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Procedia Engineering 202 (2017) 121–129

4th International Colloquium "Transformer Research and Asset Management”

4th International Colloquium "Transformer Research and Asset Management”
A review of the fundamental dielectric characteristics of ester-based
A review of the fundamental dielectric characteristics of ester-based
dielectric liquids
dielectric liquids
Mark Lashbrook*, Attila Gyore, Russell Martin
Mark Lashbrook*, Attila Gyore, Russell Martin
M&I Materials Ltd, Hibernia Way, Manchester M320ZD, UK
M&I Materials Ltd, Hibernia Way, Manchester M320ZD, UK

Abstract
Abstract
The use of alternative dielectric liquids is growing steadily, with fire safety and environmental concerns at the forefront of the
The for
reasons use switching
of alternative
fromdielectric
mineralliquids is growing dielectric
oil. Ester-based steadily, with fire have
liquids safetybeen
and environmental concerns
in use in the power at the for
industry forefront
almostoffour
the
reasons for
decades, withswitching
syntheticfrom
estersmineral
having oil. Ester-based
originally dielectric as
been introduced liquids have been
replacements forin use inPCBs
harmful the power
in theindustry for almost four
late 1970s.
decades, with synthetic
The introduction esters having
of natural originally
ester-based been
liquids in introduced
the 1990s has as replacements for harmful
further accelerated PCBs in the
ester adoption, as late 1970s. to being fire
in addition
safeThe
andintroduction
biodegradable of natural ester-based
these fluids provideliquids
usersinwith
the 1990s
a veryhas further accelerated
environmentally estersustainable
friendly, adoption, as in addition
alternative to to being fire
mineral oil.
safe andesters
Natural biodegradable
have made these
somefluids provideinroads
significant users with
into athevery environmentally
distribution friendly,
sector, where theysustainable alternative to
are used extensively formineral oil.
equipment
Natural
such esters have made
as pole-mounted some significant inroads into the distribution sector, where they are used extensively for equipment
transformers.
such as pole-mounted
Early adopters of transformers.
ester-based liquids quickly identified differences in electrical characteristics which mean that standard
Earlyoil
mineral adopters
designs,ofalthough
ester-based liquids
suitable quickly identified
for distribution differences
transformers, cannotin always
electrical characteristics
be used for higherwhich
voltagemean thatFrom
levels. standard
this
mineral oil industry
finding the designs, has
although suitable
embarked on afor distribution
quest for clearertransformers,
understanding cannot
of thealways be useddifferences
fundamental for higherbetween
voltage esters
levels.andFrom this
mineral
finding
oil the industry
and how to adapthas embarked
designs on the
to allow a quest
use offoresters
clearer
at understanding of the fundamental differences between esters and mineral
ever higher voltages.
oil and
Thishow to adapt
paper will designs
offer a to allow of
review the the
use of esters at research
published ever higher voltages.
findings over the last decade from various institutions and
This paper around
manufacturers will offer a review
the world, of theonpublished
focusing research
the differences findings behavior
in dielectric over the between
last decade
estersfrom various oil.
and mineral institutions and
It will start
manufacturers
with fundamental around the of
studies world, focusing
streamer on the differences
propagation in divergentinfields,
dielectric behavior
through to morebetween esters
realistic and mineral
arrangements oil. are
which It will start
designed
with
to fundamental
simulate studies
conditions of streamer
in operating propagation in divergent fields, through to more realistic arrangements which are designed
transformers.
to simulate conditions in operating transformers.
©
© 2017
2017 The
The Authors.
Authors. Published
Published by by Elsevier
Elsevier Ltd.
Ltd.
© 2017 The Authors.
Peer-review
Peer-review under Published by
under responsibility
responsibility of Elsevier
of the Ltd. committee
the organizing
organizing committee of of ICTRAM
ICTRAM 2017.2017.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ICTRAM 2017.
Keywords: ester; transformer; fire; environmental; impulse; dielectric
Keywords: ester; transformer; fire; environmental; impulse; dielectric

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +44-161-864-5429; fax: +44-161-864-5444.

E-mail address:author.
* Corresponding Tel.: +44-161-864-5429; fax: +44-161-864-5444.
MarkLashbrook@mimaterials.com
E-mail address: MarkLashbrook@mimaterials.com
1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review
1877-7058 ©under
2017responsibility
The Authors. of the organizing
Published committee
by Elsevier Ltd. of ICTRAM 2017.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ICTRAM 2017.

1877-7058 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of ICTRAM 2017.
10.1016/j.proeng.2017.09.699
122 Mark Lashbrook et al. / Procedia Engineering 202 (2017) 121–129
2 Mark Lashbrook et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000

1. Introduction

For many years synthetic ester fluids were seen as specialist materials, only for use in unusual transformers, such
as those in rolling stock, offshore installations and steel plants where fire safety was a prime consideration.
However, in more recent times users are realizing that ester-based liquids could offer a more mainstream alternative
to mineral oil and although these fluids are more expensive the overall project costs can be lower when taking into
account factors such as reduced fire protection. In some space-constrained urban environments ester-based liquids
may even become the preferred option, with the flammability and potential environmental impact of mineral oil
making the design of modern installations extremely challenging. This type of situation has been seen with the latest
400kV projects incorporating synthetic ester fluids.

2. Standard AC Breakdown Testing

Standard test methods for assessing breakdown voltage of liquids typically employ small electrode gaps, of the
order of ≤2.54mm. The electrode configuration can vary from spherical, through VDE type “mushroom” electrodes
to disc electrodes. This type of testing is primarily used to give an evaluation of the cleanliness of a liquid since it
gives very limited information about the actual dielectric performance. It can be seen by comparing the results in
Table 1 that all the different types of liquids to be discussed in this paper give very similar results for a given
electrode arrangement in this type of testing.

Table 1. Typical AC Breakdown Testing Results [1]

Breakdown Voltage (kV)
Method ASTM D1816 1mm ASTM D877 2.54mm IEC 60156 2.5mm

Electrode Type

Mineral Oil 47 43 >70

Synthetic Ester 46 47 >75
Natural Ester 45 47 >75

This could lead to the conclusion that all these liquids are equal in their dielectric performance, or that given a
good result in the AC breakdown test one liquid is in some way superior to another. However, the true picture is
more complex, since the electrical stress distribution is influenced by many factors such as electrode geometry,
distance and materials types. Another key factor in the dielectric behavior is the wave shape of the applied voltage.
AC voltage in the form of a clean sine wave is usually expected at frequencies of 50-60Hz depending on the
geographical location. However, this is rarely the case with harmonics and other distortions of the pure waveform.
In addition the prevalence of surges on the network must be accounted for; in testing this is usually characterized by
two different types of event, either lightning surge or switching surge and there are standard waveforms established
to test these.

So any dielectric system in a transformer must withstand AC conditions, switching impulse and lightning
impulse, as well as chopped lightning impulse if this is specified. There may also be a requirement to withstand DC
fields in some special cases and this adds an extra level of complexity.

When considering a new dielectric medium, therefore, all these aspects need to be tested and in the beginning
researchers will look to comparisons with existing materials of known behavior to assess likely changes. As stated
previously in terms of short gap AC behavior ester-based liquids are very similar to mineral oil and this gives some
confidence that they can be used. For distribution class equipment up to 33kV the change to ester has required little
in the way of detailed electrical design evaluation, since the electrical margins are large due to the need for excess
solid insulation to provide mechanical strength. However as the voltage level rises there is less electrical margin
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Mark Lashbrook et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 3

and the need for routine impulse testing, both of which mean that greater steps are needed to evaluate design. So to
begin using ester-based liquids in power class transformers there is a need to check impulse behavior over similarly
short gaps to the AC tests, and this is where see some differences start to emerge.

3. Impulse Strength of Short Electrode Gaps

There are standard methods for measuring impulse breakdown with the ASTM D3300 being one popular method.
The electrode arrangement for this test can be either needle to sphere, or sphere to sphere. In the first instance
researchers started work with small electrode gaps employing a sphere-sphere set up, such as the example in Fig 1.
utilized by the University of Manchester.

Fig.1. Arrangement for short gap impulse tests [2]

In their testing, a number of different methods were applied for stepping up the test voltage, following the
recommendations in different standards. This showed a lower impulse breakdown strength for the ester liquids and
Fig 2. shows a summary of the results, with the maximum difference in breakdown voltage being of the order of
20%. In this case the mineral oil tested was Nynas Nytro Gemini X, the synthetic ester M&I Materials MIDEL
7131 and natural ester Cargill Envirotemp FR3.
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Fig. 2. Results of impulse breakdown testing to various methods [2]

4. Partial Discharge Inception

To further understand the mechanism behind the different behavior that was observed, researchers started looking
at very divergent arrangements, for example a sharp needle of tip radius 6.5µm and sphere of radius 12.5mm, as this
allows observation of phenomena in a liquid with manageable voltage levels.[3] This allowed the study of partial
discharge inception, when the liquid begins to yield to the electrical field. When the researchers subjected this
arrangement to AC they discovered that the PDIV of ester-based liquids with a gap of 50mm is actually very close
to that of mineral oil, as shown in table 2

Table 2. PDIV testing results [4]

Liquid PDIV
Mineral Oil 23.2
Synthetic Ester 22.3
Natural Ester 25.6

In fact in the case of natural ester a higher PDIV was found than in mineral oil. This suggested that the reason
for the difference in impulse breakdown behavior does not lie in discharge inception, although some different
behavior was found in this study, especially in polarity, between mineral oil and esters. Mineral oil exhibits a very
strong tendency to PD only in the positive half cycle of the AC waveform, i.e. when the needle is at a positive
polarity. In the negative half cycle the required voltage to form PD is much higher than that of the PDIV. In the
ester-based liquids the situation is somewhat different; PD was found in the negative half cycle at much closer
voltages to the positive half cycle PDIV, as shown Fig. 3.
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Fig. 3. PDIV in positive (left hand chart) and negative (right hand chart) half cycles [5]

This indicated that the electrical behavior is not the same between the liquid types. It also throws up questions
around the way mineral oil filled transformers are tested, i.e. is only testing with negative impulse a valid practice?

5. Streamer Propagation Behavior

The similarity in PDIV between esters and mineral oil required a closer look at propagation of electrical
discharges. The next important step was then to look at the discharge channels in the liquids, known as streamers.
This involved the combined techniques of electric measurement and visual imaging to detect how streamers form in
liquids and how they propagate. Much of this work was conducted in parallel in different research
institutions,where the same conclusion was drawn. Streamer propagation in esters is different to mineral oil,
especially under very divergent fields, such as those the researchers were using. The key conclusion from this was a
difference in so-called acceleration voltage when streamers move from slow mode propagation to fast mode.

In order for a flashover to occur it is necessary for the electrical current to find a path from one electrode to
another and in liquids this occurs within a gaseous channel, known as a streamer. This channel will only propagate
through the fluid if it has sufficient field strength to provide motive force and sufficient time. When considering AC
behavior the time is relatively long, whereas under impulse conditions the time is extremely short. The standard
wave shape for lightning impulse has a rise time of 1.2µs and fall time of 50µs to reach 50% of maximum. This
means that the peak electrical field is only present for a matter of micro-seconds and in order to get propagation
from one electrode to another, especially over longer oil gaps, the discharge must attain a high velocity. Streamers
can be characterized by four different modes, as shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Streamer velocities and modes [6]

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The principle behind the connection between streamer mode and breakdown can be demonstrated with a
simplified example. Taking a gap size of 50mm, if it is assumed that the liquid is only subjected to the voltage
necessary to sustain propagation for 5µs then the streamer will need to attain a velocity of 10km/s or in other words
be of Mode 3-4 to bridge the gap and cause a breakdown. Otherwise the streamer will only be characterised as a
partial discharge. The transition from Mode 1/2 to Mode 3/4 can be characterised as the acceleration voltage.

A variety of researchers have looked at the acceleration voltage principle with esters and all agree that this is one
area where these liquids differ from mineral oil. The charts in Fig. 5. show the behavior when the electrode system
is extremely divergent, with esters having a substantially lower acceleration voltage than mineral oil, especially
under positive polarity.

Fig. 5. Acceleration voltage under Positive polarity and Negative polarity at 50mm spacing [7]

6. Testing with More Realistic Electrode Arrangements

Although this difference in acceleration voltage would appear to prevent the use of esters at higher voltages as
the electrode arrangement becomes less divergent, inception begins to become more important for the withstand
level. This supports the findings of researchers who have studied the behavior with varying levels of divergence in
the electrodes, from homogenous through to highly divergent.

When thinking about the design of real world equipment and transformers for transmission levels, the more
homogeneous case actually represents the majority of the configurations to be considered. Needle to plate type
situations are avoided as part of good design and manufacturing, as it is known that these are electrically weak and
prone to producing discharges.

Research looking at impulse behavior under more realistic arrangements has focussed on tap changer contacts,
since these represent a more divergent part of power transformer designs. In this case the arrangement shown in
Fig. 6. was used and the results obtained under impulse conditions showed very little difference between ester and
mineral oil.
 Mark Lashbrook et al. / Procedia Engineering 202 (2017) 121–129 127
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Fig. 6. Tap changer contacts used for natural ester evaluation [8]

Fig. 7. shows the Weibull distribution for results obtained in this arrangement. This gives some confidence that
even though the situation with a needle and plate looks unfavourable, as soon as the configuration starts to reflect
the real world situation, the difference between esters and mineral oil becomes much smaller.

Fig. 7. Weibull distribution of lightning impulse breakdown under positive polarity [8]

7. Laboratory Testing of Creepage Discharge and Flashover

Another area where divergence becomes important is over long creepage paths, where there is effectively a
concentrated area of electrical field at one end, with a very long distance to the lower potential. A popular form of
arrangement for testing creepage behavior is the so-called Weidmann set up, of a paper-wrapped or bare conductor
in contact with a pressboard barrier, as shown in Fig 8.
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Fig. 8. Weidmann electrode arrangement [9]

When this type of arrangement has been tested over gap sizes up to 35mm it has been found that esters give
similar flashover results to mineral oil, as shown in Table 3. The difference between the liquids in this arrangement
is small - not even as large as that found in small oil gaps. This suggests that even though design modification may
be necessary, there is not the very large difference that might be assumed if the acceleration voltage in extremely
divergent set up was used.

Table 3. Weidmann electrode testing results at 35mm gap spacing [8]

Positive Impulse Breakdown
Liquid
Average (kV) Weibull 1% (kV)
Mineral Oil 644 484
Natural Ester 622 450

8. Testing in Prototype Transformers

Another area where more focus may be required with an ester based liquid is over very long creepage paths far
beyond the distances tested with the Weidmann arrangement, since the fundamental investigations indicate that
propagation is key. Experience from real transformer prototypes has shown that failure modes over extremely long
paths support the faster propagation model. Researchers from Brazil found that when testing a single phase 245kV
prototype transformer, in natural ester, designed to mineral oil rules, the natural ester failed at 100% of Basic
Insulation Level (BIL) rating, when tested with lightning impulse along a long gap discharge path, as shown in Fig.
9. This unit had an HV winding with a center connection coil.

Fig. 9. Model of winding showing discharge path [10]

 Mark Lashbrook et al. / Procedia Engineering 00 (2017) 000–000 9
Mark Lashbrook et al. / Procedia Engineering 202 (2017) 121–129 129

The designers of this transformer noted that although they experienced this failure it does not prevent the use of
esters at higher voltage. However, there may need to be more design margin and closer attention paid to peak stress
areas and long creepage paths.

This is a theme that is often mentioned in the industry when discussing ester-based liquids and the necessary
design changes. It is important to note that a growing number of manufacturers have carried out their own research
in addition to the published works; to date there are a number of transformers successfully operating at 400kV+ with
esters. There are also many other projects in development, and the expectation is that in the coming years esters will
move from a being a product used in niche applications to one deployed in mainstream installations.

9. Conclusions

Over the last fifteen years a great deal of research has been conducted into understanding the electrical behavior
of ester-based liquids, under a range of different conditions. This has been driven by a desire for safer, more
environmentally friendly transformers.

The laboratory based test arrangements with extremely divergent fields indicate a difference in the streamer
propagation behavior between esters and mineral oil, which may mean designers need to pay attention to certain
portions of the dielectric structure. Evaluations with more realistic electrode arrangements indicate that although
there is a difference in behavior, this will not prevent the use of esters at higher voltages. The experience in real
world applications, where esters are now utilized for power transformers for 400kV+ also supports this assertion.

The key aspects for designers when considering ester-based liquids are to design a discharge-free transformer;
extra margin may be needed over long creepage paths and in divergent arrangements to compensate for the higher
probability of propagation. This could be summarized by saying that with mineral oil, discharges may occur,
without flashover, but in ester there is a higher probability of discharge becoming breakdown.

References

[1] MIDEL Selection Guide, M&I Materials Ltd, March 2017

[2] Q. Liu, Z.D. Wang, F. Perrot, Impulse Breakdown Voltages of Ester-based Transformer Oils Determined by Using Different Test Methods,
IEEE, 2009
[3] X. Wang and Z.D.Wang, Discussions on the Effectiveness of IEC1294:1993,Insucon, Birmingham, UK, 2009
[4] P. Jarman, P. Dyer, F. Perrot, D. Walker, M. Lashbrook, J. Noakhes, Q. Liu, X. Wang, X. Yi, Z.D. Wang, Electrical Performanceof Ester
Insulating Liquids for Power Transformers, Cigre SC A2 & D1 Joint Colloquium 2011, Kyoto Japan.
[5] Z.D. Wang, Q. Liu, X. Wang, X. Yi, P. Jarman, G. Wilson, P. Dyer, F. Perrot, C. Perrier, D. Walker, M. Lashbrook, J. Noakhes, Ester
Insulating Liquids for Power Transformers, , Cigré A2_209_2012
[6] O. Lesaint, Prebreakdown phenomena in liquids and their relation with breakdown properties in high voltage applications, PS1-01, Cigré
Brugge 2007
[7] Q. Liu, Z.D.Wang, X. Yi, X. Wang, F. Perrot, C. Perrier, P. Dyer, P. Jarman, G. Wilson, D. Walker, R. Martin, J> Noakhes, Application of
Ester Liquids in Power Transformers, , Insucon 2013
[8] Lightning Impulse Testing of Natural Ester Fluid Gaps and Insulation Interfaces, K. J. Rapp, J. Corkan, C. P. McShane, IEEE Transactions on
Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, Vo. 16, No. 6; December 2009
[9] T.A. Prevost, Dielectric Properties of Natural Esters and their Influence on Transformer Insulation System Design and Performance – An
Update
[10] T.B. Marchesan and A.J. Fanchin, Natural Ester Fluid: The Transformer Design Perspecitve, 2010 IEEE/PES Transmission and Distribution
Conference and Exposition: Latin America