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Exploring the Feasibility of an Aging Model for

Paper Insulation Based on the Repetition Frequency


of Transients

T.L. Koltunowicz, G. Bajracharya, D. Djairam and J.J. Smit
Delft University of Technology
Mekelweg 4
2628 CD, Delft, the Netherlands


Abstract- Fast transients have become a considerable addition to
the electric grid, especially on locations where DC generated
current needs to be converted into AC. The full impact of fast
transients on high voltage equipment is still unknown and the
scope of this contribution is to show that fast repetition
frequencies of fast transients decrease the life expectancy of
paper insulation. An aging waveform has been applied to paper
samples and two frequencies for the transients are analyzed, 5
kHz and 8 kHz. The times to failure are then compared against a
pure sinusoid at 50 Hz. The results show that fast transients have
a very clear effect on shortening the life time of oil impregnated
cellulose by factors of 6 and 4 respectively.

I. INTRODUCTION

The transformer is affected by many aging factors; some of
them are caused by the electric grid itself whereas others are
caused by external agents such as the surrounding
environment. The scope of the power utilities is to categorize
and quantify each of them in such way that an estimated life
time for the transformer can be produced. This way, the
utilization of this component can be extended and, therefore,
costs can be cut down.

Fig.1 shows the division of the various aging factors that
influence the life time of the transformer. The environmental
conditions are the external influences that act on the
transformer as it is placed outside for cooling purposes. Rain,
changing temperatures and wind have a corrosive effect
especially on the external body of the device. Rust tends to eat
through to the interior causing leaks and also allowing
moisture to enter the insulation and starting premature
breakdowns [1].

Electrical factors tend to have more internal destructive
consequences. High current loads cause the transformers core
to heat up and release moisture from the paper insulation to
the oil. Due to heat fluctuations in the transformer during the
day, bubbles are generated in the paper oil insulation. This
causes non-uniformity in the dielectric insulation allowing
partial discharges (PD) to occur. Fast transients can cause
vibrations and partial discharges in the windings insulation
and tap changer.

Fig.1. Various aging factors affecting the main components of a transformer.
Load and temperature are the biggest enemies of the transformer as they affect
most of the components at least two fold.

The electric grid, however, has been changing very rapidly
especially in the last 10 years. This is due to the fact that
power electronic devices are becoming more affordable and
the quality of their operation is regarded to be very high.
However, some extra problems arise as well. Power electronic
component such as IGBT inverters, for example, use the
principle of fast switching to convert DC generated currents
into AC form. These fast switching methods produce spikes
with very high frequencies and fast rise times [2].

The effects of these transients are relatively unknown to the
high voltage environment. Loose estimations can be produced
based on the research that is carried out on AC motor drives.
AC motors are controlled by adjustable speed drives (ASD)
that also implement fast switching through MOSFET or
similar electronic devices. The structure of a motor is very
similar to the one of a transformer as both devices have
windings wound on a core.

Some models have been produced for motors that show the
relation of the frequency of the transients and the respective
time to failure. This contribution will describe how this
knowledge will be applied to paper impregnated samples.

Transformer Components

Insulation
Bubble
formation
Particle
formation
Dielectric and
tensile losses

Core
Vibration
Noise
Cores
insulation failure
Tap Changer
Corrosion
Sparking
Sticking
Jamming of
contacts

Windings
High inter-disk
stress



Moisture Air Temperature
Hydrolysis Oxidation Pyrolisis
Environmental
VFT
Lightnin
g/Light
Surges
E
l
e
c
t
r
i
c
a
l

Load
978-1-4244-6301-5/10/$26.00 @2010 IEEE



II. AGING CAUSED BY FAST TRANSIENTS

AC/DC inverters use fast switches, such as IGBTs, to convert
a DC waveform to AC. There are many techniques used for
this process, some of them being pulse width modulation
(PWM) and amplitude modulation. Two techniques are
described in Fig.2 on how a sinusoidal signal is achieved.

Fig. 2: Different switching techniques used by converters [3]. a) Six level
switching, b) PWM switching.
Figure 2a shows a six level switching mechanism. This
involves six voltage levels at which high frequency (HF)
switching will occur. The frequency in this case is 450 Hz. For
smoother output waveforms, more levels need to be
introduced and even higher frequencies need to be applied.
Figure 2b shows how with the help of PWM a DC signal is
converted to a sine waveform. The goal waveform is indicated
in red, a smooth sinusoidal waveform at 50 Hz. But due to the
switching conversion, the output looks more like the blue
waveform, rough and with small voltage dips at the location of
the switching pulses coming from the converter.
Power electronic inverters at wind farms tend to produce
similar waveforms, depending which one is more suitable on
the situation. In all cases however, 2 specific characteristics
are identified: a high repetition frequency between 0.5 kHz
and 10 kHz and fast slew rates in the vicinity of 1 kV/s. Each
of these parameters has a specific influence on the windings
insulation layer.
A. Repetitive frequency and magnitude
In [4], it was investigated how two twisted wires covered with
enamel from a motors winding reacted to different applied
frequencies. The conclusions of that report are shown in Fig. 3
below.

Fig. 3: Effect of frequency and magnitude on a motors insulation material [4].
The higher the frequency, the lower the time to failure.
From Fig. 3 it can be seen that as the frequency increases, the
time to failure decreases, hence indicating that the frequency
of repetition of the pulses shortens the life span. The
amplitude of the pulse also has an effect on the life time. A
change in 1 kV in amplitude shifts the failure curve by the
same amount throughout the tested frequency.
Throughout the whole measured bandwidth, the time to failure
is always inversely proportional to the frequency. In this
research, it was also discovered that 5 kHz was a very
interesting point. Below 5 kHz, the relating equation can be
defined as:
L=B/f (1)
Where: L is the lifetime of the insulation (s)
B is a model constant
f is the applied frequency (Hz)

After the 5 kHz threshold, the degradation of the insulation
increases by a factor of 2. The new relation can be written as:
L=C/f
2
(2)
a) Six-level and switching frequency of 450
b) PWM to achieve a sinusoidal waveform
Where: L is the lifetime of the insulation (s)
C is a constant of proportionality
f is the frequency applied (Hz)

However, it should be kept in mind that the applied waveform
was a bipolar square wave where the duration of the pulses is
relatively much longer. Duty cycle is also an issue when
square waveforms are researched.
From Fig. 2 it is also interesting to see that amplitude has an
effect on the time to failure of the test sample. Amplitude has
a direct effect on the partial discharges (PD) generated in the
insulation of the winding, hence a higher magnitude will
increase the destructive effect of the PD.
B. Slew Rate
Fast slew rates (dV/dt) also have an effect on the accelerated
degradation on the insulation layer to a certain extent [5].
Spikes, overvoltages and uneven potential distribution across
winding turns are just some of the major consequences caused
by fast rise times.
Below in Fig. 4, a representation of rise time against time to
failure is presented. The waveform applied was a 4 kV bipolar
square wave at 20 kHz with a duty cycle of 50%.

Fig. 4: Effects of square wave rise time on the time to failure [5]. The faster
the rise time of the front, the faster the time to failure
The above tests were carried out on motor winding insulation.
It was concluded that fast rise times cause dielectric heating
due to capacitive peak currents. These peak currents tend to be
very large and are dependant on the slew rate.
The effects of fast slew rates and the influence of fast
repetitive frequencies have been studied on motor winding
insulation. No final research has been concluded yet on HV
components. An attempt to prove the destructiveness of the
repeating frequency of the transients will be presented in the
following section of this paper.



III. AGING TESTS AND RESULTS

A. Aging waveform
Designing a good aging waveform that could recreate the fast
transients in laboratory conditions was a not trivial task
because the fast switching required a current of at least 8 A,
which only specialised DC power sources can supply. The
waveform in Fig. 5 was proposed so that fast transient aging
and AC aging can be studied.



Fig. 5: The applied aging waveform to study the effect of fast transients.
Repetition frequency is set to 5 kHz, slew rate to 1 kV/s and the AC
amplitude is 3 kV p-p.

The generation of the waveform is described in detail in [6].
The variable parameters are: amplitude of the sinusoidal
carrier wave, magnitude of the transients and their repetition
frequency. The slew rate of each transient will be kept
constant at 1 kV/s.

Based on the investigation mentioned earlier in this
contribution, the repetition frequency will be varied between
0.5 kHz and 10 kHz at a magnitude of 1 kV. The magnitude of
the sinusoid will depends on the breakdown voltage of the
sample and it will be set at 95% of the breakdown voltage.

B. Paper samples and their characteristics
The paper samples were pre-impregnated with oil at the
factory and sent in sealed jars. This paper insulation is used in
distribution transformers and the samples have a diameter of
16 cm and the thickness is 0.6 mm. The average breakdown
voltage was calculated by performing minute step-up increases
of 200 volts until breakdown was achieved. This value turned
out to be 3.1 kV, as shown in Fig. 6. It should be noted that the
scattering of breakdown voltage was very low, hence
providing a very accurate voltage level for this type of paper.

The electrode used for the breakdown experiments and also
for the aging tests has a flat circular diameter of 12 cm and the
edges are rounded off in such way not to have high electric
field concentrations.


Fig. 6: Weibull distribution of breakdown voltages of the paper samples with
the round electrode. = 41.2 and = 3.1. The scattering of the breakdown
points is low which provides an accurate result for the breakdown voltage.

C. Aging Results
Two frequencies were analyzed: 5 kHz and 8 kHz. The test
procedure involved stressing the samples in two separate tanks
filled with oil. The samples in the first tank were stressed with
a clean sinusoid of magnitude 2.91 kV, whereas the second
tank was stressed with the aging waveform presented in Fig. 5
with the AC component of 2.91 kV, 1 kV transient magnitude
and 1 s rise time. More specific details of the test set up are
described in [6].

Fig. 7 shows the aging times in hours for samples taken from
Jar 1. The applied repetition frequency was 5 kHz.



Fig. 7: Aging times of paper samples with transients at 5 kHz. 2.91 kV (Blue
line, circle points): = 1.94, = 57.2. 2.92 kV+ 5 kHz (Black line, cross
points): = 1.33, = 10.4. The scattering of the breakdowns is considered high
but consistent with both types of aging. The aging times differ by a factor of
6.

Fig. 8 shows the aging results for paper samples taken from
Jar 2. The applied frequency in this case was 8kHz.


Fig. 8: Aging times of paper samples with transients at 8 kHz. 2.91 kV (Black
line, dot points): = 9.84, = 168.7. 2.92 kV+ 8 kHz (Blue line, cross points):
= 7.65, = 38.3. The spread of the results is more closely grouped showing
that the paper samples were more consistent. The aging coefficient here is of a
factor of 4.


D. Discussion
In both cases, it can be noticed that samples that are stressed
with transients tend to have a shorter life time. The times to
failure cannot be compared directly because too many
variables are present, for e.g. the oil humidity varied; the water
content in the tanks was different and the paper samples were
from 2 separate jars. All these factors have a defining effect on
the dielectric strength of the paper.

The factor by which the transients shorten the life expectancy
of the paper samples can be compared. A repetitive frequency
of 5 kHz decreases the life time by a factor of 6, whilst 8 kHz
decreases the life time by a factor of 4.

What can be noticed also in the Weilbull plots is that the
scattering of the results are quite high. This phenomena
however is acceptable as cellulose, at such low thickness is not
uniform. This makes the weak spot of the paper a variable and
does not always guarantee a breakdown in the same time
frame.


E. The Feasibility and Initial Thoughts on an Aging Model
The aging model needs to be designed in such way so that a
fast and clear calculation can be made to assess the influence
that transient have been having on the insulation material. The
idea is to have a relation of the repetition frequency with
respect to the aging coefficient.

Having identified only two frequencies, it is still too early to
draw any concrete conclusions on the right shape of the curve
but in principle, a model could be created as the aging factors
8 kHz Aging
=9.831950, =168.662089, =0.973582
=7.652382, =38.319402, =0.974223
Time to Failure
U
n
r
e
l
i
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
,

F
(
t
)
10 1000 100
10.000
50.000
90.000
99.000
2.91 kV + 8 kHz
Probability Line
Top CB-I
Bottom CB-I
2.91 kV
Probability Line
Top CB-I
Bottom CB-I
Comparison of AC aging @ 2,91 kV and 5kHz transients
2.91 kV + 5kHz: =1.3391, =10.3522, =0.7698
2.91 kV: =1.9397, =57.2658, =0.9085
Time, (t)
U
n
r
e
l
i
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
,

F
(
t
)
1 1000 10 100
10.000
50.000
90.000
99.000
Round Electrode, Step Up
=41.2025, =3.1220, =0.8005
Breakdown Voltage (kV)
U
n
r
e
l
i
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
,

F
(
t
)
1 10
1.000
5.000
10.000
50.000
90.000
99.000
differs for the two investigated frequencies. The data obtained
is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1: The identified aging coefficient for oil-impregnated paper samples
relative to the applied frequency of transients.
Frequency Aging Coefficient
5 kHz 6
8 kHz 4

By looking at Table 1, an inverse pattern can be noticed where
the aging coefficient decreases with the rising frequency. This
means that the time to failure will increase with the higher
frequency, contrary to the findings shown in Fig.3.

This difference is attributed most likely to the different
insulating material. Paper impregnated in oil has regenerative
capabilities when partial discharges occur therefore making it
last longer. This cannot be said for solid insulation such as
epoxy where, once partial discharges are ignited, these partial
discharges will increase in magnitude.
IV. CONCLUSION

Improvements to the grid also have waveform side effects.
Extra aging factors are introduced that cause faster
deterioration of the high voltage components. Transients
generated by power electronic inverters are still in the
investigation stage when assessing the deterioration of the
insulation of a transformer. This is due to the nature of the
material used for insulation. In the case of slot insulation in
motors, partial discharges are generated when a transient is
applied because of the air gaps. However, in the case of paper
insulation, air gaps can be created with heat fluctuations in the
transformer that cause bubble to be created [1]. The nature of
these air bubbles and their capability to start a partial
discharge will be analyzed in future research projects.

Studies presented in this contribution have shown that when
the same type of sample is stressed with an AC waveform with
superimposed transients, the life time is shortened. It was
additionally noted that the factor by which the time to failure
is reduced varies with the applied frequency.

The results presented need to be analyzed further by stressing
more samples at the above mentioned frequencies to obtain a
wider population for better statistical analysis. It is also
interesting to investigate whether breakdowns are generated
due to the fact that the transient voltage exceeds the
breakdown voltage of the paper sample.

The next stage of the research will focus on analyzing more
transient frequencies generated in wind farms. The range
identified in those locations is between 0.5 10 kHz,
depending on the quality of the AC waveform needed. As
magnitude also has an effect on the time to failure, the
magnitude of the transients will be lowered to study their
influence on the paper insulation.

To better understand the effects of high repetition frequency of
transients, it is also important to understand what happens to
the material on a molecular level. This involves to look at the
material characteristics of cellulose while it is stressed with
AC and fast repeating transients.

REFERENCES

[1] T. Koltunowicz, G. Bajracharya, S. Meijer, J.J. Smit, R.A. Jongen,
Transformer Aging Models for Future Power System Decision support,
IEEE Young Researcher, Feb. 2008.
[2] L. Paulsson, B. Ekhov, S. Halen, T. Larsson, L. Palmqvist, A. A. Edris,
D. Kidd, A. J. F. Keri and B. Mehraban, High-frequency impacts in a
converter-based back-to-back tie; the Eagle Pass installation, IEEE
Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 1410-1415, 2003.
[3] M. Madrigal and E. Acha, Harmonic Modelling of Voltage Source
Converters for HVDC Stations, IEEE AC-DC Power Transmission
conference publication No. 485, 2001
[4] W. Yin, K. Bultemeier, D. Barta and D. Floryan, Critical Factors for
Early Failure of Magnet Wires in Inverter Fed Motors, IEEE Electrical
Insulation Magazine Vol. 13, n. 6, pp. 18-23, Nov. 1997
[5] W. Yin, Failure Mechanism of Winding Insulation in Inverter-Fed
Motors, IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, 1997..
[6] T.L. Koltunowicz, G. Bajracharya, D. Djairam, J.J. Smit, Investigation
of the Effects of Fast Transients on a Transformers Paper Insulation, to
be published in International Symposium on Electrical Insulation, San
Diego 2010.

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