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Epoxy‐impregnated paper transformer bushings are prone to water absorption due to the presence of water‐attracting moieties in the cellulose chemical structure and epoxy resin, leading to moisture‐induced insulation defects. To understand the mechanism of moisture's impact on epoxy‐impregnated paper, this study developed a testing platform that integrated moisture diffusion, adsorption, and dielectric properties of insulating materials. Insulation specimens made of epoxy resin and epoxy‐impregnated paper were prepared and their water diffusion characteristics were investigated using the Fick diffusion model and the Langmuir model, respectively. The Guggenheim–Anderson–de Boer equation was used to examine the vacuum vapour adsorption characteristics of the materials, providing a theoretical foundation for examining the form of water present within them. The dielectric response of materials with varying moisture levels was then tested to study the effect of water on the dielectric spectrum curve. Using the Extended Derivative Method, the characteristic frequency reflecting the water content of the epoxy‐impregnated paper was extracted. The results demonstrate that 0.01‐Hz characteristic frequency provides superior accuracy for moisture assessment in epoxy resins compared to 50 Hz, and extracting and fitting the relaxation peak characteristic frequency in epoxy‐impregnated paper moisture evaluation yields higher accuracy than using tan δ at the power frequency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequency Domain Spectroscopy (FDS) is a powerful tool to study the dielectric properties of oil-paper insulation, which is widely used under high electric field strength. The motion of charge carriers under high electric field strength will cause new dielectric characteristics in FDS curves, from which more information could be extracted for insulation state assessment. In this paper, FD spectra are measured under high electric field strength. The electric field dependence of the loss peak in middle frequency and the characteristics of dielectric loss in low frequency are studied. With the influence of trapping on the motion of charge carriers under electric field being considered, charge carriers hopping polarization model and charge carriers motion dependent conductance model are proposed. The trap energy level of oil-paper insulation decreases when the moisture content increases, thus, the motion characteristics of charge carriers change, leading to decreasing loss peak in middle frequency and inverse dielectric loss characteristics in low frequency. These two models introduce the influence of traps on carrier motion into the dielectric response and enable one to gain a better understanding of the dielectric properties of oil-paper insulation under high electric field strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]