National Conference on

Failure Analysis of Power

Transformer/Reactor – Case Studies
(Under the aegis of CIGRE NSC A2 on Power Transformers and Reactors)
th th
9 – 10 August 202, Hotel Le Meridien, New Delhi
Proceedings

Organized by

Sponsors

Measurements
Yash High Voltage Ltd.
International LLP
 National Conference on
Failure Analysis of Power Transformer/Reactor –
Case Studies
9-10 August 2023, New Delhi

Proceedings

Organised by

India
CBIP

Sponsors

Yash High Voltage Ltd. Measurements International LLP

 Contents
1 Comprehensive Analysis, Diagnosis & Early Corrective Actions for Internal Anomalies of Large 1
Transformer – Bharat Bhatt, Sanjay Joshi and Sanjay Bhatt
2 Fire Safety for Transformers and Its Mitigation in CESC Ltd. – Sandeep Mazumder, Madhuri Saha and 19
Soumik Nag Roy
3 Power Transformer Failure Case Studies - CPRI Experience – Dillip Kumar Puhan, Sreeram V, 42
Thirumurthy and K. P. Meena
4 Failure Analysis of Power Transformer – 25 MVA, 22Kv/6.9KV, Dyn1 – Sunil Raval 51
5 Three Steps for Diagnostic Testing of Bushings – Sanket Bolar and Ankit Porwal 68
6 Failure Analysis of 500MVA Single Phase ICT – Prayas Gupta and Dilip Khasiya 72
7 Climate Change Mitigation Need for Dynamic Transformer Rating – Ravi Seethapathy 85
8 Evolution of Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) Testing – An Overview – Dr. Rajesh Kumar Arora 89
9 Multi Sensors PD Measurement Method for Incipient fault Detection in Transformer & Reactor – 114
Dr. Aradhana Ray
10 Transformer Failure, Fire & Explosion: An Overview of Fire Protection Technologies used Globally – 135
Ashish Bhardwaj
11 MVPD – Mobile Vapour Phase Drying Process – Sunay Shah, G K Gupta, Sandesh Ghadge and Pradeep 143
K Trivedi
12 In-house Retrofitting of a Draw-rod Type Bushing Replacing Deteriorating Tan δ value Draw -lead Type 155
of a 420 OIP Bushing of 315 MVA Transformer - A Challenge – K.K. Murty
13 Failure of Power Transformers in MSETCL - A few Case Studies – Jayant Kulkarni 165
14 Cost Effective Condition Monitoring – Techniques to Reduce the Failures of Power Transformers and 169
Reactors – Bishwanath Bhattacharyya
15 Case Study on On-Site Repair of 13.33 MVA Generator Transformer & Successful Charging thereof – S 175
Adhikari, Suraj Dhiman, S.K. Das and Jaganath Pani
16 Improving Reliability of Transformer through Continuous DGA Monitoring: A 25 MVA Power 181
Transformer Case Study – S Adhikari, Suraj Dhiman, S.K. Das and Jaganath Pani
17 Case Studies of Failure of Power Transformer - Analysis Thereof – Pravinchandra Mehta 188
18 Online Drying for Life Extension of Transformers & Reactors – An Effective Alternative – Yogesh Sood 194
19 Failure of 60 MVA, 220/33 kV 3ph. Transformers at 400 kV Indirapuram S/Stn – WUPPTCL 200
20 Report: Failure of 500 MVA, 765/400/33kV 1ph. ICTs at 765kV G. Noida S/stn, Date of Failure: 13-12- 209
2020 – WUPPTCL
21 Use of DFR (Dielectric Frequency Response) for Measuring and Assessing Quality of Transformer 214
Bushings – Pramod Rao and Gautam Nikam
22 Online Partial Discharge Monitoring on Transformer – Rohit Sen 220
23 Intensive Monitoring and Diagnostic Techniques for Transformers Adopted by POWERGRID and Its 226
Impact – Amandeep Singh
24 Failure Reporting Process for Power Transformer – C Jayasenan 232
25 Case studies of Failure of Power Transformers during Short Circuit Test – K.Sharath Kumar, Diptiranjan 240
Sahoo, Arpit Singh, Yugal Agrawal, Manoher Singh Takkher and Sumbul Munshi
26 Fire Incidents of Power Transformers - Case Studies – Dr. Ashok J. Chavda 246
27 Case Study on Nitrogen Injection Based Fire Prevention and Extinguishing System - A vital asset to Safeguard 253
Transformers and Reactors – Dr. S.M. Bakre
National Conference on Failure Analysis of Power Transformer/Reactor – Case Studies, 9-10 August 2023, New Delhi

Online Drying for Life Extension of Transformers & Reactors –

An Effective Alternative
Online Drying for LifeYogesh
Extension
Sood
of Transformers &
Reactors – An effective
PTSS alternative
A substation Manager or Engineer is already aware of the many issues and concerns related to the
presence of water in their Transformers, oil and insulation. They sometimes experience the pressure
from management to increase loads on wet transformers in the system even before the due
maintenance is performed. There are issues to address like the downtime experience from taking the
Transformer out of service, the expense of switching costs of Transformers and the strain of
scheduling persons around the clock.
Changing times, domain changing technologies and with the dynamic changes taking place in the
electric utilities industry, there has never been a better time for Substation Asset Managers to protect
their Transformer investment through the use of a safer, more effective, reliable and less costly dry
out alternative like the Online Transformer Dry out System. Online Transformer Dry out Systems
eliminates Downtime, Load Loss, Switching Costs and Labour Costs. Through online drying, you not
only achieve a high degree of moisture removal but your Transformer/Reactor remains in service and
unattended while you avoid the inconvenience and expense of taking the Transformer out of service.
Water in oil can be differentiated in two ways, as free water and as dissolved water. Free water plus
dissolved water equals total water. Free water or emulsified water can make the oil appear cloudy
which means that the water in oil is emulsified with water content above the temperature saturation
level indicated on the saturation chart for the insulating Oil.

Free water in oil can be removed using a variety of commonly available technologies but dissolved
water in oil is a bit difficult to remove. Dissolved water is invisible the same way humidity is invisible
in the air. It may be that the oil sample appears clear, but it actually can have up to 60ppm of
dissolved moisture, indicating an unacceptable level of moisture in the oil and a clear sign of a high
level of water in the Transformer Paper Insulation. The Online Transformer Drying essentially takes
advantage of the natural moisture migration dynamics of an energised Transformer under load.
Moisture in oil filled Transformer resides primarily in its paper Insulation due to the fact that the
paper’s affinity for moisture is many times that of oil. The division of moisture between oil and paper
insulation is temperature based. As a result, residual moisture within a Transformer will always
migrate into its paper insulation as the transformer cools. However, when the Transformer is
energised and under load, heat from the core and the coils forces the moisture to migrate out of the
paper insulation and in to the oil. It’s the processing of this moisture laden oil through specialized
cartridges while the Transformer is energised and in use that makes this such an efficient dry out
alternative. It’s basically a kidney loop system in which the hot wet oil is diverted from the
Transformer into the system and simultaneously dissolve moisture and conductive contaminants of the
size of 1 micron are removed*. The dried oil is then returned to the transformer where it continues to
draw moisture migrating out of the core insulation and is continuously recirculated and processed
194
 195

until sufficient dry out of the entire transformer is achieved. Despite the system's high water removal
efficiency, it does not remove beneficial anti-oxidation inhibitors from the oil as some heat and
vacuum systems do. Of course, the time required to complete your dry out process will vary with the
size, wetness and load condition of the transformer. And as an added benefit, once dry out is
complete, the same system can be fitted with adsorptive cartridges to reduce acidity.
The main source of moisture to enter into the paper is only via oil and if oil is kept dry and clean from
the day of installation and energisation of Transformer and Reactor, there is a high possibility of
getting the extended life of both liquid and solid insulation and hence extended life of a Transformer.
• * “CIGRE WG 12.17 “Particles in Oil” collected approximately 50 major failures
predominantly of Transformers 400-800KV that attributed to particles contamination.

These cartridges type online drying systems are being used by Central and State Transmission &
Generation Utilities in India where few detailed studies are done and collected to see the effectiveness
of transformer insulation drying and oil improvement. Some encouraging results are witnessed which
are extracted in the form of exclusive Case Studies (Enclosed herewith).
With the encouraging results obtained, we can say that this technology is one among the Best
Practices for Asset Management from preventive maintenance perspective and complies to condition
monitoring and digitalization requirements as well.
Er. yogesh Sood
Advisor(Application Technology), M- 9417302966
Power Transformers Sales and Services (India) Private Limited
No.13/7,Muthaliyar Thottam,Irugur,Coimbatore - 641103
Mobile:+91 94890 55733 Office:+91 94437 24733 email: [email protected] www.ptssglobal.com
196

CASE STuDy 1
On LInE DEhyDRATIOn OF 50 MVAR BuS REACTOR- II AT JAMShEDPuR
SuB-STATIOn (EXTRACTS FROM ThE REPORT)
50 MVAR BHEL make Bus- Reactor- II of Jamshedpur sub-station was installed and commissioned
in the year of 1993. The details of the bus reactor are as given below:

Technical Specification
Rated Power : 50MVAR, 420 KV
OIL Quantities Total - : 36250 Liters

During service, the reactor started showing tendency of violating BDV and PPM values
since 2000. As per recommendation of DGA committee report the oil filtration and
winding drying out had been carried out as per the details given below:
SL. Details of Oil Filtration in Bus Oil Result at the time of
no. Reactor- II Month/ year Charging (As per IOTL, Remarks
DGP)
01. Oil filtration carried out as per April’2001 (20-04-01 to BDV – 65.5 KV After 02 days of charging, the
recommendation of DGA committee & 26-04-01) (06 Days) results got deteriorated.
Moisture = 20 PPM
OS, Patna
BDV – 43.6 KV Moisture – 33
PPM
02. Oil filtration, Winding drying out by Dec’ 2001 BDV – 72.6 KV After 03 Months of charging,
vacuum pulling and “Y’-Phase the results got deteriorated.
Bushing replacement in presence of (05-12-01 to 28-12-01) Moisture = 9 PPM
BDV – 23.3 KV
BHEL representative as per 24 Days.
recommendation of DGA Committee & Moisture – 50 PPM
OS /Patna.
03. Oil filtration, Winding drying out by Nov-Dec’ 2002 BDV – 70.7 KV After 01 Months of charging,
heating with N2 circulation and the results got deteriorated.
(21-12-02 to 07-12-02) Moisture = 11 PPM
vacuum pulling in presence of M/S
BDV – 32 KV
Power Engineering, Patna 17 Days.
representative as per recommendation Moisture – 36 PPM
of DGA Committee & OS /Patna.

It was experienced that even after frequent oil filtration using heat and vacuum system and
drying out of winding, the PPM and BDV found violating after three/four months of oil
filtration. Frequent filtration using the Heat and vacuum system depletes the anti-oxidants
in the oil reducing the oxidation stability.

ALTERnATE OnLInE DRyInG DOnE:

Online Moisture removal system (Cartridge Type) was tried which was kept online for 3 months and
following were the results after change of 3 sets of 4 each cartridge.

wInDIn TEMP In TRAnSFORMER OIL RS

DATE TIME G MAChInE TEMP PPM
TEMP
10/12/04 12:45PM 78 44.1 65 14.2% 40.3

10/03/05 9:25AM 78 54.8 70 2.5% 8.2

There was a slight improvement of the color of the oil over the initial conditions, but it
is not significant enough to record. This color change is attributed to lower dissolved
moisture in oil. The final ppm was stabilized at 8ppm for long.
 197

CASE STuDy 2
InSuLATIOn TAn-DELTA, OIL PARAMETERS AnD POwER FACTOR OF PRESSBOARD
IMPROVEMEnT By PERFORMInG On LInE DEhyDRATIOn On 50 MVAR/400KV BhEL MAKE
LInE REACTOR AT MOGA SuB-STATIOn
(EXTRACTS FROM ThE REPORT)
Online Moisture Drying using cartridge type Transformer Dryout System was performed at
Moga S/S and following are the before and after online dehydration results which were used for
Moisture identification and removal using Megger IDAX Tan Delta measurement kit(FDS) and
various other Empirical Formulae.

S.no PARTICuLARS BEFORE AFTER

1 Moisture (PPM) 12ppm 6ppm

2 RS (Water Activity) 8% 5%
3 %M/DWi 2.0% 1.6%
4 Insulation Tan Delta 0.621 0.402
5 Oil Tan Delta/PF 0.02296 0.0143
6 IFT (Interfacial Tension) 28.8Dynes/cm 31.3Dynes/cm
7 Sp. Resistivity @90DegC 0.819x1012 Ohm-cm 1.9x1012 Ohm-cm
8 Acidity (NN) 0.039407 0.024

Moisture Identification
Average moisture content in the pressboard may be estimated using insulation power factor test value,
especially CHL, considering relative portion of the oil in the space and the power factor of the oil
PFP = CHL-Koil *PFoil,
KP
where PFP is power factor of pressboard ;
CHL – power factor of insulation space between Winding at some elevated temperature
PF Oil – oil power factor at the same temperature
K Oil and KP - design parameters that determine the share of the oil and the pressboard in the space. If
those parameters are unknown, we may assume that KOil =KP = 0.5

Interpretation

PFP < 0.5% is characteristic of moisture content in the pressboard below 1% in the range of temperature 20-600
C
PFP > 0.7 - 1.0% in the range of temperature 20-600 C is characteristic of moisture content in the pressboard 2%
Showings of water content in paper over 2% might be a motivated basis for transformer processing.

Calculations for 50MVAR reactor at Moga sub station

Before Processing After Processing

CHL = 0.621, KOil =KP = 0.5, Oil PF = 0.02296 CHL = 0.402, KOil =KP = 0.5, Oil PF = 0.0143
Hence, Hence,
PFP= 0.621-0.5*0.2296 = 1.196% PFP= 0.402-0.5*0.0143 = 0.7897%
0.5 0.5

Remarks – The reduction of PFP from 1.196% to 0.7897% shows that there is a moisture removal
from insulation.
*CHL here refers to PF of insulation space between winding and earth since it is a line reactor.
198

CASE STuDy 3
InSuLATIOn RESISTAnCE(IR)/POLARIZATIOn InDEX(PI), OIL PARAMETERS IMPROVEMEnT
By PERFORMInG On LInE DEhyDRATIOn On 100MVA/220KV JAGRAOn(PunJAB) POwER
TRAnSFORMER
(EXTRACTS FROM ThE REPORT)

IR Values Before & After at 220KV S/S 100MVA Power Transformer…

Before Result (Checked with 2.5KV Motorized Megger)

20Sec 60Sec 120Sec PI
HV-E 2.2K*5 3.2K*5 3.2K*5 1.45
LV-E 3.3K*5 3.2K*5 3.2K*5 1.00
HV-LV 3.2K*5 3.2K*5 3.2K*5 1.00

After (Checked with 5KV AVO Digital Megger)

20Sec 60Sec 120Sec 600Sec PI
HV-E 1.23GOhm 1.60GOhm 1.89GOhm 2.48GOhm 1.53
LV-E 701Mohm 992Mohm 1.20Gohm 1.78Gohm 1.9
HV-LV 1.07Gohm 1.44Gohm 1.75Gohm 2.69Gohm 1.63

OIL RESuLTS:
Parameter Before After
BDV 44KV 56KV
Water Content(ppm) 22ppm <10ppm
Sp. Resistivity 0.93x1012ohm-cm 1.4x1012ohm-cm
Tan Delta 0.0019 0.0018
IFT 29 dynes/cm 33 dynes/cm
Flash Point 144 DegC 146 DegC
NN(Acid Value) 0.05 0.05
Sludge Not Detected Not Detected.
DGA Not Done Not Done.

CASE STuDy 4
PSEB Mandigobindgarh, 220KV/66KV, 100MVA Transformer.

Parameter Checked Before After

BDV 36KV 56KV
Water Content(ppm) 28ppm <10ppm
Sp. Resistivity 12.4*10power12 43.5*10power12 ohm-cm
Tan Delta 0.0022 0.0011
IFT 35 dynes/cm 41 dynes/cm
Flash Point 140 DegC 148 DegC
NN(Acid Value) 0.05 0.05
Sludge Not Detected Not Detected.
DGA Not Done Not Done.

There is a magnificent improvement achieved in oil results at this place, especially in Sp. Resistivity,
Tan Delta and IFT of oil.
 199

CASE STuDy 5
InSuLATIOn RESISTAnCE(IR)/POLARIZATIOn InDEX(PI), OIL PARAMETERS IMPROVEMEnT
By PERFORMInG On LInE DEhyDRATIOn On 16/20MVA 66KV (PunJAB) POwER
TRAnSFORMER
(EXTRACTS FROM ThE REPORT)

220KV/66KV Sub-Station 16/20MVA Transformer, Dhandari Kalan.

Before After
BDV 49 KV min. 60 KV min.

Water Content 40 ppm 5 ppm

12
Sp. Resistivity 4.9 X 10 9.3 X 1012

ohm-cm min. ohm-cm min.

Dielectric Dissipation 0.0081 0.0027
Dissolved 4.13ppm 1.89ppm
Gases/Methane
Ethylene 3.21ppm 2.37ppm
Flash Point 146 148

IR Values:-
Temp. Wdg-50, Oil-49(23.5.2008) Temp. Wdg-55, Oil-54(24.10.2008)

IR(BEFORE) IR(AFTER) PI(Before) PI(After)

60Sec 60 Sec
HV-Earth 290MOhm 2050MOhm 1.09 1.54
HV-LV 1000MOhm 2400MOhm 1.2 1.63
LV-Earth 1400MOhm 3400MOhm 1.3 1.64

CASE STuDy 6 (InTERnATIOnAL)