Method of calculating the electric strength of oil channels of the main insulation of power transformers

Abstract

The most damage-sensitive unit of power transformers is the main insulation of the oil barrier type. The breakdown of such insulation occurs as a result of the breakdown of the oil channel near the high voltage winding. In accordance with traditional methods of calculating the dielectric strength of insulation, the value of the breakdown strength is determined by empirical formulas depending on the selected width of the oil channel. The existing methods do not consider the influence of the oil channel volume, of the electric strength the statistical characteristics of the oil, the design features of the insulation of power transformers, and do not contain recommendations for creating design models. Thus, to improve the calculation accuracy, it is relevant to develop the evaluation method of dielectric strength of the main insulation of power transformers taking into account the volume and parameters of the breakdown voltage distribution of transformer oil, design features. The research results of the breakdown tension in oil channels with different volumes of transformer oil were used. To improve the accuracy of the calculation and taking into account the design features, the model of the main insulation of power transformers was made in the ANSYS program. Boundary data and assumption of linear stress distribution of transformer coils were considered. A method for calculating the dielectric strength of oil channels of the main insulation of power transformers, considering the volume and parameters of the breakdown voltage distribution of transformer oil was proposed. Unlike the existing methods, when calculating the minimum breakdown strength in the model of the main insulation, the design features of power transformers are taken into account and assumptions are justified to improve the accuracy of the calculation. In accordance with the methodology, the parameters of the dielectric strength of the transformer oil in the oil channel of the high voltage winding of the transformer were calculated. It was concluded that with increase of relative value of breakdown tension, dielectric strength of oil channel is decreasing, and it corresponds to physical sense of breakdown. The method for calculating the dielectric strength of transformer oil can be used when choosing the main insulation of power transformers in design.