2008 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Chongqing, China, November 9-13, 2008

Study on the Influence of Copper Ion on Aging Rate

of Transformer Oil-paper Insulation
Chao Tang1*, Li-jun Yang1, Yun Feng2, Rui-jin Liao1, Jian Li1, Cai-xin Sun1
1
The State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology
Chongqing University, Chongqing, China, 400044
2
Sichuan Electric Power Test & Research Institute, Sichuan, 610072, China

Abstract- In order to analysis the influence of copper ion on The Kraft paper electrical grade was used. It has the
aging rate of oil-paper insulation, accelerate thermal aging technical performances according to the international standard
experiments have been designed and performed on oil-paper
insulation at two aging temperatures. A number of characteristic IEC 641-3-1, the paper was dried to have a moisture content
parameters such as dissolved gases, degree of polymerization, of <0.5%. Inhibited mineral insulating oil used in the
furfural content, water content and Acid number of oil have been experiments was provided by China Chongqing ABB Ltd. The
tested periodically. The experiments results indicate that copper oil was dried under vacuum and heated to moisture content of
ion has a great influence on insulation paper and oil during the less than 5 mg/kgoil. And its electrical index accords with
aging process; it delayed the degradation rate of insulation paper,
which reduced the ratio of CO2/CO by about 11% at 80C and IEC296-82 and ASTM D3487-1993 standards.
more than 50% at 130C. In addition, copper promotes the
oxidation of the oil and accelerates the aging rate.
Keywords: Oil-paper insulation, Aging rate, Copper Ion,
Power transformer.

I. INTRODUCTION
The insulation system of Power Transformer and other
electrical equipment are constituted mainly by mineral oil as
liquid insulation and cellulose paper as solid insulant. Many
of these power transformers within electric utilities around the
world are approaching the end of their design life. Insulation
degradation is a major concern for these aged transformers. In
order to make predictions about the life-time of transformer
insulation, it is necessary to obtain information about
degradation processes. Accelerated aging experiments which
try to simulate the aging process of oil-paper insulation
system have been reported by several workers [1-6]. And most
of these experiments focused on the influencing factors such
as oil types, paper types, inert gases, furfural content and so
on. Because of its stable physico-chemical properties, low
electrical resistivity, strong anti-corrosion capability, cooper is
widely used in power transformer. Meanwhile, copper acts as
a catalyst in accelerating the oxidative degradation of oil-
paper insulation. However, very little work has been reported
on the influence of copper ion on aging rate of oil-paper
insulation system.
In this paper, based on the modern diagnostic techniques,
accelerate thermal aging experiments under two temperatures,
including with and without copper for each temperature, are
performed in order to study the influence of copper ion on
aging rate.
Fig.1 Flowchart of the experiment
Experiments were performed on two groups of samples,
with and without copper. The proportion between oil and
paper is 10:1. The two groups of samples were put into two
aging chambers respectively and the aging temperatures are
80C and 130C. Every 10 days, 4 samples (2 temperatures,
with and without copper) were taken out and characteristic
parameters were measured.
Fig. 1 shows the flowchart of the experiment. First, cut the
new insulation paper strip into small scrolls and fastened, 5
gram each (Fig. 2).
Next, dry the insulation paper scrolls in vacuum chamber at
90C under vacuum (below 50 Pa) for 48 hours, then keep
vacuum state and immerse the paper scrolls in oil at 40C for
12 hours. Third, put the impregnated paper scrolls in flasks, 4
scrolls per flask, then inject new transformer oil in flasks by a
proportion of 10:1, and then put 50 cm2 copper (according to

II. EXPERIMENT

* Corresponding author: tangchao_1981@163.com

978-1-4244-2810-6/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE 570

 as DP (degree of polymerization), furfural content in oil,
dissolved gases in oil, acid number of oil, and also water
content of oil were measured.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

A. Dissolved gases analysis (DGA)

Fig.2 Insulation paper scrolls
practical proportion of Chongqing ABB Ltd.) in a half of the
flasks, then put all this flasks in vacuum chamber, after that
fill them with nitrogen and finally seal them (Fig. 3). Finally,
put half of the samples (with copper and without copper,
respectively) in aging chamber and aging at 80C in order to
simulate the service temperature, and put the others in another
aging chamber at 130C for accelerated aging.
Fig.3 Sealed aging samples
Every 10 days, 4 samples (2 temperatures, with and without
copper) were taken out. Some characteristic parameters such
Table 1: Results of dissolved gases analysis (L/L)
Samples Sampling time
The DGA technique and online monitoring of gases such as
hydrogen have been extensively reviewed elsewhere [7-9]. It
is well known that carbon monoxide is generated by pure oil
aging, as well as by aging of oil/cellulosic systems 4. While in
the same temperature, paper and pressboard produce much
more carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide than insulation oil
do, it become a main index for carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide in insulation oil to indicate the degree of deterioration
of paper and pressboard. Therefore, the ratio of CO2/CO is
sometimes used as an indicator of the thermal decomposition
of cellulose.
The decomposition of mineral oil produces relatively large
quantities of the low molecular weight gases, such as
hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4), and trace quantities of the
higher molecular weight gases ethylene (C2H4) and ethane
(C2H6) [10]. Therefore, the quantities the total hydrocarbons
(CH4 +C2H4+C2H6) are able to reflect degradation rate of
insulation oil. Tab.1 shows that oil samples with copper
produce 17.61L/L (10 days) and 93.37L/L (20 days) total
hydrocarbons at 130C, which is more than oil samples
without copper do by the rate of higher than 30%.
CO2/CO CH4 C2H4 C2H6 Total Hydrocarbons

Un-aged oil 0 days 28.51 0.77 0.13 0 0.90

80C with copper 10 days 38.08 1.39 0.49 0.29 2.17
20 days 36.97 2.07 0.63 0.65 3.35
80C without copper 10 days 43.41 1.26 0.29 0.18 1.73
20 days 41.27 1.94 0.84 0.49 3.27
130C with copper 10 days 70.15 14.03 7.36 5.89 27.28
20 days 30.51 30.82 29.32 10.46 70.6
130C without copper 10 days 133.10 10.35 3.21 4.05 17.61
20 days 89.73 45.1 20.67 27.6 93.37

B. . Degree of Polymerization (DP) analysis
DP measurement has been used as a diagnostic tool to
determine the condition of transformers by several workers
[11-13]. New Kraft paper has an average chain length of 1000
to 1500. After a long period of service at high temperature
with high content of water and oxygen, the paper becomes
brittle, changes color to dark brown and DP falls to 200 to 250.
It can be observed from Tab. 2 that when aging at 80C, the
DP of sample without copper decreases from 1244 to 1107,
the decline rates are 3.49% (10 days) and 14.12% (20 days), a
little faster than sample with copper (the original DP is 1289).
While at 130C, the same as at 80C, the DP of paper with
copper is even higher, obviously the paper sample with copper
undergoes a slower aging. Thus we can infer that copper ion
could delay aging rate of insulation paper. As for the decline
rate of DP, sample with copper will make approximately
1~8% decrease at 130C.

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 Table 2: Results of DP analysis (L/L)
Sampling time 80C 80C 130C 130C
with copper without copper with copper without copper

Un-aged Paper 1289 1289 1289 1289

10 days 1248 1244 462 448
(the decline rate of DP) (3.18%) (3.49%) (64.16%) (65.24%)
20 days 1124 1107 282 184
(the decline rate of DP) (12.80%) (14.12%) (78.12%) (85.73%)

on studying the variations in the furfural content during

C. Furfural content analysis
thermal aging.
The major compound resulting from the thermal The results of furfural content in oil are shown in Tab. 3. It
degradation of insulation paper is 2-furfural, the high is obviously that at both 80C and 130C, paper samples
concentration of it reveals considerable thermal degradation without copper produce more furfural, which indicate that it
of both the cellulose and hemicellulose [14, 15]. Since 2- degrade faster than samples with copper. And this is in good
furfural is considered to be a characteristic tracer of the agreement with the DP experimental results.
thermal degradation of cellulose, this section will be focused
Table 3: Furfural content in oil (mg/L)
Sampling time 80C 80C 130C 130C
with copper without copper with copper without copper

Un-aged Oil 0 0 0 0
10 days 0.0369 0.0374 3.0075 3.7834
20 days 0.0607 0.0863 5.7066 10.3887

water content [16].

D. Water content analysis
The results of water content in oil are shown in Tab. 4. At
Insulation oils, such as transformer oil, have a low affinity both temperatures, samples with copper have lower water
for water. Water accumulates in an aging transformer as a content in oil than samples without copper, which reflect
direct result of insulation paper aging. Moisture accumulation paper sample with copper has a lower deterioration rate.
has a significant effect on insulation life. In general, the rate
of thermal deterioration of the paper is proportional to its

Table 4: Water content in oil (mg/L)

Sampling time 80C 80C 130C 130C
with copper without copper with copper without copper
Un-aged Oil 8.6 8.6 8.6 8.6
10 days 16 20 74 149.5
20 days 34 35 49.5 87

have higher oil acid number, it mainly because the acids

E. Acid number of oil
accelerate the further oxidation of oils since they are the
As a direct parameter to reflect aging degree of insulation
intermediate in the oil degradation mechanisms, and this
oil, acid number of insulation oil is tested in this experiment,
reaction is catalyzed by copper ion in the windings and by
the results are shown in Tab.5. It can be seen than samples
copper alloys in aluminum windin.
with copper

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 Table 5. Results of acid number of oil (mgKOH/g)
Sampling time 80C 80C 130C 130C
with copper without copper with copper without copper

Un-aged Oil 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002

10 days 0.0057 0.0027 0.0091 0.0050
20 days 0.0079 0.0032 0.0357 0.0283

[4] A. J. Kachler, I. Hohlein, Aging of cellulose at transformer service

IV. CONCLUSIONS
In keeping with the concepts of studying the influence of
copper ion on aging rate of oil-paper insulation system, a
series of experiments have been designed and performed in a
planned manner. A number of characteristic parameters have
been identified continuously. The results indicate that copper
ion has a great influence on both insulation paper and oil
during the aging process.
As for insulation paper, copper delayed degradation rate of
insulation paper, which reduced the ratio of CO2/CO by about
11% at 80C and more than 50% at 130C. The DP of paper
with copper is even higher; obviously the paper sample with
copper undergoes a slower aging.
However, copper promotes the oxidation of the oil and
accelerates the aging rate, thus consumes the water in oil and
then results in a higher level of acid number and a relatively
lower value of water content, and eventually decreases the
aging rate of insulation paper.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to thank the Scientific Funds for
Outstanding Young Scientists of China (50425722) for the
financial support provided.
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