Conference on Diagnostics in Electrical Engineering CDEE 2016

Continuous condition monitoring of high

voltage transformers by direct sensor
monitoring of oil aging for a stable power
network
Manfred Mauntz1) and Jörn Peuser2)

cmc Instruments GmbH, Hauptstr. 388, Germany, www.cmc-instruments.de

1)
tel: +49 6173 32 0078, email: mrm@cmc-instruments.de,
2)
tel: +49 6173 32 0078, email: jp@cmc-instruments.de

Abstract— The new online oil sensor system, OilQSens®,
enables continuous condition monitoring and power grid
protection of high voltage transformers by sensor monitoring
of oil aging. The requirements for transformers in the
renewable energy rise. Ever more flexibility at a maximum
operational reliability and a long life are required of them at
the same time, so the requirements for the transformer oil
grow correspondingly. The new online oil sensor system
OilQSens® measures the components conductivity kappa,
dielectric constant epsilon r and temperature T independently
and calculates the breakdown-voltage, loss angle tan delta,
acidification, and it looks promising to calculate also the
humidity. The new approach utilizes sensor detection of
chemical aging of the insulating oil and its inhibitors. Based
on a very sensitive measurement method with high accuracy
even small changes in the conductivity and dielectric constant
of the transformer oil composition can be detected reliably.
The new sensor system effectively controls the proper
operation conditions of High Voltage Transformers, oil-filled
circuit breakers and oil regeneration systems.
transformer system. Once the oil condition monitoring
sensors are installed on the High Voltage Transformers or
other components like the oil regeneration system, the
measuring data can be displayed and evaluated elsewhere.
The signals are transmitted to a web-based condition
monitoring system via LAN, WLAN or serial interfaces of
the sensor unit. Monitoring of the damage mechanisms
during operation below the tolerance limits of the
components enables specific preventive and condition-
oriented maintenance independent of rigid inspection
intervals. With this sensor system, components of the
complex impedance, X, of oils, in particular the specific
electrical conductivity, κ, and the relative permittivity, εr,
are measured as well as the oil temperature T [1-3]. The
values κ and εr are determined independently of each other.
Fig. 1 shows the basic sensor with its triple plate design.

Keywords— high voltage transformer, electrical

conductivity, loss factor tan, sensor system, relative permittivity,
oil regeneration system, dielectric constant, breakdown voltage,
condition monitoring, oil transformer system, oil regeneration
plant, oil aging, oil regeneration, oil quality, condition
monitoring system, online oil sensor system, formed acid, web
based condition monitoring, oil filled circuit breaker.

I. PRINCIPLE OF OPERATION
The online diagnostics system measures components of the
specific complex impedance of oils. For instance,
contamination during the assembly, formed acids,
aldehydes and peroxides, result in an increase of the
electrical conductivity, which directly correlates with the
degree of contamination of the oil. This leads to the
formation of sludge, which in turn attacks the cellulose
insulation, inhibits oil flow, traps heat inside the
transformer, and finally results in the destruction of the
transformer. The determination of impurities or reduction
in the quality of the oil and the quasi-continuous evaluation
of chemical aging follow the holistic approach of a real-
time monitoring of an alteration in the condition of the oil-
978-1-5090-6179-2/16/$31.00 ©2016 IEEE
Fig. 1. Basic sensor with triple plate design.
Oils are electrical non-conductors. The electrical
conductivity of pure oils is in the range below 0.5 pS/m.
The process of degradation and the products of
contamination in the oil changes the conductivity of
insulating oils. Contamination during production or
assembly, formed acids, aldehydes and peroxides all bind
together to form sludge. Sludge attacks the cellulose
insulation, inhibits oil flow and traps heat inside the
transformer. It rises with increasing ion concentration and
Conference on Diagnostics in Electrical Engineering CDEE 2016

mobility. The electrical conductivity of almost all
impurities is high compared to the extremely low
conductivity of the original pure oil. A direct correlation
between the electrical conductivity and the degree of
contamination of oils has been found. Thus contamination
of the lubricant can be identified by an increase of the
electrical conductivity of the oil in operation. The
hypothesis is to find changes in moisture as a linear trend
from the changes in the dielectric constant. The loss factor
tan δ is calculated from the electrical conductivity and
permittivity , with the dielectric constant , and the
angular frequency = 2πf
stays nearly constant. The implemented adaptive algorithm
can now work in the background of the measurement
procedure autonomously, it has to be reset only after an oil
exchange to adapt to the new lubricant [4, 5].
III. APPLICATION EXAMPLE: MONITORING OF
AN OIL REGENERATION PLANT
The oil sensor unit has been installed on the inlet of an oil
regeneration plant for online monitoring of oil quality
during the cleaning process (see Fig. 3).

tan
is the dielectric constant and ω is the angular frequency.
For temperature-independent representation, directly
measured values are converted to temperature-
compensated values TC:
Fig. 3. Oil sensor attached to the inlet of the oil regeneration plant.

tan The data shown in Figure 4 and 5 has been recorded

continuously over a time period of about 9 days at an
average oil temperature of 41°C. Figure 4 shows the loss
II. MEASUREMENT ACCURACY AND TEMPERATURE factor tan δ calculated from the measured conductivities κ
COMPENSATION and dielectric constants εr of the oil by OilQSens®.
Ion mobility and thus, electrical conductivity κ are
dependent on the internal friction of the oil and therefore,
also on its temperature. The conductivity κ of the oil
increases with temperature. The type of contamination and
its temperature dependence cannot be assumed to be
known. For proper comparability of measurements, a self-
learning adaptive temperature compensation algorithm has
been developed. Now changes of oil quality can be
accurately assessed by the temperature compensated
conductivity value, even though the specific contamination
is not determinable. The relative permittivity is measured
independently with the same sensor arrangement as used
for the electrical conductivity. Figure 2 shows the effect of
temperature compensation.
Fig. 4. Loss factor tan delta over time during a regeneration process.

The dielectric losses in insulating oil are proportional to the

loss factor. In the application of the oil regeneration plant
the signal of the loss factor tan δ can be used to control the
oil cleaning process: once the loss factor tan δ have reached
its minimum, further filtration will not improve the overall
oil quality. The cleaning process is either finished or the
filters are depleted. Figure 5 shows the compensated values
for optimal comparison with the laboratory results at 90°C.
There is a good agreement of the OilQSens® online data
with the offline laboratory measurements.

Fig. 2. Effect of the temperature compensation algorithm.

The algorithm needs about 10 initial measurements to start

the compensation and gets more precise after a short time.
While the conductivity κ changes significantly with
temperature, the temperature compensated conductivity κ40
Conference on Diagnostics in Electrical Engineering CDEE 2016

Fig. 5. OilQSens® loss factor tan delta calculated at 90°C in comparison

to laboratory measurements. Fig. 7. Breakdown voltage and measured humidity over time.

In conclusion, installed on high voltage transformers, the

OilQSens® sensor system can provide warnings when the
maximum allowable gradient of the temperature-
compensated conductivity curve is exceeded and can be
used to limit power accordingly. In addition, when a
maximum allowable conductivity is exceeded, a warning
signal for the implementation of oil maintenance measures,
such as an oil filtering in the secondary flow can be
generated.

IV. CORRELATION BETWEEN BREAKDOWN

VOLTAGE, HUMIDITY AND RELATIVE
PERMITTIVITY
In a laboratory experiment, transformer oil was moisturized
and dried afterwards: the moisture was removed by
cellulose. During this whole process the breakdown
voltage, humidity and the relative permittivity were
measured over time. The temperature was kept constant at
40°C ± 1°C. The corresponding experimental setup is
shown in figure 6. According to normative standards, the
breakdown voltage was measured six times with an oil
tester BA 75 [6]. The humidity in the oil was determined
by a moisture sensor [7]. The relative permittivity εr was
measured by the OilQSens® sensor.
Fig. 6. Experimental setup.
With the variation of the moisture in the oil the breakdown
voltage changes correspondingly [8]: an increase in the
humidity in the oil leads to a decrease in the breakdown
voltage as shown as in figure 7. The correlation of the
humidity and the relative permittivity εr is shown in figure
8. Based on these results it appears that the relative
permittivity εr correlates with the measured moisture in oil.
Fig. 8. Relative permittivity and humidity over time: cycles with
increasing and decreasing water content in oil
V. CONCLUSION
The online diagnostics system measures components of the
specific complex impedance of oils. For instance, formed
acids, aldehydes and peroxides cause an increase in
electrical conductivity that directly correlates with the
degree of pollution of the oil. Indication of damage and
wear is measured as an integral factor of the degree of oil
contamination, oil aging and acidification. It provides
informative data on oil aging and the formed acids,
aldehydes and peroxides which result in an increase of the
electrical conductivity. These directly correlate with the
degree of contamination of the oil as proven by infrared
spectroscopy of used lubricants. For asset protection,
efficient machine utilization and targeted damage
prevention, the new OilQSens® online condition
monitoring system offers the opportunity to carry out
timely preventative maintenance on demand instead of
rigid inspection intervals. The determination of impurities,
reduction in quality of the insulated oil, oil aging and the
continuous evaluation of operating conditions of high
voltage transformers (see figure 9), oil-filled circuit
breakers and oil regeneration systems meets the holistic
approach of a real-time monitoring of a change in the
condition of the oil-transformer system. The signals from
Conference on Diagnostics in Electrical Engineering CDEE 2016
the sensor are transmitted to a web-based condition
monitoring system via LAN, WLAN or serial interface.
The monitoring of the wear mechanisms during proper
operation, below the tolerance limits of the insulated oil
then allows preventive, condition-oriented maintenance to
be carried out on demand. This can prevent outages caused
by wear and aged oil problems while simultaneously
increasing the overall lifetime of the oil-transformer
system. Asset protection is assured.
Fig. 9. : Installation of the OilQSens® sensor system at a high voltage
transformer.
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