Article | REF: D2473 V1

Insulating Liquids in electrical Engineering - Characterization and properties

Authors: Issouf FOFANA, Janvier Sylvestre N'CHO

Publication date: March 10, 2024

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


Overview

Français

ABSTRACT

Power equipment installed on electricity grids are aging increasing demand for electric power, in a context of energy transition. To meet the pressing needs of the electrical industry, characterization and diagnostic tools have been developed to guarantee the reliability and durability of insulating fluids used in electrical equipment. These tools are the rewarding result of cooperative work involving refiners, manufacturers and users, to produce mutually acceptable standard specifications for liquid characteristics and testing requirements.

This article summarizes the physicochemical and electrical characterizations of liquids and their impacts on the overall efficiency of electrical systems

Read this article from a comprehensive knowledge base, updated and supplemented with articles reviewed by scientific committees.

Read the article

AUTHORS

  • Issouf FOFANA: Canada Research Chair in Aging of Oil-Filled Switchgear Installed on High-Voltage Lines (ViAHT), Université du Québec à Chicoutimi (UQAC), Chicoutimi (Québec), Canada

  • Janvier Sylvestre N'CHO: Unité mixte de recherche et d'innovation en sciences et techniques de l'ingénieur, Institut National Polytechnique Houphouët Boigny (INP-HB), Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire

 INTRODUCTION

The internal sizing of electrical equipment installed on electrical power transmission and distribution networks is conditioned, first and foremost, by the performance of the insulation system. Many of these devices use insulating liquids as impregnants for solid insulators (paper and film) and fillers: transformers (power, rectifier, traction, furnace, potential, current, instrumentation, etc.), resistors, inductors, capacitors, cables, bushings, circuit breakers, tap changers, thyristor cooling in power electronics, etc.

Although insulators are produced with the utmost care, the impact of electrical, mechanical and thermal stresses, combined with the aggressiveness of certain chemical compounds, can lead, over a limited or unlimited period of time and with possible repetition, to their gradual degradation in service conditions. Under certain conditions, the insulation system may fail to perform its function, leading to undesirable failures through dielectric breakdown.

As aging networks will be put under increasing strain by ever-increasing demand in the context of the energy transition, it is essential to characterize and diagnose equipment properly. As liquid is the most easily accessible insulator (sometimes without the need to stop the equipment), the identification of chemical tracers capable of indirectly providing precise information on the state of degradation of the equipment is the most widely used technique.

Characterizing or assessing the condition of insulating liquids is therefore crucial to guaranteeing their reliability. The physicochemical and electrical properties of insulating liquids can affect their performance, and accurate characterization can help predict their service life. This characterization enables us to better understand their properties and optimize their use in various applications. It also helps identify potential problems before they lead to equipment failure.

You do not have access to this resource.

Exclusive to subscribers. 97% yet to be discovered!

You do not have access to this resource.
Click here to request your free trial access!

Already subscribed? Log in!


The Ultimate Scientific and Technical Reference

A Comprehensive Knowledge Base, with over 1,200 authors and 100 scientific advisors
+ More than 10,000 articles and 1,000 how-to sheets, over 800 new or updated articles every year
From design to prototyping, right through to industrialization, the reference for securing the development of your industrial projects

KEYWORDS

diagnostic   |   online surveillance   |   physico-chemical properties   |   electrical properties   |   insulating fluids


This article is included in

Conversion of electrical energy

This offer includes:

Knowledge Base

Updated and enriched with articles validated by our scientific committees

Services

A set of exclusive tools to complement the resources

Practical Path

Operational and didactic, to guarantee the acquisition of transversal skills

Doc & Quiz

Interactive articles with quizzes, for constructive reading

Subscribe now!

Ongoing reading
Insulating liquids in electrical engineering