Insulating Properties of Transformer Oil-based

Silica Nanofluids
Muhammad Rafiq, Danish Khan, Muhammad Ali
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, North China Electric Power
University, Beijing 102206, China
Email: jutt96@gmail.com

Abstract—Two types of colloidal dielectric fluids with
20% concentration of nanoparticles are manufactured by
dispersing SiO2 nanoparticle with transformer oil by
different preparation methods in order to improve the
dielectric properties of mineral oil. The AC breakdown
voltage of pure oil and prepared nanofluids were measured
according to IEC standard methods at 20ppm. The AC
breakdown voltages of two nanofluids were 1.05 times and
1.11 that of base oil respectivelyThe possible modification
mechanism of silica nanoparticles on insulating properties
of transformer oil was discussed on the trap characteristics
of host oil and nanofluids. The results confirmed that
mineral oil modified with Silica nanoparticles hold a
promise to improve its insulating properties.
Keywords—nanofluids; nanoparticles; transformer oil;
dielectric strength
I. INTRODUCTION
Transformer oil is used to perform the function of
cooling and insulation in transformer. Recently
nanotechnology has been used to enhance the insulation
and cooling capacity of transformer oil. Nanomaterials
have been used during last decades for improvement of
solid insulation system in the form of nanodielectrics [1,
2]. But, the backbone of power grid, the mineral oil still
needs improvement because it is still the only choice for
insulation and cooling in high voltage transformers.
Mineral oil has better heat transfer rates as compared to
the solid insulation system.
The power utilities are facing challenge to provide
reliable and efficient power supply to the customers due
to competitive market [3]. Therefore there is high need to
design the power transformers to enhance their using
modern electrical engineering techniques. During last
decade many design parameters have been revised,
except one very important component has often been
neglected: transformer mineral oil which is pretty much
same as it was 50 years ago.
The term “Nanofluid” was presented by researchers at
Argonne National Laboratory. The nanofluid is referred
as a two-phase mixture, having a liquid phase which is
the host, and dispersed nanoparticles in suspension. A
nanofluid is defined as a heat transfer liquid containing
small fraction of nanoparticles suspended in conventional
heat transfer liquids (water, mineral oil, ethylene glycol).
The major function of nanofluid is to perform better
electrically and thermally in high voltage applications
[4]. A large number of research works has been
published focusing on cooling properties of nanofluids
[5-13]. A very little research has been carried out mainly
focusing on electrical properties as compared to thermal
properties. In 1998, Segal at al. measured AC and
impulse breakdown strength of magnetite nanofluids
[14].
The simulation of streamer propagation was done by O’
Sullivan based on these results. The simulation results
indicated that magnetite can act as electron scavengers
and hinder the streamer propagation [16]. Thus this was
concluded that nanofluids based either mineral oil can be
used as an replacement of mineral oil in transformers. A
lot of research has been done showing that TiO2 and
Fe3O4 nanoparticles can be used to improve breakdown
strength of mineral oil [16-19].
II. EXPERIMENT
A. Nanofluids Preparation
Two Silica nanopartilces A and B were prepared in our
lab. The nanoparticles A were exposed to 80°C and
nanoparticles B were exposed to 100°C during synthesis
reaction. Nanofluids were prepared with 20%
concentration of nanoparticles. Nanofluid A contains
nanoparticles A and nanofluid B contains nanopartilces
B. The basic properties of mineral oil and silica
nanopartiles are summarized in Table I and II
respectively. The preparation method of nanofluids is
also elaborated by the flow chart in figure 1.
TABLE I PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF BASE
MINERAL OIL
ɛ1 σ1 υ ρ
2
[F/M] [S/M] [mm /s]40
[kg/dm3]
Oil 2.2ɛ0 1×10-12 13 0.895

978-1-4673-6813-1/15/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

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 o

TABLE II PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SILICA

NANOPARTICLE

ɛ2 [F/m] σ2 [S/m] τr(s)

SiO2 4ɛ0 1×10-15 37.2

Mineral
Oil
Magnetic
stir sonication Nanofluid

SiO2
Particles
Fig. 2. Breakdown voltages of silica nanofluids

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Fig. 1. Flow chart of procedure of preparing Silica
nanofluids
B. Breakdown Strength Measurement
The prepared samples were put into vacuum box for
almost 24 hours to settle down the small microbubbles
apeared during the preparation of nanofluids. The
moisture content of all prepared samples was measured by
Rishang moisture meter JF-5. All prepared samples have
very close moisture contents.
The AC breakdown test is defined as the measure of
ability of the liquid to withstand the electric stress at 50Hz
frequency. The AC breakdown voltage measurement was
done according to IEC60156 standard. The tester used for
ac voltage measurement was Jiantong Automatic 50Hz,
6801 electrical breakdown tester. This tester provided a
value of the mean of six individual tests along with the
standard deviation from the whole test. Five series of 6
breakdowns for every prepared sample were taken to
obtain 30 breakdown voltages in total in order to reduce
the data scatter of AC voltage breakdown voltage. The
spherically capped brass electrodes were used for this test.
The gap distance between electrodes used was of 2mm. A
5 minutes initial settling times were used before applying
the voltage so that the bubbles can settle down. The
stirring time after every breakdown was one minute. The
experiment was performed at room temperature.
III. EXPERIMENT RESULTS
The AC breakdown results of Silica nanofluids are
shown in figure 2. The AC breakdown voltages of two
nanofluids were 1.05 times for nanofluid A and 1.11
times for nanofluid B as compared to base mineral.
The nanofluids containing 20% concentration
manifested better dielectric properties as compared to the
base transformer oil. It is postulated that addition of
nanoparticles influences the breakdown physics of oil.
An interface area is produced between the base oil and
nanoparticle surface. This interface is responsible for
breakdown strength enhancement. The characteristics of
this interface depend on the physical characteristics of
nanoparticles, concentration of nanoparticles and amount
of water content in oil. The dielectric strength of
nanofluid A indicated less improvement whereas the
nanofluid B showed more improvement as compared to
pure oil. This can be postulated that the preparation
temperature of nanoparticle has an effect on the surface
of nanoparticle and hence influence the physics of the
interface area between oil and nanopartilce. The
insulating strength improvement of silica nanofluids as
compared to pure oil could be explained by trapping
properties of interface between base oil and
nanoparticles. The electrons produced at high electric
stress are largely responsible for ionization and hence
breakdown in oil. These high speed electrons will be
trapped and de-trapped by the interface between oil and
nanopartilce. Due to this traping and de-traping process,
the energy transfer and velocity of these electrons will
reduce. The fast electrons will become slower ones by
this process of trapping and de-trapping [20] in the
interface and breakdown will occur at high voltages than
that of base oil. The breakdown voltage is different with
different nanofluids. This is concluded from here that the
preparation method of nanopartilces, especially the
temperature also has an effect on the breakdown voltage.

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 V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, the nanoparticles with 20%
concentrations were used to see the effect of preparation
method especially the temperature of nanoparticles on
the dielectric strength of transformer oil. The AC
breakdown strength was measured and analyzed. The
results showed improvement in breakdown strength of
nanofluids. So it is concluded, the preparation
temperature the interface characteristics and hence the
breakdown strength of oil.
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BIOGRAPHY
Muhammad Rafiq is a PhD student at North China Electric
Power University Beijing. He was lecturer in Electrical
Engineering Department of University of Gujrat. . He earned
M.Sc. in Electric Power Engineering from Chlmers University of
Technology Sweden and BSc in Electrical Engineering from
UET, Pakistan.