IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 3; June 2014

1251

Analysis of Partial Discharge Characteristics

of Natural Esters as Dielectric Fluid for Electric
Power Apparatus Applications
S. Chandrasekar
GnanEXPERT R&D Centre, Department of EEE
Gnanamani College of Technology
Namakkal-637018, Tamilnadu, India

and Gian Carlo Montanari

Lab of Innovation Technology, University of Bologna
Viale Risorgimento 2, 40136 Bologna, Italy

ABSTRACT
Petroleum based mineral oils are generally used for electric power apparatus insulation
and cooling applications. Since the conventionally used mineral oils are not
biodegradable and difficult to decompose, there is a need for the development of
alternate vegetable based insulation oils for such applications. Formation of partial
discharges plays a major role in determining the life time of liquid insulation. Reports on
partial discharge characteristics of thermal aged natural ester fluids for high voltage
applications are scanty. The major aim of this research work is to understand the partial
discharge characteristics of natural esters as a dielectric fluid for power transformer and
other electric power apparatus insulation applications. Laboratory experiments are
performed as per IEC (International Electro technical Commission) test procedures in
order to understand the breakdown voltage and partial discharge characteristics of
vegetable oils such as corn oil and palm oil under both virgin and thermal aged
conditions. This paper presents a comparative assessment of the PD characteristics of
thermal aged natural ester fluids with respect to mineral oil. Time and frequency domain
analysis of PD pulse at both needle-plane and rod-plane electrode configurations are
studied. Statistical analysis of PD pattern is also carried out. This analysis collects the
typical PD patterns from natural ester fluids in order to find its suitability for power
transformer and electric power apparatus applications.
Index Terms Dielectric fluid, vegetable oil, breakdown strength, partial discharge,
frequency spectrum, statistical analysis, power transformer.

1 INTRODUCTION
MINERAL oils are the conventionally used dielectric
fluids for electrical insulation and heat transfer in electric
power apparatus such as power transformers, capacitors, etc
[1]. The major trouble faced with mineral oil is that it is
poorly biodegradable and if any leakage occurs, it could lead
to serious contamination of soil and waterways.
Extensive studies were carried out for the past two decades
to find a suitable alternate natural esters (vegetable oils) for
electrical applications [2-15]. Vegetable oils have the
advantages of high biodegradability, fire safety and are
readily available. Transformers filled with vegetable oil were
already tested successfully at different voltage levels [2,3].
Manuscript received on 12 October 2013, in final form 13 December 2013,
accepted 14 February 2014.

However, while degradation of liquid dielectrics due to

various stresses, such as electrical and thermal, have been
investigated extensively for mineral oil [16, 17], very few is
known about ageing processes of vegetable oils. Vegetable
oils have poor oxidation stability compared to mineral oil,
thus they require suitable processing and additives for high
voltage applications [4]. Hence the focus of research is now
towards understanding the effect of aging on oxidation
stability of vegetable oils.
Bertrand et al, [5], investigated the dielectric properties of
seed oils and reported that thermal aging may cause problems
for long run. Hosier et al., [6], studied the aging of food grade
vegetable oils using ultra-violet, infrared and dielectric
spectroscopies and concluded that thermal aging of the oil
leads to increase in viscosity and dielectric loss of the
vegetable oils. Recently, Matharage et al, [7] compared the

DOI 10.1109/TDEI.2014.004430

1252

S. Chandrasekar and G. C. Montanari: Analysis of Partial Discharge Characteristics of Natural Esters as Dielectric Fluid

performance of cocunut oil thermally aged at 120 C at

different aging times with that of mineral oil.
Partial discharges (PD), which occur in the liquid
dielectrics due to electric field enhancement in a localized
area of insulation, play a major role in the acceleration of
thermal aging and degradation of the insulating oil. PD pulse
formation leads to breakdown streamer development and
sludge formation in dielectric liquids. Pompili et al, [18-20],
carried out extensive PD measurements in liquid dielectrics.
Earlier they performed PD measurements on dielectric liquids
using narrow band PD detectors [18], and later on they
introduced the simultaneous ultrawide and narrowband
detection of PD pulses [19, 20]. In addition, Pompili et al,
[21-23], investigated the PD pulse burst characteristics of
natural and synthetic organic esters and mineral oil in terms of
PD pulse attributes derived from the PD pulse burst data.
Therefore, before recommending natural ester fluids as an
alternative to mineral oil in high voltage electric power
apparatus, it is important to analyze its PD characteristics,
particularly as a function of aging. However, partial discharge
and thermal aging characteristics of corn oil and palm oil have
not yet been well reported.
Based on the above, the major aim of the present work is to
collect typical PD patterns from thermally aged natural esters
in order to find its suitability for electric power apparatus
applications. PD characteristics of corn and palm oils are
investigated using both needle-plane and rod-plane electrode
configuration. For comparison purpose, PD characteristics of
mineral oil are also discussed. In addition, breakdown voltage
test results on vegetable oils are reported.

2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Commercially available corn oil, palm oil and mineral oil
were used for the experimental studies. Initially, the oil
samples were thermally treated for 48 hours in the laboratory
in order to remove any moisture content present in the oil.
Since detection of aging effects of transformer liquid
insulation may take a long time, accelerated thermal aging
was performed in the laboratory. Oil samples were exposed to
extreme temperature conditions for pre-fixed periods of time
in order to evaluate the change in dielectric and thermal
characteristics at elevated temperatures. In the thermal aging
process, the oil samples were kept in a temperature controlled
oven for 15 days, 30 days and 45 days at 150C and were
taken out for experimental studies. In order to understand the
influence of copper windings during thermal aging and to
simulate the actual conditions inside a transformer, some oil
specimens were added with piece of copper during aging
process. Unless otherwise mentioned, the results reported in
this paper for thermal aged oil samples are without copper.
The following experiments for evaluating the electrical
breakdown strength, viscosity and partial discharge
characteristics were carried out for both unaged and thermally
aged oils in the laboratory.
2.1 BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE (BDV) TEST
The electrical breakdown strength of a liquid insulating
medium can be derived from its breakdown voltage (BDV)
value. BDV test was carried out as per IEC 60156 standard.

Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the experimental

setup used to evaluate the breakdown voltage of oil
specimens. Initially the oil samples were filtered using a
5 micron filter paper in order to remove any impurities
present in the oil. In this test, plane electrodes were kept at a
distance of 2.5 mm and the test chamber was filled with the
oil specimen. High voltage AC supply was slowly increased
at a rate of 2 kV/s until the breakdown occurs. This test was
carried out for both unaged and thermally aged oil samples, at
different electrode gap distances and corresponding
breakdown voltage was recorded.

Figure 1. Experimental setup for breakdown voltage measurement.

2.2 VISCOSITY TEST

Viscosity of the liquid insulating medium is important for
proper cooling and circulation inside the power apparatus and
systems. In this research work, viscosity of the oil sample was
measured using REDWOOD viscometer. In order to improve
the efficiency of cooling of the insulating fluid, viscosity of a
dielectric fluid should be low. Hence, viscosity parameter
needs to be improved significantly for safer operation of
power transformers in the presence of a vegetable oil based
dielectric fluid.
2.3 PARTIAL DISCHARGE TEST
A partial discharge in a high voltage transformer occurs when
the electric field enhances in a localized area of insulation. The
major types of PD in a transformer may be classified into two
categories such as corona discharges and surface/interface
discharges. Corona discharge may occur due to the presence of
any floating conducting particle in the liquid insulating
medium. Surface/interface discharges in transformers mainly
occur at the interface of oil and pressboard layers.

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the experimental setup for needle-plane

electrode configuration PD test.

In order to simulate surface discharges, a rod-plane

electrode with pressboard configuration was used, while a
needle-plane electrode set up was employed to simulate

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 3; June 2014

corona discharges. Figure 2 shows the laboratory

experimental setup for the measurment of partial discharge
with needle-plane electrode configuration. The tip of the
needle has a curvature radius of 1.5 m. The high voltage
supply was connected to the top portion of needle electrode
and the bottom portion of plane electrode was solidly
grounded. Since it is difficult to get a stable PD source
from the needle-plane electrode configuration, a 3 mm
thick pressboard was used upon the ground electrode. The
gap distance between the needle and ground electrode was
maintained at 5 mm. In the case of rod-plane electrode
configuration, thickness of the pressboard material used
was 4 mm.
PD signals were picked by connecting a high frequency
current transformer (HFCT) around the ground connection
of the test cell. HFCT is a clip-on device clamped around
the ground lead and it has a 50 MHz frequency bandwidth
which is sufficient to cover the entire range of PD. Output
of the HFCT is connected to the PD detector. Partial
discharges were detected through a large bandwidth
system, TechImp PDBASE II, able to sample the complete
PD waveforms at a sampling rate of up to 100 MSa/s and
bandwidth of 0-50 MHz. The sensitivity ranges from 2
mV/div to 5 V/div. PDBASE II also provides large number
of digitized PD pulse waveforms and it is able to separate
them according to the PD waveform shape by means of
fuzzy classification tool [24-27]. No coupling capacitor
was inserted in parallel to the test specimen. The PD pulses
were sent to a remote PC for further processing.

3 BREAKDOWN STRENGTH
TEST RESULTS
It is important to understand the correlation between the
dispersion of breakdown voltages between the mineral oil and
natural ester fluids in order to estimate the safety margin
while designing the insulation of electric power apparatus.
Breakdown strength of a liquid dielectric medium is a
statistical quantity which depends on the physio-chemical
properties, impurities and particles present in the medium
during test. In this work, two parameter Weibull distribution
is used to fit the breakdown voltages. Table 1 shows the oil
samples used for the BDV test together with the thermal aging
descriptions.

1253

parameter () are also indicated in the distribution plots.

The scale parameter (kV), which is the characteristic life
at which 63.2% of failure is expected, represents the
electrical breakdown strength of oil samples. The shape
parameter is correlated with the breakdown strength
dispersion. It is observed that under unaged conditions, the
breakdown strength of palm oil and the mineral oil are
higher than that of corn oil. Interestingly, breakdown
voltages of both corn oil and palm oil increased after 30
days under thermal stress and at 2.5 mm gap distance, the
BDV value of both vegetables oils lies above 30 kV. On
the contrary, in the case of mineral oil, 30 days of thermal
aging reduces considerably breakdown strength. After 45
days under thermal stress, a slight reduction in BDV values
of palm oil and corn oil is noticed, but they still maintain
BDV values close to 30 kV (2.5 mm gap). In general, it is
also observed that palm and corn oils have smaller
dispersion of breakdown voltages (larger ) at any aging
level.

(a)

(b)

Table 1. Details of oil samples used for BDV test.

Oil sample
MV
M30
M45
CV
C30
C45
PV
P30
P45

Description
Mineral oil unaged
Mineral oil thermally aged for 30 days
Mineral oil thermally aged for 45 days
Corn oil unaged
Corn oil thermally aged for 30 days
Corn oil thermally aged for 45 days
Palm oil - unaged
Palm oil thermally aged for 30 days
Palm oil thermally aged for 45 days

Figure 3 shows the Weibull distribution of breakdown

voltage characteristics of oil samples at different thermal
aging conditions, where the dashed line represents the fit to
the data. Corresponding scale parameter () and shape

(c)
Figure 3. Distribution of breakdown voltage values of oil samples at 2.5 mm
gap distance of electrodes (a) unaged (b) 30 days thermal aged (c) 45 days
thermal aged.

1254

S. Chandrasekar and G. C. Montanari: Analysis of Partial Discharge Characteristics of Natural Esters as Dielectric Fluid

Figure 6 shows the viscosity of oils measured for different

aging conditions. While all oils show similar value of
viscosity when unaged, palm and corn oil have higher
viscosity than the mineral oil at any aging level. It may be due
to the increase in intermolecular force of attraction in
vegetable oils due to thermal stress. This increase in viscosity
for vegetable oils can affect oil circulation. Therefore, this
parameter needs to be improved significantly for safer
operation of transformers in the presence of a natural esters
based dielectric fluid.

Figure 4. Variations in scale parameter of oil samples at different electrode

gaps.

5 PHASE RESOLVED PARTIAL

DISCHARGE PATTERN ANALYSIS
5.1 ROD-PLANE ELECTRODE CONFIGURATION

(a)

Figure 5. Variations in shape parameter of oil samples at different electrode

gaps.

Figures 4 and 5 show the variations in scale and shape

parameters of oil samples at different electrode gap values,
respectively. It can be seen that, in general, palm and corn oil
have better electrical breakdown strength and smaller
breakdown voltage data dispersion than mineral oil. From the
BDV test results it is noticed that palm and corn oils have the
ability to retain the breakdown strength under accelerated
thermal aging for longer periods compared with
conventionally used mineral oil. This may be due to the
lowest turbidity and fat content between the molecules of the
vegetable oils. These BDV characteristics indicate, hence, that
vegetable oils can be preferred for transformer applications.

4 RESULTS OF VISCOSITY TEST

Figure 6. Viscosity of oil samples at different aging conditions.

(b)

(c)
Figure 7. Partial discharge pattern obtained for rod-plane electrode
configuration of unaged (left) and 30 days thermally aged (right) oils
(a) mineral oil (b) palm oil (c) corn oil. Test voltage 25 kV.

In the rod-plane electrode configuration, pressboard material

is placed between the electrodes in order to simulate surface
discharges. PD signals were recorded under constant electric
stress and room temperature (30 C). In order to compare PD
behavior, all the oil specimens were tested under the same test
voltage of 25 kV which is above the PD inception voltage of
the tested oil specimens in this electrode configuration.
Typical phase resolved PD patterns obtained for unaged and
30 days thermally aged specimens are reported in Figure 7.
The phase resolved partial discharge pattern shows the phase
and amplitude of the whole amount of the obtained pulses
during the test. It can be seen that corn and palm oil display
significantly lower PD magnitude than mineral oil.

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 3; June 2014

1255

Imamovic et al, [28], investigated the PD characteristics of

biodegradable oil using rod-plane electrodes with pressboard
and reported that the maximum PD magnitude of FR3
biodegradable oil is considerably lower than that of mineral
oil. In general, irrespective of the type of oil, significant
increase in PD activity is noticed due to thermal aging.
However, the per-cent increase of mineral oil is higher than
that of palm and corn oils. In addition, it is observed that PD
amplitude and repetition rate for corn oil are lower than for
palm oil.
Figure 9. Partial discharge inception voltage obtained for needle-plane
electrode configuration of unaged, 30 days thermally aged and 45 days
thermally aged oil specimens with and without copper.

(a)

Figure 9 shows the PDIV of oil specimens measured for 5

mm gap distance between the electrodes. PDIV of unaged
mineral, corn and palm oils is above 30 kV, but thermal aging
reduces significantly PDIV. The same occurs in the presence
of copper. However, corn and palm oils show higher PDIV
than mineral oil. The PDIV value of mineral oil after 45 days
under thermal stress, with copper, falls below 20 kV, while
palm and corn oils display PDIV values above 20 kV. Since
the PDIV value strongly depends on the needle-to-plane gap
length used, as well as on the radius of the needle tip, the
selection of these parameters must be made in relation to the
stress enhancement sites that are likely to be encountered in
oil-filled electrical apparatus [30].

(b)

(c)

(a)

Figure 8. Partial discharge pattern obtained for rod-plane electrode

configuration after 45 days of thermal stress, without copper (left) and with
copper (right) (a) mineral oil (b) palm oil (c) corn oil. Test voltage 25 kV.

Typical phase resolved PD pattern obtained for rod-plane

electrode configuration after 45 days under thermal stress,
with and without copper, are shown in Figure 8. As
expected, the presence of copper in the oil specimens
increases significantly PD activity. Corn oil shows lower PD
activity than other oils, and, in general, vegetable oils
display better performance, regarding surface discharges,
than mineral oil.

(b)

5.2 NEEDLE PLANE ELECTRODE CONFIGURATION

In the needle-plane electrode configuration, supply voltage
is increased in steps from 1 kV, up to the level at which the
partial discharge inception voltage (PDIV) is reached. The
PDIV value is defined here as the value of applied voltage at
which at least one PD pulse is detected over an interval of 10
minutes (determination of PDIV in liquid dielectrics is
discussed in [29, 30]).

(c)
Figure 10. Partial discharge pattern obtained for needle-plane electrode
configuration of unaged (left) and 30 days thermally aged (right) oil
specimens (a) mineral oil (b) palm oil (c) corn oil. Test voltage 35 kV.

1256

S. Chandrasekar and G. C. Montanari: Analysis of Partial Discharge Characteristics of Natural Esters as Dielectric Fluid

(a)

(b)

(a)

(b)
Figure 12. Partial discharge pulses and corresponding frequency spectrum
obtained for rod-plane electrode configuration of palm oil (a) unaged
(b) 45 days thermally aged without copper. Test voltge 25 kV.

(c)
Figure 11. Partial discharge pattern obtained for needle-plane electrode
configuration after 45 days of thermal stress, without copper (left) and with
copper (right) (a) mineral oil (b) palm oil (c) corn oil. Test voltage 35 kV.

It is generally needed to exceed significantly the PDIV

value in order to observe PRPD patterns of any liquid
dielectrics. Typical PD patterns obtained for needle-plane
electrode configuration for unaged and 30 days thermally
aged oils at a test voltage of 35 kV are shown in Figure
10. Again, under aging mineral oil shows higher PD
magnitude with low repetition rate than palm and corn
oils. Figure 11 shows the PD patterns obtained for the
needle-plane configuration after 45 days of thermal aging,
with and without copper, at a test voltage of 35 kV.
Significant increase in PD activity is observed when
compared with 30 days aged oil specimens. Mineral oil
presents noticeably lower PD than palm oil, and
equivalent PD activity of corn oil. Palm oil shows
increase in number of low magnitude PD pulses. It is
noteworthy that, according to Pompili et al, [23], the
number of discrete PD pulses per PD pulse burst of
natural and synthetic esters is higher when compared with
mineral oil. Similar results are observed in the present
work that the number of PD pulses of corn and palm oil
are higher than that of mineral oil for both unaged and
thermal aged conditions. On the whole, it was observed
that under corona discharges the performance of mineral
oil is comparable with that of corn oil, while palm oil
seems to worsen its behavior with thermal aging.
5.3 TIME AND FREQUENCY DOMAIN
ANALYSIS OF PD PULSE
Analysis of individual PD pulses in the time and frequency
domains may provide useful information about insulating oil
conditions. PD pulse shape, rise time, equivalent time length
and frequency spectrum are generally used to understand the
time-frequency characteristics of PD signals.

Typical discharge pulses and corresponding frequency

spectrum obtained for rod-plane electrode configuration for
unaged and aged (45 days) palm oil are shown in Figure 12.
From the frequency spectrum of the PD pulse, it is seen that,
independently of the level of aging, two peaks are present at
about 7 and 20 MHz, respectively. Slight increase in PD pulse
amplitude in time and frequency domain is noticed with
thermal aging. There is no significant difference in PD pulse
characteristics, such as rise time, pulse duration and frequency
spectrum, for vegetable and mineral oils under similar test and
aging conditions.

(a)

(b)
Figure 13. Partial discharge pulses and corresponding frequency spectrum
obtained for needle-plane electrode configuration of palm oil (a) unaged
(b) 45 days thermally aged without copper. Test voltge 25 kV.

Figure 13 depicts typical PD pulses and corresponding

frequency spectrum obtained for needle-plane electrode
configuration for unaged and aged palm oil. The results are
similar to those relevant to rod-plane electrodes, apart from
the presence of three peaks in the frequency domain at 7, 20
and 33 MHz. It can be also observed that the rise time of PD
pulse in the case of rod-plane configuration is slightly higher
than that of needle-plane electrodes. Imamovic et al, [28],
analyzed the partial discharge characteristics of biodegradable
transformer oils, showing that significant differences in

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 21, No. 3; June 2014

frequency spectrum of the partial discharge signals may exist

in the case of vegetable oils while simulating corona and
surface discharges as per IEC procedures.
5.4 REPETITION RATE ANALYSIS
When all the oil samples are thermally treated and free of
moisture content before starting the experiment, as in this
work, it is expected that the partial discharge pulse
repetition rate is mainly dependent on the applied voltage.
Figure 14 shows the variations in the repetition rate as
function of the applied voltage for needle plane electrode
configuration. Once the inception of partial discharge pulse
starts, the repetition rate rises gradually with the applied
voltage. Pompili et al, [21, 29], showed that PD pulses
appear in pulse bursts, with varying repetition rate. The
recurrence rate of the PD pulse bursts was found to increase
with voltage above the PDIV, raising both number of
discrete PD pulses and their amplitude within the pulse burst
itself. Results obtained in the present work are in agreement,
as shown in Figure 14. The repetition rate of mineral oil is
generally slightly lower than that of vegetable oils. The
results reported here are also in agreement with Imamovic et
al, [28], indicating that repetition rate of PD activity of FR3
biodegradable oil is high when compared with mineral oil.
However since the difference in repetition rate is quite
small, from this point of view the performance of vegetable
oils is comparable to that of mineral oil.

1257

5.5 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF PD PATTERN

A collection of statistical information on the PD
characteristic features may help to achieve diagnostic
information from on-field PD measurements on transformers
and other electric power apparatus where insulation is made
by fluid oil. Hence, an analysis of the stochastic features of
PD-pulse sequences, with reference to both positive and
negative polarity, for rod-plane electrode configuration was
carried out. Typical statistical quantities for PD pulse
magnitude are skewness (Sk), mean value of the shape
parameter (Beta) of the Weibull function, ratio between
number of positive and negative PD (Nw) [26-27]. Among
these parameters, only those having a range of variation in
distinct and well-defined intervals, each one pertinent to a
specific PD characteristic, can be assumed as diagnostic
markers.

(a)

(a)

(b)
Figure 15. Mean value and 95% confidence intervals for the shape parameter
(a) Beta positive and (b) Beta negative from PD amplitude distribution under
different aging conditions. Rod-plane configuration.

(b)
Figure 14. Partial discharge pulse repetition rate obtained for needle-plane
electrode configuration (a) unaged (b) 45 days thermally aged oil samples.

Figures 15, 16 and 17 show the mean values of shape

parameter, skewness and Nw, together with their 95%
confidence intervals, considering different oil aging
conditions. In general, as the aging time increases, reduction
in both positive and negative values is noticed, thus increase
in data dispersion. Vegetable oils have higher value than
mineral oil.

1258

S. Chandrasekar and G. C. Montanari: Analysis of Partial Discharge Characteristics of Natural Esters as Dielectric Fluid

In general, it can be concluded that variation of shape

parameter, skewness and Nw are closely related to type of oil
and its aging conditions, thus being supportive in the
achievement of diagnostic rules. The above reported
breakdown strength and partial discharge characteristics of
natural ester fluids clearly show that they have the ability to
be considered as an alternate for mineral oils. However,
appropriate additives could be used to improve the viscosity
property of the vegetable oils for power transformer
applications.

6 CONCLUSIONS
(a)

(b)
Figure 16. Mean value and 95% confidence intervals for the (a) skewness
positive and (b) skewness negative from PD amplitude distribution under
different aging conditions. Rod-plane configuration.

The value of skewness slightly reduces with aging severity,

which indicates an increase in the symmetry of the data for
thermally aged specimens. The Nw also increases with aging
time. The Nw parameter is higher for mineral oil than for
vegetable oils and corn oil shows the lowest values of Nw.

Laboratory experiments were carried out to study

breakdown strength and partial discharge characteristics of
natural ester fluids, specifically palm and corn oils,
considering the effect of thermal aging.
From this
investigation, it appears that palm and corn oil have higher
breakdown strength than mineral oil. The effect of thermal
aging on breakdown strength seems much lower in natural
ester fluids than in mineral oil. Lower PD activity is present in
palm and corn oils with respect to mineral oil for unaged
specimens. However, with respect to corona discharges,
steeper increase of PD pulses with aging time was noticed in
palm oil than in mineral oil. Viscosity of palm and corn oils
also increases with aging faster than for mineral oil. The
differences in terms of time and frequency domain analysis of
partial discharge pulses are negligible for vegetable or mineral
oils considered in this work. Based on the above results, it can
be speculated that palm and corn oils have the required
potential for electrical insulation applications. However,
further research work is required to improve viscosity and
long-term PD properties under the expected service stresses.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TechImp SpA is gratefully acknowledged for providing
some of the testing apparatus for this research project.

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

[7]

[8]
Figure 17. Mean value and 95% confidence intervals for the Nw from PD
amplitude distribution under different aging conditions. Rod-plane
configuration.

E. Kuffel and W.S. Zaengl, High Voltage Engineering Fundamentals,

Pergamon Press, Oxford, New York, 1984.
D. Martin, N. Lelekakis, W. Guo and Y. Odarenko, Further Studies of
a Vegetable-Oil-Filled Power Transformer, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag.,
Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 6-13, 2011.
T.V. Oommen, Vegetable Oils for Liquid-Filled transformers, IEEE
Electrical Insulation Magazine, Vol.18, No.1, pp. 6-11, 2002.
C.P. McShane, Relative properties of the new combustion resistant
vegetable oil based dielectric coolants for distribution and power
transformers, IEEE Trans. Ind. Appl., Vol.37, pp.1132-1139, 2001.
Y. Bertrand and L. C.Hoang, Vegetable Oils as Substitute for Mineral
Oils, IEEE 7th Intl. Conf. Properties and Applications of Dielectr.
Materials, Nagoya, Vol.2, pp.491-494, 2003.
I.L. Hosier, A. Guushaa, E.W. Westenbrink, C. Rogers, A.S. Vaughan
and S.G. Swingler, Aging of Biodegradable Oils and Assessment of
their Suitability for High Voltage Applications, IEEE Trans. Dielectr.
Electr. Insul., Vol. 18, No. 3, pp.728-738, 2011.
B.S.H.M.S.Y. Matharage, M.A.R.M. Fernando, M.A.A.P. Bandara,
G.A. Jayantha and C.S. Kalpage, Performance of Coconut Oil as an
Alternative Transformer Liquid Insulation, IEEE Trans. Dielectr.
Electr. Insul., Vol. 20, No.3, pp. 887-898, 2013.
J.Li, Z.Zhang, P. Zou, S. Grzybowski and M. Zahn, Preparation of a
Vegetable Oil-based Nanofluid and Investigation of Its Breakdown and
Dielectric Properties, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., Vol.28, No.5, pp.4350, 2012.

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

[9]
[10]
[11]

[12]

[13]
[14]
[15]
[16]

[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]

[21]
[22]
[23]

[24]
[25]

Vol. 21, No. 3; June 2014

S. M. Ilyas, Study on the Characteristics of Jatropha and Ricinnus Seed

Oils as Liquid Insulating Materials, IEEE Conf. Electr. Insul. Dielectr.
Phenomena, pp.162-166, 2006.
M. Hemmer, R. Badent and T. Leihfried, Investigation of the
suitability of commercially available bio-oils as insulating liquid, IEEE
Conf. Electr. Insul. Dielectr. Phenomena, pp. 64-67, 2003.
V. Arun and S. Chandrasekar, Study on electrical and thermal
characteristics of biodegradable vegetable oils for power transformer
applications, Intl. Conf. Electr. Energy Syst. Power Electronics in
Emerging Economies (ICEESPEEE), SRM University, Chennai, India,
pp. 1012-1016, 2009.
U.U. Abdullahi, S.M. Bashi, R. Yunus, M. Mohibullah and H.A.
Nurdin, The Potentials of Palm Oil as a Dielectric Fluid, Proceedings
of National Power & Energy Conference (PECon), pp.224-228, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia, 2004.
S. Aditama, Dielectric properties of Palm oils as liquid insulating
materials: effects of fat content, Intl. Sympos. Electr. Insulating
Materials, Japan, pp.91-94, 2005.
I.L. Hosier, A.S. Vaughan and F.A. Montjen, Ageing of biodegradable
oils for high voltage insulation systems, IEEE Conf. Electr. Insul.
Dielectr. Phenomena, pp. 481-484, 2006.
G.K. Frimpong, T.V. Oommen and R. Asano, A Survey of Aging
Characteristics of Cellulose Insulation in Natural Ester and Mineral
Oil, IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag., Vol. 27, No. 5, pp. 36-48, 2011.
T.K. Saha, M. Darveniza, D.J.T. Hill, and T.T. Le, "Electrical and
chemical diagnostics of transformers insulation. A: Aged transformer
samples", IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, Vol. 12, No.4, pp. 1547-1554,
1997.
M. Kohtoh, S. Kaneko, S. Okabe and T. Amimoto, "Aging effect on
electrical characteristics of insulating oil in field transformer", IEEE
Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 16, No. 6, pp. 1698-1706, 2009.
M. Pompili, C. Mazzetti and E.O. Forster, Partial discharge
distributions in liquid dielectrics, IEEE Trans. Electr. Insul., Vol.27,
pp. 99-105, 1992.
M. Pompili, C. Mazzetti and R. Bartnikas, Simultaneous Ultrawide and
Narrowband Dectection of PD Pulses in Dielectric Liquids, IEEE
Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 402-407, 1998.
M. Pompili, C. Mazzetti and R. Bartnikas, Partial Discharge Pulse
Sequence Patterns and Cavity Development Times in Transformer Oils
under ac Conditions, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 12, No.
2, pp. 395-403, 2005.
M. Pompili, C. Mazzetti and R. Bartnikas, PD Pulse Burst
Characteristics of Transformer Oils, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, Vol.
21, No. 2, pp. 689-698, 2006.
M. Pompili, C. Mazzetti and R. Bartnikas, PD Pulse Burst Behavior of
a Transformer Type Synthetic Organic Ester Fluid, IEEE Trans.
Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 15, No. 6, pp.1498-1506, December 2008.
M. Pompili, C. Mazzetti and R. Bartnikas, Comparative PD Pulse
Burst Characteristics of Transformer Type Natural and Synthetic Ester
Fluids and Mineral Oils, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 16,
No. 6, pp.1511-1518, December 2009.
A. Contin, A. Cavallini, G.C. Montanari, G. Pasini and F. Puletti,
Digital detection and fuzzy classification of partial discharge signals,
IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 9, pp. 335-348, 2002.
A. Cavallini, S. Chandrasekar and Gian Carlo Montanari, Inferring
Ceramic Insulator Pollution by an Innovative Approach Resorting to PD
Detection, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol.14, No. 1, pp.2329, 2007.

1259

[26] A. Cavallini, A. Contin, G.C. Montanari and F. Puletti, Advanced PD

inference in on-field measurements. Part I. Noise rejection, IEEE
Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 10, pp. 216-224, 2003.
[27] A. Cavallini, M. Conti, A. Contin and G.C. Montanari, Advanced PD
Inference in On-Field Measurements. Part.2: Identification of Defects in
Solid insulation Systems, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 10,
pp. 528-538, 2003.
[28] D. Imamovic, K. X.Lai, N.A. Muhamad, B.T. Phung and T.R.
Blackburn, Partial Discharge and Dissolved Gas Analysis In BioDegradable Transformer Oil, Proc. Cigre 2007 Colloquium, pp.1-7,
2007.
[29] M. Pompili, Partial discharge development and detection in dielectric
liquid, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 16, No.6, pp.16481654, 2009.
[30] M. Pompili and R. Bartnikas, On Partial Discharge Measurement in
Dielectric Liquids, IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 19, No. 5,
pp.1476-1481, 2012.

Gian Carlo Montanari (M87-SM90-F00) is

currently Full Professor of Electrical Technology at
the Department of Electrical Engineering of the
University of Bologna, and teaches courses on
Technology, Reliability and Asset Management. He
has worked since 1979 in the field of aging and
endurance of solid insulating materials and systems,
of diagnostics of electrical systems andinnovative
electrical
materials
(magnetics,
electrets,
superconductors). He has been also engaged in the
fields of power quality and energy market, power electronics, reliability and
statistics of electrical systems, as well as smart grids. He is IEEE Fellow and
member of AEI and Institute of Physics. Since 1996 he has been President of
the Italian Chapter of the IEEE DEIS. He is an Associate Editor of IEEE
Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation. He is founder and
President of the spin-off TechImp, established on 1999. He is author or
coauthor of about 650 scientific papers.

S. Chandrasekar was born in India, in 1975. He

received the B.E. degree in Electrical and Electronics
Engineering
from
Thiagarajar
College
of
Engineering, Madurai in 1996 and M.E degree in
Power Systems Engineering from Coimbatore
Institute of Technology, Coimbatore in India in 2001
and the Ph.D. degree from the Indian Institute of
Technology Madras, India in 2005. He was a
postdoctoral research fellow at the University of
Bologna, Italy from 2005 to 2006. He is a member of
IEEE and ISTE. He is author or coauthor of about 90 technical research
papers. Presently he is working as a Dean (R&D) and Professor at
Gnanamani College of Technology. He is the head of GnanEXPERT (Electric
Power Engineering Research and Testing Centre). His research interests
include high performance power converters, condition monitoring of power
apparatus and systems, insulation engineering, signal processing and artificial
intelligence techniques applications in electric power engineering.