Silicone oil when new contains a saturated amount of oxygen. In the initial years of operations, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide will be generated. As the transformer ages, oxygen is depleted, generation of these gasses slows and plateau off after a few years of operations assuming without any faults. The generation rates of these gases should be relatively constant from normal aging after that. Which is why it is very important to start DGA immediately and start plotting the graph curves and track these changes. Without a graph, it is almost impossible to make a judgement.
Comparison of Silicone Oil and Mineral Oil.
- Silicone oil-filled transformer will have a great deal more CO than normal mineral oil-filled transformers. CO comes from the oil itself and from degradation of paper insulation. It is therefore if DGA indicated little other fault in gas generation besides CO, the only way to tell for certain if CO is coming from paper degradation is through furan analysis. If other gasses are involved, there obviously is a fault and paper degradation was accelerated.
- Hydrogen level is generally higher comparatively to Mineral oil filled transformer.
- Due to "fault masking" environment with Silicone oil, DGA lost many of its fault finding capabilities. One exception is acetylene that points to an active arcing. It is then very important to continually track the gas generation rates and operating history. Records, records, records!
- Oxygen level will be high during new and consumed over its life by the generation of CO and CO2.
- Any spike in O2, CO2 and N2 after a few plateau reading would very likely indicate a leak to atmosphere.
Due to the rather infancy stage of Silicone Oil usage, these gas limit extracts are use as a reference and will change over time as the world gain more experience dealing with them. Use it with care. This is a Doble 95% Norm limits of 299 operating transformers, which are more conservative in some way than IEEE limits.
Hydrogen 511ppm
Methane 134ppm
Ethane 26ppm
Ethylene 17ppm
Acetylene 1ppm
CO 1750ppm
CO2 15480ppm
Total Combustibles 2000ppm
Methane 134ppm
Ethane 26ppm
Ethylene 17ppm
Acetylene 1ppm
CO 1750ppm
CO2 15480ppm
Total Combustibles 2000ppm
Keep in mind that the amount of gas is not the key. The key is the generation rate of the gasses. Refer to IEC 60599 for the generation rates. G1 rates should raised concerns along with sampling rates increased and expert opinions seeked. G2 rates should be an immediate extreme concern that the reaching the L3 - high limit of IEEE will happen very quickly. Consideration should be taken to take it offline.
A reference of physical test limits for service-aged silicone fluid
Test Acceptable limits Unacceptable values indicated ASTM method
Visual Clear free of particles Particulates, free water D1524, D2129
Dielectric breakdown 30kV Particulates, dissolved water D877
Water content max. 70ppm(Doble) 100ppm (IEEE) Dissolved water contamination D1533
Power Factor max@25degC 0.2 Polar/ionic contamination D924
Viscosity at 25degC, cSt 47.5-52.5 Fluid degradation contamination D44
Acid number 0.1(Doble) 0.2(IEEE) Degradation of cellulose or contamination D974
Reference of this article:
- Transformers: Basics, Maintenance, and Diagnostics - Reclamation, US Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation, April 2005.
- Trial-Use Guide for the Interpretation of Gases Generated in Silicone-Immersed Transformers, IEEE P1258, 1999.
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