x

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

ABSTRACT v
LIST OF TABLES xv
LIST OF FIGURES xvii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xxii

1 INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 GENERAL 1
1.2 A BRIEF REVIEW OF LITERATURE 1
1.2.1 Transformer Failure and its Model 2
1.2.2 PD in Transformer Winding 4
1.2.3 PD signal Measurements 7
1.2.4 Detection of partial Discharges (PD) 10
1.2.5 Detection and Location of PD in
Transformer Windings 14
1.2.5.1 Electrical PD location
methods 14
1.2.5.1.1 Capacitive
components 17
1.2.5.1.2 Traveling Wave
component 18
1.2.5.2 Acoustical PD location
method 20
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CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22

1.4 ORGANIZATION OF THESIS 24

2 HIGH FREQUENCY CURRENT TRANSFORMER

FOR DETECTION AND LOCATION OF PD 25
2.1 INTRODUCTION 25
2.2 PD IN TRANSFORMER WINDINGS 26
2.3 WINDING RESPONSES FOR PD IN
TRANSFORMER WINDING 27
2.3.1 Conventional abc Model 27
2.3.2 Distributed Parameter Transformer
Winding Model 28
2.3.3 Responses of the Winding due to PD 30
2.4 HFCT PD MEASUREMENT 33
2.4.1 Characteristics of HFCT 33
2.4.2 Experimental Test Setup for PD
Measurement 35
2.5 EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF PD
MEASUREMENT USING HFCT 38
2.6 LOCATION OF PD IN TRANSFORMER
WINDINGS 41
2.6.1 Principle of PD Location 41
2.7 VALIDATION OF PD LOCATION
METHOD USING 6kVAr WINDING 46
2.7.1 Simulation Studies on 6kVAr Winding 46
2.7.2 Calculation of Winding Parameters 47
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CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

2.7.3 Injection of PD Pulse 49

2.8 EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION USING
6KVAr WINDING 52
2.9 VALIDATION OF PD LOCATION METHOD
USING 20kVA TRANSFORMER WINDING 57
2.9.1 High Frequency Equivalent Circuit for
20kVA Transformer Winding 57
2.10 EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION USING
20kVA WINDING 59
2.11 EXPERIMENTS ON 5 kA SHUNT REACTOR
WINDING WITH PD CALIBRATOR 61
2.12 CONCLUSION 62

3 ACOUSTIC EMISSION TECHNIQUE FOR

DETECTION AND LOCATION OF PD 63
3.1 INTRODUCTION 63
3.2 PRINCIPLE OF AE TECHNIQUE 64
3.3 PD DETECTION PRINCIPLE 66
3.3.1 AE System Instrumentation 67
3.3.2 Test Standards for Acoustic Emission 67
3.4 AE SENSORS 69
3.4.1 Preamplifier Gain and System Threshold
Setting of Acoustic Emission Sensor 70
3.4.2 Frequency Characteristics of
Acoustic Sensor 71
3.5 EXPERIMENTAL STUDY TO EVALUATE
AE METHOD OF PD DETECTION 73
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3.5.1 Experimental Test Setup for

PD Measurement 73
3.5.2 Effect of Sensor Location 75
3.5.3 Different Types of PD Models 76
3.6 PD SOURCE LOCATION PRINCIPLE 78
3.6.1 Location Algorithms 79
3.6.1.1 Principle of One Dimensional
View for PD Location 79
3.6.1.2 Principle of Two Dimensional
View for PD Location 80
3.6.1.3 Triangulation Method
(3 Dimensional Location) 82
3.7 EXPERIMENTAL FOR PD LOCATION
BY AE METHOD 84
3.7.1 Two Dimensional Source Location
using Real PD Discharges 84
3.7.2 Three-dimensional Source Location
using Real PD Signals 85
3.8 CONCLUSION 87

4 ULTRA HIGH FREQUENCY METHOD

FOR DETECTION AND LOCATION OF PD 89
4.1 INTRODUCTION 89
4.2 UHF SENSORS FOR PD MEASUREMETS 90
4.3 SENSITIVITY OF UHF SENSOR 91
4.4 EXPERIMENTATION TO LOCATE PD
WITH MULTIPLE UHF SENSOR 95
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CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

4.4.1 Calibration of Test Setup 95

4.4.2 Experiment with Sensors at Equidistance
from PD Source 97
4.4.3 Experiment with Sensors at varying distance
and Directions from Source 98
4.5 LOCATION OF PD IN TRANSFORMERS 101
4.5.1 Principle of PD Location 101
4.5.2 Experimental Test Setup 103
4.6 CONCLUSION 107

5 COMPARISON STUDY OF ONLINE

TECHNIQUES 108
5.1 INTRODUCTION 108
5.2 DESIGN OF TRANSFORMER FOR
EXPERIMENTATION 108
5.2.1 Design Specification 108
5.2.2 Special Design Features 109
5.2.3 PD Source inception in Real Time 111
5.3 EXPERIMENTAL LAB MEASUREMENT 112
5.3.1 PD Calibration 112
5.3.2 Experimentation on 20kVA Transformer 113
5.4 EXPERIMENTATION FOR COMPARATIVE
STUDY 115
5.4.1 Initial Sensitivity Study with HFCT 115
5.4.2 Variation of Sensitivity with change in
Supply Voltage 117
5.5 CONCLUSION 119
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CHAPTER NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

6 SUMMARYAND CONCLUSION 121

6.1 GENERAL 121
6.2 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 121
6.2.1 Experiments on Transformer
Windings 121
6.2.2 HFCT Method of Online PD
Measurement 122
6.2.3 AE Method of Online PD
Measurement 123
6.2.4 UHF Method of Online PD
Measurement 124
6.2.5 Inference 124
6.3 SCOPE FOR FURTHER WORK 125

REFERENCES 126

LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 139

 xvi

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1.1 Number of failures in power systems 2

1.2 Failure statistics of transformer components (in %) 3
1.3 Noise levels during PD tests of power transformer 12
1.4 List of tests conducted for the research 23
2.1 Characteristics of 140/100 HFCT 34
2.2 Sensing characteristics of both HFCT in different
arrangements 41
2.3 Values of inductance, resistance and capacitance 48
2.4 Series resonant frequency for the signals measured
at Bushing tap for various tap positions 50
2.5 Estimated Vs actual position 51
2.6 Position of poles for calibration signal (kHz) 56
2.7 Position of troughs in captured line-end signals 56
2.8 Location of PD pulses in various tapings 57
2.9 Comparison of Simulated and Calculated HV
winding parameters 57
2.10 Series resonant frequency for the signals measured
at Bushing tap for various tap positions 58
2.11 Comparison of estimated vs actual location 59
2.12 Comparison of location estimated vs actual 60
2.13 Comparison of location estimated vs actual 61
3.1 Sensor settings 71
3.2 Characteristics of the acoustic sensor 72
3.3 AE parameters with respect to barrier variation 74
3.4 AE parameters with respect to sensor position 76
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TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

3.5 Sensing characteristics of AE sensor in different

arrangements 78
3.6 Two-dimensional source location 84
3.7 Source location results for sample tank measurement 87
4.1 Electrical specifications of internal & external UHF sensor 91
4.2 Parameters of UHF signal showing the correlation
between charge (pC) and signal energy (pJ) 94
4.3 Actual source and calculated source with sensor 3
as reference 105
4.4 Actual source and calculated source with sensor 2
as reference 106
5.1 Calibration at the Lab conditions 113
5.2 PD intensity Vs change in PD Source location 116
5.3 HFCT & AE response with varying source location 117
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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

1.1 Emergence of various energy sources from a

single PD occurrence 5
1.2 Classification of PD measurement techniques 8
2.1(a) Schematic diagram of PD in void 28
2.1(b) 28
2.2 Equivalent circuit of transformer winding 29
2.3(a) Time domain response of the winding without PD 31
2.3 (b) Frequency domain response of the winding without PD 31
2.4 Current through the switch 31
2.5 Frequency domain responses of the winding
with and without PD 32
2.6 Frequency domain responses of the winding with
and without PD 32
2.7 Spit core type of HFCT 33
2.8 Transfer impedance characteristic of HFCT 34
2.9 Insulation and electrode arrangements for
PD test set-up 36
2.10 Electrode arrangements (Point Discharge Gap) 36
2.11(a) Total arrangement of electrode system with solid
insulation in between the electrodes 37
2.11(b) Total arrangement of point discharge electrode 37
2.11(c) Complete assemblies with bushings 37
2.11(d) HFCT sensor connected on the neutral return path 37
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FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

2.12 Experimental test setup for PD measurement

using HFCT 38
2.13 PD sustainability of arrangement-II 40
2.14 Conventional PD system, HFCT and acoustic signals 40
2.15 Flow-chart for PD location method 45
2.16 6kVAr reactor winding and connecting of coil discs 46
2.17 Connection diagram for 60 kVAr reactor in series 47
2.18 Responses of the 6kVAr winding to the PD
calibrator input 51
2.19 Experimental setup for PD location using 6kVAr
reactor winding 53
2.20 PD Master Calibrator 54
2.21 Responses of the winding 6kVar to actual PD injection 55
2.22 PD pulse generator simulated in PSPICE 58
3.1 Typical AE burst type signal parameters 65
3.2 Principle of schematic AE technique 66
3.3 WD, R15I and R15 acoustic sensors 69
3.4 Pencil break method for AE sensors Calibration 70
3.5 Time and frequency domain plots of captured
AE signals 72
3.6(a) Plane needle electrode configuration with
solid insulation 74
3.6(b) Extended view of solid insulation between
the electrodes 74
3.7 Tank marking showing sensor positions (P1 to P5) 75
3.8 Complete assemblies with bushings 77
3.9 Acoustic sensor mounted on the tank wall 78
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FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

3.10 Linear PD source location in 1-dimension 80

3.11 PD source location model in 2 direction 80
3.12 Triangulation method of location in 2-dimension 81
3.13 Experimental setup for 2-dimensional PD location 84
3.14 Sensor positions for three dimensional source location 86
3.15 Waveforms of the signals captured by 4 AE sensors 86
4.1 Internal sensor-conical monopole UHF Antenna
and External Patch Antenna 90
4.2 Different parts of internal sensor 91
4.3 Experimental test setup for PD measurement 92
4.4 Sensor response of Teflon insulation at a voltage
of 28.1kV and a charge of 270pC 93
4.5 Sensor response of Nomex insulation at an inception
voltage of 16.1kV and a charge of 90pC 93
4.6 Test cell with air as medium and acrolithic cell
filled with oil 96
4.7 Experimental test setup for PD measurement 96
4.8 Responses of the sensor due to injection of PD source 97
4.9 S2, S3, S4 Sensors being equidistant from PD source
but in opposite direction 98
4.10 Sensors at different distances from PD source
and same direction 99
4.11 Internal UHF sensor detecting signal at 10.1kV
before Patch antennas 99
4.12 Filtered UHF internal sensor signal in oil 100
4.13 Methodology of source location 102
4.14 Different methodologies to evaluate source location 102
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FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE NO.

4.15 Tested defect shapes of power transformer 100

5.1 Crossover coil used in the model transformer 110
5.2 Crossover coil used in the model transformer 110
5.3 PD connections on the FRP board 110
5.4 Bushing placement and tank design 111
5.5 Needle cup model placed on the removal base 112
5.6 Test setup at lab conditions 112
5.7 Experimental connection diagram 113
5.8 Test setup with all the sensors placed 114
5.9 Test setup with control panel and variac 114
5.10 Signal captured by HFCT sensor at 50kV at tap 5 115
5.11 Signal captured by AE sensor at 50kV at tap 5 115
5.12 Signal captured by AE sensor at 50kV at tap 5 116
5.13 Aptitude variation for AE & HFCT sensors with
respect to source and intensity 119
 xxii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AE - Acoustic Emission
CBM - Condition Based Maintenance
Cg - Ground Capacitance
Cs - Shunt Capacitance
DAQ - Data Acquisition System
DGA - Dissolved Gas Analysis
FFT - Fast Fourier Transform
HFCT - High Frequency Current Transformer
HV - High Voltage
kV - Kilo volt
kVA - Kilo volt ampere
L - Inductance
MV - Mega Volt
MVA - Mega Volt Ampere
NI - National Instruments
pC - Pico coulomb
PD - Partial Discharge
UHF - Ultra High Frequency
WD - Wide Band