OIL IMMERSED TRANSFORMER INSULATION VALUE BASIC AND TUTORIALS

(Standard Handbook for Electrical Engineers), is depended on very largely to help insulate the transformer; this is done by providing liberal oil ducts between coils and between groups of coils, in addition to the solid insulation. The oil ducts thus serve the double purpose of insulating and cooling the windings.

Since the oil is a very important part of the insulation, every effort is made in modern transformers to preserve both its insulating and cooling qualities. Oxidation and moisture are the chief causes of deterioration.

Oil takes into solution about 15 percent by volume of whatever gas is in contact with it. In the open-type transformer, oil rapidly darkens, owing to the effects of oxygen in solution in the oil and the oxygen in contact with the top surface of the hot oil.

1. Expansion tank (or conservator). One of the first devices used to reduce oxidation was the expansion tank (or conservator), which consisted of a small tank mounted above and connected with the main tank by means of a constricted connection so that the small tank could act as a reservoir to take up the expansion and contraction of the oil due to temperature changes and reduce the oil surface exposed to air.

2. Inertaire transformer. This transformer has the space above the oil in the tank filled with a cushion of inert gas which is mostly nitrogen. The nitrogen atmosphere is initially blown in from a cylinder of compressed nitrogen and is thereafter maintained by passing the inbreathing air through materials which remove the moisture and the oxygen, permitting dry nitrogen to pass into the case.

A breathing regulator, which consists of a mercury U tube with unequal legs, allows inbreathing of nitrogen when the pressure in the case is only slightly below atmospheric, but prevents outbreathing unless the pressure in the case becomes 5 psi (34,474 Pa) higher than atmospheric pressure.

The elimination of oxygen from within the transformer case eliminates the oxidation of the oil and prevents fire and secondary explosion within the case.