Comparison of Aging Markers of Insulating Liquids during Aging with and without Paper Insulation

The assessment of the aging condition is becoming increasingly important for operators of high voltage assets. Power transformers are especially one of the most important units in the electrical power grid. Due to the fact that oil-paper insulation is still the most economical form of insulation, and is therefore found in the majority of transformers, the condition assessment of the paper insulation is decisive for estimating the remaining service life. Since the determination of the condition via furans is associated with certain fluctuations, several other aging parameters are investigated. Therefore, this study intends to determine how those aging markers of the insulating liquid behave in the absence of insulating paper and how the values change with insulating paper; thus, from the difference between important parameters, indicating the paper aging might be possible. For the investigation, a non-inhibited and an inhibited insulating oil as well as a further inhibited oil with a different composition, are tested as the most common insulating liquids. For this purpose, an open system is reproduced, which has permanent contact with the environment air. Accordingly, the study is carried out for long-term thermal stress to obtain samples with a wide spectrum of aging status. The entire study extended over a period of 14–15 weeks at a temperature of 130 °C with performing the measurements of the parameters at various aging times. The study reveals that the results can be used for an improved condition assessment of transformers.