Condition Monitoring of Transformers

S Adhikari Suraj Dhiman Jaganath Pani

Executive Director (O&M) GM (O&M) Sr. Manager (E)

SUMMARY

In today’s scenario considering the spread of power infrastructure, and thrust on uninterrupted quality
power supply to end user in India, it has become increasingly imperative for maintaining the resilience
of Power supply system. To ensure the high reliability of electricity subsector, the healthiness of major
equipment within the system thus has gained importance over the years. The availability of assets is
essential to the effective power supply and sudden unplanned breakdown of important network
element is proving to be more expensive. The evolution of maintenance occurs both in order to
improve the procedures used, and to make better use of resource management. This maintenance
procedure becomes more important especially in case of the aging assets. Utilities, over the years, are
trying to gather relevant knowledge of using tools to identify the tipping point when to replace the
asset thus improving the cost effectiveness of asset management. The replacement of asset after
useful service life, once identified, in planned manner is highly acceptable in power industry. In this
direction, the condition monitoring tests are increasingly gaining acceptability across industry.

The Power Transformer is a very important element and one of the costliest equipment in the Power
system. Both non-availability and replacement cost can have potential effect in the financial decision
of the organisation. Therefore, proper and regular assessment of health throughout its normal
operation period has become increasingly demanding to the engineers in Power industry. Condition
monitoring and diagnostic assessment of transformers is a useful tool for managing power networks
assets. When managing a large fleet of ageing transformers, asset managers have to be more
innovative to integrate the data from a variety of condition monitoring systems into the decision-
making process.

In this paper the author has acknowledged the importance of condition monitoring test and discuss
various condition monitoring tests periodically performed on generator transformers in NHPC Ltd.
Two case studies will be presented here to visualise the extent of dependency on Condition
Monitoring and associated engineering estimate.

KEYWORDS

Condition Monitoring test, DGA, Asset, Management, Periodicity, maintenance, Generator Transformer
(GT).

1. Introduction: NHPC Ltd. is engaged in generating Hydro Power and its Power Station are
spread across various part of India in different climatic condition. NHPC Ltd. has commissioned 73
hydro units of various installed capacity in its 21 Power Stations till today and some more are under
construction. Therefore, a large number of mostly single phase and few three phase oil emerged
Generator Transformers are in service in NHPC Ltd. The management of these assets have been felt
very crucial to optimise the power generation. NHPC Ltd. has over the years has developed standard
procedure to evaluates the health of these transformers periodically. NHPC Ltd. follows predictive
maintenance along with its well established annual preventing maintenance procedure of its
generating units. The predictive maintenance is primarily based on results of various off-line condition
monitoring tests conducted periodically and/or analysing the trends of online condition monitoring
data.

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 Another important operational aspect of the transformer employed in hydro Power Station is number
of charging and discharging cycle in relatively short period of time. In NHPC Ltd. GTs are charged and
discharged along with the generators. In lean season, at least two charging and discharging cycle of
transformers are done. The variation of winding temperature in such short interval may causes
premature aging of solid insulation i.e. paper and pressboard, if moisture content in the oil (due to
leakage etc) is present beyond permissible limit at certain temperature.

Based on experience and database of condition monitoring tests results maintained for transformers
at various Power Stations, the requirement for major maintenance/preventive actions are planned.
The condition monitoring tests performed on transformers includes:
a) Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA).
b) Insulation Resistance & Polarization Index tests.
c) Tan Delta & Capacitance Test.
d) Moisture by Recovery Voltage Measurement (RVM).
e) Sweep Frequency Response Analysis (SFRA).
f) Transformer Turn Ratio (TTR) Measurement.
g) Winding Resistance Measurement.
h) Magnetizing/Excitation Current Measurement @ 10 kV.

The decision for adopting periodicity of the above tests depends on its test results itself and its
history. Certain adverse test results call for immediate preventive action while other suggest increase
in frequency of test to establish rate of deterioration before considering it for major maintenance. The
significance of above condition monitoring tests shall be presented here to increase the awareness on
condition monitoring tests and build confidence among engineers involved in managing the asset.

Dissolved Gas Analysis: Testing of the insulating oil is one of the most common tests conducted to
evaluate the condition of transformers in service. The Dissolve Gas Analysis (DGA) test is one of the
important diagnostic techniques of fault diagnosis in power transformers. Insulating oils under
abnormal electrical or thermal stresses break down to liberate small quantities of gases. The
composition of these gases is dependent upon the type of fault. By means of dissolved gas analysis, it
is possible to distinguish faults such as partial discharge (corona), over-heating, and arcing in a great
variety of oil filled equipment. A number of samples must be taken over a period of time to discern
trends and to determine the severity and progression of incipient faults. The DGA tests commonly
evaluate the concentration of gases like hydrogen, methane, acetylene, ethylene, ethane, carbon
monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen. The relative ratios and the amount of gas detected
in the sample are used to detect problems with the insulation structure. Information from the analysis
of gasses dissolved in insulating oil is one of the most valuable tools in evaluating the health of a
transformer and has become an integral part of preventive maintenance programs.

The following can be detected prior to catastrophic failure of transformer:

1. Advanced warning of developing faults

2. Monitoring the rate of fault development
3. Confirm the presence of faults
4. Means for conveniently scheduling repairs
5. Monitoring of condition during overload
Various standards are available which suggest the safe levels of various gas content in oil for any
transformer in operation. This gives a fair understanding of the significance of various gases present
in the oil but most importantly, comparison with its past history, i.e. previous few DGA test data set is
considered more informative than a single data set. The transformer oil may show some gas content
in slightly higher side due to PD caused by impurity in the oil but if the same remains comparable with
the last many tests then maintenance engineer may conclude that further prognosis of the fault is
negative and may continue the transformer in service with increasing in periodicity of DGA test.

It is imperative that the filtration of transformer oil should not be done when the gas content is seen
increasing. Filtration of oil increases the overall insulation property of oil to some extent but at the
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 same time remove the key gases forever thus losing the history of the transformer. Once it is clearly
established that the transformer under consideration is free from any evolving fault, whatever small it
is, oil filtration can be considered. New history of the transformer shall be recorded thereafter. A
database of DGA test results of oil sample of all the transformers in operation must be maintained
separately.

As per IEEE C57.104, the Normal limits of following gases are as under:-

Gas Description Key Gas Concentration ( in PPM)

Action limits Potential fault type

Nitrogen N2 -- --
Oxygen O2 -- --
Hydrogen H2 100 Corona, Arcing
Carbon monoxide CO 350 Severe Overheating

Carbon dioxide CO2 2500 Severe Overheating

Methane CH4 120 Sparking

Ethane C2H6 65 Severe Overheating

Ethylene C2H4 50 Local Over heating

Acetylene C2H2 1 Arcing
Total Combustibles TDCG -- --

Where DGA results shows a sharp increase in key gas concentration levels from normal limit, it is
suggested that an additional sample should be taken at similar working condition of transformer and
analysis is to be performed at separate lab to confirm the previous result. Once key gas
concentrations are confirmed to be exceeded from normal limit, other analysis techniques like- Rogers
ratio, Duvali’s Triangle Model etc. can also be considered for determining the problem in the
transformer.

2. Insulation Resistance (IR) & Polarization Index (PI) tests: This is most popular method
of test to confirm if the transformer insulation is moist or not. The insulation resistance will usually be
very high (Several hundreds of mega ohm) for dry insulation system. PI is the measure of an index of
dryness/cleanliness of the winding. PI is calculated as the ratio of 10 min to 1 min IR value. The IR
gives a rough idea about the overall insulation of the transformer, but the presence of suspended or
unsettled foreign material may not be identified by this method. Therefore, further investigation is
necessary to corroborate the result. The value of PI should be higher than 1.5 as per IEEE-62.
However, once the IR value is obtained in Giga Ohm range, the PI value has little significance.

3. Tan Delta & Capacitance Test: The dielectric loss angle, measured as tanδ, is a measure of
degree of impurity in insulation. The insulation is practically behaves like capacitor. An ideal insulator
carries on capacitive current and there will be no resistive component of current. However, in
practical, insulators will have some impurity and a resistive component of current will be present.
Therefor the resultant current flown through the insulation will make an angle δ with the capacitive
component. The angle δ depends on the resistive component of current which in turn give a fair
indication of degree of impurity of insulation. Measurement of Capacitance value and tanδ together
gives a fair idea about the state and quality of entire mass of the transformer. Loss angle vis-à-vis
tanδ gets increase over the years of transformer in operation. However, the tanδ should not be more
than 2% for in-service transformer and 0.5% for new transformer as per IEEE-62. The test data
should be compared with the previous test data to ensure that there is no abnormal change.

4. Moisture by Recovery Voltage Measurement (RVM):

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 RVM is another important diagnostic test on Power Transformer by which the polarization process can
be fully described. The RVM method is based upon the analysis of the curve of the maximum recovery
voltage versus charging time, the polarization spectrum. Each RVM cycle consists of 4 phases: (1)
charging, (2) discharging, (3) measurement and (4) relaxation (Fig. 1). In phase 1, the transformer
(between shorted HV winding, connected to tank to ground and shorted LV winding) is charged with a
DC voltage Uc, water molecules contained in the insulation are polarized, and they align in the
direction of the electric field. In phase 2, HV and LV terminal short-circuited for a predetermined
period of time td, causing the molecules to be partially depolarized. When the short circuit is opened
in phase 3, a voltage will build up between the terminals of the insulation sample due to the
remaining charge. The charging and discharging procedure is repeated using a sequence of increasing
charging times ranging from tens of milliseconds up to thousands of seconds. Afterward, the curve of
the maximum recovery voltage versus charging time is plotted. This curve is known as the
polarization spectrum.

Fig.1 RVM Cycle Fig2. Polarization spectrum

The polarization spectrum of a good & healthy transformer is smooth curve with a dominant peak
away from Y-axis. This type of smooth curve indicates homogeneous condition of the insulation under
test. Any addition peaks is an indicator of slow polarization process which can be due to aging of
insulation i.e. presence of water, carbon etc. During the service time of a transformer, the values of
elements that represent polarization process may change, thereby changing the time constant of an
insulation.

5. Sweep Frequency Response Analysis (SFRA):

Large transformers are manufactured and tested at factory. After successful tests they are
transported to site as a single unit. Hydro power plant being situated at difficult hilly terrain,
transportation of such huge transformer unit may subject to heavy mechanical stress in assembly
inside the transformer tank. Further transformers are subjected to short circuit current of various
amplitude during its operation. These two factors silently and gradually deteriorate the overall
insulation due to core and/or winding damage. Core damage is more likely as a result of
transportation, while winding damage is more likely to be caused by short circuit type forces.
Consequently, the requirements are for transformer to be checked before and after a new delivery or
re-location, and also after any major fault. The latter might be after faults bus, or on a measurement
transformer on the high voltage, or a tap changer or bushing failure. These close-up faults may be so
severe as to initiate protection and then the need is to assess the damage to the transformer.

The core or winding deformation is usually tested by SFRA. The turns ratio measurement is done to
detect if the winding has faulted. The measurement of leakage reactance is also used to identify
deformation, during withstand evaluation in high power laboratories. This test is not advisable while
the transformer is in service for several years. Therefore SFRA test can safely be done in any
transformer to evaluate the mechanical condition of core and winding.

The sweep frequency response analysis (SFRA) test involves injecting a signal at one end of a winding
and measuring the response at the other end. Responses with large variations in attenuation over the
measured frequency range are obtained as a result of variations in the impedance of the complex L-C-
R distributions of the windings. Since capacitances and inductances depend on detailed winding

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 geometry, any movement results in changes in the frequencies at which resonances occur. It is the
identification of changes in frequency response that is the essence of analysis and diagnosis of
mechanical integrity. SFRA test result is obtained in the form of specific signature for any transformer
in a wide band of frequency range. Transformer condition is assessed based on comparison of the
present signature with the earlier patterns obtained on the same winding under healthy condition.

6. Transformer Turn Ratio (TTR) Measurement: The TTR test result gives a fair idea about any
damaged or deteriorated winding. Damage of insulation around winding may cause due to transport
damage, surges, contamination and spikes. The extent of deviation from nameplate ratio is a direct
indication of winding deterioration. According to IEEE 62-1995, the turns ration should not be more
than ±0.5% of the calculated ratio from name plate rating.

7. Winding Resistance Measurement: The transformer winding resistances are measured in the field
in order to check for abnormalities due to loose connection, broken strands and high contact
resistance in tap-changers. Resistance of each winding of the transformer is measured separately and
compared with the original measured data at factory. As per IEEE 62-1995, the reading should be
within ±0.5% of factory test data.

8. Magnetizing/Excitation Current Measurement: The exciting (magnetising) current test is useful

in locating problems such as defects in the magnetic core structure, shifting of windings, failures in
the turn to turn insulation and problem in tap changer. The above defects results in change in the
effective reluctance of magnetic circuit which affects the current required to produce the expected
flux through the core.

All the above tests are traditionally done off-line to assess the condition of the transformer at regular
interval of time say, annually. In case of any deviation of test result from its factory test data further
detailed study needs to be done to ensure fault location. As mentioned earlier DGA tests is considered
as a reliable and most cost effective test which can be done after taking oil sample while the
transformer is in service.

Apart from the above off-line tests, recent transformers are equipped with various on-line conditions
monitoring equipment which gives fairly good results for assessing the transformer health while in
service. Such online condition monitoring system includes:

a) Online Moisture (ppm) measuring

b) Online DGA
c) Online PD measurement
d) Actual transformer winding temperature using fiber optic thermometry.

The acceptability of online conditioning monitoring system in transformer is gaining popularity

recently. However, its accuracy at different working condition of the transformer needs further
evaluation. NHPC Ltd. has already installed online ppm measurement system in some of the
transformers. These are giving fairly good results.

9. Periodic condition monitoring of large transformer potentially reduces the chances of sudden
breakdown. However, natural aging of solid insulation over the years of operation cannot be ruled
out. One of the most common reasons of transformer failure has been identified as premature aging
of solid insulation due to moisture ingress caused mostly by leakage & frequent operating
temperature/load variation. The presence of moisture in the solid insulation cannot be directly
measured in a transformer in operation as the sample of solid insulation cannot be obtained.
Indirectly the presence of moisture is assessed by observing presence of increased moisture in oil at
different operating temperature. The removal of moisture from solid insulation of transformer is a
tedious job. Removing of moisture from oil by filtration even maintaining high temperature cannot
guarantee considerable moisture removal from solid insulation. Therefore, drying out of solid
insulation can be considered to remove moisture from solid insulation and decelerate the aging of
transformer & increase the useful life. Now a days drying of transformer is possible to be done on site
after taking the transformer out of service for few days.

There are various methods of drying out of solid insulation of transformer. The effectiveness of those
methods is graphically presented below.
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 Fig. Various type of drying technique

From the above it is seen that the Vapour Phase drying (VPD) technique is the most effective
procedure. The VPD process of drying a transformer has got certain advantages over all other method
mentioned above. The main advantages are:

a) The drying process is done at comparatively higher temperature as total process is done under
vacuum condition. Therefore, possibility of oxidation related problem is thus reduced to a great
extent.
b) Fast & Uniform heating of material
c) Little depolymerisation, as water extraction starts at relatively low temperatures.
d) Cleaning effect
e) Impregnated transformers can be dried.

10. Case Study:1

The faulted transformer under study is 13.33 MVA, single phase, 11 KV/132 KV/√3, ONAF and was
manufactured by GEC in 1977 and under operation since 1983. The transformer developed some fault
and winding of the said transformer was replaced in 2011 at factory works of OEM. The repaired
transformer was transported to Power House by road. The transformer was put into service in 2014.
Further, the Power evacuation system at Loktak Power Station consists of four 132 KV transmission
line. Due to hilly terrain and the lines are laid through dense forest, frequent fault occurs on
transmission lines. Therefore, the transformers installed at Loktak Power Station are subject to
frequent short circuit current vis-à-vis electro-mechanical stress.

On 07/08/2016, Buchholz relay alarm of Y-phase transformer of Unit#3 appeared. Unit was stopped
and detailed investigation revealed that a spark in displaced tap changer occurred. The DGA test
result is as follows:
Characteristics PPM (measured on PPM (measured on
08/08/2016) 25/05/2016)
Methane 70 4
Ethane 18 1
Ethylene 184 7
Acetylene 3 ND
Hydrogen 29 2

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 Oxygen 17133 15645
Nitrogen 63041 55238
Carbon monoxide 345 241
Carbon dioxide 3541 2042

Fig. Metal Dust at core foundation rail Fig. Displacement of core insulation

Fig. Healthy winding Fig. Hot spot at Tap Changer contact

It can be seen that the DGA conducted on 25/05/2016 did not show any abnormality. The
displacement of core assembly caused the misalignment of tap changer finger. This has further
deteriorated over time due to frequent fault on lines. The damage in the transformer was not
significant as the spark was limited to the tap area only. This incident highlight one fact that the SFRA
test, which was not conducted at site after receipt of transformer after repair, could have identify the
defect earlier.

11. Case Study:2

The faulted transformer under study is 70 MVA, single phase, 13.8 KV/400 KV/√3, ONA N and was
manufactured by Areva and under operation since 2008.
Further, due to multiple faults in GIS System, the transformers installed at Teesta-V Power Station
were subject to frequent short circuit current vis-à-vis electro-mechanical stress.

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 On 18/05/2012, Buchholz relay alarm of B-phase transformer of Unit#3 appeared. Unit was stopped
and detailed investigation of said transformer was carried out. The DGA test result carried out by M/s
CPRI, Kolkata is as follows:

Test For 14/03/2012 18/05/2012

Dissolved Gas Analysis Bottom Oil Top Oil Bottom Oil
Total Gas Content, µl/lit 80746 93666 96896
Methane, PPM 1 68 131
Ethane, PPM ND 10 23
Ethylene, PPM 1 153 319
Acetylene, PPM ND 7 15
Hydrogen, PPM ND 46 78
Oxygen, PPM 15228 17314 18065
Nitrogen, PPM 56859 64915 68988
Carbon Mono-oxide, PPM 55 69 85
Carbon dioxide, PPM 334 506 773

On the basis of CPRI report, it was inferred that there was a thermal heating above 700 0C inside the
transformer. Hence it was decided to perform internal inspection of the transformer. After inspection,
following observations were made:
 Tap Changer & its contact points are checked & found OK.
 Black Spot found on the tank cover near HV Lead.
 Black Spot observed in the paper of lead connected to Neutral Bushing.
 One nut found on the base of tank below the LV winding Leads. Due to space constraints, it
cannot be ascertained whether it is an extra nut or loosen from LV winding Leads.
 HV Winding phase side lead including corona shield and HV oil to oil bushing are checked &
found OK.

Fig. Black Spot found on the tank cover near HV Lead Fig. Black Spot found in the paper of lead connected to Neutral Bushing

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 Fig. Tap changer Point

Fig Core limb

On the basis of report provided by NHPC, OEM’s representative reached at Site & again
inspection of transformer was carried out & following observations were made.

 Carbon deposition was noticed over the lower section of core limb. The lower part of
wooden insulating rod was found darkened. The polyster belts & press board below it
found discoloured. All the above observations are indication of overheating at lower
part of the core.
 The lower part of press board surrounding the core was found to be blackened and
cause of which is indicative of overheating of the core.
 Inner press board surrounding the coil assembly was found normal.
 Damage of insulation coating was observed almost all lamination sheets of bottom
yoke.
 Minor rusting & few overheating signs were also found in other lamination sheets of
other limbs.
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  Dark strips are observed in edges of lamination sheets.

After inspection, OEM representative concluded that the core overheating is caused
by shorting & insulation failure of lamination sheets. Consequently, 100% lamination
of bottom yoke & 25% lamination of other limbs were replaced. Finally the
transformer was ready for charging after repair at site.

In both the above cases, condition monitoring test (DGA) confirmed the fault and the
transformer were taken out of service thus avoiding major damage.

12. Conclusion:
The breakdown of any major equipment like large transformers in the Power System is a potential
threat to reliability of power supply. Condition monitoring of such transformer is necessary to be done
to ensure healthiness and also to plan for necessary corrective action, if required. As the large
transformers are filled with oil, any fault in transformer may cause fire and damage surrounding
equipment in the area. Therefore, to eliminate the large scale damage and increase the useful life,
condition monitoring of transformer has proved to be effective. At the same time database for history
of any transformer must be maintained in order to track its health. Condition monitoring data set has
traditionally increases the confidence of engineers and help managing assets effectively.

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