Influence of temperature on interfacial charge of power transformer insulation

Abstract

One of the popular methods for insulation diagnosis is measurement and analysis of polarisation–depolarisation current (PDC). During normal operation, charges get confined at the interface of oil–paper insulation. A part of these accumulated charges get absorbed in depolarisation current and contribute to the overall PDC data. The process through which charges are released from their confinement is known as charge de-trapping, which is highly influenced by thermal energy content of the insulation and hence by measurement temperature. In the current work, an effort has been made to investigate the effect of measurement temperature on de-trapped charge. Two samples are prepared and analysed in the laboratory at different temperatures for this purpose. This is followed by analysis of data collected from several real-life power transformers. Related analysis presented here suggests that measurement temperature of the system plays an important role in determining the amount of de-trapped interfacial charge during PDC measurement.