova, Calea Bucuresti, 144
ROMANIA
micro@icmet.ro http://www.icmet.ro

Abstract: - At present, the tendency to implement the condition-based maintenance (CBM), which allows the
optimization of the expenses for equipment monitoring, is more and more evident; also, the transformer substations
with remote monitoring are increasingly used. This paper reviews all the advantages of the on-line monitoring and
presents an equipment for on-line monitoring of bushings, which is the own contribution of specialists who are the
authors of this paper. The paper presents a study of the temperature field, using the finite element method. For
carrying out this study, the 3D modelling of the above mentioned bushing was performed. The analysis study is
done taking into account the extreme thermal stresses, focusing at the level of the first cooling wing section of the
ceramic insulator. This fact enables to justify the tanδ variation in time, depending on the transformer loading and
the environmental conditions.

Key words: - Bushing; capacitor; insulator; transformer.

1 Introduction equipment life time and the decrease of the risks of


Power transmission and distribution systems from the failure in exploitation with grave consequences.
economically developed countries are already aged Based on the authors’ experience in the field of
being, in many cases, more than 30 years old. All the monitoring of electric networks parameters and power
fixed assets of the power systems have a standardized transformers thermal condition [2], a digital
life time of maximum 30 years. equipment for the monitoring of bushings insulation,
From now on, any equipment is in danger to fail at with an original conception, was finalized .
any times with no previous warning.
Under these conditions the on-line monitoring is one
of the most useful methods for prolonging the life 2. Contributions to the condition-based
time up to the failure time limit and for replacing the maintenance of the bushings by their
assets or recovering them in the last moment.
Because the bushing is a key element in the operation
monitoring
of electrical power equipment, its safe operation is a
special issue because its degradation leads, in many 2.1. The importance of on-line monitoring of
cases, to the explosions followed by fires with very bushings
grave consequences for the stations and the The damage of bushings is one of the main causes
substations. leading to the improper operation of the transformers
If up to the present the time-based maintenance or even to the explosions. The statistics confirmed that
(TBM), with periodical revisions, was used, in the last 30% of the transformer damages are due to capacitor-
years one tries to find solutions to pass to the type bushings. The European statistics show that 80%
condition-based maintenance (CBM) which allows the of the damaged bushings are between 12 and 20 years
minimization of the costs, the prolongation of old and therefore the monitoring is necessary even

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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

before the middle of their life time [1]. - use of a modified Schering bridge, where special
The high electric field gradients in the bushing methods are taken for suppressing the disturbances
insulation and the high working temperature (standard capacitor supplied at the low voltage side of
contribute to the acceleration of insulation ageing. a voltage transformer connected on the same phase as
The explosion of the bushing can damage the the tested object, replacement of the conventional null
transformer tank, can generate an extended fire by indicator by a microcontroller-based measuring device
transformer oil ignition, and fire in the bundle of fitted out with adaptive filtration).The equipment has
cables in the electric switch box or in the control room in its structure standard components which require
through the secondary wiring. special metrological verifications, is bulky and could
A damage of the bushing leads to financial losses be achieved with high costs.
(between 1 and 3 million of dollars) to the insurers, The equipment achieved by this method
both for physical damages and for the disturbances implementation allows monitoring the dielectric
of the affairs in the companies they are serving.. dissipation factor (tan δ), but is very expensive.
These losses can reach, in exceptional situations, tens - vector addition of the capacitive currents of the
million of dollars. bushings mounted on the three phases and detection of
The explosion can generate material damages and the unbalance current (Fig.1)
human life losses because of the porcelain pieces
spread at long distance and with a very high speed.
The traditional diagnosis systems of the bushing
insulation are based on periodical measurements of
insulation loss factor, once within 2-3 years. In such
case, it is necessary to put the transformers out of
service and to measure tanδ at an applied voltage of
10 kV. The disadvantages of this traditional method
for monitoring the bushing insulation are the
following:
-The testing frequency arbitrarily chosen is not Figure 1 - Block diagram of capacitive current
usually correlated with the failure rate development. acquisition
The practice proved that the period between the Where:
measurements must not exceed 100 days to detect A, B, C – bushings under potential
95% from the defective bushings, and this is C1 - main capacity of the bushing
practically unacceptable;
C2 - capacity of the last layer of the bushing
-The measurements for tanδ performed at an applied
voltage of 10 kV are not relevant for the actual I A , I B , I C - capacitive currents acquired at the
condition of the bushing insulation. The bushing measuring terminals
measurements at rated voltage, performed on the IΣ - vector adder
bushings where partial discharges appear, showed
values of 5-8 times higher than those measured at 10
On the basis of the analysis on the magnitude and
kV. The oil deterioration at high temperatures
generates chemical modifications and sediment phase of the unbalance current ∆I Σ (Fig.2) the degree
accumulations leading to the failures of the bushings. of modification for the dielectric properties of
The detection of this type of fault at the voltage of 10 bushings is found; the disadvantage is that it does not
kV can be very difficult, even by tanδ measurement at present on line the value of tan δ for each bushing.
the rated voltage.
-The traditional testing methods require a lot of work
and the putting out of service for a long time.
By these reasons it is preferable to use on-line
monitoring methods for the bushings.
Bushing monitoring methods known at present are
presented below:

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where : p θ are the specific volume losses (v = the


volume of dielectric) at the temperature θ and, at the
stress with the electric field having the strength E:
P p ⋅ v ⋅ E2 pθ ⋅ S ⋅ d ⋅ E2
Ia = = θ = = p θ ⋅ S ⋅ E (6)
a) b) c) d) U E⋅d E⋅d
S
Ir = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ f ⋅ U ⋅ C = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ f ⋅ E ⋅ d ⋅ ⋅ ε0 ⋅ εr =
a) balanced bushings d (7)
b) determination of the initial unbalance current, I 0 Σ ; = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ f ⋅ εo ⋅ εr ⋅ S ⋅ E
c) determination of the unbalance current I Σ , and I pθ
tan δ = a = (8)
sum current ∆I Σ , taking also into account the initial Ir 2 ⋅ π ⋅ f ⋅ ε0 ⋅ εr
unbalance current I 0 Σ ; The phasor diagram is presented in the figure 3:
d) determination of the unbalance current ∆I Σ ,
modulus and phase, related the phase B Ia

Figure 2 - Determination of the unbalance current Ic


∆I Σ

3. Digital equipment for on-line


Figure 3 – The phasor diagram
monitoring of bushings
The dielectric losses of a bushing are:
For on-line monitoring of bushings it is ideal to
P = U ⋅ I a = U ⋅ I r ⋅ tan δ = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ f ⋅ U 2 ⋅ C ⋅ tan δ
(9)
monitor the time variation of dielectric losses and of
bushings own capacity. The used measuring diagram presented in the figure 4
In a quasi-homogeneous dielectric, in homogeneous is the classical one.
electric field, the losses in dielectric depend on the U
electric field strength and temperature. The losses
I
increase proportionally to the square of the electric R1
C1
field strength but they strongly depend also on the Ux Uy
Ux=aI
temperature θ in dielectric [6], [8]. Uy=bU
1
P(θ ) = ε 0 ε r (θ) ⋅ E 2 ⋅ ω tan δ(θ)
C2 r R2
(4)
2
At high electric fields, the losses have even more
accentuated increase related to the electric field C1, C2 - bushing or CT under test
strength. R1, R2 - high voltage resistive divider
The heat produced by Joule losses from the central
(capacitive divider or voltage
conductor of the bushing generate also a temperature
transformer)
rise in the insulating material, which overlaps on that
r - additional shunt resistor
one due to the dielectric losses.
r << XC2
Because of dielectric losses, the alternating current
which passes through a bushing is not purely reactive After calibration φ[Ux ,Uy] ~ k tgδ
Ir, but it has an active component Ia named leakage Figure 4 – The measuring diagram
current.
Let us consider an elementary capacitor with the aria The equipment, [9] (Fig.6), is composed by an unit for
of the armature S, the thickness d, at the voltage U signals conditioning and adaptation (UCAS), which
and the frequency f, which has the losses P: takes over the current information from the test taps of
P = pθ ⋅ v ⋅ E2 (5) the transformer bushings through the adapters Ac(A),
Ac(B), Ac(C), Ac(a), Ac(b), Ac(c) and the reference

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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

voltage information corresponding to each bushing,


from the secondary measuring winding of measuring
voltage transformers through the adapters AU(A),
AU(B), AU(C), AU(a), AU(b), AU(c) and applies them
at the inputs of two microcontrollers which perform
the sampling, the storage and the transmission of the
signals through the adapting blocks (BA1), (BA2),
(MUX) towards the microcontroller of the central
processing unit (UC). These ones perform the
calculation of the dielectric loss factor, using a Fourier
series algorithm for the decomposition of the non-
sinusoidal periodic current and voltage signals,
measurement of phase displacement between the
fundamentals of the voltage and current signals, the
calculation and the display of tan δ and currents
measured at the terminals on the alphanumeric display Figure 5 – The block diagram of on-line
(LCD), the creation of a data base in the external monitoring equipment for tan δ
memory of the central unit, the generation of light
signals and energizing of relay contacts when The current adapters perform the conversion of the
exceeding the thresholds rated for alarm, the bushing leakage current in voltage signal in phase
communication with a compatible computer IBM-PC with that one. Their construction is compact and they
for the data visualization, the setting of parameters, replace the short-circuiting switch existing at the
alarms and the archive downloading. measuring terminal of the bushing achieving the same
The proposed solution has the following advantages: protection degree.
- it solves the problem of monitoring the evolution The conversion is done by non-inductive resistive
of loss dielectric factor , tan δ , current at the elements and very low capacities. Over-voltage
terminals of the bushings afferent to the power protective elements are foreseen.
transformers; For each monitored bushing the method presumes the
- it allows the identification of the bushing with high acquisition of two signals: one signal taken over from
dielectric losses by activating the corresponding the test tap of the bushing and the second signal,
alarm; representing the reference voltage, taken over from
- it carries out the rejection of the disturbances the instrument transformer corresponding to the
generated by climatic and electric factors, by the monitored bushing [3].
implementation of a numerical recursive filter; The taken over signals have non-sinusoidal periodical
- it allows the calculation of the bushing own character and they have the following form:

capacity and its monitoring. f ( t ) = A 0 + ∑ [M k ⋅ cos(kωt ) + N k ⋅ sin (kωt )] (10)
The voltage adapters are step-down transformers k =1

especially calculated without phase angle error in the


measuring range. The implemented program performs the calculation of
These ones assure: tan δ by the extraction of fundamentals from the
- the practical elimination of the phase sampled signals by a Fourier analysis algorithm.
displacements between the primary and the The calculation algorithm presumes:
secondary; - determination of the coefficients Mk and Nk for the
- the elimination of the earth loops; fundamentals of the two signals (k=1)
- the elimination of the disturbing signals. 2T
To eliminate the phase difference on the secondary M 1 = ∫ f ( t ) cos(ωt )dt (11)
T0
one mounts a resistive load in order to carry out a 2T
constant consumption and to eliminate the time N 1 = ∫ f ( t ) sin(ωt )dt (12)
T0
variation of the phase differences.
The coefficients M1 and N1 are determined for each
acquired quantity.

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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

- determination of initial phases of the taking into account the Joule losses in the terminal
fundamentals and the dielectric losses in the capacitor, also their
M M' variation with temperature. The external temperature
ϕ1 = arctan 1 (13) ϕ1' = arctan '1 (14)
N1 N1 is considered as being given: θ e .
where, The calculation model is presented in Figure 7. The
ϕ1 = the initial phase of the fundamental of rated current IN flows through the terminal with
the signal taken over from the measuring diameter de, generating on the unit of length the Joule
terminal of the bushing; losses [11]:
4
ϕ1' = the initial phase of the fundamental of P0 = k r ⋅ ρ 0 ⋅ (1 + α 0 ⋅ θ 0 ) ⋅ ⋅ I N2 (20)
reference signal taken over from the π ⋅ d e2
measuring terminals of the voltage
transformer corresponding to the measured
bushing.
Noting: δ 1 = ϕ1 − ϕ1' (15)
The loss dielectric factor is:
tan δ = tan (90 0 − δ 1 ) (16)
For non-sinusoidal state we have:
1
u = ∫ idt (17)
C
du ∞
i=C = ∑ 2kCωU k (18)
Figure 7 – Bushing calculation model
dt 1
From here:
Here, kr is the skin effect factor, ρ0 is the resistivity of
I k = kCωU k (19)
the terminal material and α0 is the temperature
Thus, by calculation, the own capacity of the bushing coefficient at 0°C, and θ0 is the terminal temperature
is obtained. in °C.
Further on, the increasing factor for the resistance of
the solid circular cylindrical conductor is calculated.
One considers the case the solid circular cylindrical
conductor with diameter d, resistivity ρr and
temperature coefficient αr at the reference temperature
θr and relative permeability µ r, in sinusoidal
alternating current having the frequency f.
One calculates firstly the resistivity ρ0 and the
temperature coefficient α0 at 0°C:
αr
ρ 0 = ρ r ⋅ (1 − α r ⋅ θ r ), α 0 = (21)
1 − α r ⋅θ r
One notes:
d 2 ⋅π ⋅ f ⋅ µ0 ⋅ µ r
Figure 6 – Monitoring equipment mounted in the ξ0 = ⋅ (22)
station 4 ρ0
ξ0
ξ= (23)
1 + α 0 ⋅θ
4. Calculation of bushing heating under
if θ is the conductor temperature.
long time duty and thermal capacity From the theory of the skin effect, the following
expression of the complex inner impedance of the
The calculation is performed in a covering manner,
cylindrical conductor is set:
supposing that the axial thermal flux is neglected, but

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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

ζ ⋅ J 0 ⋅ (2 ⋅ ζ ) Note – the factor kz has the significance


Z i = Rel i + j ⋅ X el i = Rel 0 ⋅ k z ; k z =
J 1 ⋅ (2 ⋅ ζ ) j ⋅ x0 ⋅ k x
kr + , where x0 is the inner reractance at
(24) Rel 0
where Rel 0 is the direct current resistance of the
conductor: x0 ξ2
direct current distribution: = to the
4⋅l Rel 0 2
Rel 0 = ρ 0 ⋅ (1 + α 0 ⋅ θ ) ⋅ (25)
π ⋅d2 cylindrical conductor. kx is the factor for changing the
By ζ the complex variable was symbolized: inner reactance of the cylindrical conductor, due to the
skin effect.
ζ = ξ ⋅ j 3/ 2 (26) Observation – For bushings with rated currents up to
and J0 and J1 are Bessel functions of first kind, order 2500 A the skin effect within the current path could be
0 and 1. neglected.
Taking into account the shape of the series giving Coming back to the Figure 7, the terminal is inside the
these functions: guiding tube with inner diameter di. It results a

J 0 ⋅ (2 ⋅ ζ ) = ∑

(− 1)
k
⋅ ζ 2k (27)
thermal resistance per unit of length:
1 d 1 d − de
k =0 (k !) 2
R0 = ⋅ ln i ≈ ⋅ i (33)
2 ⋅ π ⋅ λu de π ⋅ λu d i + d e
J 1 ⋅ (2 ⋅ ζ ) = ζ ∑

( − 1)
k
⋅ ζ 2k (28) Towards the environment, the terminal is bounded by
k =0 (k!) ⋅ (k + 1)
2
a flange with outer diameter df and it transmits heat to
The following expression is derived: the environment with temperature θe by a release
∞ ∞
factor αe (16 - 32 W/m2 C). It results a thermal
1
4
1
1− ζ 2 + ⋅ζ 4 − ⋅ζ 6 + K
36
∑a
0
k ∑ (u
0
k + j ⋅ vk )
resistance per unit of length
kz = = k
= ∞
1 1 1 1
1− ⋅ζ 2 + ⋅ζ 4 −
2 12 144
⋅ζ 6 + K ∑b k ∑ (x k + j ⋅ yk ) Re = (34)
0 0
π ⋅αe ⋅ d f
(29)
The coefficients of the series from the numerator and If the bushing flange is fixed on the transformer tank,
denominator are determined step by step, using the one could consider Re≈0, and for θe the maximum
algorithm: temperature of the oil at the level of transformer cap
(θe ≈ 90°C) is taken.
2 a
a1 = 1 and then a k +1 = − a k ⋅  ζ  şi b k = k The capacitor bushing itself is made of n layers
 k + 1 k +1 numbered 1....n, from inside towards outside. The
(30) layer numbered by k is comprised between the
respectively u1 = 1 and then diameters dk-1 and dk, has a middle temperature θk, the
uk x vk y voltage Uk is applied on it; dielectric losses per unit of
xk = , vk = ξ 2 ⋅ k , yk = , u k +1 = −ξ 2 ⋅ k
2k + 1 2k + 1 2k + 2 2k + 2 length, Pk, are developed within the layer. On each
(31) diameter dk an enclosure (foil) with axial length lk is
The series being with oscillating sign terms, they are located. The geometric permeance per unit of length
added until the modulus of the added term decreases for the layer k is symbolized by Λk :
below the modulus of the sum multiplied with relative 2π d + d k −1
tolerance.
Λk = ≈π ⋅ k , k ∈ (1, n ) (35)
dk d k − d k −1
The algorithm is a stable one, in simple accuracy, up ln
d k −1
to ξ = 5 , limit sufficient for practice. Further on,
The dielectric losses per unit of length for the layer k
asymptotic developments could be used.
are expressed as:
The factor for increasing the resistance, kr , represents
the real part of the factor k z .
Pk = pd ⋅ Λ k ⋅ eσ (θ k −θ d ) ⋅ U k2 , k ∈ (1, n ) (36)
where pd is the volume density of the dielectric losses
Rel i
kr = = Re⋅ (k z ) (32) at reference temperature θd and for the unit of electric
Rel 0 field strength, and σ is the temperature coefficient for
the exponential variation of specific losses.

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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

Note – In general, the relation from below is valid: from bushing inside and outside (calculated by the
pd = 2 ⋅ π ⋅ f ⋅ ε 0 ⋅ ε r ⋅ tgδ (37) relation 42) Temperatures are immediately determined
by the relation:
where f is the frequency, ε0 is the vacuum k

permittivity, εr is the dielectric relative permittivity θ k = θ k +1 + Z k ⋅ ∑ Pi , k ∈ (0, n ) (43)


i =0
and δ is the loss angle. Because losses depend on temperature, directly or by
The voltage Uk applied to the layer results from the means of voltage distribution on layers, the resolution
voltage Um applied to the bushing (43) is iteratively resumed, correcting each time the
Sk losses in accordance with the previously calculated
Uk =Um ⋅ n
, k ∈ (1, n ) (38)
temperatures, until a stationary solution (fixed point)
∑S
i =1
i is got. During the experimentations improvements
were made in order to reduce the influence of tan δ
where by Sk the elastance of the layer k was variation with the load, with the environment factors
expressed: and with the electromagnetic disturbances, filtering
1
Sk = , k ∈ (1, n ) (39) the disturbing influences [4], [10], [12], [13]. It is
ε 0 ⋅ ε k ⋅ Λ k ⋅ lk necessary to get the variation tendency from the
monitored data, using an adequate filter for
By ε k it was noted the relative permittivity of the eliminating the influences of the disturbing factors
dielectric from layer k, which may depend on the and for allowing to pass only the slowly variable
temperature by means of the relation: component of the losses in the main insulation.
ε k = ε d ⋅ eζ (θk −θ d ) , k ∈ (1, n ) (40) Without any influence, the variation of the dielectric
loss factor series would be very slow. Because of the
εd is the relative permittivity of the dielectric at the influence of everyday and seasonal variations of the
reference temperature θ d , and ζ is the temperature environment temperature and humidity the variation
coefficient. of the dielectric loss factor is cyclic. Besides, for the
The thermal resistance of the layer k is expressed by influence of the random effect of signal and
the relation: electromagnetic disturbances transmission to a
1 substation, there are many singular points in the data.
Rk = , k ∈ (0, n + 1) (41) Therefore the series of the on-line monitored
λ ⋅ Λk dielectric loss factor (tanδm) can be decomposed in the
where λ is the thermal conductibility of the following way [7]:
dielectric. The diagram for bushing heating tanδm(t) = tanδ(t) + ∆tanδw(t) + ∆tanδr(t) (44)
calculation is given in Figure 8: where: -tanδ(t) is the main component which reflects
One makes the notations: the actual condition of the insulation which
can be considered as the component with slow
R1 R + Rk +1 R variation;
Z 0 = R0 + R0' + ; Zk = k , k ∈ (1, n - 1); Z n = n + Re + Re'
2 2 2 -∆tanδw(t) is the component which reflects the
(42) everyday and seasonal influences on the
environment and of other factors with slow
variation (e.g. the load variation) and can be
considered as the low frequency component;
-∆tanδr(t) is the component which reflects the
influences of the random factors including
unusual climatic conditions, electromagnetic
disturbances, etc. (its frequency band is wide
and in the greatest part it is in the high
Figure 8 – Diagram for bushing heating calculation
frequency section).
If the tendency for tanδ(t) can be deducted from the
where by R0' şi R 'e there were expressed the thermal initial data, the efficiency of the fault diagnosis can be
resistances of the possible buffer layers, no voltage, much improved. If an adequate software recurrent

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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

filter is applied each component can be got directly nature


from the loss coefficient series. The dielectric loss Result: tan ∂ = tan ∂ 0 exp[a (θ − θ 0 )] (47)
factor, tanδ, is filtered according to the relation: For the bushings with resin-lacquered paper insulation
tan δ pm − tan δ p −1 , as a results of the laboratory experiments, the
tan δ pa = tan δ p −1 + (45) variation of tanδ as a function of temperature is as
k
where: tan δ pa = the present displayed value shown in Figure 10:
tan δ p-1 = the previous value (measured and
displayed)
tan δ pm = the present measured value
k = the filtration coefficient
The interval between the readings is of the order of
minutes. It is possible to attenuate random influences
with a relatively short duration (minutes, hours and
possibly days). As a result tanδ(t) is obtained when
both the high frequency component and the low
frequency one are eliminated. The filtration method is
useful because it reduces the complexity of the
diagnosis since the data can be directly processed,
without the need of extended samples. The Figure0 9
show, as example, the time variations of tanδ in a
high-voltage substation at a transformer of 250 MVA,
Figure 10 - The variation of tanδ as a function of
400/200 kV.
temperature

From here, the explanation of the very high variation


of the dielectric losses in the course of one day and,
especially, the dependence on the network load
variation can be very clearly obtained.
The application of this information is very useful
because it confirms this accuracy of the measurements
performed with this monitoring equipment placing
confidence in this equipment utilization for protecting
the capacitor-type bushings, the high power
Figure 9 – The time variation of tanδ at the transformer, key-factors in the good operation of
bushings on the outputs of 400 kV power systems, implicitly.

5. Dependence of dielectric loss 6. Conclusions


variation on the load factors and This work presents the advantages of on-line
environmental conditions monitoring and especially of on-line continuous
By analysing the got results, it is noticed the identical monitoring of the bushings on the power transformers.
behaviour of the dielectric layers, namely a significant On-line monitoring methods for the own capacity of
increase of the average temperature, due to the the bushings are known. These ones present the
increase of the environmental temperature, especially disadvantage that information concerning the
in the hours of load peak (17 – 22), even when the variation of the losses in dielectric and implicitly the
environmental temperature decreases significantly. ageing of the insulation is unknown. Other equipment
But the material parameter depends also on the monitors the vector addition of the capacitive currents
temperature, according to the relation: through the insulation of the bushings and it detects
p θ = p θ ⋅ exp[a (θ − θ 0 )]
0
(46) their residual current; thus, it is sent information
concerning the degradation of a bushing without
where „a” is a constant depending on the dielectric

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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on ENVIRONMENT and DEVELOPMENT Dorel Nedelcut, Dumitru Sacerdotianu

detecting which one it is.The method is used Conference on Live Maintenance – ICOLIM
especially in the United States where there are utilized – 2004”, Bucureşti, România, 2004.
bushings with paper armatures having applied a semi- [4]. Nedelcuţ D., Bică M., Ţălu M., Monitoring
conducting varnish on them, which migrates in time in of Capacitor-Type Bushings Considerations
oil. Following this disequilibrium all the 3 capacitor- Regarding the Influence on Thermal Field
type bushings are replaced. The method presented in Distribution on Dielectric Losses, IASTED
this paper allows the early detection of the faulty Conference – Power and Energy Systems
bushing and its replacement before the appearance of EuroPES 2005, Benalmadena, Spain.
a failure danger. At present 12 pcs. of this type of [5] Nedelcuţ D., Marinescu A., Sacerdoţianu D.,
monitoring equipment are mounted and they are Pătru I., Purcaru I. - Equipment for on-line
continuously monitored by the authors, but until now monitoring of capacitor-type bushings,
no non-conformities were found in equipment CIGRE WORKING GROUP D1.02 Meeting,
operation. Romania, Eforie,2005
The presented method and equipment is the object of [6] Roth, A., Hochspannungstechnik, IV
author’s patent. edition, Wien, 1959
As a result of the experiments, the equipment has been [7] Wang N., Lu F.C., Li H.M., Analytical
provided with soft filtration enabling to remove the Processing of On-Line Monitored
influence of load variation and environmental factors Dissipation Factor Based on Morphological
on the variation of dielectric losses, making possible a Filter, IEEE, 2004
rigorous monitoring and just-in time alarm in case of a [8] Ifrim A., Notinger P., Electrotechnical
fault occurrence. Materials, EDP, Bucureşti, 1979
[9] Kuchler A., Neumann C., Koch N., Loppach
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