DIAGNOSTICS AND MITIGATION OF PARTIAL DISCHARGES IN POWER TRANSFORMERS

Abstract

As the global demand for reliable and efficient electrical power continues to rise, the protection and maintenance of transformers become increasingly critical. Transformers are essential components in electrical grids, facilitating the transmission and distribution of electricity. However, they are vulnerable to various types of faults and failures, such as Partial discharges, short circuits, and insulation breakdowns. Traditional transformer protection systems often lack real-time monitoring capabilities and adaptive responses to evolving fault conditions, leading to potential outages, costly repairs, and significant disruptions in power supply. There is a pressing need for advanced transformer protection devices that offer enhanced monitoring, diagnostic, and automated response features to ensure the reliability and longevity of transformer assets and Time based maintenance changes to condition based maintenance approaches. The insulation oil temperature was monitored under various load conditions using a distributed approach and compared with traditional methods, such as single-point thermocouples and infrared thermal imaging. The test results demonstrate a strong correlation between the conventional methods and the proposed distributed RTD Temperature sensors.