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High Voltage Lecture 8 Liquid Insulators

Liquids make effective insulating materials due to their high density and heat transfer capabilities compared to gases. Commercial insulating liquids used in transformers and capacitors are mixtures of hydrocarbons that have lower dielectric strengths than pure liquids. Breakdown in pure liquids occurs through electron emission, while breakdown in commercial liquids is influenced by suspended particles, gas bubbles, and vaporization caused by impurities. Regular maintenance through purification is needed to remove water, gases, and other contaminants that reduce the performance of insulating oils over time.

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79 views

High Voltage Lecture 8 Liquid Insulators

Liquids make effective insulating materials due to their high density and heat transfer capabilities compared to gases. Commercial insulating liquids used in transformers and capacitors are mixtures of hydrocarbons that have lower dielectric strengths than pure liquids. Breakdown in pure liquids occurs through electron emission, while breakdown in commercial liquids is influenced by suspended particles, gas bubbles, and vaporization caused by impurities. Regular maintenance through purification is needed to remove water, gases, and other contaminants that reduce the performance of insulating oils over time.

Uploaded by

Mehmet Efe Ozbek
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LIQUIDS AS INSULATORS

Liquids and solids are usually 10 times denser than gases and they possess much higher dielectric
strength of the order of 100 kV/cm. Also, liquids, like gases, fill the complete volume to be insulated
and simultaneously will dissipate heat by convection. For example, oil is about 10 times more
efficient than air or nitrogen in its heat transfer capability when used in transformers.

cooling
unit
transformer
tank

1 Pure Liquids
Pure liquids are those which are chemically pure and do not contain any other impurity even in
traces of 1 in 109, and are structurally simple. Examples of such simple pure liquids are n-hexane, n-
heptane and other paraffin hydrocarbons. Simple and pure liquids are used in laboratories to
separate out the various factors that influence conduction and breakdown in liquids. In the industry,
it is almost impossible to observe a pure liquid insulator under normal operating conditions. The
breakdown phenomenon encountered in commercial liquids is quite different compared to pure
insulators.

2 Commercial Liquids
Commercial liquids are insulating liquids (like oils) which are not chemically pure and consist of
mixtures of complex organic molecules. Although pure liquids are expected to give very high
dielectric strength of the order of 10 MV/cm, in commercial liquids the strengths obtained are only of
the order of 100 kV/cm.
Liquid dielectrics normally are mixtures of hydrocarbons. Petroleum oils are the most commonly
used liquid dielectrics. Synthetic hydrocarbons and halogenated hydrocarbons are also used for
certain applications. For very high temperature application, silicone oils and fluorinated hydrocarbons
are also employed. In recent times, certain vegetable oils and esters are also being tried. However, it
may be mentioned that some of the isomers of poly-chlorinated diphenyls (generally called askerels)
have been found to be very toxic and poisonous, and hence, their use has been almost stopped.
The properties of some dielectrics commonly used in electrical equipment are shown below.

In practice, the choice of a liquid dielectric for a given application is made mainly on the basis of its
chemical stability. Other factors such as saving of space, cost, previous usage, and susceptibility to
the environmental influences are also considered.
Of the insulating liquids shown in the table transformer oils are the cheapest and the most commonly
used. It is an almost colorless liquid consisting a mixture of hydrocarbons which include paraffins,
iso-paraffins, naphthalenes and aromatics.
Oils used in the capacitors are similar to transformer oil but they are subjected to a very high degree
of purification.

3 Uses of Insulating Oils


Liquid dielectrics are used mainly as

 For filling up of transformers


 impregnant in high voltage cables and to improve their heat transfer capability.
 In capacitors,
 as arc quenching media in circuit breakers

4 Purification of Transformer Oil


In practice transformer oil contains impurities such as dust, moisture, dissolved gases and ionic
impurities. One important factor that affects the electrical strength of an insulating oil is the presence
of water in the form of fine droplets suspended in the oil. The presence of even 0.01% water in
transformer oil reduces its electrical strength to 20% of the dry oil value. The dielectric strength of oil
reduces more sharply, if it contains fibrous impurities in addition to water.
When in service, the liquid in a transformer is subjected to prolonged heating at high temperatures of
about 95C, and consequently it undergoes a gradual ageing process. With time the oil becomes
darker due to the formation of acids and resins, or sludge in the liquid. Some of the acids are
corrosive to the solid insulating materials and metal. Deposits of sludge on the transformer core, on
the coils and inside the oil ducts reduce circulation of oil and thus its heat transfer capability gets
considerably reduced.
Due to the above factors, the oil inside a transformer requires regular maintenance in the form of
purification. Various methods employed for purification are filtration (through mechanical filters, spray
filters, and electrostatic filters), centrifuging, degassing and distillation, and chemical treatment
(adding ion exchange materials such as alumina, fuller's earth, etc. and filtering). Dust particles when
present become charged and reduce the breakdown strength of the liquid dielectrics. Liquid will
normally contain moisture and dissolved gases in small quantities. Gases like oxygen and carbon
dioxide significantly affect the breakdown strength of the liquids, and hence it is necessary to control
the amount of gas present. This is done by distillation and degassing. Ionic impurity in liquids, like
water vapor which easily dissociates, leads to very high conductivity and heating of the liquid
depending on the applied electric field. Water is removed using drying agents or by vacuum drying.

source: http://www.tmsa.com.au/vacuum-dryer-degassing.php
5 Mechanism of Breakdown
5.1 Breakdown in Pure Liquids
Breakdown process in pure liquids, called the electronic breakdown, involves emission of electrons
at very high electric fields. This emission occurs at the electrode surface irregularities. These
electrons get further multiplied by Townsend's type of primary and secondary ionization processes,
leading to breakdown.
5.2 Breakdown in Commercial Liquids
Commercial insulating liquids are not chemically pure and have impurities like gas bubbles,
suspended particles, etc. These impurities reduce the breakdown strength of these liquids
considerably. The breakdown mechanisms are also considerably influenced by the presence of
these impurities.
The breakdown mechanism in commercial liquids is dependent on several factors, such as, the
nature and condition of the electrodes, the physical properties of the liquid, and the impurities and
gases present in the liquid. Several theories have been proposed to explain the breakdown in
liquids, and they are classified as follows:
(a) Suspended Particle Mechanism
(b) Cavitation and Bubble Mechanism
(c) Stressed Oil Volume Mechanism
These are explained briefly below.
Suspended Particle Theory
In commercial liquids, the presence of solid impurities cannot be avoided. These impurities will be
present as fibres or as dispersed solid particles. The particles experience a force which drives them
towards the areas of maximum stress. If the number of particles present is large, they become
aligned due to these forces. Thus they form a stable chain bridging the electrode gap and
breakdown develops between the electrodes along this chain of impurities.
Cavitation and the Bubble Theory
In liquids vapor bubble formation can be responsible for breakdown. The following processes have
been suggested to be responsible for the formation of the vapor bubbles: (a) Gas pockets at the
surfaces of the electrodes; (b) electrostatic repulsive forces between space charges which may be
sufficient to overcome the surface tension; (c) gaseous products due to the dissociation of liquid
molecules by electron collisions; and (d) vaporization of the liquid by corona type discharge from
sharp points and irregularities on the electrode surfaces. Once a bubble is formed it will elongate in
the direction of the electric field under the influence of electrostatic forces. The volume of the bubble
remains constant during elongation. Breakdown occurs when the voltage drop along the length of
the bubble becomes equal to the minimum value on the Paschen's curve for the gas in the bubble.

Power Transformer Drying (Siemens) https://youtu.be/6LLVWzh47CY


Power Transformer Oil Regeneration (Siemens) https://youtu.be/C4-LZI-dknQ

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