Manjula Fernando

Bio: Manjula Fernando is an academic researcher from University of Peradeniya. The author has contributed to research in topics: Transformer oil & Mineral oil. The author has an hindex of 15, co-authored 68 publications receiving 782 citations. Previous affiliations of Manjula Fernando include Chalmers University of Technology & University of Manchester.

Ageing of silicone rubber insulators in coastal and inland tropical environment

Abstract: This paper presents investigations on the performance of 33 kV silicone rubber insulators characterized by different creepage lengths, which aimed to find out whether the insulators could permanently work when electrically stressed beyond the recommended limits in polluted and clean tropical environments. The study was performed under natural field and laboratory conditions. The insulators tested included eight types of silicone rubber composite insulators, one type of hybrid silicone-ceramic insulator and one semi-conducting glazed porcelain insulator, while ordinary porcelain and glass insulators were used as reference. During the field investigation, two sets of the insulators were separately installed and energized in coastal and inland parts of Sri Lanka, being by that exposed to marine and clean tropical environments. Their performances were periodically evaluated by visual inspections and measurements of hydrophobicity class. After five years of field exposure, the insulator performances were evaluated in laboratory by measurements of leakage currents under clean fog conditions and of wet flashover voltage. A third set of the insulators was aged in laboratory for 1000 hours inside a salt fog chamber where the insulators were continuously energized and daily sprayed with salt solution for eight hours and left to rest for remaining 16 hours. This treatment represented conditions similar as those in the field i.e. insulators exposed to salt sprays during monsoons. The insulator performances were investigated by measurements of leakage currents and classifying their patterns into different categories, i.e. capacitive, resistive, non-linear, discharge and strong discharge types, by means of fast Fourier transform and short time Fourier transform analyses. It was found that the long-term field exposure yielded weaker insulator deterioration than the salt fog chamber ageing, which indicated for a possibility to increase the electric stress on silicone rubber insulators to levels higher than the ones used today on glass and porcelain counterparts.

Leakage current patterns on contaminated polymeric surfaces

Abstract: This paper presents measurements of low-level leakage current (LC) patterns on naturally aged insulators and artificially contaminated material samples as well as insulaton. A nonlinear behaviorof the LC has been observed. Possible causes for this behavior are discussed and its relations to surface hydrophobicity and electric stress are described. In addition, neural networks are trained to recognize the LC patterns as well as to estimate their harmonic contents.

Performance of coconut oil as an alternative transformer liquid insulation

Abstract: Transformer mineral oil has been replaced by alternative oils such as synthetic oil and natural esters due to their biodegradability and environmentally friendly nature. This paper presents performance of coconut oil as such an alternative. Generally, as the other alternative oils, coconut oil has high conductivity due to the presence of free fatty acids. In this study, three different types of coconut oil samples consisting of virgin, copra and RBD (refined, bleached and deodorized) were initially tested by frequency dielectric spectroscopy (FDS) measurements to see how the conductivity was improved by dehydration and neutralization. The FDS results were fitted by inverse power dependence and Cole-Cole models to estimate the conductivity and response functions. Afterwards, a set of new coconut oil samples extracted from copra were thermally aged at 120°C under sealed conditions and compared with that of mineral oil. The performances of oil samples were evaluated using the test results of breakdown voltage, acidity, interfacial tension and FDS measurements under different aging periods such as 2, 5 and 7 weeks. Another 4 sets of new coconut and mineral oil samples were subjected to simulated thermal faults and electrical faults which include aging for 12 hours at 160°C, one hour at 200°C, exposing to partial discharges for four hours and subjecting to 20 low energy breakdowns. The performance comparisons were done by FDS measurements and dissolved gas analysis. In parallel, field-aged coconut oil samples collected from a sealed distribution transformer with 11 years of service were also tested by FDS measurements. In general, coconut oil shows its suitability as an alternative to the mineral oils for transformers, despite limitations found in some of their physical properties. It was found that the FDS results were in good agreement with chemical test results and with the estimated conductivity values.

Leakage currents on non-ceramic insulators and materials

Abstract: This paper presents a review of leakage current (Lc) measurements on nonceramic insulators and material samples. It is divided into two parts: First, the field investigations of LC, include a development of LC measuring systems and how the on-line LC measurements correlate to the insulator performance as well as to the atmospheric and pollution parameters. Then, the laho. ratory investigations, describe how the LC are used to evaluate materials, to develop new testingprocedures and to predict insulator performance. An extensive bibliography and additional references is provided.

Performance of nonceramic insulators under tropical field conditions

Abstract: This paper presents the results of investigations on the performance of nonceramic insulators in tropical field conditions. Six different types of 33 kV insulators (silicone rubber, EPDM composite, porcelain, and RTV coated porcelain) were installed at six different test sites exposed to marine, industrial and clean environments in Sri Lanka and Tanzania. The visual scrutiny, hydrophobicity class (HC) and surface conductivity were used for the evaluation of the field performance. The silicone rubber and RTV coated insulators preserved the hydrophobic properties although some biological growth was found on them. The EPDM insulators showed distinct surface changes. At the same time, damage due to dry-band arcing appeared on the porcelain insulators exposed to marine pollution.

Review of modern diagnostic techniques for assessing insulation condition in aged transformers

Abstract: Cellulosic paper and oil insulation in a transformer degrade at higher operating temperatures. Degradation is accelerated in the presence of oxygen and moisture. Power transformers being expensive items need to be carefully monitored throughout their operation. Well established time-based maintenance and conservative replacement planning is not feasible in a current market driven electricity industry. Condition based maintenance and online monitoring are now gaining importance. Currently there are varieties of chemical and electrical diagnostic techniques available for insulation condition monitoring of power transformers. This paper presents a description of commonly used chemical diagnostics techniques along with their interpretation schemes. A number of new chemical techniques are also described in this paper. A number of electrical diagnostic techniques have gained exceptional importance to the utility professionals. Among these techniques polarisation/depolarisation current measurement, return voltage measurement and frequency domain dielectric spectroscopy at low frequencies are the most widely used. This paper describes analyses and interpretation of these techniques for transformer insulation condition assessment.

Dielectric response of mineral oil impregnated cellulose and the impact of aging

Abstract: Dielectric response is a non-invasive diagnostic method with a potential to give information about the status of the solid insulation in a power transformer. To investigate what conditions the method can and cannot reveal, frequency domain spectroscopy has been applied to oil-impregnated paper and pressboard with and without moisture and/or acids added, and to paper at various stages of aging. Water and carboxylic acids are important aging indicators. It is found that moisture is clearly detectable. Also low molecular weight carboxylic acids will affect the dielectric response in a way similar to moisture, but high concentrations are needed for a contribution comparable to that of moisture. It is difficult to tell moisture and acids apart from the responses obtained. High molecular weight carboxylic acids make little or no contribution to the dielectric response of the solid insulation in a paper/pressboard - oil system. It was also observed that keeping paper or pressboard at elevated temperatures had a conditioning effect on the response

Fundamental and low frequency harmonic components of leakage current as a diagnostic tool to study aging of RTV and HTV silicone rubber in salt-fog

Abstract: The paper presents the results of using the fundamental and the low frequency harmonic components of leakage current to study aging of silicone rubber in salt-fog. Experiments have been conducted on RTV and HTV coated rods at different fields (0.25-0.6 kV/cm) and conductivities (1000 to 2500 /spl mu/S/cm). The onset of dry-band arcing on samples could be determined by measuring the low frequency harmonic components. A correlation has been found between the fundamental and low harmonic components of leakage current and different forms of aging. Where erosion could be associated with an increase in the level of both the fundamental and low frequency harmonic components of leakage current. For example, surface damage for HTV rods occurred when the fundamental component of leakage current was greater than 2 mA. On the other hand, when the samples approached failure, the fundamental component of leakage current reached relatively high values ( > 6 mA for HTV rods and > 2 mA for RTV rods) and the low frequency harmonic components of the leakage current tended to decrease. The results suggest that both the fundamental and low frequency harmonics of leakage current can be used as a tool to determine both the beginning of aging and end of life of silicone rubber in salt-fog.

Diagnostic Methods for Outdoor Polymeric Insulators

Abstract: Composite insulators are considered mature products and a broad range of insulator types is nowadays available, including line insulators, hollow-core insulators and apparatus insulators, for applications ranging from distribution voltages to the highest transmission voltages. This development has created a need to elaborate diagnostic methods and tools for determining the quality of composite insulators. A review on recognized insulator faults and methods for their detection is provided.