Reliable Moisture Determination in Power Transformers
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Preface – Electra offers students or young engineers the possibility of publishing articles of a scientific nature. The present paper is a sum- mary of a PhD thesis published at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. Reliable Moisture Determination in Power Transformers Maik Koch, personal member of Cigré Abstract – This article describes and compares methods for reliable assessment of moisture in oil-paper-insulated power transformers. The work concentrates on the use of equilibrium diagrams and dielectric response methods for on-site moisture determination. Case studies illus- trate the practical application of the achievements. I. MOISTURE IN TRANSFORMERS Among aging phenomena of power transformers, moisture in the liquid and solid insulation in recent years became a frequent- ly discussed issue because of uncertainties of traditional measurement methods, the availability of new methods and its detrimen- tal effects on the insulation condition. Moisture decreases the dielectric withstand strength of oil and paper, accelerates paper aging and causes the emission of bubbles at high temperatures. For describing the moisture concentration in materials, today two measures are used. This is firstly relative moisture saturation (RS in %), as the ratio of the actual water vapor pressure to the saturation water vapor pressure, having the same physical meaning like the well-known relative humidity in gases. Secondly, water content is used, calculated by the ratio of water mass to insulation mass and given in % for cellulose materials and ppm for oils. The decision about maintenance actions as for example on-site drying requires dependable knowledge about the actual mois- ture concentration. Though the bulk of water resides in the solid insulation (pressboard, paper), it cannot be readily assessed in transformers and indirect methods are needed. State of the art are equilibrium diagrams, where one tries to derive the moisture content in paper/pressboard from moisture content in oil (ppm), [1]. In recent years, dielectric response methods were developed, which deduce moisture in paper and pressboard from dielectric properties of the insulation. Dielectric response analysis promises higher accuracy and is designed for onsite moisture determination, [2]. This background lead to the initiation of research work at the University of Stuttgart, partly financed by the European research project REDIATOOL (Reliable Diagnostics of HV Transformer Insulation for Safety Assurance of Power Transmission Sys- tem), whose outcome is summarized in this article. II. MOISTURE MEASUREMENT THROUGH MOISTURE EQUILIBRIUM A. Moisture Equilibrium Moisture equilibrium has been used for decades by measuring moisture in oil and concluding on moisture in paper. Physically, moisture equilibrium is based on three conditions: thermal equilibrium (temperature), mechanical equilibrium (e.g. pressure) and chemical equilibrium. In the condition of moisture equilibrium, the migration of water molecules inside materials and between oil and cellulose has ceased; the thermodynamic property "water potential" becomes equal throughout the system. Because of load and temperature changes, equilibrium is never fully reached for operating power transformers. Still for locally limited areas as e.g. the oil flowing around paper-insulated conductors, equilibrium is established. In this case, relative saturation can replace the term water potential, and the equilibrium law can be written as: Equilibrium is reached in adjacent materials, if moisture saturation RS becomes equal (1). The material might be cellulose, oil, air or even a plastic. In other words, differences in relative saturation are the driving force for moisture migration. RSCellulose RSOil RH Air (1) B. Conventional Equilibrium Diagrams It is a standard procedure for operators of power transformers to derive moisture content in cellulose from moisture content in oil (ppm) using equilibrium diagrams, [1]. However, various errors affect this procedure: - Sampling, transportation to the laboratory and moisture measurement by Karl Fischer titration. Water titration by the Karl Fischer method suffers from different procedures releasing water from the sample lead to unsatisfying comparability of the results, [3]. - Equilibrium conditions are rarely achieved (depending on temperature after hours/days/months), - A steep gradient and high uncertainty in the low moisture region compounds the accuracy, - Diagrams from various literature sources lead to different results, - Equilibrium depends on moisture solubility in oil and moisture adsorption capacity of cellulose. The validity of equilibrium diagrams is restricted to the original materials that were used to establish the diagrams. Particularly oil aging changes the moisture adsorption capacity substantially; shifting the equilibrium curves towards the oil, Figure 1. Because of these errors, traditional equilibrium diagrams (ppm-based) tend to overestimate moisture content in pa- per/pressboard. New Aged Figure 1: Oil aging changes moisture partitioning between oil and paper and makes traditional equilibrium diagrams unreliable, [1] C. Measurement via Moisture Saturation of Oil Instead of moisture content in oil (ppm), the relative saturation in oil (%) is utilized for assessing moisture in paper. Based on equation (1), the moisture content in cellulose is derived from moisture relative to saturation of the surrounding oil. Figure 2 was measured at aged paper and illustrates the use of such equilibrium diagrams, [5]. This leads to several advantages: Oil aging and its influence on moisture saturation level becomes negligible. With relative saturation the graphs become less temperature de- pendent (Figure 2). Errors due to sampling, transportation to the lab and titration are excluded. Continual, accurate measurement and easy implementation into a monitoring system become possible. 65 10 5 60 % / 55 Oil temperature 8 4 50 paper 45 40 6 Kraft 3 35 2,2 RS in oil aged 30 4 % / saturation Relative 2 Top oil temperature / °C / temperature oil Top 25 Aged KP 21°C 20 RS in cellulose Aged KP 40°C 15 2 in Moisture 1 10 Aged KP 60°C 5 4,1 Aged KP 80°C 0 0 0 01.06.2003 05.06.2003 09.06.2003 13.06.2003 17.06.2003 0 10 20 30 40 Time, date Moisture relative to saturation / % Figure 2: Determination of water content in paper via moisture saturation in oil D. Measurement and Implementation of Moisture Saturation in Cellulose Moisture saturation is a critical factor that determines the amount of water available for interactions with materials. The de- structive effects of water in insulation systems depend on water molecules that are available for interactions with materials. This is not the case for molecules that are strongly bound, e.g. by hydrogen bonds to OH-groups of cellulose molecules forming a monolayer. Just water content, as measured by Karl Fischer titration, reflects the bound and therefore less active water as well. In contrast to this, moisture saturation determines the available water for destructive effects. Conclusively, using relative saturation in oil and paper gives the following advantages: Neither oil, nor paper aging effect the accuracy, conversion via equilibrium charts becomes unnecessary, a direct relation to the destructive impacts of water is given and the possibility for drying of the insulation system is directly observable. Figure 3 illustrates the application of a relative saturation measurement using a capacitive probe in a power transformer equipped with an online monitoring system. A long term average equates the relative saturation in oil with the relative saturation of the surrounding cellulose and comes to 4.1 %. Using a moisture isotherm as Figure 2 one can derive the moisture by weight in cellulose as well, that would be 2.2 % in this case. 65 10 5 60 % / 55 Oil temperature 8 4 50 paper 45 40 6 Kraft 3 35 2,2 RS in oil aged 30 4 % / saturation Relative 2 Top oil temperature / °C / temperature oil Top 25 Aged KP 21°C 20 RS in cellulose Aged KP 40°C 15 2 in Moisture 1 10 Aged KP 60°C 5 4,1 Aged KP 80°C 0 0 0 01.06.2003 05.06.2003 09.06.2003 13.06.2003 17.06.2003 0 10 20 30 40 Time, date Moisture relative to saturation / % Figure 3: Top oil temperature, relative saturation in oil and in cellulose measured resp. calculated by an online monitoring system III. MOISTURE DETERMINATION BY DIELECTRIC RESPONSE ANALYSIS Dielectric response analysis measures dielectric properties of insulation systems over a very wide frequency or time range and calculates condition variables like moisture content and oil conductivity by use of mathematical modeling. It is applied as a non- intrusive technique for quality control in the factory and periodical assessments of the aging condition. A dielectric response measurement involves a three terminal measurement circuit that includes output voltage, sensed current and guard. The guarding technique insures for an undisturbed measurement even at onsite conditions with dirty insulations and electromagnetic interfer- ences. For measuring the most important insulation between high and low voltage winding, the voltage output is connected to the HV winding, the current input to the LV winding and the guard to the tank. The test can be performed in time domain while applying a DC voltage for a time of typically 1-10'000 s (Polarization and Depolarization Currents PDC) or in Frequency Domain while applying an AC voltage across a frequency range of 1 kHz – 0.1 mHz (Frequency Domain Spectroscopy FDS). Both test techniques reflect the same