Efeect Nanopartcicles Trasnformer Oil
Efeect Nanopartcicles Trasnformer Oil
Efeect Nanopartcicles Trasnformer Oil
ABSTRACT
In this paper, TiO2 semiconductive nanoparticles with a large relaxation time constant is
added into transformer oil to form semiconductive nanofluids (SNFs), with the aim of
enhancing insulating characteristics. ac, dc and lightning impulse breakdown voltage
and partial discharge (PD) characteristics of oil samples before and after modification
were measured according to ASTM standard methods. It was found that SNFs have ac,
dc and lightning impulse breakdown voltage up to 1.2 times compared with pure oil.
Meanwhile, the partial discharge resistance of SNFs was also dramatically improved.
Charge trap and transportation characteristics of both samples have been measured by
thermally stimulated current method (TSC) and pulse electroacoustic technique (PEA).
It was found that electron shallow trap density and charge decay rate are greatly
increased in semiconductive nanoparticles modified transformer oil. It is proposed that
electron trapping and de-trapping processes in the shallow traps could be one of the
main charge transport processes in dielectric liquids.
was opened and switch S1 was closed to discharge the Secondly, dc high voltage was powered off. Thirdly, the
equivalent capacitor of electrodes for one minute. Finally, change of space charge distribution is measured at time
switch S1 was opened and switch S2 was closed to begin the intervals of 8 s.
measurement of TSC by raising temperature at a rate of 2
K/min. A Keithley 6514 provides an accuracy of 10-16 A on the
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
current measurement, and the accuracy of temperature
measurement is about ±0.2%. In order to ensure the accuracy of 3.1 RELATIVE PERMITTIVITY AND RESISTIVITY
test, TSC curves shown in Figure 5 were the average of three
measurements. Electric parameter values for both samples are given in Table
1. Though the resistivity values of SNFs in Table I show a
downshift with respect to the typical values of the transformer
oil, they still meet the quality of transformer oil in service.
However, the relative permittivity value of SNFs is much
higher than mineral oil which is beneficial in causing a more
uniform electric field in oil-paper insulation.
Table 1. Comparison of Relative Permittivity and Resistivity.
DC Resistivity
Samples Relative Permittivity
(Ω·m)
12
Mineral oil 2.26 1.82×10
10
Nanofluid 3.92 8.30×10
samples and the statistical results are summarized in Table 7. It obtained by spectroscopy [16]. It is interesting to note that on
appears clearly that there is a significant increase of PD magnitude the TSC curves the peak value of TSC curve for SNF is 2.5
and impulse number in transformer oil than those of SNFs. With times of that for pure oil. Since the peak value of TSC curve is
the increase of applied voltage, the discharge phenomenon gets related to maximum trap density in a dielectric liquid, SNF is
more violent and the modification effect of nanoparticles on the assumed to have a higher trap density than the pure oil. The
PD character of mineral oil becomes more distinct. integration of TSC over temperature gives the total number of
Table 7. Statistical Results of PD Performance trap charge released from the trap center. It is found that the
1 time PDIV 2 times PDIV
total number of charge trapped in nanofluid is 6.057 nC, 1.85
Mineral Mineral
times of that trapped in the pure oil. These results demonstrate
nanofluid nanofluid that the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles in the oil dramatically
oil oil
increases the electron trap density at shallow trap levels.
Pulse number 9 6 245 168
To further investigate the charge carriers transport
Mean discharge characteristics in the dielectric liquid, the charge distribution
435 245 6062 5180
magnitude (pC) and decay in oil samples were measured by PEA. The
experimental results are shown in Figure 6. The positions of
4 POSSIBLE MECHANISMS electrodes were confirmed and marked with black lines. The
Our experimental results demonstrate that TiO2 anode peak is sharp and evident. In contrast, the cathode peak is
nanoparticles with long relaxation time have significantly wide and flat, because of attenuation and scattering of acoustic
improved the breakdown strength of transformer oil. However, wave caused by the oil sample. It is noted that the space charge
the present model of electron scavengers judged by the charge existing in SNF (1.1 C/m3) is almost two times of that in pure
relaxation time constant τ for the transformer oil/nanoparticle oil (0.6 C/m3) when the dc is applied. It is also interesting to
system [7], fails to explain the modification mechanism of TiO2 note that the maximum charge density decay velocity for SNF
nanoparticle on the breakdown strength of transformer oil. is 4 times of that for pure oil in the first 8 seconds after the
voltage is removed. This rapid charge dissipation was also
observed in a dielectric nanocomposites modified by TiO2
(2) nanoparticles [17].
where the spherical nanoparticle permittivity ε2 and
conductivity σ2, and is surrounded by transformer oil with
conductivity σ1 and permittivity ε1.
It is well known that electrical breakdown in transformer oil
is closely related to the electron transport process, which
includes electron hopping transport in the traps and transport in
a delocalized state [15]. Therefore, we measured the trap
characteristics of SNF and pure transformer oil by the TSC
method in order to understand the effect of TiO2 nanoparticles
on trap level and trap density of the oil samples.
The rapid charge dissipation in SNF could be attributed to nanofluids”, IEEE Conf. Electr. Insul. Dielectr. Phenomena (CEIDP), pp.
61-366, 2008.
high shallow trap density created by TiO2 nanoparticles [18],
[7] J. G. Hwang, M. Zahn, F. O'Sullivan, L.A. A. Pettersson, O. Hjortstam
and associated with charge hopping transport process in the and R. Liu, “Effects of nanoparticle charging on streamer development in
shallow traps. Based on our test results of TSC and PEA, it is transformer oil-based nanofluids”, J. Appl. Phys, Vol.107, 014310, 2010
proposed that the fast electrons created at high field in the oil [8] P. Kopcansky, L.Tomco, K.Marton, M.Koneracka, I.Potocova and M.
can be captured by the shallow traps and released rapidly from Timko, “The dc dielectric breakdown strength of magnetic fluids based on
transformer oil”, J. Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Vol. 289, pp.
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converted to slower electrons by repeated trapping and [9] M. Chiesa and S. K. Das, “Experimental investigation of the dielectric and
de-trapping in the oil [19], when moving from high field to low cooling performance of colloidal suspensions in insulating media”,
field locations. Electron trapping and de-trapping process in the Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects, Vol. 335, pp.
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shallow traps could be one of the main charge transport [10] CIGRE, "Effect of particles on transformer dielectric strength", Working
processes in dielectric liquids. High shallow trap density Group 17 of Study Committee 12, June 2000.
created by TiO2 nanoparticles is anticipated to greatly [11] R. Chen, Analysis of Thermally Stimulated Processes, Pergamon, Oxford,
contribute into the reduced speed of the streamer propagation UK, 1981.
[12] M. Li, C. Li, M. Zhan, and J. Xu, “Effect of surface charge trapping on
and the improved dielectric strength of SNF. dielectric barrier discharge”, Appl. Phys. Letts., Vol. 92, 031503, 2008.
[13] Q. Liu, Z.D. Wang, “AC and lightning breakdown strength of mineral oil
CONCLUSIONS Nytro Gemini X and 10GBN”, Int. Electr. Insul. Conf. (INSUCON),
Birmingham, UK, pp. 26-28, 2009.
(1) Semiconductive nanoparticles can increase the ac, dc and [14] D. Martin and Z.D. Wang, “Statistical analysis of the ac breakdown
lightning impulse breakdown voltages of SNFs up to more voltages of ester based transformer oils”, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr.
Insul., Vol. 15, pp. 1044-1050, 2008.
than 1.2 times compared with pure oils. Especially, the [15] R. Bartinikas, Electrical Insulating Liquids, ASTM Press, Philadelphia,
time to impulse breakdown of SNFs is prolonged by as pp. 262-307, 1994.
much as 53%. [16] H. Takahashi, R. Watanabe, Y. Miyauchi and G. Mizutani, “Discovery of
(2) Both shallow trap density and charge dissipation velocity deep and shallow trap states from step structures of rutile TiO2 vicinal
surfaces by second harmonic and sum frequency generation
in SNFs are greatly increased compared to those in pure spectroscopy”, J. Chem. Phys., Vol. 134, 154704, 2011.
transformer oils by 2.5 times and 4 times, respectively. [17] R. C. Smith, C. Liang, M. Landry, J. K. Nelson and L. S. Schadler, “The
(3) It is proposed that electron trapping and de-trapping mechanisms leading to the useful electrical properties of polymer
nanodielectrics”, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 15, pp.
process in the shallow traps could be one of the main 187-196. 2008.
charge transport processes in transformer oil. The [18] J.K. Nelson and J.C. Fothergill, "Internal charge behavior of
increased shallow trap density in the SNFs could convert nanocomposites", Nanotechnology, Vol. 15, pp. 586-595, 2004.
fast electrons to slow electrons by trapping and de-trapping, [19] K. Wu and L. A. Dissado, “Model for electroluminescence in polymers
during the early stage of electrical tree initiation”, IEEE Int’l. Conf. Solid
offering the significant improvement of breakdown
Dielectr., Vol. 2, pp.505-508, 2004.
performance of SNFs.
Yue Fan Du was born in Tianjin China., in 1986. He is
an electric power engineering graduate student at North
ACKNOWLEDGMENT China Electric Power University. He received the B.S.
degree in electrical engineering from North China
We thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China Electric Power University in 2008. His research interests
for supporting this research under Contract No. 51077050, the include nanocomposite high voltage insulation material
Chinese Universities Scientific Fund, the Research Project of and condition monitoring of power apparatus.
State Grid Corporation of China and the National Engineering
Laboratory for Ultra High Voltage Engineering Technology
(Kunming, Guangzhou). Yu Zhen Lv received the Ph.D. degree from the Beijing
University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Materials
REFERENCES Science and Engineering. She is currently an Associate
Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at North
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Transformer Insulation Life, IEEE Standard C57.91, 1995. are in synthesis, characteristic and application of
[2] D. Peterchuck and A. Pahwa, “Sensitivity of transformer’s hottest-spot nanodielectrics.
and equivalent aging to selected parameters”, IEEE Trans. Power
Delivery, Vol.17, pp.996-1001, 2002.
[3] EPRI Portfolio 2012- Transmission reliability and performance: 37.002, Cheng Rong Li (SM’03) was born in Xian, China on 1
transformer life extension. http://www.epri.com/portfolio/ March 1957. He received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in
[4] V. Segal, A. Hjortsberg, A. Rabinovich, D. Nattrass and K. Raj, “AC (60 electrical engineering from North China Electric Power
Hz) and impulse breakdown strength of a colloidal fluid based on University in 1982 and 1984, respectively. He received
transformer oil and magnetite nanoparticles”, IEEE Int’l. Sympos. Electr. the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Tsing Hua
Insul. Arlington, VA, USA, pp. 619-622, 1998. University in 1989. He joined the University of South
[5] V. Segal, A. Rabinovich, D. Nattrass, K. Raj, and A. Nunes, Carolina in USA in 1992 as a postdoctoral research fellow.
“Experimental study of magnetic colloidal fluids behavior in power He joined North China Electric Power University
transformers”, J. Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Vol. 215, pp. (NCEPU) in 1995. Now he is a Professor in the
513-515, 2000. Department of Electrical Engineering of NCEPU. He is a fellow of IEE. His
[6] J. G. Hwang, O'Sullivan, M. Zahn, O. Hjortstam, L.A.A. Pettersson and research interests include gas discharges, electrical insulation and materials and
R. Liu, “Modeling of streamer propagation in transformer oil-based condition monitoring of power apparatus.
776 Y. Du et al.: Effect of Semiconductive Nanoparticles on Insulating Performances of Transformer Oil
Mu Tian Chen was born in Hunan China, in 1987. He is an Xiao Xin Li was born in Baoding China in 1986. She is a
electric power engineering graduate student at North China power engineering graduate student at North China
Electric Power University. His research interests include Electric Power University. She received the BS. degree
high voltage insulation material and condition monitoring in physical science and information engineering from
of power apparatus Hebei Normal University in 2009. Her research interests
are synthesis of nanomaterials, and application in
insulation.