Prithwiraj Purkait

Abstract: Moisture and ageing strongly influence the dielectric properties of oil/paper insulation system of power transformer. Moisture measurement in oil sample generally gives inconclusive information since oil/paper moisture equilibrium is temperature dependent and takes a long time to be in equilibrium. Direct moisture measurement of paper sample is not practicable for in-service transformers. The measurement and evaluation of the "dielectric response" and conductivity is one possible way of diagnosing a transformer insulation condition. In a recent research project, polarization and depolarization current measurement has been used for assessing the condition of oil/paper insulation. The polarization and depolarization current (PDC) analysis is a nondestructive dielectric testing method for determining the conductivity and moisture content of insulation materials in a transformer. On the basis of this analysis it is possible to take further actions like oil-refurbishment, drying or replacement of the winding of the transformer. This paper presents a description of the PDC technique with the physical and mathematical background and some results of PDC measurements on several transformers. Analyses and interpretation of the field test data are also presented in this paper.

Abstract: Preventive diagnosis and maintenance of transformers have become more and more popular in recent times in order to improve the reliability of electric power systems. Dielectric testing techniques such as return voltage measurement (RVM) and polarization-depolarization current (PDC) measurement are being investigated as potential tools for condition assessment of transformer insulation. A better understanding and analysis of the dielectric test results are only possible with a clear understanding of the physical behavior of the insulation system in response to moisture and aging. A circuit model, which describes the dielectric behavior of the transformer's main insulation system, has been parameterized in this paper. The values of the parameters of the model have been identified from the dielectric tests. A correlation has been developed between the physical condition of the insulation and the equivalent model parameters that enable a clear and transparent interpretation of the dielectric test results.

Abstract: Dielectric testing techniques, in both time and frequency domains, are currently widely used by power utilities for assessment of the condition of transformer oil-paper insulation systems. However, it has been reported that results of these tests are highly influenced by the operating temperature during measurements. The distribution, migration and equilibrium of moisture between oil and paper in a complicated insulation system is highly temperature dependent. It requires adequate experience and proper understanding to interpret the dielectric response results in the presence of temperature variations and thermal instability. Proper analysis of the dielectric test result is only possible with an understanding of the physical behavior of the insulation system in response to temperature. A circuit model, which describes the dielectric behavior of the transformers main insulation system, has been investigated in this paper. The values of the parameters of the model have been identified from the dielectric tests. A correlation has been observed between the operating temperature and the equivalent model parameters that can be used as additional information for better interpretation of the dielectric test results. This paper thus reports a detailed study on the effects of temperature on dielectric measurements of a transformer under controlled laboratory conditions. Some results of practical on-site testing are also presented to demonstrate the possibility of errors that may be introduced in dielectric test results analysis unless temperature effects are taken into consideration.

Abstract: Properties of oil and paper in a transformer degrade primarily due to thermal ageing and moisture ingress. Dielectric diagnostic tests, such as Recovery Voltage (RV), and Polarizations and Depolarization Current (PDC) measurement are currently being explored as potential tools for insulation condition assessment. A modern chemical analysis tool for paper molecular weight (MW) measurement, Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) or the more accurately described Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) promises to be useful in assessing ageing condition. However, the issue of separately assessing the impacts of ageing and moisture on oil and paper has been a key issue for many years. In the current research project, a series of experiments have been performed under controlled laboratory conditions with preset moisture content, and at controlled high temperature ageing. Whereas RV and PDC measurement results were found to be more sensitive to the moisture content of the oil and paper insulation, the MW distribution measurement by SEC provided a trend of insulation thermal ageing. This paper first provides a brief description of RVM, PDC and SEC procedures followed by a description of the experimental techniques adopted. Results are then analysed with the view of separately understanding the impacts of thermal ageing and moisture on the condition of oil and paper insulation in a transformer.

Abstract: The need for economic, reliable, and effective delivery of electric power has lead to the search for fast, efficient, and effective methods for diagnosing the insulation of high-voltage (HV) equipment in the power industries. The recent dielectric techniques that have been carefully considered by major industries for transformer insulation condition assessment are the recovery voltage method (RVM) and the polarization and depolarization current (PDC) measurement. However, due to the complexity of the transformer insulation structure and various degradation mechanisms under multiple stresses, insulation condition assessment is usually performed by experts with special knowledge and experience. In this paper, an expert system (ES) is developed, which imitates the performance of a human expert, to make the complicated insulation condition assessment procedure accessible to plant maintenance engineers. The structure of the ES is described in detail including knowledge base, inference engine, and human-computer interface. Examples of the application of the ES are also presented to confirm that the system can provide accurate insulation diagnosis.

Abstract: Signal processing can be found in many applications and its primary goal is to provide underlying information on specific problems for the purpose of decision making. Traditional signal processing approaches assume the stationarity of signals, which in practice is not often satisfied. Hence, time or frequency descriptions alone are insufficient to provide comprehensive information about such signals. On the contrary, time-frequency analysis is more suitable for nonstationary signals. Therefore, this paper provides a status report of feature based signal processing in the time-frequency domain through an overview of recent contributions. The feature considered here is energy concentration. The paper provides an analysis of several classes of feature extractors, i.e., time-frequency representations, and feature classifiers. The results of the literature review indicate that time-frequency domain signal processing using energy concentration as a feature is a very powerful tool and has been utilized in numerous applications. The expectation is that further research and applications of these algorithms will flourish in the near future.

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of the current technological and economical capabilities of electrochemical (ECM-based), electro-physical (EDM-based) and photonic (Laser-/EBM-based) additive and removal processes for turbomachinery component manufacture. Starting with the industrial demands and challenges of today, the technologies are reviewed in detail regarding achievable geometrical precision and surface integrity as well as material removal and deposition rates for conventionally difficult-to-cut Ti- and Ni-based alloys and dedicated steels. Past, existing and future areas of technology application of these advanced non-mechanical manufacturing processes are discussed. The paper focusses on the description of shaping processes therefore excludes pure welding or coating applications.

Abstract: The development of non-linear dynamic theory brought a new method for recognising and predicting the complex non-linear dynamic behaviour. Fractal dimension can quantitatively describe the non-linear behaviour of vibration signal. In the present paper, the capacity dimension, information dimension and correlation dimension are applied to classify various fault types and evaluate various fault conditions of rolling element bearing, and the classification performance of each fractal dimension and their combinations are evaluated by using SVMs. Experiments on 10 fault data sets showed that the classification performance of the single fractal dimension is quite poor on most data sets, and for a given data set, each fractal dimension exhibited different classification ability, this indicates that various fractal dimensions contain various fault information. Experiments on different combinations of the fractal dimensions demonstrated that the combination of all these three fractal dimensions gets the highest score, but the classification performance is still poor on some data sets. In order to improve the classification performance of the SVM further, 11 time-domain statistical features are introduced to train the SVM together with three fractal dimensions, and the classification performance of the SVM is improved significantly. At the same time, experimental results showed that the classification performance of the SVM trained with 11 time-domain statistical features in tandem with three fractal dimensions outperforms that of the SVM trained only with 11 time-domain statistical features or with three fractal dimensions.

Abstract: An article describes an early fault diagnostic technique based on acoustic signals. The presented technique was used for a single-phase induction motor. The authors measured and analysed following states of the motor: healthy single-phase induction motor, single-phase induction motor with faulty bearing, single-phase induction motor with faulty bearing and shorted coils of auxiliary winding. A feature extraction method called MSAF-20-MULTIEXPANDED (Method of Selection of Amplitudes of Frequency – Multiexpanded) was discussed. The MSAF-20-MULTIEXPANDED was used to create feature vectors. The obtained vectors were classified by NN (Nearest Neighbour classifier), NM (Nearest Mean classifier) and GMM (Gaussian Mixture Models). The proposed technique can be used for diagnosis of the single-phase induction motors. It can be also used for other types of rotating electric motors.

Abstract: Three key issues should be addressed to enable universities to deliver engineers who have a solid documented laboratory experience enabling them to design goods and services complying with the requirements of a sustainable society. First, introduce learning objectives of engineering instructional laboratories in courses including laboratory components. Second, implement individual student assessment. Third, introduce free access to online experimental resources as a supplement to the equipment in traditional laboratories. Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) in Sweden and the University of South Australia (UniSA) have created online laboratory workbenches for electrical experiments that mimic traditional ones by combining virtual and physical reality. Online workbenches not only supplement traditional ones, but they can also be used for low-cost individual assessment. BTH has started a project disseminating the BTH workbench concept, The Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality (VISIR) Open Laboratory Platform, and invites other universities to set up replicas and participate in further development and standardization. Further, online workbenches offer additional learning possibilities. UniSA has started a project where students located in different countries can perform experiments together as a way to enhance the participants' intercultural competence. This paper discusses online laboratory workbenches and their role in an engineering education appropriate for a sustainable society.