An experimental investigation is conducted to measure and correlate the impact of the water content on the electrical characteristics of the mineral oil for transformers, particularly the breakdown voltage, the resistivity, and the dielectric dissipation factor. Regression method is carried out to compare the results obtained through laboratory experiments with those predicted using an analytical model. A treatment to reduce water content in oil involving filtration, degassing and dehydration using a SESCO mobile station was applied to the new, regenerated, and used oil samples in service. The breakdown voltage, the resistivity, and the dielectric dissipation factor of the samples were measured. Regression analysis using an exponential model was applied to examine the samples electrical properties. The results show that, after treatment, the breakdown voltage and resistivity increase as the water content decreases, unlike the dielectric dissipation factor which exhibits a decreasing trend. This trend is found to be similar for the three oil samples: new, regenerated, and used. The results of the regression analysis give close agreement with the experimental results for all the samples and all studied characteristics. The model shows strong correlation with high coefficients (>90%).

The effect of thermal aging on the electrical properties of the insulating oil used for transformers has been explored in this experimental work. In particular the dielectric dissipation factor, the resistivity and the breakdown voltage have been measured and correlated. The numerical results predicted by mathematical model and those measured in the laboratory have been compared by using a regression analysis. Experiments on thermal aging were performed on insulating oil (Borak 22, Nynas, Austria) during a period of time of 5000-h at three different temperatures. First, the transformer oil’s dielectric dissipation factor, the resistivity and the breakdown voltage are measured after every 500 h of aging. Then, polynomial and exponential regression expressions are proposed for modelling the oil’s electrical parameters variations with thermal ageing at different aging temperatures and periods. The results show that after thermal aging, the resistivity and the breakdown voltage decrease with thermal aging, however, the dielectric dissipation factor which increases. This trend is similar for all different aging temperatures. The numerical results show close agreement with the measured results for all the samples and all studied properties. The regression model presents strong correlation with high coefficients (>94%).

This paper reports the results of an experimental study that examines the impact of thermal aging on the electrical and chemical properties of insulating oil used in power transformers. Transformer-oil samples were thermally aged over a 5000 h period at different temperatures varying between 80 °C and 140 °C, replicating both normal and extreme operating conditions. Measurements of breakdown voltage, dielectric dissipation factor, acidity, and water content were taken at 500 h intervals. A novel approach of this research is the integration of these electrical and chemical characteristics into a comprehensive exponential regression analysis model. The results indicate that breakdown voltage and resistivity decrease with aging time, whereas the dielectric dissipation factor, acidity, and water content increase with aging time. The degradation trends computed by the proposed model show close correlation with both electrical and chemical properties, with correlation coefficients generally equal to or exceeding 90%, which demonstrates its reliability in predicting aging behavior of transformer oil. This integrated approach offers valuable insights into the combined electrical and chemical degradation processes due to thermal aging and assists in the condition assessment of power transformers.

In this paper, we present the electrical and physic-chemical behaviours of oil in high voltage transformers, under thermal ageing. Continuous thermal ageing tests were made on transformer oil BORAK22 during 5000 hours at two different temperatures 80degC and 120degC. Here, every 500 hours, the dielectric losses factor, the relative permittivity and the resistivity were measured. Other properties such as the breakdown voltage, the acidity degree, the water content, the colour and the cinematic viscosity are measured before and after ageing. The obtained results of this investigation show that the thermal ageing affects greatly the properties of transformer oil.