International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology (IJEET)

Volume 8, Issue 4, July-August 2017, pp. 67–74, Article ID: IJEET_08_04_008

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EFFECT OF INSULATING OIL LEVEL ON

DISSIPATION FACTORS OF OIL-PAPER
INSULATION USED IN DISTRIBUTION
TRANSFORMERS
Respicius Clemence Kiiza
Lecturer, Department of Electrical Engineering,
Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology (DIT), P.O. Box 2958, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

ABSTRACT
The rate of failure of distribution transformers which are connected in the
National Grid in Tanzania is high. Earlier studies found out that one of the major
causes of transformer failures is internal winding short circuit and that this type of
failure may be accelerated by low insulating oil level in the transformer tank. In the
distribution transformer, oil-paper insulation system is used to insulate the
transformer winding. In addition, insulating oil is used to cool the transformer
winding. This paper proposes the use of dissipation factors measured over wide
frequency range to predict oil level in distribution transformer. The effect of
insulating oil level on the dissipation factor curves over wide frequency range, i.e.
from 1 mHz up to 1 kHz, has been assessed using a model implemented in Finite
Element Method software (COMSOL Multiphysics). The simulation results were
validated through comparison with experimental results from the literature. The
results show that there is significant change in dissipation factors in the low frequency
region when the insulating oil drops below the position of paper layers.
Key words: COMSOL Multiphysics, dissipation factor, distribution transformer,
insulating oil level, oil-paper insulation.
Cite this Article: Respicius Clemence Kiiza. Effect of Insulating Oil Level on
Dissipation Factors of Oil-Paper Insulation Used in Distribution Transformers.
International Journal of Electrical Engineering & Technology, 8(4), 2017, pp. 67–74.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJEET/issues.asp?JType=IJEET&VType=8&IType=4

1. INTRODUCTION
Distribution transformers in the power system are key components that bridge power lines
from the electricity customers and the power supply side. Distribution transformers damage is
one of the greatest challenges to many electricity companies in developing countries because
the damage brings inconveniences to the electricity customers. This is because the damage
takes long time to be fixed [1]. The winding faults occurring in a transformer are classified in
two types: external and internal winding faults [2]. The internal winding faults in

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 Effect of Insulating Oil Level on Dissipation Factors of Oil-Paper Insulation Used in Distribution
Transformers

transformers can cause huge damage in a very short period of time, and in some cases the
damages are repairable [2,3]. About 70%-80% of transformers failures are caused by internal
winding faults [2,4].
The findings in [2,3] are closely related to the recent results in [5]. The study on the
causes of failures in distribution transformers in the National Grid in Tanzania, in which out
of investigated 89 cases of distribution transformer failures, 59 cases (which is about 66%)
were due to internal winding faults. Out of the winding faults that were due to internal faults,
19 cases (which is about 21%) were reported to be initiated by low insulation oil level in the
transformer tanks. The study pointed out that low insulating oil level was due to oil theft from
the transformer tanks. It is, however, not clear to us why people steal the insulating oil from
transformer tanks as alternative uses of this oil at the moment remains not understood.
It is well emphasized that the oil in transformer tanks must be at the proper level before
voltage is applied to the transformer; this is because the failure to maintain the proper oil level
in transformer tanks can cause severe personal injury, death or substantial property damage.
There are some techniques which can be used to detect oil levels in transformer tanks [6,7]. It
should be known that most of these oil level indicating techniques use relays, e.g. Vertical
Protection Relay (VPR) that are installed on a pipe that is vertical to the top face of a
transformer. This VPR is located near one of the corners of the transformer [8]. A proper care
must therefore be taken while installing these types of oil level indicators in case it is done in
a fully oil filled distribution transformer without gas cushions. This is because the VPR will
displace approximate 100 cc of oil during installation [8].
In this paper a technique of determining oil level in oil filled distribution transformers
without inserting anything inside the transformer tank has been proposed. The proposed
technique is the measurement of dissipation factors over wide frequency range (from 1 mHz
up to 1 kHz). During the measurement of the dissipation factor, there will be no requirement
of opening any cover from the transformer tank as the voltage source leads are connected at
the outer terminals of high potential and low potential of the distribution transformers. The
dissipation factor is calculated from the measured current.
Different studies have been done on the prediction of the condition of oil-paper insulation
by measuring dissipation factors [9-15]. Majority of these studies were aimed at determining
the amount of moisture content in the paper and in monitoring insulating oil temperature. The
dissipation factor results on distribution transformers with and without insulating oil obtained
through measurements were reported in [9]. The results in [9] shows that there is significant
difference between dissipation factor curves measured with oil in the distribution transformed
when compared to those obtained when the distribution transformer has no insulating oil.
Although the experimental results gave clear difference between the dissipation factor results
measured on the distribution transformers that have insulating oil and that have no insulating
oil, little efforts have been done to model the effect of insulating oil level on the dissipation
factor curves in insulation system used in distribution transformer, i.e. oil-paper insulation
system. The simulation technique can be used to interpret experimental results and therefore it
provides a clear explanation on why there is significant difference between the results
obtained at various insulating oil levels in the distribution transformers. In this study,
therefore, oil-paper insulation system was implemented in FEM software (COMSOL
Multiphysics) in order to assess the characteristics of dissipation factor curves over wide
frequency range from 1 mHz up to 1 kHz. The results in this study show that the dissipation
factors measured over wide frequency range can be used to predict the level of insulating oil

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 Respicius Clemence Kiiza

in the equipment that uses oil-paper to form an insulation system, e.g. in a distribution
transformer.

2. METHODOLOGY
In this section, the set-up of the configuration used to model oil-paper insulation system is
described in details. The method used to validate simulation results is also presented. In
addition, the procedures of modelling oil-paper insulation system in FEM software
(COMSOL Multiphysics) are presented too.

2.1. Set-up of the configuration used to model oil-paper insulation system

The insulation system of the distribution transformer winding is a composite of insulating oil
and paper. It is therefore named as oil-paper insulation system. In this study, a simple
geometry modelling oil-paper insulation system in distribution transformer is shown in Fig. 1.
In modelling the transformer winding insulation, paper layers were placed between two
electrodes. The top electrode was connected to the high potential and the bottom electrode
was grounded. In mimicking the transformer tank which contains transformer oil, the
resulting configuration was immersed in the insulating oil.

2.2. Method for validating simulation results

A set-up (Fig. 1) used in simulation is similar to the one presented in [16]. The motive of
using the same set-up was to have experimental results which could be used to validate
simulation results. Through comparing experimental results in [16] and simulation results in
(Fig. 1), the reference values of dielectric parameters were set.

2.3. Procedures used in modelling oil-paper insulation system in FEM (COMSOL

Multiphysics)
An insulation system can be modelled with a capacitance in parallel with a resistance as
shown in Fig. 3. In the illustration given in Fig. 3, V is an alternating voltage applied across
the insulation. An insulation in good condition, i.e. health insulation, should have very high
value of resistance (R). It also means that its conductance will be almost equal to zero. The
total current through the insulation (I) will therefore be equal to capacitive current (IC). As a
result, IC will lead the applied voltage V by 90o.
An insulation system for equipment in service deteriorates with time; which means that it
loses its good dielectric properties as time goes. Because of that the equipment’s resistance
may drop, alternatively one can say; the equipment’s conductance may increase. This will
result to the existence of pronounced significant value of current through the resistor that can
no longer be neglected. The resulting total current through insulation will now be equal to the
vector sum of the current through capacitance(IC) and current through resistance (IR), i.e.
I = IR + jIC. (1)
The total current through the insulation (I) will deviate from exact right angle with applied
voltage V by an angle. The tangent of  that can be calculated using equation (2) is known as
the dissipation factor [17]. In equation (2), IR is the real part and IC is the imaginary part of
the total current through the insulation.
IR
tan  = (2)
IC

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 Effect of Insulating Oil Level on Dissipation Factors of Oil-Paper Insulation Used in Distribution
Transformers

In this study, the total current through the insulation was computed by using a two-
dimensional axisymmetric model through the use of an AC/DC electric currents application
mode in COMSOL Multiphysics 4.4. The AC/DC electric current application mode was
governed by an equation (3).
J = E + jD (3)
In equation (3), J is the total current density with the SI unit of A/m2, E is an electric field
intensity, E = -V; where V is a gradient operator and V is an electric potential. D is an
electric displacement in C/m2 and it is defined in terms of complex permittivity  as D = E.
To compute J, the dielectric material parameters  and , frequency range (lower and upper
limit), and electric potential V must therefore be decided/determined first. The Electric
potential V and the frequency limits are determined by using the knowledge of existing
Dielectric Frequency Response Measurement systems. A typical measurement system known
as IDA 200 applies sinusoidal shaped voltages of root mean square values ranging from 0 V
up to 200 V. The frequency of IDA 200’s supply ranges from 1.0 mHz up to 1.0 kHz.

Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing a set-up used in the investigation of the dielectric response of
oil-paper insulation system under different insulating oil level conditions. The diagram is not drawn
according to the scale.

Figure 2 Dissipation factors for unaged oil-paper insulation obtained experimentally [16].

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 Respicius Clemence Kiiza

Figure 3 A circuit diagram showing an applied voltage and an insulation model.

Figure 4 A phasor diagram showing an angle  for which I deviates from the right angle with the
applied voltage V.

The complex permittivity () as shown in equations (4) and (5) for insulating oil/air and
paper respectively are frequency dependent [18]. The relative permittivity of insulating oil,
e.g. mineral oil is 2.2 and its conductivity when it is new is from 0.05 to 1 pS/m [13]. After it
has been aged, its conductivity increases and it can be more than 1000 pS/m for heavily aged
oil [13]. The relative permittivity of air is 1.0 and the conductivity of air is in the range of
1018  1015 S/m [19,20].
 DC liquid / air
     const  (4)
j0

 s    DCsolid
        (5)
1   j    j0

Equation (5) was first presented in a paper by Havriliak and Negami [11] and it is referred
to as Havrialiak-Negami equation. This equation defines the complex permittivity of
homogeneous solid insulation e.g. paper and pressboard. In equation (5), s and ∞ are the
permittivity of solid insulation as frequency tends to be zero and infinity respectively. α and β
are fitting parameters and they range from 0 to 1. The parameter  is the relaxation time,
which depends on the permittivity and the conductivity of material [12].

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In this section, the results are organized into two main cases. The first case is named as Case
1 which deals with the insulating oil in the transformer tank when the oil is unaged while the
second case which is named as Case 2 deals with the insulating oil in the transformer tank
when the oil is aged.

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 Effect of Insulating Oil Level on Dissipation Factors of Oil-Paper Insulation Used in Distribution
Transformers

3.1. Validation of Simulation Results

Validation of simulation results was done using experimental results for a case when oil-paper
insulation was unaged. The experimental results (dissipation factor curve) are shown in Figure
2. The condition of unaged oil-paper insulation was modelled with lower conductivity values
for oil and paper, i.e. 0.08 pS/m and 0.05 pS/m, respectively with the insulating oil in the
transformer tank assumed to be at its maximum level. These values of conductivity resulted
into the dissipation factor curve, as shown in Fig. 6, labelled maximum oil level. This curve is
decaying with increasing frequency. This decaying characteristic of the dissipation factor
curve is identical with that of the dissipation factor curve presented in Fig. 2, which was
obtained experimentally in [16]. The parameters that gave a curve is identical with that of the
experimental curve, except the oil conductivity value that was altered in order to simulate
unaged and aged oil conditions, were fixed throughout the simulations. These parameters are
paper = 0.05 pS/m, cavity = 0.001 pS/m, oil = 2.2, air = 1.0, s = 7, ∞ = 3, α = 0.1, and β = 0.5.
For definitions of these parameters, refer to a text which explains the equations (4) and (5).
Different oil levels were considered, i.e. when the insulating oil was at its maximum level
and when the insulating oil was dropped to 80%, 60%, 40%, and 20% from its maximum
level. The simulation was also done by considering a case when the transformer tank has no
any insulating oil.
The drop of insulating oil level caused by oil theft, as for case in Tanzania, may affect the
distribution transformer with both new and aged insulating oil. The simulation has therefore
considered two values of insulating oil conductivity to take into consideration: these are
unaged and aged insulating oil conditions. The low insulating oil conductivity value (0.08
pS/m) was used to mimic the condition of new insulating oil, whereas high conductivity value
(8 pS/m) was used to mimic the condition of aged insulating oil.

3.2. Case 1: Distribution Transformer with New Insulating Oil

The results under this case are shown in Fig. 6. As it can be observed from this figure, there is
significant difference between dissipation factor curves obtained when oil level is above the
paper layers and when is below the paper layers. This difference happens in low frequency
region, below 3 Hz. For example, at 1 mHz, the difference is 0.9, but the difference will be 0
if the frequency is greater than 3 Hz. The diagram shown in Figure 6 illustrates the point.

Figure 6 The dissipation factor of oil-paper insulation when the oil level is at its maximum level and when
insulating oil level has dropped to 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%, and 0% (empty). Oil conductivity value, oil = 0.08
pS/m.

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 Respicius Clemence Kiiza

3.3. Case 2: Distribution Transformer with Aged Insulating Oil

The simulation results for dissipation factor curves for this case is shown in Fig. 7. From the
Fig. 7, it can also be observed that there will be significant change in dissipation factor curves
when the insulating oil drop below the paper layers, especially when the insulating oil is in
the low frequency region (frequency < 200 Hz). The results in [13] pointed out that the
dissipation factor curve for oil-cellulose insulation is mainly controlled by the conductivity of
oil. The low value of oil conductivity will lead to low magnitudes of dissipation factors. The
increases in oil conductivity will cause the curve to shift upwards in the low frequency region.
In this study, it was observed that when oil level drops below paper layers, i.e. when the paper
layers are not covered with oil, the dissipation factors in the low frequency region drop. This
is because paper layers will be in the air that has low conductivity than the conductivity of oil.
As it has been already presented earlier, the conductivity values used in simulation are 0.001
pS/m and 0.08 pS/m or 8 pS/m for air and oil, respectively.

Figure 7 The dissipation factor of oil-paper insulation for oil level at its maximum level and when the
insulating oil level has dropped to 80%, 60%, 40%, 20%, and 0% (empty). Oil conductivity value,
oil = 8 pS/m.

4. CONCLUSIONS
This study reports the results that can be used to predict the level of insulating oil in
distribution transformers. The results show that through comparing dissipation factors
measured immediately after installing the distribution transformer in the system and
dissipation factors measured periodically when the distribution transformer is in service over
wide frequency range can be used to predict the level of insulating oil in the distribution
transformer. The dissipation factor curve for transformer with low insulating oil level will
shift downwards in low frequency region. In the future, one can extend this study by
designing oil level indicators through tracking change in the dissipation factor values.

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Transformers

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