Temperature Control and Monitoring System

for Power Transformer Windings Using Fiber

Optic Sensors
I. Hurezeanu, C. I. Nicola, D. Sacerdoțianu, M. Nicola, A. M. Aciu, M. C. Nițu

Winding temperature is a very important measurand in

Abstract—On-line monitoring of function and condition power transformers, which defines the condition, load capacity
parameters and the efficiency of the cooling system are key and operating life of transformers [1].
elements in determining the working condition of transformers. Currently, for financial reasons there is increasing
This paper presents the implemented hardware and software
solutions for carrying out the winding temperature on-line
preoccupation with keeping the transformers in service for as
monitoring system using fiber optic sensors. The actual winding long as possible. The basic criterion which limits the
temperature is a measurand which defines the condition, load transformer load capacity and life span is partly the capacity
capacity and operating life of transformers. By carrying out the of the transformer to dissipate the heat generated inside to the
temperature control and monitoring system for power environment.
transformer windings using fiber optic sensors, ICMET Craiova Therefore, information about transformer thermal behavior
aligned itself to the requirements of the international standards.
can bring about an improvement in the use of transformers.
Index Terms—data acquisition, fiber optic, monitoring, power Certain fast developing failure can be diagnosed through on-
transformers, temperature sensors. line comparison of a measurand, such as winding temperature,
with a calculated value, obtained using the physical model.
Replacing this equipment is a time-consuming, extremely
I. INTRODUCTION expensive and absolutely necessary operation when no

E nergy is a priority nationally as well as internationally, efficient and safe methods can be found to extend operating
regarding both electricity generation and transmission. life.
Since power transformers are key elements in power As one of the suppliers of function parameters monitoring
equipment operation, their reliable operation is a particular systems in power transformers, ICMET Craiova intends to
problem, since in most cases, their degradation leads to align itself to the international standards relating to winding
explosions followed by fire with very serious consequences temperature monitoring using fiber optic sensors.
for stations, for the entire Power System and implicitly for the
environment. Therefore, the issue of power equipment II. DESCRIPTION OF MONITORING SYSTEM
maintenance is lately raised at a worldwide level. Fiber optic monitoring enables true “hot spot” measurement
If time based maintenance (TBM) was used until now, with by sensing temperature directly in the windings [11], [17]. In
periodic inspections, attempts have been made in recent years addition to being immune to High Voltage, RFI, EMI and
to find solutions for transition to condition based maintenance transformer oil or SF6 gas, this direct, dynamic measurement
(CBM) allowing for cost reduction, extending equipment life system allows utilities to:
and reducing failures with serious consequences care. - check transformer design data and manufacturing quality;
- achieve safe maximization of normal loading with no
The paper was developed with funds from the Ministry of Education and damage to insulation or reduction of transformer service life;
Scientific Research as part of the NUCLEU Program: PN 09 01 02 48. - increase capacity for dynamic loading;
I. Hurezeanu, National Institute for Research, Development and Testing in - accurately determine the operating temperature which can
Electrical Engineering - ICMET Craiova, Decebal Avenue 118A, Craiova,
Dolj, Romania (e-mail: [email protected]). be considered as reference point for further manufacturing;
C. I. Nicola, National Institute for Research, Development and Testing in - diagnose failures in the cooling system which would not
Electrical Engineering - ICMET Craiova, Decebal Avenue 118A, Craiova, be diagnosed through conventional methods;
Dolj, Romania (e-mail: [email protected]).
D. Sacerdoțianu, National Institute for Research, Development and Testing - simplify the control and maintenance activities by using
in Electrical Engineering - ICMET Craiova, Decebal Avenue 118A, Craiova, the condition based method;
Dolj, Romania (e-mail: [email protected]). - allow the control of the cooling system [10] depending on
M. Nicola, National Institute for Research, Development and Testing in
Electrical Engineering - ICMET Craiova, Decebal Avenue 118A, Craiova, the winding hot spot temperature [9], which contributes to the
Dolj, Romania (e-mail: [email protected]). extension in transformer operating life;
A. M. Aciu, National Institute for Research, Development and Testing in - be integrated in smart command and control systems by
Electrical Engineering - ICMET Craiova, Decebal Avenue 118A, Craiova,
Dolj, Romania (e-mail: [email protected]).
providing critical temperature data, leading to proper
management of energy assets; transmission component developed and implemented by
- discard calibration and maintenance operations carried out ICMET Craiova.
for temperature monitoring equipment. The block diagram of the hardware configuration of the data
ICMET Craiova has developed a functional model acquisition and remote transmission system is presented in
consisting in a temperature control and monitoring system a Fig. 2.
for windings, using fiber-optic sensors in direct contact with
the high voltage windings, a system which was later integrated
into the complex system for operating parameter monitoring in
power transformers.
For the completion of the solution, the two technologies
which build fiber-optic sensors have been analyzed:
- fluoroptic technology-based fiber-optic sensors;
- GaAs crystal light absorption technology-based fiber- Fig. 2. The block diagram of the hardware configuration.
optic sensors.
As a result of tests performed on the two technologies The data acquisition and remote transmission system
specified above for developing the sensors and on the contains the following components:
equipment developed by the manufacturers, and considering the - 8-channel current input module - I-7017RC;
notion of integrating the system to be developed into the general - two RS-232/485 to fiber optic converter - I 2541;
monitoring systems achieved by ICMET Craiova, the selected - Fiber optic with Multi Mode ST Connector;
solution is based on using sensors employing the GaAs - Power source 220 Vc.a./24 Vc.c.;
technology and LumaSHIELD temperature measurement - PC unit.
system. The physical implementation of the acquisition and remote
A. System Hardware Description transmission connection is presented in Fig. 3.
Two aspects were considered for the development of the
hardware architecture: the place of system operation, which is
close to the transformers, hence outdoors and the possibility
for the system to be integrated in the complex systems
developed by ICMET Craiova and the transformer stations
control systems.
The proposed solution is presented in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3. The physical implementation of the acquisition and remote

transmission connection.

The I-7000 and M-7000 modules are a family of network

data acquisition and control who providing digital input/output,
timer/counter, analog-to-digital, digital-to-analog and other
Fig. 1. The block diagram of the system. functions. This modules can be controlled using a set of
commands, which we call the DCON protocol and use the
It includes: industrial EIA RS-485 communication interface to transmit and
- the transformer unit; the fiber-optic sensors will be fitted receive data at high speed over long distance. All modules are
on its windings; easy to integrate to the computer and an internal surge
- transformer tank wall plate assembly with optical protection circuitry is used on data lines to protect the modules
feedthroughs; from spikes [3].
- fiber optic external extension cables; Common features of the 7000 Series:
- enclosure monitoring; - Asynchronous communication half-duplex;
- processing unit for display, processing and storage of - Maximum distance without repeater 1.2Km;
monitored data. - Speed 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, 19200, 38400, 57600,
The processing unit of the monitoring system for the 115600 kbps;
display, processing and storage of the monitored data includes - Connecting 256 modules in one RS-485 bus without repeater;
a local component consisting in LumaSHIELD temperature - Data format 10 bit: 1 start, 8 data, 1 stop, no parity;
measurement system and a fiber-optic cable remote - Power requirement: 10V - 30V;
 - Operating temperature: -25 to 75 0C; Fig. 6 and 7 show the methods for RS232 interface
- Humidity: 5 to 95%, non-condensing. configuration, in order to detect and communicate with I-7017RC
module.
B. System Software Description
The application software developed in LabVIEW for the
monitoring system is client-server type and is based on OPC
server [7]. OPC (OLE for Process Control) allows client and
server applications to communicate with each other. In OPC
client-server architecture, the client establishes a link with the
server using COM Microsoft technology. Multiple clients
should communicate simultaneously using only one server.
Our application developed in LabVIEW is structured in a
uniform yet flexible manner and it contains a data acquisition
structure via the OPC server, an on-line processing and
display structure, but also data file processing structures used
to achieve a history of the evolution of the thermal footprint of Fig. 6. RS232 interface configuration.
the transformer.
LabVIEW [4], [19] is a graphical programming language,
called G, and the capacity and facilities of G language enable
complex applications with elegant graphic, much closer to the
human way of thinking, resulting in the application being
developed in a much shorter time period than by using
traditional programming methods.
To configure the communication is used DCON Utility [8]
what is a program based on serial interface I/O modules.
The parameters who can change are: baud rate, checksum,
number of start/stop bits and parity.
NAPOPC_ST DA Server [8] is a free OPC DA Server for
ICP DAS product. The NAPOPC_ST DA Server use many Fig. 7. I-7017RC module representation in OPC server.
subgroups of tags belong to I-7017RC module when they are
scanned for perform I/O modules. DataSocket [6], [18] is an end-user application
Fig. 4 and 5 show how to enable and configure the data programming interface (API) for connecting to data from a
acquisition module using DCON utility program which indicates number of sources – local files, files on FTP or Web servers,
the serial port that was used, sets the operating parameters and and data items on OPC. With TCP/IP, we have to convert our
performs the communication test with the computer. data into an unstructured stream of bytes in the broadcasting
application and then parse the stream of bytes back into its
original format in subscribing applications.
Our client software application use DataSocket from
NAPOPC_ST DA Server. DataSokcet API contains four
actions: open connection, read connection, write connection,
and close connection.
The block diagram of the client application software is
shown in Fig. 8. DataSocket application uses an industry -
standard URL to connect to data.
The data flow of the block diagram is achieved from left to
Fig. 4. Enabling I-7017RC data acquisition module using DCON utility program.
right according to the next steps. The items or data acquisition
channels were initialized after being predefined in the server
as input for DataSocket Open connection opening function,
then data is displayed by the DataSocket Read reading
function in an iteration loop at one second intervals and stored
in a text file. The last stage consists in closing the connection
with DataSocket Close function.
Data are stored at every second in a text file. The write to
spread sheet file function converts the 1D array of strings to a
text string and writes the string to a new byte stream file or
appends the string to an existing file [6].
Fig. 5. Configuration of I-7017RC data acquisition module using DCON
utility program.
Fig. 8. The block diagram of the monitoring software.

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