See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/260285280

Barrier Diameter Effect on the Behaviour of Transformer Oil Submitted to AC

Voltage

Conference Paper · September 2012

DOI: 10.1109/ICHVE.2012.6357047

CITATIONS READS
10 401

4 authors:

F. Guerbas M.Mohamed Zitouni

University of sciences and technology Houari Boumediene, Bab Ezzouar, Algiers, Alg… Polytechnic School of Algiers
10 PUBLICATIONS 131 CITATIONS 10 PUBLICATIONS 61 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Ahmed Boubakeur Abderrahmane Beroual

National Polytechnic School of Algiers ENP Ecole Centrale de Lyon - Ampere Lab
163 PUBLICATIONS 1,706 CITATIONS 598 PUBLICATIONS 8,589 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Ahmed Boubakeur on 21 February 2014.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

Barrier Diameter Effect on the Behaviour of

Transformer Oil Submitted to AC Voltage
F.Guerbas1, M.Zitouni2, A.Boubakeur3 and A.Beroual4
1 3
LSEI Laboratory, USTHB University BP 32 El Alia L.R.E. /, Laboratoire de recherche en Electrotechnique,
16111, Bab Ezzouar, Algiers, Algeria Ecole Nationale Polytechnique, B.P.182, El-Harrach,
2
Université Ziane Achour, Djelfa, 17000, Algérie 16200 El-Harrach.Alger, Algeria
4
[email protected], [email protected] Ecole Centrale de Lyon, Centre de Génie Electrique de
Lyon, France
[email protected]
[email protected]

Abstract-Dielectric interfaces can have a significant effect on The barrier effect on the pre-breakdown charge depends on
the insulating performances of HV apparatus. The oil/solid many parameters as its position between electrodes, its nature,
interface represents a relatively weak component of an insulation dimensions and the applied voltage level.
system in power transformer. Therefore, when we are
considering the effect of oil breakdown in oil filled transformer, In this paper, we investigate the influence of the insulating
we should consider the interactions which electrical discharges barrier on the breakdown voltage and the pre-breakdown
may have with solid surfaces. This work is devoted to the charge in long oil point-plane gaps. The effects of the barrier
influence of insulating barrier on the behaviour of transformer position and its diameter
oil under ac voltage in point-plane electrode configuration. The have been studied. A comparison between the pre-
influence of the characteristics of barrier such as its position breakdown charges in the system with barrier to that one
between electrodes, and its diameter on the pre-breakdown and
breakdown phenomena is investigated. It is shown that the
without barrier is presented.
insertion of barrier near the point electrode increases the II. EXPERIMENTAL SET UP
breakdown voltage and leads to decrease the pre-breakdown
charge. The increase of breakdown voltage is due to the channel The experimental set up consists of a high voltage test
elongation of the disruptive charge. By determination of the pre- transformer 300kV/50kVA/50Hz, a capacitive voltage divider
breakdown charge and breakdown voltage, we can estimate the and a transparent test cell of 175 litres volume (Figure 1). The
optimal position of the barrier. The barrier diameter influences test cell is made of Plexiglas (700mm×500mm×500mm). It
the breakdown voltage, the pre-breakdown charge and the
contains a point-plane electrode arrangement mounted
trajectory of discharge.
horizontally (Figure 2). The point electrode is made up of
Keywords- transformer oil, breakdown voltage, pre- brass and has a radius of curvature of 6mm. The plane
breakdown charge, insulating barrier electrode is made up of steel and has a circular shape of 35cm
I. INTRODUCTION diameter. The electrode gap varies between 1 and 12 cm. The
insulating barriers have a circular shape and are made of
The barriers are widely used in many high voltage devices,
Bakelite (εr=5) or Presspahn (εr=3). The barrier is mounted
especially in power transformers. It is well known that the
vertically between the electrodes and sustained by thin
dielectric strength of long oil gaps is significantly increased by
insulating threads. The barrier surface is cleaned with
the insertion of an insulating solid material in divergent gaps
isopropyl alcohol. The mineral oil we used is of naphthenic
[1]. The insulating structure of a transformer is exposed to
type; it is subjected to rigorous conditions of storage in sealed
different stresses and particularly to the discharge phenomena.
drums for protection against degradation and humidity
The propagation of discharges at the solid /liquid interface
environment. The pre-breakdown charge is measured through
leads to failure of the system [2]. Thus, the knowledge of the
a non capacity of 0.2 μF, inserted between the plane electrode
conditions of initiation and propagation of electrical
and the earth; it is connected to a storage oscilloscope. The
discharges is of great interest to well understand the
value of the pre-breakdown current reported on the different
mechanisms leading to breakdown [3, 4]. The pre-breakdown
curves represents an average value on a series of six
charge is an important parameter which the determination can
measurements [10].The position of the barrier is defined by
inform us about the physical phenomena implicated in pre-
the ratio ‘a/d’ (fig.2) where ‘a’ is the point-barrier distance
breakdown phase [5-7]. Indeed, in presence of the barrier, the
and ‘d’ is the point-plane gap.
pre-breakdown charge was decreased by the barrier. This is
due to the fact that the barrier acts as a geometrical and
electrostatic obstacle for the disruptive discharge [6, 8].

978-1-4673-4746-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 709

 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

barrier is very close to point electrode at a/d=0, the

effectiveness is less than 1 (figures 4). In this case of barrier,
the discharge is generally preceded by preliminary discharge
increasing the amount charges which facilitate sliding
discharges appearance of the surface of barrier and then the
breakdown.
The breakdown voltage of oil gaps depends on the diameter
of the barrier. Indeed, the increase of barrier diameter
increases the breakdown voltage. This is due to the elongation
of the minimum length of disruptive discharge.

Fig. 1 . Experimental setup

Oil

Point Fig.4. Influence of the barrier position on the effectiveness of Presspahn

Support
barrier for different length, d=6cm, e=2mm

Plane
Draincock

Fig. 2. Test cell

III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In order to analyze the effect of barrier on the breakdown
voltage and pre-breakdown voltage, we use two barriers of
thickness e= 2mm and two different diameters D=20cm and
D= 10cm. In the following e, D, a, a/d, d, and U are
respectively the barrier thickness, barrier diameter, distance
between the point electrode, position of the barrier between
electrodes, gap length, and the applied voltage level. Fig.5. Influence of the barrier position on the effectiveness of Bakelite barrier
for different length, d=6cm, e=2mm
A. Influence of Barrier Characteristics on the Breakdown
Voltage
B. Influence of Barrier Characteristics on the Pre-
According to the experimental results, the effectiveness of Breakdown Charge
the barrier Uab/Usb (namely the ratio of the breakdown voltage
in the system with barrier to that one without barrier) presents III.2. Influence of barrier characteristics on the pre-breakdown
charge
the optimal position at a/d =0.2 (figures 4 and 5). In this case,
the barrier inserted to the oil gap increase the effectiveness
For a given distance between electrodes, it appears from
with the barrier diameter and the dielectric strength of the
these curves (figure 6), that for all positions of the barrier,
system. Similar results have been reported by others [3,8]
increasing the applied voltage causes the increase of the
The effectiveness decreases when the barrier is close to the
charge. This result indicates the capacitance character of the
plane electrodes (figures 4 and 5). Also, it appears from this
system confirming the results reported in others investigations
characteristics that for the barrier of Presspahn when the

978-1-4673-4746-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 710

 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

[7-11]. Therefore, the position of the barrier in the oil gaps has
not effect on the pre-breakdown charge except for the interval
between a/d=0 and a/d=0.2 where the barrier is very close to
the point electrode. This decrease for charge becomes more
important from U ≥ 15kV. Also, it appears at a/d=0 that the
pre-breakdown charge is more important (figures 7and 8).
Moreover, the system capacity is constant for all positions of
the barrier except for the position a/d=0. In this case the
system capacity is higher, it depends on the nature of the
material and the system geometry [9]

Fig 8. Pre-breakdown charge versus applied voltage for different position of

the barrier of Bakelite D=10cm, e=2mm, d=12cm, rp=6mm

The attenuation of charge Qab/Qsb (namely the ration of

charge in the system with barrier to that one without barrier)
present an important reduction of the charge at a/d=0.2. this
optimal position does not move when varying the position of
barrier ( figures 9-12) for both nature of the barrier.
In the other hand, the higher the diameter barrier, the higher
the pre-breakdown charge. Comparing the system with barrier
to that one without barrier, it shown that the insertion of the
Fig 6.Pre-breakdown charge versus position of the bakelite barrier for barrier in oil gaps, decrease significantly the pre-breakdown
differents levels of the Voltage: D=10cm,e=2mm, d=8cm, rp=6mm charge especially at a/d =0.2 (figures 11and 12).

Fig 7. Pre-breakdown charge versus applied voltage for different position of

the barrier of Presspahn, D=10cm, e=2mm, d=12cm, rp=6mm Fig 9. Attenuation of the charge versus barrier position for different diameter
of the Bakelite Barrier, e=2mm, U=35kV, d=10cm

978-1-4673-4746-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 711

 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012

The experimental results found in this paper are close to

those obtained by many other researchers. The insertion of
the insulating barrier in a divergent gaps increase significantly
the dielectric strength which confirm the barrier acts as a
geometrical obstacle against the direct discharge.
The optimal position for the maximum value of the
breakdown voltage of the barrier, is obtained at 20% of the oil
gaps .
The insertion of an insulating barrier in a divergent gaps
decreases significantly the pre-breakdown charge. This
decrease depends on the applied voltage and the barrier
diameter. On the other hand, the evolution of the charge
versus the applied voltage, shows that the oil gap has a
capacitive behaviour. The insertion of the barrier reduce the
capacity of the system. The Increasing of the barrier diameter
Fig 10. Attenuation of the charge versus barrier position for different diameter influence the charge distribution. The determination of pre-
of the Presspahn Barrier, e=2mm, U=35kV, d=10cm breakdown charge confirm the optimal position of the barrier
corresponding at a/d=0.2. We deduce that the triple point
corresponding to the position a/d=0, where
three materials are in contact (metal electrodes, solid
insulating and oil) is a critical point of insulation.

REFERENCES
[1] S.A. Studniarz, “ The effect of barriers in the low field region of non
uniform fields on oil breakdown”, IEEE, Power apparatus and systems,
Vol PAS-100, N°5, pp1568-1573, 1981.
[2] Z. Djemai, “ Etude de la propagation des streamers à l’interface
liquide/solide sous tension alternative 50Hz, ” Thèse de Magister,
Département d’Electrotechnique, Ecole Nationale Polytechnique
d’Alger, 1991.
[3] A.Beroual and A.Zouaghi, ”Barrier effect on the pre breakdown and
breakdown Phenomena in long Oil Gaps’’, Conference record of the
ICDL 96 12th International Conference on Conduction and Breakdown in
Dielectric Liquids, pp.300-303, Roma, Italy, July 15-19, 1996.
Fig 11. Attenuation of Charge versus barrier position for system with and [4] F.Guerbas, M.Teguar, S.Bouazabia, A.Boubakeur, “ Transformer Oil
without barrier, e=2mm, d=10cm, U=35kV, D=10cm, Barrier of Bakelite. Behaviour under ac Voltage in Point-Plane Arrangement ”, XVth
International Symposium on High Voltage Engineering, University of
Ljubljana Elektroinstitut Milan Vidmar, Report T9-663, Ljubljana,
Slovenia, August 27-31, 2007.
[5] F.Guerbas, “Etude de la génération des bulles gazeuses dans les
diélectriques liquides et leur transition en streamer ”, Thèse de
Magister, Département de Génie Electrique, Ecole Nationale
Polytechnique d’Alger, Mai 1994
[6] F.Guerbas, “Influence des barrières sur la rigidité diélectrique de l’huile
minérale” , Thèse de Doctorat, Département de Génie Electrique, Ecole
Nationale Polytechnique d’Alger, Juin 2011
[7] L. Kebbabi, “Caractérisation des décharges glissantes se propageant aux
interfaces liquide/solide sous différentes formes de tension- relation
entre propriétés des matériaux et dimension fractale ”, thèse de doctorat,
Ecole centrale de Lyon, Mars 2006
[8] A. Zouaghi and A. Beroual, “Discharge Structure and Dielectric Strength
of Long Oil Gaps In The Presence of Insulating Barrier” , IEEE,
Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena,
Minneapolis, pp.660-663, October 19-22, 1997.
[9] F.Guerbas, A. Boubakeur, A.Beroual, “Influence d’une barrière isolante
Fig 12. Attenuation of Charge versus barrier position for system with sur la charge de préclaquage de l’huile de transformateur sous tension
and without barrier, e=2mm, d=10cm, U=35kV, D=10cm, Barrier of alternative” , 8ème Conférence Nationale sur la Haute Tension, numéro
Presspahn spécial de Algerian Journal Of Technology, AJOT, pp. 165-169, 09-11
Mai 2011, Tiaret, Algérie.
[10] Norme Internationale CEI 60156, Isolants liquides - Détermination de la
IV CONCLUSION tension de claquage à fréquence industrielle- Méthode d’essais,
Deuxième édition, Novembre 1995.

978-1-4673-4746-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 712

 2012 International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application, Shanghai, China, September 17-20, 2012
[11] A. Zouaghi, “Etude de l’influence des barrières isolantes sur la tenue
diélectriques d’intervalle d’huile en chocs de foudre et en continu” ,
Thèse de doctorat, Ecole centrale de Lyon, décembre 1997.

978-1-4673-4746-4/12/$31.00 ©2012 IEEE 713

View publication stats