Project Report

on

Shunt Reactor
Maintenance & Testing
 Reactors
• Used in high voltage long lines & bus.
• compensate capacitive generation from long lightly loaded
overhead lines to avoid non-controlled voltage rise on lightly
loaded lines
• Capacitive energy is balanced with reactive energy

 Maintains grid voltages within

limits – under lightly loaded Fixed Reactors
condition
 Controls over voltages under Switchable Reactors
abnormal conditions
 Takes care of switching Controlled Reactors
transients
 Suppresses secondary arcs
Reactor & Transformer
Transformer Reactor
Transfers energy from
Absorbs energy
one circuit to the other
Construction
Contd .
• Magnetizing Circuit : Gapped Core or Shell type Core
• Electric Circuit : Winding, Insulation and Bracings
• Terminals : Bushings and Leads
• Tank : Oil, Cooling devices, Conservators and
Auxiliaries
• ACCESSORIES:
1. Terminals and Bushings including Bushing CT
2. Marshalling Box
3. Oil Conservator
4. Magnetic Oil Gauge
5. Breather
6. Oil Temperature Indicator
7. Winding Temperature Indicator
8. Buchholz Relay
9. Pressure relief device
 Connections

facilitate voltage control in a

High transmission system
voltage bus

Shunt
reactors
control charging over voltages
Line end by partially compensating
shunt capacitance in EHV lines
The gapped core concept permits high flux densities in confined
and controlled areas to reach a small overall size of the shunt
reactor and thus low total losses.

NGRs are connected to reactor banks in order to suppress

secondary arcs after isolation of primary single phase faults and
also to limit the single line-to-ground fault level to around line-to-
line fault level.

•Controlled switching device:

 To minimise current and voltage transients caused by switching
on protection systems, it is good practice to use point-on-wave
switching to connect and disconnect shunt reactors. The
optimum point-on-wave for switching is at or near the current
zero.
Failure modes & Mechanisms
• Failure – Maintainable & non-maintainable
• Major failure modes:
 Insulation degradation
 Winding Failure
 Partial discharge
 Bushing Failure
 Loss of sealing, blocking of pressure relief devices,
loss of core camping force
Condition monitoring norms -
• TBCM: Time Based Condition Monitoring
• CBM: Condition Based Maintenance
• OLCM: On-line Condition Monitoring
• TBM: Time Based Maintenance
Various maintenance activities are
 Monthly
 Half Yearly
 Yearly
 Two Yearly
 Four Yearly
 SOS
Monthly Maintenance
• Carried out without shutdown
• The following parameters are checked
• Bushing Oil Level
• Oil Level in Conservator
• Checking of Oil seal and leakage
• Oil level in breather oil seal
• Condition of Silica Gel
• Manual starting of Oil Pumps and Fans
• Monitoring of Online Dry-out system
Contd.

 Silica gel is blue in color when active, but turns pink when saturated.
Due to temperature difference, air is breathed in or out. That air
comes along with moisture and dust particles. That moisture is
absorbed by silica gel.

 If the silica gel in the breather has turned pink, it should

immediately be replaced with a blue one. The saturated silica gels
can be utilized again for two or three times by heating it in an oven
in order to release the absorbed moisture contents from it.

 The silica gel breather cup is partially filled with oil to avoid entering
of moisture and other unwanted particles into the Reactor tank. If
the oil in the cup is over filled, then while breathing in, the oil gets
into contact and absorbed by the silica gel resulting in the loss of the
ability of getting reactivated again of the silica gel.
Half yearly maintenance
• Carried out without shutdown

• Testing of Oil for DGA, BDV and other Oil parameters

determining the quantity of composition of gases the type
and severity of fault can be inferred

• BDV strength is measured in order to ensure di-electric

strength of Oil. This can be improved by filtering and drying.

• Mechanical and electrical faults may rise following short

circuits, local overheating at hot spots or leakage flux and
eddy currents in the core, and partial discharge or arcing at
areas of high stress. Decomposition products from
breakdown of the oil, paper or insulating boards, and glue
are transported through the transformer by the coolant oil.
Contd.

• Some of these products are low molecular weight gases

dissolved in the oil and can be identified by gas
chromatography. Others indicating solid degradation includes
furans, cresols, and phenols that can be detected by liquid
chromatography.

• Key Gas Characteristic Fault:

 H2 Partial Discharge
 C2 H6 Thermal Fault ≤300 C o

 C2 H4 Thermal Fault 300 C to 700 C

o o

 C2 H2, C2 H4 Thermal Fault ≥700 C

o

 C2 H2, H2 Arcing
 .
Contd

• Among all those above mentioned Furans; 2FAL is stable for

years. Others tend to form and then degrade to 2FAL after a
long period.
Yearly maintenance
• Carried out with shutdown
• External Cleaning of Radiators and all bushings
• Checking of local/remote indications of WTI
• Alarm/Trip test
• Auto-starting of fan & pumps.
• Application of insulating coating on PRD, Buchholz relay to
prevent mal-operation due to moisture.
• Marshalling Box Maintenance.
• Online moisture estimation
• Core insulation test between CC-G, CL-G & CC-CL by removing
shorting link between CC, CL & G and applying 3.5 kV DC
• Tan-delta of Bushings.
Contd.

• Online monitoring of moisture in oil:

 Assessing the moisture content in insulation is a key factor to ensure
the reliability and longevity of a reactor.
 Moisture affects the dielectric breakdown strength of solid and
liquid insulation, affects the rate the cellulose insulation ages, and
the propensity for bubble evolution during overloads. Ambient
temperature, loading, aging, leaks and other factors cause the level
of moisture to change continuously.
 Doble’s Moisture in Oil sensor, DOMINO®, measures the relative
saturation and temperature of the insulating fluid and calculates the
moisture concentration in parts per million.
 Relative Saturation (RS): RS is expressed in units of percent, and is the
concentration of water in the oil relative to the solubility or
concentration of water the oil can hold at the measurement
temperature.
Contd.

Core Insulation test:-

• The ground-connection terminals for the transformer or reactor
active part are located in a box at the tank end, close to the bottom.
The terminals are protected by a cover that can be removed with
the tank oil-filled.

• The terminal box contains a terminal block with three terminals:

 The terminal marked CL is connected to the core laminations.
 The terminal marked CC is connected to the core clamps.
 The terminal marked G is connected to ground (the tank)

• For core-insulation to ground test, the cover of the terminal block is

removed, closing link that connects the two terminals CL-G is
disconnected. 3.5 kV direct voltage is applied between CL and CC +
G (core grounding strap). The tank shall be grounded during the
test.
 Min value should be 1000 K-Ohm for 1 min.
Contd.

• Tan delta measurement of Bushing (with S/D)

assesses the integrity of the insulation system of the
bushing
C1 test checks C2 test checks
• Health of the bushing’s main • The bushing tap compartment’s
core insulation insulation
• outermost main core insulating wraps
• surrounding filler material
• (not practiced now-a-days)

Measurement indicates

 Chemical deterioration due to ageing and localized

overheating
 Contamination by water, carbon deposits, bad oil, dirt etc.
 Severe leakages through cracks.
Contd.
An increase of tan delta above a typical value may indicate many
conditions.

I. If the dissipation factor varies significantly with voltage down to some

voltage below which it is substantially constant, then ionization is
indicated.
II. An increase in dissipation factor accompanied with a marked increase
in capacitance usually indicates excessive moisture in the insulation.
Increase of dissipation factor alone may be caused by thermal
deterioration or by contamination other than water.

Equivalent Circuit of Insulation

Contd.

• Tan Delta = Resistive Current (Ir)

Capacitive Current(Ic)
• The more the resistive component of the current, the more
will be the dissipation factor indicating the deterioration of
the insulation.

The bushings are measured in the UST mode. The winding to

Ground insulation is measured in the GST connection.

It is preferred to measure the winding Capacitance & Tan-delta

using the GSTg connection, as this measures the winding ONLY,
with all the bushings guarded.
Contd.

Procedure:-
• Tan Delta Test tap of all the bushings are disconnected from ground
and shorting of all the bushing is done including the neutral with a
bare braided copper wire. Earthing is removed & NGR is to be
isolated before performing the test.

• High voltage lead from Test kit is connected to HV terminal of the

reactor and Low Voltage cable red or blue is connected to the test
tap of one phase.

• Voltages at 2kV and then 10kV are applied in UST mode and the
values are recorded. Care is taken to avoid interference from other
energized equipment.

• Same procedure is followed for all the remaining phases and

neutral bushing by shifting the LV cable to other test taps.
Contd.

• For Reactor winding the test is done in GST mode. If in the

process of measurement of Tan Delta, any value found is
abnormally high, that bushing is guarded out by means of
GSTg mode and then the reading is recorded for winding
insulation.

• As per permissible limits the maximum value of Tan Delta

should not exceed 0.007 at 200C.

• Rate of change of Tan  and capacitance should be marginal.

Tan  should not vary more than 0.001 from previous value.
Capacitance value should vary in between +10%, -5%.

• If tan-delta value has been exceeded 0.6% then Tan delta &
Capacitance measurement of bushing should be done half-
yearly.
Contd.
Two yearly activity
• Vibration Measurement (without S/D)
• Vibration is caused due to movement of core-coil assembly
& Shielding structure
• This causes excessive stress on the core-coil assembly

• Noise test- The sound intensity method should be used for

noise measurements, as this will better exclude the noise from
the test transformer.

• Neutral Earth Resistance Measurement- Permissible value is

≤2 Ohms.
Four yearly activity:-
• Tan Delta Measurement of Reactor Windings

• Winding Resistance Measurement

• Insulation Resistance Measurement

• Checking & calibration of OTI & WTI settings should be

done. All Alarm & Trip tests (WTI, OTI, PRD, differential,
over-current & MOG low oil level etc). After testing the
maximum temp indicator (red pointer) to be brought back to original
position.
Contd.

• Insulation Resistance Measurement – a shutdown activity that

checks
 condition of insulation – cracks & degradation
 presence of foreign contamination in oil – dirt, moisture

 It is defined as ratio of applied voltage (DC) to total leakage current

(capacitive/charging, dielectric absorption and conduction currents).

 Changes in the normal IR value indicate abnormal conditions such as

presence of moisture, dirt, crack in insulator and degradation of
insulation.

 Dielectric Absorption Ratio = IR value after 60 seconds

IR value after 15 seconds
 Polarization Index Ratio = IR value after 600 seconds
IR value after 60 seconds
Contd.
• Insulation Resistance Measurement:
IR measurements shall be taken between the windings collectively (i.e.
with all the windings being connected together) and the earthed tank
(earth) and between each winding and the tank, the rest of the
windings being earthed. Before taking measurements the neutral should
be disconnected from earth.
 Value should be minimum 500M for new transformer & Reactor.

Insulation Resistance =
Applied Voltage
-----------------------------
Total leakage current
Contd.

• Absorption Coefficient should be more than 1.3

• Polarisation Index should be more than 2

Polarization index Insulation condition

• Less than 1 Dangerous
• 1.0-1.1 Poor
• 1.1-1.25 Questionable
• 1.25-2.0 Fair
• 2.0-4.0 Good
• Above 4.0 Excellent
Contd.
.

Winding Resistance Measurement:–

• It is a shutdown activity that checks abnormalities due to
 Loose connections
 Broken strands

• This is measured in the field in order to check abnormalities due to

loose connections, broken strands and to be compared with the
measured values at the factory and previous field tests.

• As the winding resistance is low, the measurement is done with the

help of Kelvin Double Bridge/ Transformer Ohm Meter. As winding
resistances are temperature sensitive, it is to be measured when
temperature is stable, and obtained values are to be converted to
the values at temp 75◦C.

• Winding resistance at 75 degC may be calculated as-

R75=Rt(235+75)/(235+t)
Where Rt= Resistance measured at winding temp t
SOS & Other activities:-
• SFRA (Sweep Frequency Response Analysis)-
FRA represents a systems response to a sinusoidal input at
varying frequencies.
FRA is a tool to detect mechanical changes to reactor windings.
FRA can be used to assess damages:
1. following a through fault
2. during transportation
3. following a seismic event

• Thermo-vision scanning of tank, joints and connectors in order to

detect the hot-spots due to local heat dissipation.
Tests performed on NGR:-
 IR measurement.
 Winding resistance measurement.
 Core-Clamp insulation measurement (if violation of DGA is
observed).
 Tan-delta of bushing
CONCLUSION:-

• It can be concluded that out of all the Preventive Maintenance

Schedule formulated for Shunt Reactor, Tan Delta
measurement of bushing is the most important aspect which
needs extreme care for proper results.

• From the history of Shunt Reactor reports, it is found that

most of the faults attributed to Shunt Reactor are bushing
failure owing to degradation of its insulation which may be
due to various reasons. Other common failure modes include
mechanical and thermal.

• Bushing reliability is a challenge for shunt reactors. It can be

improved by selection of appropriate bushings and hopefully
also by monitoring in operation.
Thank You