Determining water in transformer paper insulation: analyzing aging transformers

It is important to monitor the water concentration in the insulation of aging power transformers, because over time the insulation becomes wet, due to water ingress from the atmosphere and water formed in chemical reactions involving oxygen. If the water concentration is sufficiently high, the insulation will age prematurely [1] and the transformer may fail if overloaded [2]. In a previous article [3] we reported on the measurement of water concentration in the insulation paper of a power transformer that had been in service for only seven years. The water-concentration data obtained using on-line water-activity probes were compared with corresponding data obtained from dielectric response measurements. In that work cellulose adsorption isotherms were used to process the water-activity-probe data. However, according to [4] and [5], inaccuracies in the water-concentration estimates may result from the use of adsorption isotherms. According to [6], these inaccuracies may exceed 200%. The probable main causes are the transformer insulation materials not reaching thermal equilibrium, the water concentration within the insulation not being uniform, and variability in the properties of the insulating materials.