IOT BASED MONITORING OF DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMER

Suparna Pal*, Pritam Banerjee, Nipun Gayary, Manik kumar Maity,

Dishayan Debnath, Bhaskar Das
Electrical Engineering Department, JIS College of Engineering,
Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal

*
suparna.pal@jiscollege.ac.in

Abstract: This paper is highlighting a new idea of transformer fault prediction by using IOT devices.
Online transformer diagnostics using conventional technologies like carrier power line communication,
radio frequency based control systems, supervisory control and data acquiring systems, distributed
control system and internet based communication having their own limitations but this method having
much more better compare then existing and previous running online monitoring method. GSM is an
open, digital cellular technology used for transmitting mobile voice and data services. This project’s
objective is to develop low cost solution for monitoring health conditions of remotely located
distribution transformers using GSM technology to print premature failure of distribution transformer
and improving the reliability of services to the customers. An embedded based hardware design is
developed to acquire data from electrical sensing systems. It consists of a sensing system, signal
conditioning electronic circuit, advanced embedded hardware for middle level computing, a powerful
computer for further transmission of data s to various places. A powerful GSM networking is designed
to send data from a network to another network for proper corrective actions at the earliest. Any change
in parameter of transmission is sensed to protect the entire system .The performance of prototype model
developed is tested for monitoring various parameters like transformer over load, over voltage, over
temperature, and oil level.

Key words: Smart Technology, Transformer Fault, IOT implementation, Flowchart, Hardware and
Software implementation

1 Introduction
Electricity is one of the essential sources in our daily life. As for the humans the dependency of
electricity is really vital, usually for households, industrial and many other purposes. So Power
System comes in the picture as it plays an important role for generating and transmitting
electricity to the required consumers. It consists of many components and equipments that help
to transfer electricity with certain measures and protections and one of the most important
components is known to be transformer. It is also said that transformer is the heart of the power
system. Its role is to either step up or step down for transmitting the power generally. As these
devices are being operated for several years so they also require a proper maintenance and
conditioning to increase their life span and work in proper manner for avoiding certain failures
like overloading, heating of high or low voltage current which can be a cause for unavailability
of supplied power to the consumers and cause for expenses of capital investment. Overloading,
oil temperature load current and ineffective cooling of transformer are the major cause of failure
in distribution transformer.
2 Issues regarding fault in Transformer
As large numbers of transformers are distributed in wide area so in present situation the
monitoring has been propagated as it has gone through manual operation. So the humans has to
go to the transformer along with testing kit to monitor as periodic monitoring which consumes
more time. So as there are many transformers distributed in large area so it is difficult to
maintain and measure the condition manually of every single transformer. Such as: (a) Normal
transformer measurement system generally detects a single transformer parameter. While some
ways could recognize multi parameter, the time of acquisition and operation parameters is too
long and testing pace is not sufficiently quick; (b) monitoring system can only monitor the
operation state or guard against steal the power, and is not able to monitor all useful data of
distribution transformers to reduce costs; (c) Auspicious detection data will not be sent to
observing centers in time, which cannot judge distribution transformers three phase equilibrium;
(d) Detection system itself is not reliable. The main principle execution is the device itself
instability, poor anti jamming capability, low measurement accuracy of the data. Mechanical
fault of transformer winding and repairing technique is illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1Mechanical fault of transformer winding and repairing

In order to avoid such failure there should a advance monitoring system to detect the fault in real
time with minimizing of human involvement such as overloading of current and voltage
,transformer oil and encompassing temperature and humidity fault in transformer and send it to
monitoring system . It provides the necessary information about the health of the transformer.
This will help and guide the utilities to optimally use the transformer and keep this equipment in
operation for longer period which is in terms known as IOT or Internet of things.

3 Proposed System to Overcome the Fault Occurrence in Transformer

This proposed paper presents design and implementation of an IOT embedded system to measure
load current, over voltage, transformer oil level, oil temperature. This is implemented by using
online measuring system using Internet of Things (IOT), with single chip arduino
microcontroller and sensors. It is installed at the distribution transformer site. The output values
of sensors are processed and recorded in the system memory. System defined with some
predefined instruction to check abnormal condition. If there is any abnormality on the system,
details are automatically updated in the internet through serial communication. The Internet of
Things (IOT) will help the utilities to optimally utilize transformers and identify problems before
any catastrophic failure occurs. Thus online measuring system is used to collect and analyze
temperature data over time. So transformer health monitoring will help to identify or recognize
unexpected situations before any serious failure which leads to a greater reliability and
significant cost savings. Transformer is one of the essential electrical equipment that is used in
power system. Monitoring of transformer for the problem before they occur can prevent faults
that are costly to repair and result in a loss of electricity. Currently, failure of transformer can be
detected by color changing of silica gel and decrease in quality and viscosity of oil.
The main aim of the project is to acquire real time data of transformer remotely over the
internet falling under the category of Internet of Things –

i. For this real time aspect we take one temperature sensor , one potential and current
transformer (that acts like a sensor) for sense sing and monitoring parameters like
voltage , temperature and current of transformer
ii. These three analog values are taken in multiplexing mode and connected to a
programmable microcontroller arduino UNO.

4 Internet Of Things
The internet of things (IoT) is a system interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital
machines provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network
without requiring human to human or human to computer interaction. It refers to a type of
network to connect anything with the internet based on stipulated protocols through information
sensing equipments to conduct information exchange and communication in order to achieve
smart recognitions, positioning, tracing, monitoring and administration. An artistic presentation
of internet of things is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 The Internet of things

4.1 Literature Survey

As we know the power transformers are one of the most important aspects of electric networks.
They are very expensive in industrial purpose and for household too. So the monitoring systems
will be valuable for preventing damage to them. Experts are required to examine the transformers
to make an appropriate decision in case of problems occurred to prevent premature damage. With
the help of internet, it is possible to collect appropriate information from the widely spread
transformer around the geography connecting to a central node for monitoring purposes under
the supervision of high voltage engineering experts. The aim of this paper is to view the main
problems related to power transformer and review the mitigation methods for the monitoring of
power transformer. There are various kinds of developments, papers and thesis work done for
this. The supervisory control and data-Acquisition (SCADA) system has been developed from
about 1998 and it is in use from generations up to substation level. Here a case, that it is not used
fully to control monitoring of transformer status and mainly focused on GSM technologies and
stays in substation level.

i) In
the journal of Energy and power Engineering 7 (2016) 2181-2187, Samson et al published a
paper titled “Development and implementation of GSM-based distribution Automation system
with graphic user Interface in Nigeria electric power distribution Network”. They come up to
develop a distribution automation system for Nigeria’s electric power distribution network
mainly using GSM network for communication on the published paper. [1]

ii)In the thesis paper titled “development of a novel fault management in distribution system
using distribution automation system in conjunction with GSM communication” implementation
and development of novel fault management at low voltage to enhance depending of power for
the customer was focused on. As far the system has been induced with current sensor as field
data interface device, GSM as communication network, computer/mobile phones as master
terminal device and visual basic as human machine interface (HMI) software. To find the fault
location they come up with a fault design development of WCDMA based DTMS 12
management strategy which finds fault location effectively without human interaction after a
fault occurred. This thing was published on the international journal of Smart Grid and Clean
Energy, vol. 2, no. 3. [2]
iii) On another thesis paper published on the IQRS journal of Electrical and Electronics
Engineering titled “Arduino Based substation Monitoring and control system with GSM
modem”, Amit Sachan designed a project to acquire the remote electrical parameter like voltage,
current and frequency and sends these values to GSM network using GSM modem/phone also
with the temperature at power station [3-5]. By operating Electromagnetic Relay their objective
is to protect the electrical circuit so they designed the project for this purpose. Here the relay can
be used to operate a circuit breaker to switch off the main electrical supply. In the form of SMS
user can send commands to check the remote electrical parameters. The system thereby can also
send the real time electrical parameters periodically in the form of SMS. Whenever the circuit
breaks or current exceeds the limit the system is designed tp send SMS alert [6-10].

This paper study will be better monitoring compare than above .This monitoring scheme can
access anywhere of world that fault deduction, rectification will be much simpler than any other
methods.

5 Experimental Techniques
A simplified block diagram is shown in Figure 3. Components used for the purpose are: Arduino
Board, LCD DISPLAY (16*2), GSM Module, Capacitor, Transistor, Cables and Connectors,
Diodes, PCB, LED, Transformer, RELAY, Sensors. For the Arduino Board: The uno R3 CH340
G development board is the low cost version of the popular uno R3 Arduino. It is assembled with
the CH340 USB to serial converter chip. The only time the CH340 chip is used in during
 programming and when using the serial output of the USB port.

Figure 3 Simplified block diagram

5.1 Working Process (Algorithm)

The main motive of our paper is to build a protective circuit for the distribution transformer. So
as per the determined diagram we have executed the various working points.

 As the power is being supplied from the source, so before letting supplied power to the
distribution transformer, the supplied power is to be examined. So No fault can occur.
 The supplied power is being transmitted to the power transformer to the all devices which
is being connected to the circuit. The power transformer is being stepped down for a
conversion of Ac to DC.
 As the power is being converted to Ac to DC for the purpose of low input voltages
devices (so that no devices is being affected).The DC voltage is supplied to (arduino uno,
different sensors (current, voltage, temperature, ultrasonic), display, GSM module, Fan
(DC). As the DC voltage is divided into two ways. One is being regulated to low voltage
for the supply of arduino uno and other is given to the fan
 Now as arduino is being with some voltages. It has been activated and devices which are
being interfaced with it (sensors) also get the input voltage from the arduino and also the
GSM module.
 As all the sensors are being activated to the required input supply. So now it fetches all
the data value.
 The sensors (current, voltage) gather the values of the supply source and recorded which
is being displayed at real time. The temperature sensor senses the temperature of
transformer at real time and also the sonic sensor checks the oil level of transformer in
real time.
 Now as the sensors (which are the inputs) has being programmed or got it is own
threshold limit. If the accessed data’s are more than that real time, it occurs to be a fault.
 So the fault power is being eliminated by disconnecting the supply before it is being
accessed to the distribution transformer through relay.
 Similarly temperature sensor, the temperature increases to its limit, the fan is being
activated for cooling purpose.

The recorded data can be sending through GSM module and can be accessed from anywhere.
This helps in identifying without human dependency. This helps in identifying and solving a
problem before a failure without human dependency.

5.2 Software Part

We have run the program and successfully implemented in Chip but due to Pandemic situation
we are not implemented it in real transformer still now.

#include<LiquidCrystal.h> ///initilized lcd

LiquidCrystal lcd(5,6,7,8,9,10); // creat
instance int fan_pin=13; //initilized fan
output pin
//////////////////////////////////////////
int trigg_pin=0; //initilized sonic sensor output
pin int echo_pin=1; // initilised sonic sensor
input pin
/////////////////////////////////////////
float value; //for current
sensor float voltage;
float current;
float temp; //for temp sensor
float distance; // for sonic
sensor
////////////////////////////////////
/// void sonic()
{
digitalWrite(trigg_pin,LOW);// declare pin as
low delayMicroseconds(2); // for 2 micro
second digitalWrite(trigg_pin,HIGH);//
declare pin as high delayMicroseconds(10);
// for 10 micro
second
float duration=pulseIn(echo_pin,HIGH); // store echo_pin value in
duration distance=(duration*0.0343)/2; // eqation of sound speed
////////////////////////////
// for displaying
poutpose
lcd.setCursor(1,0);
lcd.print("DISTANCE:
"); lcd.setCursor(10,0);
lcd.print(distance);
delay(1000);
lcd.clear();
if (distance<10)
{
}
 }
void temprature()
{
temp=analogRead(A1);// take input at temp

//for displaying
pourpose
lcd.setCursor(1,0);
lcd.print("TEMP:");
lcd.setCursor(6,0);
lcd.print((temp-2)/2);
delay(1000);
lcd.clear();
// condition
if(temp>50
);
{
digitalWrite(fan_pin,HIGH);
}
}
void current_sensor()
{
value=analogRead(A0); // take
input voltage=(value*12)/508;
current=(voltage-0.5)/185;
// for displaying pourpose

////////////////////////
lcd.setCursor(1,0);
lcd.print("VOLTAGE:
"); lcd.setCursor(9,0);
lcd.print(voltage);
delay(1000);
lcd.clear();
///////////////////////
lcd.setCursor(1,0);
lcd.print("CURRENT:
"); lcd.setCursor(11,0);
lcd.print(current);
delay(1000);
lcd.clear();
}
void setup() {
lcd.begin(16,2); // decleare lcd
 pinMode(fan_pin,OUTPUT); // declare fan_pin as
output
digitalWrite(fan_pin,LOW); // declare initial fan_pin at LOW
pinMode(trigg_pin,OUTPUT); // declare fan_pin as output
pinMode(echo_pin,INPUT); // declare fan_pin as input
}
void loop() {
current_sensor(
); temprature();
sonic();
}

6 Advantages of the present IOT based power failure monitoring system

Here are some advantages of IOT based power failure monitoring system:
Communication: The communication between devices of IOT based power failure detection
system, also known as machine to machine communication. Because of this the physical devices
are able to stay connected and available with good quality.
Automation and control : By using the detection system the physical objects are connected and
controlled digitally with the wireless system, there is a huge amount of automation and control in
the research work without human observations the machine are able to connected and
communicate with each other.
Information: In this IOT based power failure detection system that having more information helps
making its better decisions as need to know what kind of changes happened in this system.
Monitoring: The most probably advantage in this detection system continuously measuring the
voltage, current load variations and any changes in Power transformer. With the help of this
advantage we know the exact quality supplies on the power transformer.
Time: In the today’s modern life, we all could use more time. In the previous examples the
amount of time saved because of IOT could be quite large.

7 Conclusions
In this IOT based power failure detection system is designed for the assessment of power
transformer in the control and considering electrical, mechanical and physical transformers
parameters. This system can be used to help continuously measuring the voltage, current load
variations and any changes of power transformer. The study of present method of the power
transformer condition monitoring, analyzing the power and fault diagnosis indicated few
problems as mentioned here: (i) The power failure detection system can be modified to access
more number of transformer parameters for analyzing the condition and diagnosis of all the types
of faults; (ii) The monitoring system can be made advanced and multi access system with
flexibility and reliable techniques and detection technologies; (iii) This monitoring system can be
used for current, voltage load variations and any changes in power transformer.

In electrical network power transformer being the vital and essential device has gained the
maximum importance. The power fault leads to failure of power transformer and sudden
breakdown or failure leads to unplanned output of power transformer. It can be effect of designer
 of life span of step down power transformer and its cost effective. If suddenly the voltage up or
voltage down in a step down power transformer it can be also a fault in Transformer. In this work
a fault detection system of a step down transformer is denoted and developed as IOT based
monitoring of power failure in transformer detection system. The research work means IOT
based monitoring of power failure in transformer detection system enhanced our practical
knowledge. The smooth functioning of transformer failure detection system depends on IOT to a
large extent to the Arduino based projects. This system is monitoring the power fault on the
power transformer continuously measuring the side of voltage, current and transformer load
variations. This developed transformer power failure detection system experimentally verified
with results in the laboratory only. Real life implementation is necessary to implement any
project. Hopefully we will do it after pandemic situation is over.

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