The 20th International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering, Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 27 – September 01, 2017

ANALYSIS OF BRIDGING PHENOMENON IN MINERAL OIL AND

NATURAL ESTER CONTAMINATED WITH CELLULOSE PARTICLES
UNDER DIFFERENT DC ELECTRICAL FIELD
1* 1 1 1 1 2 2
Min Dan , Jian Hao , Yanqing Li , Ruijin Liao , Lijun Yang , Wang Qian , Zhang Shiling
1
The State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and
New Technology, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China
2
State Grid Chongqing Electric Power Co. Chongqing Electric Power Res earch Institute,
Chongqing, China
*Email: Alice_danmin@163.com

Abstract: Due to non-biodegradable and future scarcity, the interest to find a

replacement for mineral oil is increasing. One of the potential replacement for the mineral
oil is natural ester. This paper investigated t he formation properties of cellulose bridges
and the leak current in mineral oil and natural ester under different DC electrical fields.
The electrodes are spherical electrodes. When the DC voltage increased, either the
velocity of cellulos e particles or the formation of bridges were more rapid coupled with
thicker bridges. However, owing to the larger dynamic viscosity for nat ural ester, cellulose
particles migrated more slowly and attached to the anode easily just like some beard. As
a consequence, the characteristics of bridges were different in two cases, such as the
shape, thickness, etc. The leak current in contamination oil was larger than that in clean
one clearly. The higher the voltage was, the larger the saturation current was.
Nonetheless, for t he natural ester, the current was smaller and the formation of bridges
was more difficult at the same voltage, which indicat es that cellulose particles have a less
viscous effect on the leak current of natural ester as well as the better insulation
performance.

1 INTRODUCTION converter transformer, which may cause partial

With the wide application of High Voltage Direct
Current (HVDC) technology, it is favourable for the
economic and reliable operation of the power grid
to ensure the normal and stable operation of the
converter trans former. Due to the direct contact
between the transformer oil and metal, iron core
and paper insulation, the metal scraps or cellulos e
residues will be formed in the aging process,
almost 94% of them are cellulose particles[1],
which can form a bridge over a period of time.
Moreover, the experimental results show that the
high level of particle pollution is one of the main
causes of the insulation damage of 400kV and
above converter trans formers[2].
Mineral oil, one of the liquid dielectric materials, is
commonly used as liquid insulation medium in
transformers as a result of its low cost and good
properties. However, due to non-biodegradable
and future scarcity, the interest to find a
replacement for it is increasing. One of the
potential replacement for the mineral oil is natural
ester. If the effect of contamination on the
insulation property of natural ester can be figured
out, it must be useful to extend the application of
natural ester transformers.
discharge, even the whole insulation damage of
the medium[3-6]. Therefore, carrying out study
about the relation between contamination, namely
fiber, metal and other granular impurities
pollution[7], and electrical performance index,
analysing the effect of particles on the insulation
performance of transformer oil (mineral oil and
vegetable oil) play a quite important role in the
prevention of trans former fault as well as the
transformer structure’s design[ 8-10].
In recent years, some studies have c oncent rated
on bridging phenomenon in c ontami nated
transformer mineral oil. Researchers have
discussed conduction current and the situation of
bridging formation in mineral oil under DC, AC, DC
biased AC field [11-13]. The influence of different
electrodes, contamination levels, and voltage
levels [14-15] on the characteristics of fiber bridges
and conduction current in mineral oil has also been
studied. As for natural ester, researches about the
effect of contamination particles on its breakdown
property have been conducted in papers [16-17].
However, there is few researches about comparing
the formation characteristics of fiber bridges and
the leak current in mineral oil as well as natural
ester.

In summary, if the impurities of converter This paper has studied the formation
transformers in pres ence of cellulose particles characteristics of fiber bridges in mineral oil and
during operation form a fiber bridge in a period of natural ester under different DC fields with
time, it will be a internal conductive path in spherical electrodes. Meanwhile, the leak current
 has also been investigated to compare the
insulation property of mineral oil and natural ester.

2 EXP ERIMENTS

2.1 Test cell and sample preparations

The test cell used in all experiments was a cube

glass cup whose volume is 1100ml. A pair of
spherical electrodes with a diameter of 13 mm
have been used for the experiments. Their
Fig.1 : Experimental setup under DC voltage
distance was 10mm and material was copper. Two
electrodes are symmetrically positioned on bot h
sides of the test cell, one of the electrodes can be On the experiment platform, different DC voltage
flexibly adjusted so as to change the length of the levels were investigated, such as 3 kV and 6 kV.
All tests were performed at room temperature
distance bet ween two poles.
(15 ℃ ).
First of all, a new insulation paper from HV DC
converter trans formers was rubbed by different Before each experiment, using a glass rod to stir
the oil and cellulose particles fully for two minutes,
small metal files to form fiber particles. Then
cellulose particles of various sizes could be got by which made the cellulose particles distribut ed in
molecular sieves, while this paper only takes the the oil evenly.
size of 150-250μm as an example. A well
controlled pre-treatment procedure was performed 3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
on all insulating liquids and cellulose particles to
obtain a clean and dry oil s amples and cellulos e 3.1 Mineral oil test
particles. The main characteristic parameters of
mineral oil and natural ester are shown in table 1. Firstly, a complete thin fiber bridge was created
within 40s after applying 3kV DC voltage as shown
Table1: Parameters of new mineral oil and natural in Fig.2. Then, t he number of fiber bridges coupled
ester with the thickness increased with the increasing of
Parameter Mineral oil Natural ester time. After 900s, the property of fiber bridges whic h
Density in g/cm3 (20°C) 0.890 0.910 appeared cylindrical remained unchanged. For 6kV,
Dynamic Viscosity in mm2/s (40°C) 9.550 38.30 a thin bridge formed after 30s. The bridges
Dynamic Viscosity in mm2/s (20°C) 25.70 78.50 continued to grow until 480s (Fig.2). After that, no
Permittivity (20°C,50Hz) 2.210 3.120 changes of bridge formation were observed.
Volume Resistivity in Ω·m (20°C) 1.074×1013 3.327×1010
According to the res ults, the higher DC voltage
tan δ in % (20°C) 0.014 0.393
was applied to the test cell, the faster cellulos e
particles moved and complete bridges formed.
The oil samples were filtered, dried and cooled at
room temperature. The contamination level for
each size of particles was 0.009% by weight. The
samples were sealed to be immersed for 48 hours
under the temperature of 15℃ . Every experiment
lasted 1500s and was carried out three times,
meanwhile the same samples were prepared by 40s-3kV 30s-6kV
the same process.

2.2 Experimental setup

The whole experiment platform is as shown in

Figure 1, DC voltage was applied by and high
voltage power devic e AU-20R3-LC (220V ) from 200s-3kV 200s-6kV
Japanese Pine Company. The test cell was located
just below the Cannon digital camera that recorded
the optical image of the cellulose bridge during the
experiment. One of the glass cell’s electrodes was
connected directly to the high DC volt age source,
and the other was connected to the Keithley
1500s-3kV 1500s-6kV
electrometer (6517B), which was utilised to Fig.2: Dynamic changes of fiber bridges in mineral
measure the leakage current bet ween the
oil under different DC electrical field strength.
measuring electrodes.
The leak current between two spherical electrodes
in contamination and clean mineral oil can be seen
in Fig.3. According to Fig.3, when DC voltage was
applied, there was a polarization current. Then, it
grew slowly until saturation because of the charge
and discharge between particles and electrodes.
Moreover, the saturation current increased with the
increase of the voltage. The leak current for
contaminated oil was always higher than the clean
oil.
50
40
Conduction Current [nA]
30
20
10
0
-10
-20
0 200 400
Fig.3: Leak current in mineral oil under different
DC electrical field strength.
3.2 Natural ester te st
Firstly, numerous cellulos e particles attached t o
the anode just like beard after applying 3kV DC
voltage as shown in Fig.4. There had no bri dge
formed in this case. The phenomenon of beard
more obvious with the inc reasing of time. After
1500s, there were shallow bridges between
electrodes. For 6kV, a thin bridge formed after
120s. The bridges continued to grow until 480s
(Fig.4). After that, no changes of bridge formation
were obs erved.
200s-3kV
400s-3kV
1500s-3kV 1500s-6kV
Fig.4: Dynamic changes of fiber bridges in natural
ester under different DC electrical field strength.
Similar to the results in mineral oil, cellulos e
particles moved and complete bridges formed
faster under higher DC voltage. However, the total
velocity of particles motion was slower and the
formation of bridges in natural ester was more
difficult. What is more, the final shape of bridges is
inverted triangle different from that in mineral oil.
The leak current between two spherical electrodes
in natural ester can be seen in Fig.5. Similar to
Fig.3, it was obvious that the leak current for
contaminated oil was higher than the clean one.
3kV 0.009% 6kV 0.009% Besides, the higher the voltage was, the larger the
3kVClean 6kVClean saturation current was. However, in this case, the
leak current was smaller than that in last case,
which indic ates that cellulose particles have a less
viscous effect on the leak current in natural ester
due to its smaller viscosity probably.
30 3kV 0.009% 6kV 0.009%
3kV Clean 6kV Clean
20
Conduction Current [nA]
600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
t [s]
10
0
-10
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600
t [s]
Fig.5: Leak current in natural ester under different
DC electrical field strength.
3.3 Di scussion
First of all, cellulose particles were polarized to
move back and forth along the electric field line
between t wo electrodes rapidly as soon as DC
voltage was applied. They were charging and
discharging from one electrode to the other.
Nevertheless, more particles were migrating from
the cathode to the anode, especially in the natural
ester. In addition, in the natural ester long cellulos e
particles those abs orbed short ones extended to
30s-6kV the cathode from the anode to form the inverted
triangular bridge by degrees. The insulating oil that
flowed circularly bet ween two electrodes by the
fluid power [18] and certain negative colloidal
particles may cause this phenomenon. What these
negative colloidal particles were needs to be
investigated furt her.
400s-6kV
Forces acting on cellulose particles included the
gravity and buoyancy in the vertical direction.
While in the horizontal direction, there were the
viscous drag force (Fdrag) [19, 20], Coulomb forc e
(Fc ) [19, 21], dielectrophoretic force (FDEP) [19], and
the interaction force between particles. They were
calculated as follow:
Fdrag  3 D g ( ) （1）
 2 Int'l. Conf. Electr. Eng. (ICEE ), Okinawa, Japan,
FC  0.83qE, q   31 0 r 2 E （2）
3
1 ( E 2 )
FDEP  r 2l ( 2  1 ) （3）
4 r
where, r , D , and l are the radius, diameter, and
length of the particle respectively, ε1 and ε2 are the
permittivity of the oil and the fiber individually, η is
the dynamic viscosity of the oil. β is the aspect
ratio (L/D)， g (  ) is given by
1
8  2  2 2  1   (  2  1)1/2 
g( )   2   ln
3    1    1
2 3/2
  (  2  1)1/2 
 
The dielectrophoretic force in mineral oil is larger
than that in natural ester as due to the smaller
permittivity in mineral oil according to table 1.
Besides, the larger viscosity for natural ester may
lead to the larger viscous drag forc e acting on
particles. Above reasons are likely to cause most
cellulose particles to move more slowly as well as
attach to the anode in the natural ester.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Both in mineral oil and nat ural ester, complete fiber
bridges can be seen. When the DC voltage
increase, eit her the velocity of cellulose particles or
the formation of bridges are more rapid coupled
with thicker bridges. However, owing to the larger
dynamic viscosity for natural ester, cellulos e
particles migrate more slowly and attached to the
anode easily just like some beard. As a
consequence, the characteristic of bridges is
different in two cases, such as the shape,
thickness, etc.
Leak current in contamination oil is larger than that
in clean one clearly. The higher the voltage is, the
larger the saturation current is. Nonetheless, for
the nat ural ester, the c urrent is smaller and the
formation of bridges is more difficult at the same
voltage, which indicates that cellulose particles
have a less viscous effect on the leak current of
natural ester as well as the better insulation
performance.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors thank the P roject Supported by the
State Grid for Research on the Key Technology of
Mixed Insulation Oil Transformer (2017-2019).
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