Partial discharge patterns in oil-impregnated paper and pressboard insulation at high temperature

The power transformer is the most expensive and arguably the most important equipment item in a power system. Insulation failure in transformers can cause long term interruption to supply and loss of revenue and the condition assessment of the insulation is thus an important maintenance procedure. Oil-impregnated transformer insulation consists of mainly organic materials including mineral oil and cellulose-base paper and pressboard. The operating life of cellulose-based insulation, as with most organic insulation, depends heavily on its operating temperature rise above ambient. This paper reports results of a laboratory-based experimental investigation of partial discharge activity at high temperature in oil-impregnated insulation. The experiments reported here are part an on-going programme aimed at investigating the way in which insulation deterioration can be monitored and quantified by use of partial discharge diagnostics. Partial discharge patterns were recorded and analyzed during increasing and decreasing phases of the temperature. The effect of ageing of the insulation on the PD patterns in oil-impregnated insulation is also considered.