Uncovering Your Transformers Secrets Through

Condition Monitoring
Your guide to creating an effective program

doble.com
Customers have always held the expectation of uninterrupted power. Keeping
the lights on was the only thing that mattered. But today, its more than just about
the lights. In our hyper-connected world, having power readily available to charge
up dozens of devices is the expectation anything less is unacceptable and will
result in angry consumers taking to social media to express their frustration. For
industrial users, a lack of power is even more disruptive. If teams dont have reliable
energy, they risk higher costs associated with business interruptions. Making sure
transformers are up and running and performing at the highest level is essential
for meeting customer needs, protecting the brand and ensuring success in the
power industry.

With the sheer number of transformers and other power assets, staying on top
of the condition of any one piece of equipment can be a challenge. Creating a
condition monitoring program that is appropriate, streamlined, accessible and
repeatable is necessary to uncover the secrets a transformer may be hiding that
could lead to failure. This guide shares the tools you need to build out an effective
condition monitoring program and determine which products are best for your
organizations needs.
Why condition
monitoring matters
Condition monitoring is collecting, measuring, recording and
analyzing data frequently acquired from an asset, giving you
important insight about its condition, or health. This data can be
just about anything, but commonly includes measurements like
temperature, vibration, voltage or current.

Since condition monitoring takes measurements frequently and

while the asset is still in operation, it can help expand the time
frame between regularly scheduled maintenance testing. The
result is that condition monitoring helps you make informed,
up-to-date maintenance and repair decisions. By collecting data
on an ongoing basis, you get deep insights that guide smart
choices and help you allocate resources to the areas where repair
or maintenance is most urgently needed.

What can condition monitoring tell me?

Is it even safe to operate?
Has the condition of the unit changed significantly
since the last maintenance period?
Are there any signs of deterioration or a possible
inability to perform a function that will require me to
do something?
Can I load this unit above nameplate for some
period of time?
Will this unit last another year or two, or do I need to
consider replacing it?

Most common transformer problems
Here are a few of the most common problems we see
with transformers and what teams should do when
they see these failure signs:
SUDDEN BUSHING FAILURE. Bushing failures often
lead to transformer failures. Monitor bushing true
power factor and capacitance, which can indicate
the overall condition of a bushing.
A THROUGH FAULT. Check monitoring with
dissolved gas analysis and partial discharge (PD)
and look for signs of stress. You may also want to
plan for off-line testing.
OVERLOADED UNIT. A winding hot spot could
produce bubbles leading to failure. Monitor
temperatures and moisture levels; use standards
such as IEEE C57.91 for loading mineral-oil-
immersed transformers.
INEFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE. With so many
insurance claims blamed on poor maintenance,
conduct more off-line testing before returning the
transformer to service and monitor after return.
Specifically, condition monitoring lets you:
TARGET INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES
Condition monitoring avoids complete asset failure by allowing
you to target problem areas in a specific asset. This also lets
you stop a single point problem from becoming a bigger, more
widespread concern, localizing your repair and maintenance
activities and ultimately minimizing the impact on service
provided to customers.
REDUCE DOWNTIME AND MAINTENANCE COSTS
With ongoing condition monitoring, you can plan scheduled
maintenance in a way that creates the least inconvenience for
your customers. Because you know more about what exact
maintenance or repair is needed at a given time, downtime is
reduced and your overall cost for upkeep drops. It also gives you
confidence in an assets condition, so that you can push out
time-based maintenance and outages for those that are
performing well.
AVOID PREVENTABLE FAILURES
It used to be that maintaining asset health was akin to putting
out fires whenever they appeared. Rather than reacting to
problems after they happen, condition monitoring allows you
to be proactive and identify problems when they are small and
manageable, tackling them before they become bigger, costlier
issues with wide impacts.
Creating an effective condition
monitoring strategy
A key element for a successful condition monitoring program is having a comprehensive strategy
in place with clear goals and expected outcomes. How do you set up the most effective condition
monitoring program for your organization? Here are some of the key steps to getting started as
you build a framework for your program:

1. Set defined program goals. Operating without a specific set of measurable goals is a setup
for failure in most circumstances, but a nonstarter for any condition monitoring program. Is it
in-service failure prevention that you care most about? Life extension? Maintenance deferral?
Whatever the case, understanding your priorities and clearly defining what youre trying to
accomplish through condition monitoring is a logical and necessary first step.

2. Define your measurement parameters. With broad goals set, you then need to identify
what specific measures you want to track against. For example, are you looking at targeted
condition monitoring for a known failure mode, or general assurance of asset condition?
Whatever the case, choose a system that is proven to address these parameters.
3. Collect comprehensive data. Pulling data from a single asset isnt good enough. Collect
data across more assets instead of going sensor rich on one transformer. Aggregating
all this information lets you look at the data holistically, mine it for key insights and target
any activity that is outside of normal. This gives you a comprehensive view of whats
happening across different transformers and lets you address any red flags that crop up
in between testing and inspections no more waiting for planned outages to assess your
systems.

4. Turn data into information. So you have all this data now what? If youre unsure what
to make of certain pieces of information at the start, find outside experts to give you the
insight and support you need to make sure youre appropriately analyzing and making
sense of what the data tells you. This helps ensure you are taking the appropriate next
steps, rather than assuming something without expert confirmation.

5. Have a data management strategy. The one thing that all condition monitoring programs
create is a lot of data. Make sure your system has adequate buffering and memory to
handle the increase in data volume. Do your asset facilities have appropriate network
interconnections to push data, or are you going to collect locally? Consider if other
internal programs or software systems will want or need to access
the data. For a data management strategy to work, you need to have defined structures
to reference and use the data; data that is hard to access is essentially lost data. Putting
a little bit of thought here can save you a great deal of effort later on.

6. Share with key teams. Effective communication is a pillar of a sound condition

monitoring program. When data comes in, its not enough to just share the information
with the right people they need to be given context on what it means so they can
respond appropriately.
Its a deceivingly simple concept that is often a common barrier
to success.

7. Plan ahead. Dont wait for something to go wrong. Instead, define what your response
should be if something bad is indicated. Rather than scrambling to determine the best
course of action, having action plans for a variety of situations spelled out in advance
makes an extremely stressful situation suddenly much more manageable. Create an
escalation plan based on the output of the selected condition monitoring systems.
Document the appropriate next steps, as well as who is responsible for which specific
actions, to make the process as seamless as possible.
 What to look for in a vendor
Successful condition monitoring is contingent on finding a solution
that fits your organizations unique needs. As you start to consider
different vendors to support you, here are some of the areas that are
important to evaluate before making a final decision:

What data should I be collecting? Comprehensive, aggregated data and monitoring:

Look for a solution that helps you monitor for a wide variety of
With so much information available on your
issues in a number of different ways dissolved gas analysis, partial
assets, what is it you should be looking most
discharge, bushing leakage currents and operational values, etc. to
closely at?
ensure youre looking holistically at the state of your transformers.
OVERALL FLEET HEALTH. General Also, a platform that can aggregate and analyze all the data
monitoring mechanisms such as dissolved collected into a single, easy-to-understand dashboard is essential for
gas analysis and temperatures may be just simplifying your program.
what you need. On-line dissolved gas analysis
(DGA) is a great way to start and is very cost
effective, but it will not detect all problems
such as bushing or tap changer problems.

COMPREHENSIVE MONITORING. For more

complete monitoring, consider looking at
bushing power factor/tan-delta, operational
mechanisms, data including loads and
temperatures (or SCADA), partial discharge
and dissolved gas analysis on-line (DGA).
Integrated tools that talk to each other:
Pick a solution that will play nice with the other key systems you
have in place. For example, your condition monitoring system
wont be as effective as it can be if it doesnt easily integrate with
your larger enterprise asset risk management system. Having a
piecemeal set of equipment and data is not nearly as effective as
pulling everything together in one place for analysis.

Flexible, scalable platform that grows with your needs:

Choose a flexible monitoring platform that can gather and analyze
data from an individual asset or at an individual station something
where you can start small and focused and grow. That way you can
grow your system as needs and conditions change. Today you might
want to watch one unit, but two years from now you might need a
comprehensive view of all transformers at a particular station.

Depth of experience:
Pick a vendor who has depth of experience in condition monitoring,
so you can partner to create a plan thats most impactful for you. Its
one thing to be able to collect comprehensive data, but its another
to understand what it tells you and what to do with it. Make sure
to work with a vendor who doesnt just sell technology but helps
provide an ongoing supported solution including training in use of
equipment and analysis and interpretation of single or multiple
data sources.

Having a vendor who has deep knowledge of the monitored asset

as well is always going to help. Dont forget the traditional off-line
tests. After noting a problem using condition monitoring, a next
step is to validate with off-line testing. The vendor should be able to
assist in knowing the best methods to validate and verify using off-
line testing instruments.
Secure system:
A vendor should be able to work within your existing security
infrastructure to supply data and analysis where it is needed.
Things like proprietary databases, proprietary software and cloud
connections should not be a requirement. If the system needs to
interface with larger data systems and clouds, vendors should
know how their system will impact the security requirements.

Accessible tools:
With a mobile workforce, being able to access dashboards
securely via smartphone, tablets and computers is essential for
making smart decisions on the go. Your condition monitoring
system should enable, not inhibit, your teams.

Standards:
Vendors should provide knowledge and proof of standards
compliance. Standards reviewed should cover items such as
measurement methodology, cybersecurity and protocols. Select
vendors who are actively engaged in standards development as
they will be aware of upcoming changes and will help prevent
system obsolescence.
Calculating the return on investment
(ROI) of condition monitoring
Even if youve spent the time determining if a vendor fits your
needs, revealing the success of your investment requires looking
for real, quantifiable results. Thats why its important to create
metrics to measure against. While these metrics will vary based on
your organizations own business goals and particular objectives
for condition monitoring, there are a few key areas to consider in
evaluating success:

Incidences of unplanned interruptions: How many unexpected

interruptions were there prior to implementing a condition
monitoring program vs. after implementation? A decline in
interruptions is a positive indicator for your platform.

Cost of maintenance: Over the life of an asset, how much

time and money are you investing in repairs? With an effective
condition monitoring program, you should see these costs
decline over time, as you will be identifying more problems
early on, when they are smaller and less costly to fix.

Transformer condition assessment: Condition monitoring

reduces uncertainty in asset performance; the addition of
relevant and targeted data reduces the uncertainty inherent in
any asset assessment or health indexing system. This means
that over time, your condition monitoring program will provide
you with more concrete input to apply to your longer term
investment plans.
Top 10 questions
to ask a vendor
Save a lot of time by getting to the point and asking potential
vendors the right questions up front. Below are the top 10
questions to ask any potential condition monitoring vendors you
are considering:

1. What is your companys history with condition monitoring

programs?

2. What resources do I need to support the implementation and

ongoing maintenance of your system?

3. How does your system make data available to other

applications such as SCADA or asset management systems?

4. How does the equipment take in and manage data from

operational sources, like load, temperature, etc.?

5. What alerts and alarms are generated and how does the user set
and manage those and avoid false positives/negatives?

6. How does your system aggregate and analyze data? What

dashboards are available?

7. How will your solution accommodate our needs as we scale and

develop our monitoring skills?

8. What is the best way to calculate my return on investment?

9. What measures are you taking to ensure security of data

and access?

10. Is it accessible across a variety of devices? Can I get alerts via text
and view data on my tablet?
 While you hope your assets will never fail, the reality is that it happens.
And when it does, the ramifications can be huge: costly repairs, extensive
downtime and more. A commitment to proactive, ongoing condition
monitoring will not only help prevent headaches down the road but also will
help you make better decisions about resource allocation and investment.

The key is developing a well-structured, comprehensive program that

matches your specific organizations goals and needs. With a bulletproof
strategy and a trusted vendor partner in place, you can be sure that your
condition monitoring program will help maintain the health of your assets
for years to come.

Find out how partnering with Doble can help you drive
real business value from a comprehensive condition
monitoring program. Learn more.

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