2016 International Conference on Condition Monitoring and Diagnosis - Xi'an - China

Understanding Online Frequency Response

Signatures for Transformer Winding Deformation:
Axial Displacement Simulation

Zhongyong Zhaoi, Syed Islam2, Naser Hashemnii, Di Hui, Chenguo Yaoi

l. State Key Laboratory of Power Transmission Equipment & System Security and New Technology,
School of Electrical Engineering, Chongqing University
Chongqing, China
zhaozhongyong@cqu.edu.cn
2. Curtin University
Perth, Western Australia

Abstract- The power transformer is considered as the most controllable pulse signal into the winding terminal through the
critical and expensive device in substation, however, the bushing capacitive coupling, which was proven to be feasible
irreversible transformer winding mechanical deformation can and practicable in previous study [4, 5]. Online FRA still relies
eventually develop into catastrophic failure if no further steps are on graphic comparison of signatures, however, there is little
taken in a proper way, which would cause the outage of reference regarding the features of online FRA signatures
transformer and the significant economic losses. Online
variation induced by winding specific deformation mode. This
frequency response analysis (FRA) has been proven to be a
paper particularly studies the characteristic of online FRA
promising tool for condition monitoring and diagnosing of
signatures under the winding axial displacement mode, in
winding deformation. Online FRA relies on graphic comparison
which the 3D finite element electromagnetic analysis and
of signatures, but up to now, there is no standard and practical
online transformer equivalent high frequency electrical model
interpretation code for signatures classification and
quantification. This paper particularly studies the characteristic
are established as auxiliary tools to precisely emulate winding
of online FRA signatures under the winding axial displacement
axial displacement.
mode, in which the 3D finite element electromagnetic analysis
II. ONLINE EQUIVALENT HIGH FREQUENCY ELECTRICAL
and online transformer equivalent high frequency electrical
MODEL OF TRANSFORMER
model are established as auxiliary tools to precisely emulate
winding axial displacement. Results of this simulation will Online equivalent high frequency electrical model of
provide guidance on understanding online frequency response transformer, in which the capacitance, inductance and
signatures. resistance are incorporated, is adopted to produce FRA
signature with resonance and anti-resonance. Maxwell software
Keywords-transformer; winding axial displacement; online of ANSYS is used to model the transformer and calculate the
frequency response analysis; finite element analysis; equivalent equivalent electrical parameters in different solvers [6]. The
electrical model.
simulated transformer is a three-phase, 50 Hz, specially
I. INTRODUCTION manufactured transformer, the rated voltage ratio is 11 kV/412
V. The HV winding is delta connection and the LV winding is
Power transformers are important facilities in power star connection. The 2D sectional view of transformer winding
network, and it will definitely cause significant economic is shown in Fig. 1, there are 6 disks in both HV and LV
losses to power utility if the catastrophic failure results in the winding, and 1134 turns in HV side.
outage of transformer. Additionally, the repair of a faulty
power transformer is generally high cost and time-consuming,
which will further decrease the economic benefits to stock
holders [1]. Thus, it is necessary and meaningful to ensure the
normal operation of power transformer. Statics shows that
winding mechanical deformation is one of the common faults
inside the transformer [2]. However, winding deformation has
a cumulative effect, which is hardly explored at the incipient
stage because the minor fault would have insignificant impact
on the normal operation of power facility. Nowadays, condition
monitoring technique makes it possible to real-time monitor the
status of power transformer when it is in service. Online Fig. 1. 20 sectional view of transformer winding.
frequency response analysis (online FRA) method seems to be
a promising tool to diagnose the winding minor deformation Suppose the parametric variation of three-phase winding is
when it is in normal operation [3]. One mean of small and the three-phase FRA signatures are identical, only
implementation to achieve the online FRA is injecting the one phase winding is modeled and simulated to obtain

978-1-5090-3396-6/16/$3l.00 ©2016 IEEE 404

electrical parameters in this paper for reducing the
computational complexity, which is workable in engineering
because the three-phase FRA signatures of a health transformer
are basically identical. The FEM model of transformer is
presented in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. FEM Model of transformer (one phase).
According to the electrical parameters of healthy
transformer calculated by ANSYS Maxwell, the online
equivalent high frequency electrical mode is established. As
shown in Fig. 3, three-phase electrical parameters of healthy
transformer are identical. In the electrical model, 6-disk units
are in series, each unit of HV and LV side is represented by
series resistance Rs and inductance Ls, shunted by a capacitance
Cs and a conductance Gs• The dielectric insulation (oil)
CT
Fig. 3. Online equivalent high frequency electrical model of transformer.
III. IMPACT OF WINDING AXIAL DISPLACEMENT ON
EQulVALENT ELECTRICAL PARAMETERS
This paper studies the characteristic of online FRA
signatures under winding axial displacement fault by means of
combining 3D finite element electromagnetic analysis and
equivalent electrical model simulation. The key point is to
obtain the impact of winding axial displacement on equivalent
electrical parameters. Axial displacement fault is set in phase A
winding. The flow chart of simulation study is shown in Fig. 4.
The simulation steps are as followes. (1) Build the FEM model
between the LV winding and the core, and between the HV
winding and the tank, are simulated by a capacitance Cg,
shunted by a dielectric conductance G. The capacitance CHL
between HV winding and LV winding shunted by dielectric
conductance G simulate the insulation condition between two
windings, and mutual inductance Mij between two coils are
included. HV winding is Delta connection, LV winding is Star
connection with neutral point grouded. A capacitance Cc
formed by bushing capacitive coupling sensor is connected to
the pulse source and the inner conductor of bushing, which is
used to inject the excitation pulse signal when transformer is in
service. Both the bushings of HV and LV side are pure
porcelain bushing, there is no bushing tap and the stray
inductance is ignored. In addition, the winding is connected to
the bus line, which is represented by an equivalent
characteristic impedance.
Take phase A winding for example, if HV side of phase A
needs to be monitored, excitation pulse signal Vin is injected to
HV bushing of phase A winding, response voltage Vout is
measured at HV bushing of phase C winding, both Vin and Vout
are used to construct online FRA signature. If LV side of phase
A needs to be monitored, excitation pulse signal Vin is injected
to LV bushing of phase A winding, response current lout is
measured at neutral point, both Vin and lout are used to construct
online FRA signature.
/011'
of health transformer in software of ANSYS Maxwell. (2)
Calculate winding capacitance, inductance and resistance in
different solvers, establish the online equivalent high frequency
electrical model as shown in Fig. 3. (3) Conduct transient
simulation in electrical model, record time domain excitation
and response signal, and obtain the online FRA signatures of
tested winding by fast Fourier transform. (4) Emulate winding
axial displacement fault in FEM model, follow step (2) and (3),
and obtain online FRA signatures of faulty transformer. (5)
Analyze the signatures of health and faulty transformer, and
summarize the simulation.
405
 ,------{( Stal·t ) axial displacement extent of HV winding, the definition of
vertical axis is shown in Equation (1),

(1)

where Xh is the equivalent electrical parameter of health

transformer, Xd is the equivalent electrical parameter of faulty
transformer, and Pv is the parameter variation.
y
Fig. 6 shows that both the capacitance and the coupling
"-------+<CEmulate fault coefficient between HV and LV winding decrease when axial
displacement fault happens, and the reduction of parameter is
more obvious with the increasing severity of the fault. In
(__
E'd
I_ � }1 aI_ S_iS
_A n_ Y
,----- -----"
addition, the degree change of capacitance is much larger than
that of inductance [7].
Fig. 4. Flow chart of simulation.
IV. ONLINE FREQUENCY RESPONSE SIGNATURES
The FEM model of winding axial displacement fault is
The calculated equivalent electrical parameters of health
shown in Fig. 5, the fault is set in HV winding, and the
and faulty transformer are used to perform electrical simulation
direction of axial displacement is downward. The larger extent
in Fig. 3, and to obtain the online frequency response
of axial displacement, the more severity of winding fault. The
signatures following the principle of chapter II.
axial displacement faults of 5 mm, 10 mm and 15mm are
emulated, which represent three different fault severity.
-- health
..........·Smm
-80 . . .
- - - • 10mm

-----·1Smm
-90

en -100
�
c
'iii
<.'J -110

(a) axial displacement of 10 mm (b) axial displacement of 15 mm. -130 �

Fig. 5. FEM model of winding axial displacement fault.
-140 lL-----''-----'--- _----'_---"-_---"-_---'-_-'--_-'--_--'--_--'
o 100 200 300 400 SOO 600 700 800 900 1000
Frequency (kHz)

Fig. 7. Online frequency response signature of phase B and C LV winding.

-2

-4

�
--health
. Smm
II
c ..........

B
-70
.:g A\
-6
/1'\\ ----- 1Smm
-.-.-.. 10mm
ro
Ii
,
>

ij;
-80
H
I \'--- ..../
1ii -8
E A /\
!" I fl .
I \� ,,/
ro
-90

'I
1\
"-
en
__
-10
:; -100
'-
/ .......
I
'iii
-12 -e-- capacitance between HV and LV disk <.'J

L-_---"-__-'--__--'---_- _'---_----'__-'--__-' /
-110
-e-- coupling coefficient between HV and LV disk

-14
o O.S 1.S 2.S 3 3.S -120
(%)
Axial displacement extent
I
\ 'i
-130
Fig. 6. Variation of equivalent electrical parameters corresponding to axial \1
displacement extent. -140 '------''--'---'--"---"---'
o 100 200 300 400 SOO 600 700 800 900 1000
Frequency (kHz)
The variation of equivalent electrical parameters
corresponding to axial displacement extent is shown in Fig. 6, Fig. 8. Online frequency response signature of phase B and C HV winding.
in which the horizontal axis is the percentage corresponding to

406
 -70

-80
r----c---,-----c---;====;r

C]) �� :� : � -- health

��: m
the entire frequency band of 0-1000 kHz compared with the
health signature, the shift of resonance and anti-resonance are
obvious in middle (100-600 kHz) and high frequency (600-
1000 kHz) band. In addition, with the increase of axial

�
� displacement fault extent, the shift of signatures corresponding
,.
'
----- 15mm
i
-90
j\ i\ to faulty transformer are much more apparent.

J\ J[\
en -100 V. CONCLUSION
�

An online equivalent high frequency electrical model of

c:

J:j.':[AJ :1 ffi\ 1
"iii
(9 -110
___ three-phase transformer was established by parameter
-120
calculation in finite element software. Winding axial
displacement fault was precisely emulated and the equivalent
I� ;: electrical parameter variation was obtained. It turns out the
�
·' .
-130
capacitance and coupling coefficient between HV and LV
I �''"" ." "'R�r'�)
L_---�-�-��.-'-��---�--�-�-�-�------'
-140e..
..,
winding decrease with variable axial displacement fault extents.
o 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
The calculated electrical parameters of health and faulty
Frequency (kHz)
transfonner were used to obtain online frequency response
Fig. 9. Online frequency response signature of phase A LV winding. signatures under different conditions. The signatures obtained
at non-faulty phases keep constant due to the suppression
function of bus characteristic impedance, and the signatures
obtained at faulty phase are shift towards to low frequency
band compared with health signature, regardless of HV and LV
-70
winding.
-80
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
-90 This work was supported by the National Natural Science
en
Foundation of China (No. 51377175) and China Scholarship
:; -100
'iii Council.
(9
-110
REFERENCES
-120 [I] C. G. Yao, Z. Y. Zhao, Y. Mi, C. X. Li, Y. F. Liao, and G. C. Qian,
"Improved online monitoring method for transformer winding
-130 deformations based on the lissajous graphical analysis of voltage and
current",IEEE Trans. Power Del.,Vol. 30,No. 4,pp. 1965-1973,2015.

100 200 300 400 500 600
Frequency (kHz)
Fig. 10. Online frequency response signature of phase A HV winding.
As shown in Fig. 7 and 8, the online frequency response
signatures obtained at phase B and C sustain constant
regardless of the variable axial displacement fault extents in
phase A. This is because that the LV windings of phase B and
C are not directly connected with phase A. Moreover, although
the HV windings are Delta connection, the impedance of
winding is much larger than that of bus characteristic
impedance, and the signatures obtained at other phases don't
alter with the existence of fault in phase A. The bus
characteristic impedance takes effect of suppression.
As shown in Fig. 9 and 10, the online frequency response
signatures obtained at phase A alter with the axial displacement
fault. The variation of signatures obtained at HV and LV side
shows the similar trends, the overall signature of fault
transfonner is basically shift towards to the lower frequency in
700 800 900 1000
[2] M. Bagheri, M. S. Naderi, and T. Blackburn, "Advanced transformer
winding deformation diagnosis: moving from off-line to on-line", IEEE
Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul.,Vol. 19,No. 6,pp. 1860-1870,2012.
[3] E. G. Luna,G. A. Mayor,C. G. Garcia,and J. P. Guerra, "Current status
and future trends in frequency-response analysis with a transformer in
service", IEEE Trans. Power Del.,Vol. 28,No. 2,pp. 1024-1031,2013.
[4] C. G. Yao, Z. Y. Zhao, Y. Chen, X. Z. Zhao, Z. J. Li, Y. Wang, Z. H.
Zhou,and G. Wei,"Transformer winding deformation diagnostic system
using online high frequency signal injection by capacitive coupling",
IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 21,No. 4,pp. 1486-1492,2014.
[ 5] C. G. Yao,Z. Y. Zhao, C. X. Li, X. H. Chen, Y. 1. Zhao, X. Z. Zhao, 1.
Wang, and W. Li, "Noninvasive method for online detection of internal
winding faults of 750 kv EHV shunt reactors", IEEE Trans. Dielectr.
Electr.lnsul.,Vol. 22,No. 5,pp. 2833-2840,2015.
[6] A. A. Siada, N. Hashemnia, S. Islam, and M. A. S. Masoum,
"Understanding power transformer frequency response analysis
signatures",IEEE Electr. Insul. Mag.,Vol. 29, No.3, pp. 48-56,2013.
[7] N. Hashemnia,A. A. Siada, and S. Islam, "Improved power transformer
winding fault detection using FRA diagnostics - part I axial
displacement simulation", IEEE Trans. Dielectr. Electr. Insul., Vol. 22,
No. I,pp. 556-563,2015.

407