Title

Abstract
Electrical energy is the paramount need in a nation’s development. To cater for large demand
for electricity there is a need for reliable and proficient power system. For a power system to
work reliably, the role of Transformers is critical. Health of the transformer mainly depends
on its insulation. Among the different insulating material used in transformers, mineral oil is
the most widely used as insulating medium in oil filled transformers. The performance of the
transformer depends on the quality of the insulating oil. Hence, the oil quality analysis
becomes essential. Traditionally chemical diagnostic criteria are used for oil quality
evaluation. However, this conventional method is expensive and time consuming. Extensive
experimental evaluation has been fruitful to establish the acidity and tan δ of the transformer
oil. Here, we are proposing Image processing technique to estimate the oil properties, which
is inexpensive and effective technique. Namely Texture Entropy is extended to compute the
Neutralization Number (NN) or Acidity and tan δ (Dissipation factor).

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CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 General
Transformers play an important role in providing a reliable and efficient electricity supply
and are one of the most critical equipment’s in electric power transmission and distribution
systems. Transformer owner need to assess the status of the cellulose insulation for planning
maintenance or renewal. However, taking paper samples from a transformer is both
impractical and destructive. Thus, oil analysis is regularly used for assessment of both oil and
paper. As the partition equilibrium coefficients of the various by products are both probably
interdependent and for most of them not well known, oil analysis gives limited information
about the status of the cellulose insulation. As a consequence, finding alternative non-
invasive methods have become considerable interest for electricity utilities to examine the
condition of the cellulose insulation in a transformer.

1.2 Importance of electrical energy

Electrical energy plays an important role in a nation’s development. A reliable and proficient
power system is needed to meet large demand for electricity. Transformer is an integral part
of power system whose role is critical for a reliable power system. Periodically the health of
transformer has to be checked which primarily depends on the type of insulation used. Out of
different insulators used in transformer, mineral oil so as to say transformer oil is used as an
insulation material in almost all transformers. Transformer oil not is only used for insulation
purpose, but also for cooling purpose. Its dielectric strength, different chemical properties
determine the type of insulator it is which in turn determines the health state of a transformer.
Thus its performance mainly depends on characteristics of mineral oil used. Thus it is very
important to perform oil analysis periodically to check transformer health. There are a
number of traditional methods available. But these methods are very time consuming and
expensive.

1.3 Present study and objectives

The present study provides a quick simple method to analyze transformer oil and thus to
check transformer health from the image of a transformer oil sample. The image processing

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technique involves pre-processing of the taken image of transformer oil in which first the
noises are removed using median and weiner2 filter and histogram enhancement technique is
used for better visibility. Now entropy which is the statistical measure of randomness is
calculated which depends mainly on the deterioration of the taken oil sample. Thus using
regression method from the knowledge of entropy and learned data the state properties of oil
can be predicted. Similarly, the concentration of gases present in transformer oil can be
calculated. This project also provides a tool to predict for the different faults in the
transformer using key gas analysis method and IEC basic ration method.

Objectives:

 We are proposing Image processing technique to estimate the oil properties

(Normalization Number, Power Factor, Acidity constant, Dissipation Factor) This
technique is easy and inexpensive.

 In this technique we find out the Age of oil which then is used to determine the
quality of the oil.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
Electrical energy is the paramount need in a nation’s development. To cater for large demand
for electricity there is a need for reliable and proficient power system. For a power system to
work reliably, the role of Transformers is critical. Health of the transformer mainly depends
on its insulation. Among the different insulating material used in transformers, mineral oil is
the most widely used as insulating medium in oil filled transformers.

This work has made an effort to reveals the change in acidity, Interfacial Tension, power
factor and tan δ properties of the transformer oil. Further, it emphasizes the inference as the
outcome of experimentation. It enhances the acidity with respect to increase of tan δ. Image
processing technique texture entropy yielded better results of transformer oil properties
evaluation. In the sequence, it notices as quick and viable criteria as compared with
conventional practices. Here, the proposed strategy works through statistical parameter such
as entropy features of oil image. Subsequently, image processing complete procedure is
employed to analysis of transformer oil quality. [1]

Frequency domain spectroscopy (FDS) has been used to assess the ageing condition of oil-
paper insulation used in transformers. To further understand the ageing process, the reduction
in degree of polymerization (DP) of cellulosic paper in itself on the dielectric response was
investigated first.

This paper describes the usefulness of FDS technique as a modern non-destructive tool for
the ageing condition assessment of transformer insulation. The findings of the laboratory
investigations could be used as guidelines to evaluate the extent of deterioration of oil-paper
insulation in transformers. The following conclusions may be drawn from the research.
Compared with new mineral oil, water and acetone, the acetone is very effective in extracting
the aged oil or aged products in the aged pressboard. [2]

A substantial quantity of testing has been performed on the degradation of paper insulation
over the decades. The aim being to better educate the electrical industry on how to best

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operate expensive assets, such as transformers. The longevity of paper insulation is
frequently tested using accelerated ageing experiments, where the effects of temperature and
the chemical environment on paper lifespan can be studied. Such research has resulted in
paper life expectancy curves being published by the IEEE and the IEC. The investigations
tend to use sealed vessels. However, the disadvantage of using this method is that the water
content of the paper changes during the ageing process which then changes the ageing rate.
In these ageing experiments the water and oxygen content was controlled using a special test
rig to compare the ageing rate to previous work and to determine the ageing effect of paper
by combining temperature, water content of paper and oxygen content of the oil. We found
that the rate of paper ageing can be more accurately determined by controlling the water and
oxygen during the experiment which then produced noticeable changes in predicting life
expectancy. [3]

Transformer Oil Testing is a technique, which should be a part of any condition-based

protective maintenance facilities. This is the most important early protective system can
allow maintenance arrangement to identify repairing priorities, program schedules, arrange of
outside service, and order necessary parts and materials. The transformer’s fluid not only
used as a heat transfer medium but also it is used for the transformer's insulation system. In
this paper we discussing about the transformer oil, their reclamation with help of image
processing. Also study the all types of properties of transformer oil.

In this paper, we discussed about analysis of transformer oil with the help of image
processing. We know that there are many techniques used for oil reclamation or oil filtration
but those techniques are very vast and time consuming as compared to this method. In
addition, if giving other some input data as a reference then accuracy of results is also
increases and as compared to other methods, this method is more reliable and more suitable
than the other methods. [4]

Transformer oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons which can tolerate high temperature and is an
excellent insulator. This not only serves as insulator but also as a coolant. Besides this
suppresses sparking, arching and corona. Oil degrades because of gases dissolved in it due to
the occurrence of various faults and deterioration with respect to age. Increase in dissolved

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fault gases concentration in oil, results in oil losing its effectiveness; this will influence the
transformer performance.

Thus in this project the presence of oil in ppm level is detected using linear regression
method. Also by using the quantity of these gases the kind of fault in transformer is found out
using two methods: key gas method and iec method and GUI models are built for easy
graphical interface. Image processing technique for transformer oil analysis is software based
analytic technique which is fast, reliable and user friendly. Median and weinner2 filters were
used to filter out the white Gaussian and salt and pepper noise (if any). Using histogram
modification techniques, the image quality was enhanced for better visibility and analysis.
Entropy technique was used to find out different oil properties like NN, dissipation factor,
power factor etc. to determine the performance of transformer. [5]

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CHAPTER 3
SYSTEM DESIGN
3.1 Design of the proposed work
The block diagram of the proposed system consists of Transformer Model, a camera,
personal computer installed with MATLAB, Serial to USB Converter, Microcontroller, GSM
module, LCD, Buzzer as shown in figure 1.

Camera LCD +
Buzzer

PC with
MATLAB Microcontroller

Transformer GSM
Model Module

Figure 1: System block diagram

3.2 Camera
A camera is an optical instrument for recording images, which may be stored locally,
transmitted to another location, or both as shown in figure 2. The images may be individual
still photographs or sequences of images constituting videos or movies. The word camera
comes from camera obscure, which means "dark chamber" and is the Latin name of the
original device for projecting an image of external reality onto a flat surface. The modern

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photographic camera evolved from the camera obscure. The functioning of the camera is
very similar to the functioning of the human eye.

Key Features:
 The camera used here is I-Ball Robo K20.
 It is a high quality CMOS sensor.
 8 M pixels still image resolution, 4 M pixels’ video resolution.
 High quality 5G wide angle lens.
 It has USB 2.0 Interface.
 Video Format is of RGB 24 bit. Video Resolutions are of 640x480, 1600x760,
1280x960, 1280x1024, 1600x1200 and 2304x1728.
 Frame Rate: 30frames per second

Figure 2: Camera
3.3 Computer
In the system a computer is required for the analysis of image which is performed using
MATLAB. MATLAB is a high-level technical computing language and interactive
environment for algorithm development, data visualization, data analysis and numeric
computation. Using the MATLAB product, we can solve technical computing problems
faster than with traditional programming languages, such as C, C++ and FORTRAN.
MATLAB is an integrated technical computing environment that combines numeric
computation, advanced graphics and visualization and a high-level programming language.
[6-8]

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3.4 Microcontroller
Microcontroller is defined as a system on computer chip which includes number of
peripherals like RAM, EEPROM, etc. required to perform some predefined task. There are
number of popular families of microcontrollers which are used in different applications as per
their capability and feasibility to perform various task, mostly used of these are 8051, AVR
and PIC microcontrollers. In this subject we will introduce you with AVR family of
microcontrollers. AVR is an 8-bit microcontroller belonging to the family of Reduced
Instruction Set Computer (RISC). In RISC architecture the instruction set of the computer are
not only fewer in number but also simpler and faster in operation. The other type is CISC.
We will explore more on this when we will learn about the architecture of AVR
microcontrollers in following section. [9]

The microcontroller transmits and receives 8-bit data. The input/output registers available are
also of 8-bits. The AVR families’ controllers have register based architecture which means
that both the operands for an operation are stored in a register and the result of the operation
is also stored in a register. Discussing about AVR we will be talking on Atmega16
microcontroller, which is 40-pin IC and it belong to mega AVR category of AVR family.

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CHAPTER 4
IMPLEMENTATION
The detailed algorithm and flowchart involved in implementing the design is discussed in
this chapter.

4.1 Algorithm
The implementation involves seven sequential steps as shown in the algorithm below.
Initially the NN and tan δ are evaluated using entropy method. [10] Then, the image is loaded
and converted into gray scale and rescaled if necessary. Median filter is used to obtain a noise
free image. This image is used to find the entropy, the value of k1 is declared and the y value
is determined for y≥ 14. Similarly, if y value lies in between 15 – 25 years, Ac and k2 values
are declared.

Step 1: Evaluation of NN and tan δ of Transformer oil by Entropy method.

Step 2: Load the image, convert into gray scale and resize.

Step 3: To obtain the noise free image, Median filter is used.

Step 4: Find the Entropy (E).

Step 5: Declare k1 and determine the y value Ensure the y value (y ≥ 14) if y is less than
14 years, Ac is declared as 0.013 for NN and k2is stated as 0.0021 for tan δ calculation.

Step 6: If y value is in between 15 to 25 years, Acandk2 are affirmed as 0.0159 and

0.00716 for acidity and tan δ computation.

Step 7: If y value is more than 25, result will be displayed as ERROR.

Algorithm for finding unknown value:

Step 1: Input the predictor data set and criterion data set as y1, y2…. yn and x1, x2…. xn
respectively.

Step 2: Find mean of the predictor and criterion data set as My and Mx respectively.

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Step 3: Find standard deviation of the predictor and criterion data set as Sy and Sx
respectively.
Step 4: Find correlation of the predictor and criterion data set as r.

Step 5: Write predictor intercept (b) as b= r* Sy/Sx;

Step 6: Write slope (a) as a= My- b*Mx

Step 7: Now the required value is given by y0= a*x0+b

4.2 Entropy technique for oil property determination

As oil gets aged color and texture of the oil changes, at the same time some of the properties
related to oil also change. In this work Acidity and tan δ of oil is calculated from image
processing approach called Entropy. Entropy can be described from equation (1)

Σ�log2� ……….………………………...………………………….…………….(1)

Where ‘a’ contains the histogram counts

Entropy measures the randomness statistically. Entropy accounts for indicating the texture of
an input image. Acidity calculation is done on the basis of straight line formula, because
when the samples Ageing v/s Acidity graph is drawn, a slope exists.
The NN values can be estimated from equation (2)

𝑁𝑁=𝐴𝑐�+𝑐………………………………………………………..……………(2)

Where,
NN = Neutralization Number;
c = constant = 0.013;
y = years
Ac = Acid constant
Acid constant value can be obtained from equation (3)
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𝐴𝑐=𝐹𝑛𝑛−𝐼𝑛𝑛𝑇�……………………………………………………………………….(3)

Where,
Fnn = Final neutralization number from standard test
Inn = Initial neutralization number from standard test
Ty = Total number of years
Ac = {0.013 0 ≤ Ty ≥ 14, 0.0159 15 ≤ Ty ≥ 25}
Two Ac values are taken to acquire the NN, the reason behind this is that the acidity is not
constantly enhancing.
tan δ or Dissipation factor can be calculated from equation (4)

𝑡�𝑛�=��…………………………………………………………….……...…..(4)

Where,
y ≠ 0 (fresh oil ageing is taken as 1)
k = constant
k = {0.0021 0 ≤ Ty ≥ 14
{0.00719 15 ≤ Ty ≥ 25
Power factor of the oil can be calculated from equation (5)

𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑓�𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟=√tan2δ1+tan2δ ……………………………………...….……..…..(5)

To acquire both NN and tanδ of transformer oil, ageing year of oil is essential. Equation (6) is
used to calculate y value from Entropy of the image

y = (E1−E0) / k1 …………………………………………………………….(6)

Where,
E0= Entropy of the fresh oil
E1 = Entropy of the oil sample (old)
k1 = 0.046

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4.3 Flowchart
The detailed structure of the implementation process is presented in the flowchart as shown
in figure 3. The sequential steps are explained as follows:

START

Camera interfacing and calibration

Image acquisition

Adjust contrast

Remove noise (Median filter)

Calculate histogram (H)

Find entropy (E) from histogram

Find age (y = E – Eo/K)

Age <
14 years

Ac = 0.013 Ac = 0.013

Calculate (NN = Ac * Y)

Decide K

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Age <
14.5 yr

K = 0.0021 K = 0.00719

Calculate power factor

Calculate dissipation factor

Quality analysis

Figure 3: Flowchart

4.3.1 Denoise of transformer oil image

The main types of noises in microscopic images of blood sample are
A. Gaussian white noise and
B. Salt and pepper noise

• Salt and pepper noise: This is also referred to as impulse noise as is characterized by
sudden high amplitude yet for short disturbance which results in increasing the pixel
values to a high level at some points. This is scattered randomly.
• Gaussian noise: It is a randomly fluctuated white noise.

These noises can be removed by median filter and wiener filter. Median filter takes pixel
values from the surrounding of a particular point and returns the average of all in to the point.
Thus it is used to remove salt and pepper filter.
Weiner filter works on the principle of least squares. Suppose a distorted image M’ is given
which after restoration gives value R but undistorted image be M. closeness of R to M can be
measured by

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Σ(mij−rij)2
Thus minimum error can be found out by least square method. This is used to remove
Gaussian noise.

4.3.2 Image enhancement

This is an important preprocessing tool which results in appreciate visual conception and
helps in further processing of image. This is subjective i.e. the different methods to be
applied is application dependent.
The key functions are:
i. Deblurring of an image.
ii. Sharpening of an image
iii. Improving brightness and contrast of an image
iv. Proper edge highlighting etc.

4.3.3 Histogram modification

In the microscopic images the majority of pixels possess a luminescence less than average
which results into poor visual effect. Histogram modification is a tool which pixels will be
rescaled to values where there is a well distinguish between their pixel values and thus better
to analyze it.
After preprocessing of images collected from [11] [12] are as shown:

i. Fresh oil transformer oil

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ii. Three year aged transformer oil

iii. Nine year aged transformer oil

iv. Twelve year aged transformer oil

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v. Sixteen year aged transformer oil

vi. Eighteen year aged transformer oil

vii. Twenty-five year aged transformer oil

Figure 4: Oil sample images

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Figure 5: Snapshot of test quality analysis

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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE ENHANCEMENT
5.1 Conclusion
In this study, we discussed about analysis of transformer oil with the help of image
processing. We know that there are many techniques used for oil reclamation or oil filtration
but those techniques are very vast and time consuming as compared to this method. In
addition, if giving other some input data as a reference then accuracy of results is also
increases and as compared to other methods.
Image processing technique for transformer oil analysis is software based analytic technique
which is fast, reliable and user friendly. Median and weinner2 filters were used to filter out
the white Gaussian and salt and pepper noise (if any). Using histogram modification
techniques, the image quality was enhanced for better visibility and analysis. Entropy
technique was used to find out different oil properties like NN, dissipation factor, power
factor etc. to determine the performance of transformer. Using regression model was used to
establish the relation between different entropy extracted from the image and NN, dissipation
factor, power factor and to find the NN, power factor, dissipation factor (tan �) etc. of the
sample. Also the same regression model is used to find out the Different gas (CH4, C2H4,
C2H2, C2H6, H2, CO2, CO, NO2 and O2) contents in ppm level in a transformer oil sample.
Two methods i.e. KEY GASMETHOD and IEC BASIC RATIO METHOD are used to
determine the different types of faults occurred in a transformer by the concentrations of
different gases present in the oil sample. Thus this project provides an easy and fast method
to check the transformer health from the image of transformer oil.

5.2 Future Scope

This project can be built in an android, java and windows platform to run on a mobile which
will be quiet reliable and user friendly. More number of experiment data can be used to
validate this practically fit enough to replace the other methods of analysis. Data from
different types, ratings of transformers can be used to standardize the process for a class of
transformers. Instead of linear regression method non-linear predictor methods can be used to
model a realistic relation which will provide excellent accuracy.

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References
[1]. Endah Yuliastuti, Analysis of dielectric properties comparison between mineral oil and
synthetic ester oil., Delft University of Technology, Netherland, June 2010.

[2] Dr. J Spencer, Optical detection of the degradation of transformer oil, University of
Liverpool, 2009.

[3] Sherif S. M. Ghoneim, Sayed A., Taif, Dissolved gas analysis as a diagnostic tool for
early detection of transformer faults, Advances in Electrical Engineering Systems, 1(3),
2012, 152 – 156.

[4] G. J. Pukel, H. M. Muhr, W. Lick, Transformer diagnostics: Common used and new
methods, Graz University of Technology Austria.

[5] Naveen Kumar Sharma, Prashant Kumar Tiwari, and Yog Raj Sood, Review of Artificial
Intelligence Techniques Application to Dissolved Gas Analysis on Power Transformer,
International Journal of Computer and Electrical, Engineering, 3(4), August 2011, 577- 581.

[6] Amritpal Singh, and P. Verma, A Review of Intelligent Diagnostic Methods for Condition
Assessment of Insulation System in Power Transformers, IEEE International Conference on
Condition monitoring and Diagnosis, Beijing, China, 2008.

[7] W. Xu, D. Wang, Z. Zhouand and H. Chen, Fault Diagnosis of Power Transformers:
Application of Fuzzy Set Theory, Expert Systems, and Artificial Neural Networks, IEEE
Proceedings of Science, Measurement and Technology, 144(1), 1997, 39-44.

[8] M.H. Wang, Extension neural network for power transformer incipient fault diagnosis,
Generation, Transmission and Distribution, IEEE Proceedings 2003, 150(6), 2003, 679 –
685.

[9] Umashankar Babuparamashiva, Sushi I Chaudhari, Anil Kumar Bhatia, Experimental

Investigation of Iso- Paraffinic Oil for Application in High Voltage Power Transformers,
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2012 IEEE 10th International Conference on the Properties and Applications of Dielectric
Materials Bangalore, India , July 2012, 24-28.
[10] Suwarno and Fadli Salim, Effects of Electric Arc on the Dielectric Properties of Liquid
Dielectrics. , IEEE International Conference, 2006, 483-485.

[11] Sidram,M,H. and Hegde,S.,(2014) “A Novel Approach of Transformer Oil Quality

Analysis Using Image Processing,” IOSR Journal of Computer Science (IOSR-JCE), pp. 52-
57.

[12] Sharma, N.K., Tiwari, P.K.,Sood and Y.R.,(2001)“Review of Artificial Intelligence

Techniques Application to Dissolved Gas Analysis on Power Transformer”, International
Journal of Computer and Electrical, Engineering, 3(4), pp.577- 581.

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