1.

Excitation Current
Doble test equipment is also used to conduct excitation current tests, which can detect short-circuited
turns, poor electrical connections, core de-laminations, core lamination shorts, tap changer problems,
and other possible core and winding problems. The results, as with all others, should be compared
with factory and prior field tests.
2. Turns Ratio (TTR)
The turns ratio test detects shorted turns, which indicate insulation failure by determining if the correct
turns ratio exists. Shorted turns may result from short circuits or dielectric (insulation) failures.
This test only needs to be performed if a problem is suspected from the DGA, power factor testing, or
a protective relay operation. This test can be performed using a turns ratio tester or by applying a
reduced test voltage to the secondary and measuring the induced voltage on the primary. This test
can also verify that the winding polarity is correct.
3. Leakage Reactance
This is normally an acceptance test to see that nameplate percent impedance matches with the
measured percent impedance when the transformer arrives from the factory.

Percent impedance/leakage reactance testing is performed by short circuiting the low-voltage winding
and applying a test voltage to the high-voltage winding using a power factor test set.
4. Power Factor
A good indication of insulation deterioration is a slowly rising power factor. Doble insulation testing is
an important step in determining the condition of the transformer because it can detect loss of winding
insulation integrity, loss of bushing insulation integrity, and winding moisture.
5. Winding Insulation Resistance (PI)
Insulation resistance tests are made to determine insulation resistance from individual windings to
ground or between individual windings. Insulation resistance tests are commonly measured directly in
megohms or may be calculated from measurements of applied voltage and leakage current.
The polarization index is a ratio of the Insulation resistance at the end of a 10-minute test to that at
the end of a 1-minute test at a constant voltage. As a rule of thumb, values less than 1 are
dangerous; 1.1 - 1.25 is Questionable; 1.25 - 2.0 is Fair; and anything above 2.0 is considered good.
6. DC Resistance (Across Winding)
DC winding resistance measurement can be used to check for loose connections on bushings or tap
changers, broken strands, and high contact resistance in tap changers. Results are compared to
other phases in wye-connected transformers or between pairs of terminals on a delta-connected
winding to determine if a resistance is too high. A discrepancy > 5% between phases indicates a
problem.
7. Dielectric Absorption Ratio
A dielectric absorption ratio (DAR) is like the PI except the test duration is
shorter. DAR is the ratio of the 1-minute (60 seconds) reading to the 30-second
reading (60 sec / 30 sec). A DAR below 1.25 is considered cause for investigation.
For a dielectric absorption curve, plot the first ten minutes of data on log-log paper
(Add additional points if there is room). Good insulation will plot as a straight line
increasing with respect to time, and poor insulation will present a curve that rises
flatter and is lower at ten minutes. The dielectric absorption curve is a way to
visually compare insulation quality.
Following is a curve-fit equation derived from tabular data on oil-filled transformers
for normalizing resistance measurements to 20 oC. It will generate a correction
multiplier value for any temperature between 0 oC to 80oC and matches tabular data
with less than 1% error. To help verify calculations, the correction multipliers from
tabular data for 0oC, 10C, 20 C, and 30 C are 0.25, 0.5, 1, and 1.98 respectively.
CF t  0 25e 14 45 . / .
t = Temperature at which the Megger reading was taken in C.