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Statistical analysis of AC and DC breakdown voltage of JMEO (Jatropha Methyl

Ester Oil), mineral oil and their mixtures

Conference Paper · November 2017

DOI: 10.1109/ICDL.2017.8124647

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 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017

Statistical Analysis of AC and DC Breakdown

Voltage of JMEO (Jatropha Methyl Ester Oil),
Mineral Oil and Their Mixtures
Henry B.H. Sitorus1, Abderrahmane Beroual2, Rudy Setiabudy3, Setijo Bismo3
1
Electrical Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Lampung (Unila), Bandar Lampung, Indonesia
2
Ecole Centrale de Lyon, University of Lyon, Ampere CNRS UMR 5005,
36 avenue Guy Collongue, 69134 Ecully, France
3
Engineering Faculty, Universitas Indonesia (UI), Depok, Indonesia

Abstract— This paper reports on a comparative study of
statistical Breakdown Voltage (BDV) in a natural ester oil
namely jatropha curcas methyl ester oil (JMEO) extracted from
the fruit seeds of jatropha curcas plants, mineral oil (MO) and
two JMEO/MO oil mixtures (namely (50%JMEO+50%MO) and
(80%JMEO+20%MO)) using spherical electrode under DC and
AC voltages. It is shown that the average AC breakdown voltage
of JMEO is higher than that of mineral oil. Meanwhile it is
similar under DC voltage. The statistical analysis shows that all
large data groups (n>40) for AC and DC breakdown voltages of
JMEO, MO and oil mixtures obey to the normal distribution law.
This is proved using Shapiro-Wilk test, skewness and kurtosis
values. It also observed that AC mean breakdown voltage of
JMEO is higher than that of oils mixture (50%JMEO+50%MO)
and MO, but it is similar with oils mixture
(80%JMEO+20%MO). AC mean breakdown voltage of MO is
the lowest one. DC mean breakdown voltages of JMEO, MO and
oil mixtures (50%JMEO+50%MO) are similar. In contrast, DC
mean breakdown voltage of oils mixture (80%JMEO+20%MO)
is the highest one.
Keywords— Breakdown voltage; AC; DC; jatropha curcas
methyl ester oil (JMEO); mineral oil (MO); JMEO/MO mixtures;
breakdown voltage; statistical analysis.
I. INTRODUCTION
Despite some characteristic parameters as their high
viscosity that can be improved by the adjunction of specific
additives, the use of natural (vegetable) ester oils as substitutes
for mineral oil in high-voltage oil-filled equipment (especially
high voltage transformers) have become a reality today.
Indeed, some vegetable oils such as FR3 and BIOTEMP®
fluid are presently applied in distribution transformers and
even in some big unities [1-4]. Unfortunately, these vegetable
oils are derived from food products (rape-seeds, sunflower,
olive ...) what constitutes an ethic problem since in some
regions of the world are suffering from malnutrition.
Therefore, it is needed to divert our attention to non-food
materials so that the searches of new material alternatives do
not interfere with foodstuffs.
Recently, we developed a vegetable oil derived from
jatropha curcas namely JMEO (Jatropha curcas methyl ester
oil) which is a non-food crops and that can constitute a
potential substitute for mineral oil [5]. Also, when replacing
mineral oil by JMEO in installed transformer, the mixing of
JMEO and mineral oil cannot be avoided, because the draining
process will still leave remain oil in the spaces between
windings and the bottom of tank; the residual mineral oil in
the transformer tank is estimated at about 10-20% of the total
volume of oil. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the effect
of the mixture percentage on breakdown voltage.
This paper is aimed at the comparison of breakdown
voltage of JMEO, mineral oil (MO) and two JMEO/MO oil
mixtures namely 50%JMEO/50%MO and 80%JMEO/20%MO
under DC and AC voltages. Breakdown voltage test results are
analyzed using statistical method that is distribution normal
law. Statistical analysis is performed by using SPSS 17.0
software.
II. EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE
Breakdown voltage measurements were performed in
sphere - sphere electrode system with 12.5 mm of diameter,
2.5±0.05 mm of distance according to main lines of IEC
60156 specifications [6]. The investigated oil samples are: (1)
JMEO (jatropha curcas methyl ester oil), a new vegetable oil
derived from a non-food crops, produced through trans-
esterification process of jatropha curcas oil which comes from
the pressing of the jatropha fruits; (2) Mineral oil (MO); and
(3) two JMEO/MO oil mixtures namely 50%JMEO/50%MO
and 80%JMEO/20%MO.
AC high voltage is supplied by a high voltage test
transformer 200 kV-50 Hz - 60 kVA. The experimental results
used in the analysis are the maximum AC voltage values. The
voltage is continuously applied with a rate of rise 2±0.2 kV/s
until breakdown occurs. The rest time between each test was
10 minutes and 5 minutes respectively for JMEO and mineral
oil (MO). In order to obtain sufficient measured data for
accurate statistical evaluation, the tests were carried out by 40
of series for each oil sample. It is more than eight times the 6
measurements required by the IEC 60156 standard [6].
DC voltage is supplied by a Spellman type DC generator
with an AC 220 V input and a 0 - 200 kV / 2 mA DC output. In
breakdown tests, the applied voltage is increased step by step
until the breakdown occurs. In the range 0 - 40 kV, the applied

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 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017

voltage is increased in increments of 5 kV. Each applied

voltage level is maintained for 60 seconds. Above 40 kV, the
voltage rise is 2 kV in order to obtain the most accurate value
possible.
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Figures 1 and 2 depict the breakdown voltage results of oil
mixtures, JMEO and mineral oil, under AC and DC voltages.
It appears that the values of breakdown voltages are scattered
around the mean (average value) of the breakdown voltage,
Vav.

Fig. 1. AC Breakdown voltage scattering of JMEO, MO and Oil Mixtures.

Fig. 2. DC Breakdown voltage scattering of JMEO, MO and Oil Mixtures.

The average breakdown voltage of JMEO is slightly greater

than that of MO. But in some series of measurements, it can
be observed that the breakdown voltage of MO is occasionally
higher than the breakdown voltage of JMEO.
The distribution frequency of AC and DC breakdown
voltages appears to obey a normal distribution. Figure 3 gives
example for DC voltage. To identify whether the distribution
of the data obtained are normal, one applied Shapiro-Wilk [7]
tests to calculate W-value and P-value (Tables 1 and 2). In this
statistical analysis, normal distribution is considered with a
significant level test of 5% (α = 0.05). P-value is the
probability of making mistake that the null hypothesis is
rejected. If P-value is higher than the significant level (α =
0.05), one accepts null hypothesis that the sample data belong
from a statistical distribution. It appears from these tables that
all sample data tested are accepted. Fig. 3. Histogram of DC Breakdown voltage

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 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017
TABLE I. HYPOTHESIS TEST OF CONFORMITY TO NORMAL distribution frequency is normal. In a normal distribution, the
DISTRIBUTION OF AC BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE
values of skew and kutosis are 0 (zero). The skewness and
Liquid W p-value
Conformity to kurtosis values indicate the deviation from normal. If the
Normal distribution skewness value is positive (positive skewed), it means that the
JMEO 0.966803 0.809617 accepted frequent scores are clustered at the lower end and the tail
accepted points towards the higher or more positive scores. Meanwhile,
MO 0.942776 0.06542 if the skewness value is negative (negative skewed), it means
accepted the frequent scores are clustered at the higher end and the tail
50%JMEO + 50%MO 0.951823 0.549098
points towards the lower or more negative scores [8].
50%JMEO + 50%MO 0.952878 0.567452
accepted A distribution with positive kurtosis has many scores in the
tails (a so-called heavy-tailed distribution) and is pointy. This
is called as a leptokurtic distribution. In contrast, a distribution
TABLE II. HYPOTHESIS TEST OF CONFORMITY TO NORMAL with negative kurtosis is relatively thin in tails (has light tails)
DISTRIBUTION OF DC BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE
and tends to be flatter than normal. This distribution is called
Conformity to platycurtic [8].
Liquid W p-value
Normal distribution
The skewness values of the breakdown voltage of JMEO
JMEO 0.958783 0.670131 accepted under AC voltage and MO under AC and DC voltages are
accepted positive; it indicates a pile-up of scores the left of distribution.
MO 0.963133 0.745789
Meanwhile for tested mixture oils, the skewness values are
50%JMEO + 50%MO 0.953431 0.577059
accepted negative; it indicates that a pile-up of scores on the right of
distribution.
accepted The kurtosis values for all tested oils are negative, except for
50%JMEO + 50%MO 0.957643 0.65031
oils mixture (80%JMEO+20%MO) under DC voltage. In other
words, one can say that all distributions are platycurtic, except
Figures 4 and 5 show the cumulative probability of breakdown for the distribution of oils mixture (80%JMEO+20%MO)
voltage under AC and DC voltages. The straight lines are the under DC voltage is leptokurtic.
expected probability. The closeness of the expected
probability lines and cumulative probability points also
indicate that the frequency distributions of AC and DC
breakdown voltage data are normal.

Fig. 6. Skewness and kurtosis of normal distribution of AC breakdown

voltage of tested oils/mixtures

Fig. 4. AC Breakdown probability curves of tested oils

Fig. 7. Skewness and kurtosis of normal distribution of AC breakdown

voltage of tested oils/mixtures

Figures 8 and 9 depict the mean value (average value) and

Fig. 5. DC Breakdown probability curves of tested oils
The skewness and kurtosis values obtained from the SPSS
program outputs are depicted in Figures 6 and 7. From
skewness and kurtosis values, one can determine whether a
standard deviation of all tested oils under AC and DC
voltages. In Figure 8, it seen that AC mean breakdown voltage
of JMEO is higher than that of oils mixture
(50%JMEO+50%MO) and MO, but it is similar with oils
mixture (80%JMEO+20%MO). AC mean breakdown voltage

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 19th IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Manchester, United Kingdom, 25 – 29 June, 2017
of MO is the lowest one. DC mean breakdown voltages of
JMEO, MO and oils mixture (50%JMEO+50%MO) are
similar. In contrast, DC mean breakdown voltage of oils
mixture (80%JMEO+20%MO) is the highest one.
Fig. 8. Mean and standard deviations of AC breakdown voltage of tested
oils/oils mixture
This graph shows that the breakdown voltage of oils mixture
(80%JMEO+20%MO) is always higher than mineral oil under
both AC and DC voltages. It indicates that there is no problem
in the event that JMEO mixed with mineral oil in replacement
process in installed transformer.
Fig. 9. Mean and standard deviations of DC breakdown voltage of tested
oils/oils mixture
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IV. CONCLUSION
It appears from this work that:
- Under DC, the average breakdown voltages of JMEO,
MO and oil mixtures (50%JMEO+50%MO) are similar. And
DC mean breakdown voltage of oils mixture
(80%JMEO+20%MO) is the highest one.
- Under AC, the average breakdown voltage of JMEO is
higher than that of mineral oil and oils mixture
(50%JMEO+50%MO). But it is similar with oils mixture
(80%JMEO+20%MO). Also, AC mean breakdown voltage of
MO is the lowest one.
- The average AC breakdown voltage of JMEO is similar
to that under DC voltage.
- The statistical analysis of experimental data shows that
the distribution frequency of AC and DC breakdown voltages
obeys to a normal distribution as evidenced by Shapiro-Wilk
test, skewness and kurtosis values.
REFERENCES
[1] T. V. Oommen, “Vegetable oils for liquid-filled transformers,”
Electrical Insulation Magazine, IEEE, pp. 6 –11, Feb-2002.
[2] T. V. Oommen, C. C. Claiborne, E. J. Walsh, and J. P. Baker, “A new
vegetable oil based transformer fluid: development and verification”,
2000 Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric
Phenomena, pp. 308 –312 vol.1, 2000.
[3] P. Hopkinson, L. Dix, C. P. McShane, H. R. Moore, S. Moore, J.
Murphy, T. Prevost, and B. Beaster, “Progress report on natural esters
for distribution and power transformers,” in Power Energy Society
General Meeting, 2009. PES ’09. IEEE, 2009, pp. 1 –3.
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[5] H.B.H. Sitorus, R. Setiabudy, S. Bismo, A. Beroual, New Vegetable Oil
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Voltage Equipment, IEEE Trans. Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation,
Vol. 23, Issue 4, pp. 2021-2028, August 2016.
[6] IEC 60156 Ed. 2, ‘‘Insulating liquids – Determination of the breakdown
voltage at power frequency – Test method”, 1995.
[7] S. S. Shapiro and M. B Wilk, “An analysis of variance test for normality
(complete samples)’’, Biometrika, Vol. 52, Nos. 3 and 4, pp. 591-611,
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[8] Viet-Hung Dang, A. Beroual and C. Perrier, Comparative study of
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