An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

IMPACT OF USING ANTIOXIDANTS ON THE BREAKDOWN

VOLTAGE PROPERTIES OF NATURAL ESTER INSULATION OIL
Sharin Ab Ghani1,2, Nor Asiah Mohamad1, Zulkarnain Ahmad Noorden1, Hidayat Zainuddin2
and Nur Farhani Ambo2
1

Institute of High Voltage and High Current (IVAT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor Bahru, Johor,
Malaysia
2
High Voltage Engineering Research Laboratory, Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka
sharinag@utem.edu.my

Abstract: In power transformer applications, an attempt has been made to replace mineral oil with natural ester
insulating (NEI) oil due to environmental issues becomes more concern. However, NEI oil is prone to oxidation due
to its poor oxidative stability which can be improved by adding the antioxidants to the oil. Besides, recent studies
also showed that the use of selected antioxidants also improves the breakdown voltage (BDV) of the oil. Throughout
this study, the breakdown voltage test is conducted according to ASTM D1816 with 1mm gap using Megger
OTS60PB. Based on the test results obtained, it is proves that by adding antioxidants have increases BDV of NEI
oils. From the results, it is found that the addition of PG antioxidants to NEI oil gave a highest percentage of
enhancements in terms of BDV compared to the addition of DBPC and CA antioxidants.
Keywords: Insulation oils, natural esters, antioxidants, breakdown voltage

INTRODUCTION
A transformer is one of the key components in a power network which converts voltage and
transfers energy. The reliability of a power transformer is largely determined by its insulation condition
[1]. In liquid-filled transformers, the insulating liquid plays two important functions; providing the
electrical insulation and serve as a coolant by absorbing the temperature occurring in transformer winding
and core [2, 3]. For more than hundred years, liquid-immersed transformers have been mainly filled with
mineral oil due to its wide availability, its good properties, and its low cost. Due to environmental issues
becoming more concerns, it is important to use a product with a high biodegradability and more
environmental friendly. Thus, the recent availability of natural ester fluids based on vegetable oils has
provided a new insulating liquid for use with transformers [2]. Nowadays, researches on the viability of
using natural ester-based insulating (NEI) oils as one of the alternatives to replace the mineral oils in
power transformers are gaining much attention due to the excellent biodegradability, higher fire point and
good dielectric properties they possess such as breakdown voltage. Besides, NEI oil could increase the
life span of a transformer because of its better hydrophilic property compared to the conventional mineral
oils [4].
However, NEI oil has the disadvantage such that it has low pour point which makes it less
suitable in cold climate temperatures. Besides, NEI oil also seems to be prone to oxidation due to its low
oxidation stability. Thus, the researchers are now focused on improving the properties of NEI oil for use
in transformers. In order to improve the oxidation stability of NEI oil, antioxidants are added into the oils.
In general, antioxidants are compounds that delays or slow down oxidation process of transformer oil [5].

In this study, three different types of single antioxidants; 2,6-di-tert-butyl-pcresol (DBPC),

propyl gallate (PG) and citric acid (CA) are added into NEI oil separately. In addition, recent
studies also showed that by applying selected antioxidants mixtures in NEI oil also improves its
breakdown voltage (BDV). Therefore, in this study, the effect of the antioxidants to NEI oil is assessed
through its breakdown voltage.

An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

METHODOLOGY
This section describes the process involved during the project implementation which is illustrated
in a flowchart shown in Figure 1.

Start

Selection of transformer oil and antioxidants

Sample preparation
BDV test on the samples

Analysis of results

End
Figure 1 : Flowchart of project implementation

A.

Sample preparation

A 500 ml of rapeseed-based NEI oil was heated at a melting point of the antioxidant by using
magnetic stirrer with hotplate. When the oil reaches that melting point, the antioxidant was added to the
heated oil. The concentration of antioxidant added to the oil was set to 0.3% by weight of the oil. Then,
the mixture was dispersed uniformly at a constant speed of 750 rpm until the antioxidant dissolved
completely in the oil. Lastly, the oil was cooled down to a room temperature in a vacuum drying oven
before proceed with breakdown voltage test [5].

B.

Breakdown voltage test

This testing was complied with ASTM D1816 standards using Megger OTS60PB where the gap
between the VDE electrodes shape A (mushroom-type) was set to 1 mm. 50 numbers of BDV test are
taken in order to analyze by using Weibull distribution.

An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

FINDINGS
BDV test for all samples have been carried out using Megger OTS60PB with 1 mm gap following
the ASTM D1816 standard. To increase the accuracy and the reliability of the result, 50 data of BDV was
collected and plotted using Weibull distribution using Minitab software (evaluated version) as shown in
Figure 2. Weibull distribution is used to estimate BDV values of the tested oil (with lower Weibull
breakdown probabilities at 63.2%). Furthermore, the percentage of enhancement as given in Table 2
shows the individual effect of DBPC, PG and CA antioxidant to the breakdown voltage of NEI oil,
respectively.

Figure 2: Weibull Plot of Overall Oil Samples

Based on Table 1, the addition of PG antioxidant to the oil shows the highest percentage of
enhancement compared to the other two types of antioxidants (DBPC and CA). The reason such that
addition of PG antioxidant enhanced the breakdown voltage of NEI oil is associated due to their aromatic
molecule structures. In this case, the aromatic molecule structure can be found in PG antioxidant chemical
structure. According to Walker et al. [6] and Bolliger et al. [7], the aromatic compounds tend to influence
the chemical behaviour and physical properties of the insulating oil. The presence of aromatic contents
will alter the gassing tendency of the insulation oil to more gas absorbing rather than gas evolving.
This gas absorbing properties will helps in eliminating the gaseous channels and suppresses the
probability of discharge occurrence. Hence, it will enhance breakdown voltage of the insulation oil.

An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

Table 1: Percentage Enhancement in Breakdown Voltage of NEI Oil with Antioxidants

NEI Oil (FO)

NO + DBPC
NO + PG
NO + CA

Breakdown Voltage
(kV/mm)
23.4333
20.1792
29.2138
21.2559

Percentage of Enhancement
(%)
-14
25
-9

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, the effect of antioxidants added to NEI oils is assessed through the breakdown voltage
(BDV) test by complying ASTM D1816 standard. In this study, NEI oils used is Midel eN (rapeseed
based) while DBPC, PG and CA antioxidants is selected to be added to the NEI oil to enhance its BDV.
However, after conducting series of experiments, the results shows that only PG antioxidants gives the
promising effect of enhancement to the breakdown voltage of NEI oil compared to DBPC and CA
antioxidants.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Malaysian Ministry of
Higher Education (MOHE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka (UTeM) under the following grants: FRGS/1/2015/TK04/FKE/03/F00262.

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