Natural Esters as Insulating Fluids – Some Other

Features

Pavel Trnka, Vaclav Mentlik, Jaroslav Hornak, Anna ýejková, Pavel Totzauer
Dept. of Technologies and Measurement
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of West Bohemia
Pilsen, Czech Republic
pavel@ket.zcu.cz

Abstract— Natural esters are candidate fluids for transformer
insulation system. Recently the most common insulation system
in power transformers is paper-oil system. Oil generally mean
petroleum based insulating fluid. As there are efforts to preserve
sustainable development, crude oil products should be eliminated
and replaced by natural products, which are easily
biodegradable. In past it was shown that natural esters may
reach qualities of mineral oils in some parameters (from
electrical parameters it is typically electric strength), while they
remain worse in others (typically dissipation factor). Although
there are some difficulties, by proper design they should be
eliminated. The paper concentrates on specific aspects of
designing insulation elements by preserving the same lifetime as
in case of mineral oils.
Keywords— transformer, paper-oil, mineral oil, vegetable oil,
synthetic esters
Another aspect which has to be considered is the
possibility to develop variation of liquids with different degree
of biodegradability. Some less demanding areas may not be as
consistent asset emphasis on harmlessness of used liquid in
link to the surrounding environment. Some areas do not
strictly need harmless insulation liquid, because this issue is
treated different way.
This will entail respecting economic aspects, as an
indisputable advantage of these insulating liquids would be
their lower price, and thus better economic acceptability.
Currently, in addition to conventional oils or inflammable
liquids in central Europe are not yet used fluids accentuating
biodegradability simultaneously with excellent electrical
insulating properties.

I. INTRODUCTION
Electro insulating fluids are undoubtedly an integral part of II. NATURAL ESTERS OILS
the insulation system of most power transformers, especially
because the machine with the insulation system, which is On this place we can state that a lot of information was
represented by the liquid and solid components, allow the already published about properties of natural esters based oil
transmission of virtually limitless power. manufactured from oil seeds. In the following will be
presented some results measured on pure natural esters based
fluids and some possible improvements of their properties. In
comparison with mineral oils, natural based oils have, inter
Currently used liquids – mineral oils – are however very
alia, much higher flashpoint, slightly above 300 °C, which
problematic by their nature and especially by its uneasy
allows the use of these fluids in applications that place higher
degradability and negative impact on environment and human
demands in terms of fire safety. This feature of these fluids is
health. Opinions in areas of relationship of technical
one of their biggest advantages outside high biodegradability
equipment and the environment that currently prevails, clearly
and fact that it is a renewable natural resource.
leads to the search for ways how to eliminate the negative
effects of such as devices on the environment. This of course
determines the search for solutions enabling the development
and production of fluids manufactured from raw materials On the other hand, vegetable oils suffer high pour point,
which are by their nature environment-friendly and easily Tab. I. [2], [5] which limits its suitability in practical
biodegradable and not causing current difficulties and losses applications. This feature of natural based esters has to be
experiencing while using actual insulating liquids. improved as well as their lower oxidative stability etc. in order
to use them for example in transformers.
It is essential to find ways of solving this issue and
emphasize respect for the maximum utilization of domestic
resources and sources of alternative or renewable energy in
accordance with sustainable development programs.

978-1-4673-8698-2/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE 641

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 TABLE I. POUR POINT [5]
Natural Ester Pour Point [ºC]
Rapeseed oil, sample 1 -22
Rapeseed oil, neutralized (for biodiesel) -26
Rapeseed oil, sample 2 -20
Sunflower oil, sample 1 -16
Sunflower oil, sample 2 -13
Enviro Temp FR 3 -20
Rapeseed oil, sample 1 +1900 mg/kg depressant -23

From Tab. I it is obvious that pour point of the natural

esters differ based on the sample. In some cases Rapeseed oil
have relatively good values of -22 or -26°C. In central
European region we consider namely Sunflower oil
(Helianthus sp.) and Rapeseed oil (Brassica napus).
III. THERMAL-OXIDATION STABILITY
Oxidation stability of electrical insulating liquids is an
important parameter, which is describing the quality of the
liquid in terms of suggested long term use. The aging of the
liquid can be simulated using thermal oxidation test. Since
aging test may but also may not exactly simulate operational
stress, the results can be used for comparison of different
liquids. During testing, the oil is stressed by various factors
causing the aging. These factors include (in case of oxidation
stability testing) elevated temperature, the presence of metals
(copper, iron), oxygen, air or electric field. The resulting oil
stability is evaluated according to the degree of deterioration
of the electrical, physical or chemical properties such as tan į,
the interfacial tension at the interface of water - oil, and others.
Accelerated aging test does not provide accurate information
about the real technical life insulating liquids deployed in
service. Text of IEC document 10/939/Q deals with natural
esters, which were not described in standard IEC 61125 [7].
Test performed according to this standard is following: tested
liquid is poured into a sealable test container in the ratio 3:1
(Oil: Air). A copper slice is inserted into the oil sample during
the test.
The container in which oil is sealed is inserted into oven
and heated at 150 °C for 164 hours. The container is opened
after 24 hours for test for 1 minute. Then it must be
hermetically sealed again [7]. Samples of synthetic and natural
ester insulating oils were selected for the experiment. Among
the oils were measured MIDEL 7131, MIDEL eN and
Sunflower oil with and without inhibitor (phenolic type).
The test procedure was as follows: at first dissipation
factor and volume resistivity of the samples (temperature
dependence) has been measured, then these parameters were
measured for oil samples after oxidation stability test and after
the modified oxidation stability test (in figures TOS).
The modifications consisted in the fact that the ratio of air
and oil was not 1:3, but 1:1 and after 1 minute opening sample
was shaken for 1 minute.
Fig. 1. Oxidation stability test
From the measured values it is evident that after the
oxidation stability test dissipation factor was deteriorated for
all measured samples. Furthermore, it is apparent that the
addition of the inhibitor in a vegetable oil improves its
parameters.
In Fig. 1 are presented results of tested oils. The criterion
was plotted for better clarity in the chart. Criteria for oil before
(new) and after TOS or modified TOS are described in the
following table:
TABLE II. CRITERION FOR OIL
Criterion 90°C, IEC 62770 after TOS 0.5
Criterion 90°C, IEC 62770 before TOS 0.05
IV. TERMAL AGING
Thermal aging experiment on the contrary to section III
was performed in sealed amber glass containers 500 ml.
Therefore there was no access of the air during thermal
exposition. For each temperature of 110°C, 140°C, 160°C and
180°C and each oil sample was prepared and aged different
sample of dried oil. Mineral oils were dried to <10 ppm,
synthetic to <100 ppm and natural to < 200 ppm.
The dissipation factor tan į, volume resistivity,
permittivity and breakdown voltage was observed on each
sample during the accelerated aging test [4].
Tested insulating fluids: mineral oils Diala DX and Y3000,
synthetic MIDEL 7131, natural esters MIDEL eN, Rapeseed
and Sunflower oil (with and without inhibitor), Rice oil, Olive
oil, some mixtures presented in [1]. In the paper are presented
results just for Diala and MIDEL 7131 for comparison with
prepared Rapeseed i (inhibited) and Sunflower i.
In Fig. 4 we can see thermal aging of tested insulating
fluids by the temperature of 180°C. Measured is tan į at 90°C
according to requirement of standards. We can see that
criterion of the tan į for mineral oils acc. to EN 60422 can
meet just the mineral oil. But when we consider criterion
ASTM D924 for natural ester which is 0.5 – all tested
biodegradable fluids can meet it. We can see from the value of

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tan į for mineral oil Diala that the aging occurred and mineral
oil is already degraded as well as all others. We can observe
how synthetic MIDEL 7131 from good beginning properties is
degrading faster than inhibited natural esters.

Fig. 4. Temperature dependecne of tan į of tested oils, 0 hours

Fig. 2. Measured tan į (90°C) over the time of thermal exposure of 180°C

In Fig. 3 shows same measurement at 30°C. Sunflower,

inhibited sunflower and inhibited rapeseed oil have lower
dissipation factor than mineral oil Shell Diala at this
temperature.

Fig. 5. Temperature dependecne of tan į of tested oils, 336 hours

The breakdown voltage is one of the most important

Fig. 3. Measured tan į (30°C) over the time of thermal exposure of 180°C
In figures 4 and 5 temperature dependences of dissipation
factor of tested insulating fluids are compared before and after
thermal aging test. There is clearly seen the difference
between MIDEL 7131 and inhibited natural esters at 0 hours
of aging. But 336 hours of accelerated thermal aging causes
the significant changes of dissipation factor for each of oil
samples. MIDEL 7131 has highest dissipation factor.
diagnostic parameter. The theories which describe the
principles of the breakdown are explained in [8], [9]. The
measurement of the breakdown voltage was carried out
according to standard EN 60156 [10]. Tested oil samples were
dried for 24 hours to reduce an amount of the moisture in hot
air own. The sunflower oil, sunflower oil with 0.4% weight of
phenolic type antioxidant, rapeseed oil, rapeseed oil with 0.4%
phenolic type antioxidant, Shell Diala DX and MIDEL eN
were used for this investigation. Figures 6 - 8 show the
average means of the breakdown voltages in individual time
intervals and different aging temperatures.

Fig. 6. Breakdown voltages for Midel eN, Rapeseed oil and Rapeseed oil with inhibitor

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In Fig. 6 shows the breakdown voltage of Midel eN, Rapeseed
with inhibitors a rapeseed oil. The highest breakdown voltage
has Midel eN but the other oils have little worse breakdown
voltage than Midel eN.
Fig. 7. Breakdown voltages for Midel eN, Sunflower oil and Sunflower oil
with inhibitor
Fig. 8. Breakdown voltages for Midel eN, Rapeseed oil with inhibitor, Shell
Diala DX and Sunflower oil with inhibitor
V. CONCLUSIONS
Rapeseed and sunflower oil, where were further modified
by additions of inhibitor were chosen as an alternative
electrical insulating liquid. Mineral oil Shell Diala DX and
synthetic organic ester MIDEL 7131 were used for
comparison. On these samples were performed oxidative
stability test and measured dissipation factor and breakdown
voltage after accelerated thermal aging.
Rapeseed and sunflower oil have a higher dissipation
factor than mineral oil. It is clearly seen from the
measurement. The biggest surprise was the dependence of
Synthetic ester MIDEL 7131 has the biggest increase of
dissipation factor during the accelerated thermal aging test. In
spite of that it had similar properties as mineral oil at the
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beginning of the experiment. The Fig. 8 shows measurement
of breakdown voltage. It shows that alternative electro
insulating liquids are comparable with commonly used
insulation liquids. For example, the inhibited sunflower oil has
higher breakdown voltage than Shell Diala DX.
For using of natural esters in the transformers with liquid-
solid insulating system we have to consider not only electrical
parameters. The measurement procedure of thermo oxidative
stability is describe in this paper and shows that the thermo-
oxidative stability of inhibited natural oils is even better than
in the case of synthetic ester.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research has been supported by the European
Regional Development Fund and the Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic under the Regional
Innovation Centre for Electrical Engineering (RICE), project
No. CZ.1.05/2.1.00/03.0094, project TA03020251
Environmentally friendly insulation liquids and supported by
Student Grant Agency of the West Bohemia University in
Pilsen, grant No. SGS-2015-020 "Technology and Material
and Systems in Electrical Engineering“.
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