Thermal Analysis of the Transformer Bushings

Subjected to Harmonic Voltages and Currents

Feng Yang Peng Sun Dong Wang
College of Engineering and Electric Power Research Institute of Electric Power Research Institute of
Technology, State Grid, State Grid,
Southwest University Henan Electric Power Company Henan Electric Power Company
Chongqing 400716, China Henan 450000, China Henan 450000, China
yangfengswu@swu.edu.cn sun.peng1020@163.com wangdong95598@126.com

Chao Tang Qu Zhou Lin Du

College of Engineering and College of Engineering and State Key Laboratory of Power
Technology, Technology, Transmission Equipment & System
Southwest University Southwest University Security and New Technology,
Chongqing 400716, China Chongqing 400716, China Chongqing University,
tangchao_1981@163.com zhouqu@swu.edu.cn Chongqing 400044, China,
dulin@cqu.edu.cn

Abstract—The oil-impregnated-paper (OIP) insulated
equipment such as transformer bushings experience the
challenge of thermal stress within the insulating medium under
operation. Subjected to the operating voltage and load current,
the dielectric loss of insulation body and conductive loss of
current-carrying components generates heat, which affects the
temperature profiles of the bushings. As the operating thermal
condition and power loss characteristics of dielectrics are
interrelated, which may eventually lead to thermal runaway of
the insulation, therefore, it is necessary to fully understand the
loss and temperature distribution from the perspective of
analyzing the thermal effect of insulation body, so as to provide
a theoretical basis for discussing the underlying causes of OIP
insulation failure. In this paper, a full-scale electro-thermal
coupling simulation model of a condenser type bushing is
established. The characteristics of harmonic operating voltages
and loading currents, the non-linearly temperature-dependent
dielectric and thermal properties, as well as frequency-
dependent power loss, are comprehensively considered in a joint
analysis using the finite element method with numerical analysis
software. The distribution of electric field and temperature field
is obtained, and the influence of harmonics and non-linearity on
the thermal profiles of bushings are analyzed.
Keywords—bushing, thermal, harmonics, finite element
method
I. INTRODUCTION
The oil-impregnated-paper (OIP) insulation is the main
form of internal insulation bodies inside oil-immersed
transformers, high voltage bushings, and potential
transformers. OIP insulation components account for a large
proportion of the power grid equipment, which plays an
important role in energy conversion, insulation protection,
energy measurement and other important functions in the
power transmission and transformation process [1,2]. Among
them, the OIP condenser bushing is a kind of typical OIP
insulated equipment in the power grid, which serves the
electrical insulation and mechanical fixation between the
outgoing line of the transformer winding and the transformer
casing [3].
In the real-life operation environment, transformer
bushing encounters a complex problem: the thermal effect of
the insulation medium. Under the operating voltage and
loading current, the dielectric loss of insulating materials and
Ohmic loss of current-carrying components will generate heat
and affect the material temperature [4], while the dielectric
loss characteristics are usually related to temperature, so the
operating thermal condition and insulation performance of
electrical equipment are interconnected.
Further, when the bushing is damped, the moisture in the
condenser body will increase the dielectric loss and the
temperature of the bushing, which may further increase the
dielectric loss. The long-term development of the above
process will eventually lead to the thermal runaway and
thermal breakdown of the equipment insulation [5]. On the
other hand, the current flowing through the bushing and the
applied voltage are non-sinusoidal waveforms, such as that in
the HVDC transmission system, which contains high-order
harmonics. The existence of harmonics has an enhanced effect
on the heat production of the bushing, resulting in a significant
temperature rise. The above analysis indicates that
temperature is the manifestation of the joint impact of
dielectric properties of insulating materials and the external
excitation, also one of the underlying causes of insulation
failure. Therefore, it is necessary to quantitatively analyze the
loss and temperature distribution from the perspective of the
heating process. In the present paper, based on the structure of
126 kV OIP condenser bushing, the electro-thermal coupling
simulation model is established using the finite element
analysis (FEA). An electric-thermal coupling analysis method
is proposed, which considers the frequency and temperature
variation characteristics and the effects of the complex
waveforms dielectric parameters of oil paper and insulating
oil.
II. HARMONIC VOLTAGES AND CURRENTS IN AN HVDC
TRANSMISSION SYSTEM
Different from the traditional power frequency sinusoidal
AC voltage, there are more complex voltage waveforms in the
power system. Except for the basic voltage waveforms, there
are also harmonic components with broadband distribution
and rich content. Taking the valve-side bushing of the
converter transformer as an example, the bushing withstands
both the DC voltage and many characteristic and non-
characteristic harmonics that are generated by the converter
valve. Harmonics will aggravate the dielectric loss, increase
the temperature of the equipment and may damage the
insulation of the equipment.

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 In this paper, the temperature field of the bushing is III. THE MATHEMATICAL MODEL OF THERMO-ELECTRIC
analyzed and calculated based on the typical voltage COUPLING OF TRANSFORMER BUSHINGS
waveform in the converter station. In this paper, a typical DC
When the frequency of the electric field (E-field) is low
system simulation model is established by referring to the
and the wavelength is larger than the geometric scale of the
actual structure and parameters of Yunguang ± 800kV HVDC
object, the effect of the induced electric field can be ignored,
transmission system, and then the voltage waveforms at
and the E-field can be regarded as the electric quasi-static
terminals of the insulation body of the converter transformer
field. The electric quasi-static field inside a transformer
bushing are calculated, which is used as the voltage
bushing is described by the following formula in a cylindrical
excitations for subsequent electro-thermal simulation. As
coordinate:
illustrated in Fig.1, the core component of the DC
transmission system is the converter valve. The converter 1 ∂  ∂ϕ  ∂2ϕ
∇2ϕ = (1)
valves at the rectifier side and the inverter side are arranged r  + =0
r ∂r  ∂r  ∂z2
symmetrically at two poles. Each pole is composed of two 6-
pulse rectifier bridges in series, from which the voltage and where ϕ is the electric potential.
current harmonics are mainly generated. The simulated
voltage waveforms across the insulation of the valve-side As the condenser body is a slender structure, its axial
bushing of a converter transformer and its spectrum (Y-Y length is far greater than the diameter, so the heat flow along
connection of No.1 polar) are obtained as shown in Fig. 2. The the axial direction can be disregarded, only considering the
waveform and its spectrum of the loaded current of the flow of heat flow along the radial direction, as shown in Fig.
bushing of a converter transformer (Y-Y connection of No.1 4 below.
polar) are obtained as shown in Fig. 3.

Winding1

Y/Y
Ud/2

Ud
Winding2

Y/D
Ud/2 Fig. 4 Scheme of heat flux inside a bushing

Considering the axisymmetric characteristics of the

transformer bushing, the heat transfer process under the
cylindrical coordinate conforms to the following heat transfer
Fig. 1 Scheme of unipolar 12-pulse rectification equation,
100 1 ∂  ∂T  ∂  ∂T  ∂T (2)
 λr  +  λ  + Pv = ρC
900 r ∂r  ∂r  ∂z  ∂z  ∂t
Vr.m.s of harmonics/kV

80
800
where PV represents the power of the heat source per unit
60 volume; ρ represents the material density; C is the specific
Voltage/kV

700

40
heat capacity of the material of the bushing insulation; T is the
600
temperature. Subjected to E-field, the heat source in (2) is
500 20 actually dielectric loss, and its power loss density PV can be
400 0
calculated as,
2.50 2.52 2.54 2.56 2.58
Time/s
10 20 30
Harmonics
40 50
PV = 2π f ε E 2 tan δ = σ E 2 (3)
Fig.2 Voltage waveforms across the insulation of the valve-side bushing of a
In the steady-state temperature distribution, substituting
converter transformer and its spectrum (Y-Y connection of No.1 polar) the dielectric loss expression (3) into the heat conduction
equation (2), we can get:
3 2.5
1 ∂  ∂T  (4)
 λr  + σ E = 0
2
Ir.m.s of harmonics/kA

2
2.0
r ∂r  ∂r 
Current/kA

1
1.5
0
The outer boundary temperature of the condenser body which
-1 1.0
is away from the central conductor shall be consistent with the
-2
0.5 ambient temperature and the following boundary conditions
-3
0.0
of temperature field can be listed,
10 20 30 40 50
2.25 2.30 2.35
 dT ( r ) P (5)
Time/s Harmonics
 dr =− 1
 r =a 2π aλ
Fig.3 Waveform and its spectrum of the loaded current of the bushing of a T (r ) =T
converter transformer (Y-Y connection of No.1 polar)  r =b 0

where P1 is the Joule loss per unit length caused by the central
conductor; T0 is the external ambient temperature of the
bushing.

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 IV. ELECTRO-THERMAL COUPLING SIMULATION OF 1.15

TRANSFORMER BUSHINGS USING THE FINITE ELEMENT 0.30

1.10

导导系系/W·m-1·K-1

比导比/J·g-1·K-1
METHOD 0.29 1.05

A. Measurement of the dielectric parameters of oil- 0.28 1.00

impregnated paper and insulating oil 0.95

0.27
The simulation of electro-thermal coupling in the bushing 0.90

needs to consider the frequency and temperature variation 20 40 60 80 100 20 40 60 80 100

温温/°C 温温/°C
characteristics of dielectric parameters in the process of heat
generation, as well as the temperature variation characteristics (a) (b)
of thermodynamic parameters in the process of heat 0.116
2.15

dissipation. The five material parameters, i.e. relative 2.10

0.114
permittivity, dielectric loss tangent, thermal conductivity,

导导率/W·m-1·K-1

比导比/J·g-1·K-1
2.05
specific heat capacity, and density were first measured on their 0.112
2.00
temperature and frequency dependence. 0.110
1.95
In this paper, the dielectric properties of insulating oil 0.108
1.90
samples and oil-impregnated paper samples were tested by the 0.106
concept 80 wide-band dielectric spectrum test system 30 40 50 60 70 80
温温/°C
90 100 110 30 40 50 60 70 80
温温/°C
90 100 110

(NOVOCONTROL GMBH-GERMANY). The measured

relative permittivity and tanδ of insulating oil and oil-
impregnated paper under different temperature and frequency
are illustrated in Fig. 5. The harmonics obtained here will be
used as the voltage and current excitations in the following
FEA electro-thermal simulation.
(c) (d)
Fig. 6 The temperature dependence of thermal conductivity and specific heat
capacity of (a) oil-impregnated paper and (b) insulating oil
loss distribution is obtained by the superposition of each
harmonic. Then, the calculated data of power is loaded into
the temperature field analysis environment, and the final
temperature value is obtained iteratively. The obtained E-field
along different parts of the bushing is illustrated in Fig. 7.

(a) (b)

(a) (b)

(c) (d)
Fig. 5 FDS measurement results of the relative permittivity and tanδ of (a)-
(b) insulating oil; and (c)-(d): oil-impregnated paper.

B. Measurement of thermodynamic properties of oil-

impregnated paper and insulating oil
In this paper, the thermal conductivity and specific heat
capacity of oil-immersed paper samples were measured by the
LFA457 laser thermal conductivity analyzer (NETZSCH-
GERMANY). TC3010l (Xi'an Xiaxi) liquid thermal
conductivity meter was used to measure the thermal
conductivity of insulating oil. The measured thermal
conductivity and specific heat capacity of both the insulating
paper and oil are plotted in Fig. 6.
C. Characteristic of electric field distribution
In the FEA simulation process, the temperature field is
initialized firstly, and the voltage and current of each
harmonic are applied in sequence. The E-field and eddy
current field are analyzed respectively, and the total power
(c) (d)
Fig. 7 Electric field distribution in different parts of the bushing (unit:
kV/mm), (a): upper porcelain shell, (b): flange, (c): condenser body, (d): lower
porcelain shell
The electric field between the plates is approximately
uniform, which avoids the problem of partial discharge
damaging the insulation caused by high partial field strength,
thus improving the overall electrical strength of the core.
Fig. 7 shows that the strong E-field is limited to the area
between the capacitor plates in the condenser body, while in
the insulating oil gap, the porcelain shell and metal parts
which locate outside the envelope line of the capacitor plates,
the E-field decreases rapidly. The concentration of E-field can

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be observed at the edge, flange and lower part of each The temperature of radial paths 1 and 2 which locates in
capacitor plate. The maximum E-field strength in the bushing the lower part of the bushing is higher than that of path 3. From
is located at the lower edge of the bushing tap near the flange, Fig. 9 (b), it can be seen that the front section of the axial
and its field strength is 3.53kV/mm. temperature curve is higher than the back section, i.e. the
lower section is higher than the upper section, while the
D. Characteristics of temperature field distribution temperature curve increases first and then decreases, i.e. the
Based on the calculated dielectric loss, the final highest temperature appears in the middle of the bushing.
temperature field distribution can be obtained after several
iterations, as shown in Fig. 8. It shows that the temperature of The differences in the temperature field distribution
the lower part of the bushing flange is higher than that of the caused by the two calculation methods of whether considering
upper part. Due to the large Joule loss of the central conductor dielectric loss and harmonics in the simulation are further
and the dielectric loss of the condenser body, the maximum compared in Fig. 9 and Fig. 10. The results show that the
temperature appears near the central conductor at the grading temperature value of the former is higher than that of the latter,
ring in the lower part of the bushing, with the temperature which shows that the dielectric loss produced by the condenser
value of 130.25 °C, while the minimum temperature is located body is one of the heat sources that affect the temperature
at the outer edge of the porcelain bushing, with the distribution. Besides, the generated heat by the fundamental
temperature value of 10.1 °C. The maximum temperature is harmonics dominates the whole temperature profiles in
about 13 times as the minimum temperature, indicating that contrast with the voltage and current harmonics. The
the temperature distribution inside the bushing is extremely temperature difference between the above three different
uneven. calculation methods is 0.16 ° C and 0.46 ° C respectively.
Compared with the present calculation method of neglecting
the dielectric loss and harmonics in electro-thermal simulation,
the proposed method in this paper is with higher accuracy.
V. CONCLUSION
Fig. 8 Electric field distribution along the bushing (unit: kV/mm)
In this paper, the electro-thermal coupling simulation of
In this paper, three radial paths and three axial paths were the transformer bushing considering the frequency and
selected as the research paths in the area of the condenser body. temperature dependence of the dielectric parameters of the
In the cylindrical coordinate system, the starting point condenser body is proposed. The results show that the
coordinates of the three radial paths are respectively (24.5, temperature difference of the three different calculation
257.6), (53.8, 257.6), (24.5, 693.6), (52.4, 693.6), (24.5, methods is 0.16 °C and 0.46 °C respectively, which shows that
1390.1), (53.81390.1), which are called radial paths 1-3, and the temperature calculation method of the transformer bushing
the starting point coordinates of the three axial paths are considering the non-linear dielectric characteristics of
respectively (25, 365.3), (25, 977.0), (39, 366), (39, 978.4), insulating material is more practical and has higher accuracy.
(51, 366.2), (51, 976.3), respectively called axial path 1-3. The The maximum temperature inside the bushing locates at the
temperature distribution along these paths is illustrated in Fig. lower part of the central conductor, which is 130.25 °C. Along
9 and Fig. 10. the radial direction of the bushing, the temperature change of
the condenser body gradually decreases outward, with the
Temperature difference/°C

140 0.5 0.5 highest temperature near the conductor and the lowest
temperature difference/°C

R.Path1
120 R.Path2 120
R.Path3 0.4 100 0.4 temperature at the outermost paper layer of the condenser.
Temperature/°C

100
Temperature/°C

temperature
80 0.3 80 0.3
60
-independent ACKNOWLEDGMENT
60
0.2 0.2
40 40 This research was funded by the National Key R&D
A.Path1
20 0.1 0.1 Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0902700,
temperature-independent 20 A.Path2
0 A.Path3

25 30 35 40 45 50 55
0.0 0 0.0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
2017YBF0902702) , the Science and Technology Project of
Radial displacement/mm Axial displacement/mm Electric Power Research Institute of State Grid Henan Electric
Power Company, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the
(a) (b)
Central Universities (Grant No. SWU119042).
Fig. 9 Differences resulted from dielectric loss on the temperature distribution
of the bushing: (a) radial, (b) axial REFERENCES
140 [1] Meira M, Ruschetti C R, Alvarez R E, et al. “Power transformers
R.Path1 120
R.Path2 monitoring based on electrical measurements: state of the art”. IET
Temperature/°C

120
Temperature/°C

R.Path3
100 Generation Transmission & Distribution, vol. 12, pp. 2805-2815, 2018.
100 Foundamental
frequency Foundamental [2] Islam M M, Lee G, Hettiwatte S N. “A review of condition monitoring
80 80 frequency techniques and diagnostic tests for lifetime estimation of power
60 60 transformers”, Electrical Engineering, vol. 100, pp: 581-605, 2018.
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A.Path1
[3] Z. Xu et al. “Study on frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy of
A.Path2
20 A.path3 epoxy resin impregnated paper bushings under damp conditions”, The
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