Condition Assessment of Power Transformer

2052
L. Li et al.: Condition Assessment of Power Transformers Using a Synthetic Analysis Method Based on Association Rule
Condition Assessment of Power Transformers

Using a Synthetic Analysis Method Based on Association
Rule and Variable Weight Coefficients
Lee Li, Xie Longjun, Zhang Deng, Yu Bin, Ge Yafeng and Lin Fuchang
College of Electric and Electronic Engineering
Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China
ABSTRACT
Condition assessment for power transformer requires not only integrating the known
artificial intelligence (AI) technology, but also exploiting the interrelation of the measured
data. According to the association rule of information data and the variable weight
synthesizing theory of factor spaces, an assessment method of transformer condition was
proposed in this paper. Via analyzing the interrelation of the independent status
parameters (ISP) and transformer fault types, the set of synthetic status parameters (SSP)
can be built up. For avoiding interference from subjective experience, association rule
theory was used to calculate the constant weight coefficients (CWC) of the ISPs. Since the
true transformer condition may not always be accurately reflected under the condition of
CWCs of a few SSPs, the method of variable weight synthesizing was used for computing
the variable weight coefficients (VWC) of the SSPs. Then, combining with the existing
maintenance procedures, a preferable condition assessing system of power transformer
was proposed. Operational example proved the condition assessing system may reflect the
real operation condition of power transformer.
Index Terms Transformer, association rule, condition assessment, variable weight.
INTRODUCTION
POWER transformers are required throughout modern

transmission and distribution systems. Their reliabilities
relate directly to the dependability of power system operation.
To maintain transformers in good operating condition, power
transformers must be routinely examined and assessed to find
incipient faults and to catch any potentially extended
deterioration as early as possible.
Over the past decades, a number of electrical and
chemical techniques have been developed for condition
assessment of transformers. Some key issues and
methodologies of transformer condition assessment can be
found in [1-4]. Several industry standards are available for
dissolved gas analysis (DGA) and partial discharge (PD)
pattern recognition based transformer fault diagnosis [5-7].
Doing an evaluation using these methods requires expert
knowledge, with which not always it is counted. The present
improvement in artificial intelligence (AI) diagnosing
techniques has enabled power engineers and researchers to
develop powerful and versatile AI approach or software to
diagnose transformer faults [8-12].
Manuscript received on 15 January 2013, in final form 17 September 2013.
However, single technique also has shortcomings for fault

diagnosis and condition assessment of power transformers.
There are some examples. Neural network method can not only
deal with complex data, but also have the ability to learn.
However, since the size of the training sample sets is usually
large, it is difficult to determine the selection of the input
vector. Fault tree relies too much upon the completeness and
correctness of the fault tree information and the ability to
identify potential failures is poor. There are some problems, i.e.
misclassification, wrong classification in larger samples using
support vector machine approach for fault diagnosis. Rough set
requires that the input data must be discrete. Fuzzy clustering
method is lacked of associative and adaptive capacity.
Therefore, increasing researchers believe that evaluating the
transformer condition should be based on comprehensive
parameters and integrated intelligent technology [13-16].
On the other hand, the operation conditions of the power
transformers are often in-between the normal and the fault
conditions. And lots of routine tests are widely used for
monitoring power transformer. Condition assessment for
power transformer requires not only integrating the known AI
technologies, but also processing the interrelation of
measured data. When a power transformer is close to the fault
condition, there may be lots of abnormal or normal measured
1070-9878/13/$25.00 2013 IEEE
IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation
Vol. 20, No. 6; December 2013
data. There are still considerable challenges and issues

remaining in accurately interpreting measured data and
explicitly making inference of a transformers condition.
For above reasons, this paper presents that the data mining
technology is applied to the analysis of complicated and
inter-related measured data. Being more specific, this is a
condition assessment method based on association rules and
comprehensive analysis of variable weight coefficients. The
measured data are defined as various independent status
parameters (ISP). Through classifying and analysizing historical
measured data and fault reports, the ISPs can be mapped into
some synthetic status parameters (SSP). And these SSPs will be
taken as the key elements of the transformer overall condition
assessment. The association rule is used to calculate the constant
and variable weight coefficients so that the coefficients can more
accurately represent the real weight of each status parameter.
2 CONSTRUCTION OF SYNTHETIC STATUS

PARAMETERS
As mentioned, lots of routine/preventive tests are widely
used besides DGA and PD measurement. The traditional
routine/preventive tests are: transformer ratio measurement,
winding resistance, oil breakdown voltage, short-circuit
impedance and loss, volume resistivity, dielectric loss factor
and capacitance, and so on. These examinations usually give
information on faults in windings, winding conductor and
joint problems, winding deformation, oil moisture and
contamination, and dielectric problems. The other special
tests include frequency response analysis, vibration analysis,
infrared examination, voltage recovery, and degree of
polymerization. These detect problems such as winding
looseness and displacement, slack winding and mechanical
faults, hot spot on connection, moisture in paper and aging of
paper, as well as insulation degradation. These test data will
form the information pool of ISPs. According to the different
test techniques, the ISPs can be divided into two groups: the
data from DGA regulation and the data from routine tests.
For comprehensive analysis, it is necessary to select the
most representative status parameters which can sensitively
reflect operation condition of transformers. When the power
transformer is at fault, it is often accompanied with the
abnormalities of several status parameters. In this papers
representation, referring to the guidance document of State Grid
Corp. of China published in 2008 [17], combining with the
practical historical fault reports, the power transformers SSPs
can be constructed into the following active set expression:
SSP set of a power transformer = {Moistened insulation, Core
fault, Overheating, Winding fault, Partial discharge, Oil-flow
discharge, Arc discharge, Insulation aging, Oil deterioration}
Based upon the principle of expert system, the association
of SSPs and ISPs should be determined by the testing data and
fault reports. In practice, the routine/preventive tests are the
primary sources of historical data. Referring to the guidance
document of State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) [17-18], those
ISPs linked most closely with certain fault should be classified
to represent the properties of the relative SSP. And those ISPs
can be expressed by explicit data values, so that they are in
favour of the calculation in subsequent sections. The
relationship establishment of these ISPs and SSPs also refer to
2053
the empirical advices of SGCC staff. For other power grids, the
construction of ISPs and SSPs should be open. At last, the
SSPs of a power transformer listed in this paper may
be constructed as shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Mapping table of ISPs and SSPs of power transformer.
SSP
ISP
1Moistened insulation
2 Core fault
3 Overheating
4 Winding fault
5 Partial discharge
6 Oil-flow discharge
7 Arc discharge
8 Insulation aging
9 Oil deterioration
1)
dielectric loss factor of oil
2)
* water content in oil
3)
oil breakdown voltage
4)
absorptance of insulation resistance
5)
polarisation index
6)
volume resistivity
7)
*H2 (hydrogen content in oil)
8)
insulation resistance of core
1)
core grounding current
2)
3)
*C2H6 (ethane content in oil)
4)
*C2H4 (ethylene content in oil)
1)
difference of winding DC-Resistance
2)
* production rate of carbon monoxide (CO)
3)
* production rate of carbon dioxide (CO2)
4)
*C2H4 (ethylene content in oil)
1)
increment of winding short-circuit impedance
2) winding dielectric loss

3)
increment of winding capacitance
4)
1)
partial discharge magnitude
2)
* total oil dissolved gas content
3)
4)
*CH4 (methane content in oil)
5)
6)
1)
oil-flow electrostatic current in neutral point
2)
3)
volume resistivity
4)
5)
* C2H2 (acetylene content in oil)
1)
2)
partial discharge magnitude
3)
* H2 (hydrogen content in oil)
4)
* C2H2 (acetylene content in oil)
1)
* furfural content in oil
2)
3)
4)
* polymerization degree of insulating paper
5)
winding dielectric loss
6)
volume resistivity
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6) volume resistivity
Note: (1) In this table, it is for the ISPs from DGA with *, and the
remaining from routine/preventive electrical tests.
2054
probability of P B A :
3 ASSOCIATION RULE APPROACH OF

DETERMINING CONSTANT WEIGHT
COEFFICIENTS
It has always been a difficulty of the transformer condition
assessment to determine the weight coefficients of status
parameters. Many reported methods have been reported in the
current academic field, such as grey correlation method [19],
unascertained rational method [20] and analytic hierarchy
process (AHP) [21-22], etc. Grey correlation method can avoid
the errors of weight distribution caused by the disagree of expert
algorithms, but it is difficult to determine the distinguish
coefficient; Unascertained rational method can effectively reduce
the influence of the weight quantification of the outcome caused
by the experts subjectivity, but it is questionable that the
compulsory comparison method is determined by professional
title, length of service, education of the experts; AHP is
supposed to decompose the complex problem for each
component factor, and take these factors into an orderly formed
hierarchical structure by their correlation to each other and the
subordinate relation, and to form a multilayer analysis evaluation
model. In AHP, the relative importance indexes of all factors are
determined through the pair-wise comparison, and the weight
coefficient of various factors through the integrated experts
judgment. The drawbacks of AHP are the complicated
calculation and easily generated fuzzy judgment when the
evaluation index number is numerous. In order to avoid the
subjectivity of the expert system, then a kind of association rule
method will be put forward to determine the weight coefficient
based on historical statistics data.
Association rules technology belongs to a kind of data mining
theory, and is most early used in studying behavior patterns of
customers purchase in the business domain [23]. Then, it is used
to find the correlation between the different items that appear in
the same event, namely to identify all subset of items or properties,
which appear frequently, as well as their mutual correlation.
According to the related concepts of association rules [23-24], The
transaction database (TDB) is recorded as D , D is a set of
transactions , i.e., D 1 , 2 ,, N , N is the number of
transactions in TDB. A transaction includes several items , i.e.,
i 1 , 2 ,, M . Suppose X 1 , 2 , , j , which is
the set of all items in D , A is addressed as the item set which is
any subset of X , and A K means that A is a set with K
items. A denotes the number of transactions which contains
A in D , i.e., A i | A i , i D .
An association rule is denoted by A B , and

A D , B D , A B , A and B are the premise and
conclusion of an association rule respectively. Support of
A B , which is represented as
support A B P A B
P A B
C A B P B A
(1)
denotes the percentage of A B contained in D . The closer

that this support level is to 1, the more great association the item
set A and B are with.
Confidence of A B is the percentage of both A
and B contained in D , that is, the conditional
P A
100%
(2)
For determining constant weight coefficients (CWC) with

association rule, the support level must be considered.
According to the definition of support level, lets suppose that:
a) Database D j = Transactions with j -th beyond-index
SSP b) Item set Ai , j = Transactions with the i -th
beyond-index ISP in the j -th SSPc)
Item set B j =
Transactions with fault occurrence related to the j -th

SSP= D j
Here, B j and D j are equal. From Eq.(1), the calculation
formula of the support level of Ai , j B j is got by
support Ai , j B j =P Ai , j B j
=
Ai , j B j
Dj
100%
Ai , j D j
Dj
100%
(3)
As for the confidence of Ai , j B j , lets suppose that:
a) Database D =Transactions with any beyond-index SSP

b) Item set Ai , j =Transactions with the i -th beyond-index
c) Item set B j =Transactions with
ISP in the j -th SSP
fault occurrence related to the j -th SSP

Based on Eq.(2), the calculation formula of the confidence of
Ai , j B j is got by
C Ai , j B j =
=
P Ai , j B j
P Ai , j
Ai , j B j D
Ai , j D
Ai , j B j
Ai , j
(4)
100%
Through collecting enough typical power transformer

fault data, the confidences of the ISPs in each SSP may be
calculated according to Eq. (4). And then, by comparing the
confidences of each ISP in the same SSP, the CWC of each
ISP can be determined according to its confidence. Often the
CWCs are calculated as:
Ci , j
(5)
wi , j
C1, j C2, j ... Ci , j ... Cn j , j
where wi , j and Ci , j are the CWC and confidence of the
i -th ISP in a certain SSP, respectively. n j is the number of
ISPs contained in the j -th SSP.
As the SSP in Table 1 core fault for example, it
includes four ISPs: core grounding current, insulation
resistance of core, C2H6 content and C2H4 content. The
TDB of the core fault is noted by D and in the premise
transaction set, the four ISPs are recorded by A1,2 , A2,2 ,
A3,2 , A4,2 , respectively. The conclusion of core fault is
B2 . Suppose the total TDB contains 900 sets of data, the
number of data sets which are relative with core fault is 112.
Through the statistical, in the 112 sets, the beyond-index

frequencies of core grounding current, insulation
resistance of core, C2H6 content and C2H4 content are
105, 102, 99, 87, respectively. And in the 900 sets of TDB,
the total beyond-index frequencies of these four ISPs are 109,
262, 142 and 222, respectively. That is, B2 =112,
A1,2 =109, A2,2 =262, A3,2 =142, A4,2 =222,

A1,2 B2 =105, A2,2 B2 =102, A3,2 B2 =99,
A4,2 B2 =87. According to Eq. (2), the confidence of
the ISPs of core grounding current is calculated like below.
P( A1,2 B2 )
105 900
C1, 2
100%
100% 96.33%
109 900
P( A1, 2 )
Similarly, the other three confidences are
C2,2 =38.93%
C3,2 =69.72%
C4,2 =39.19%
Then, according to Eq. (3), the relative CWCs of four
ISPs are computed as following:
w1,2 0.3945 w2,2 0.1595 w3,2 0.2855 w4,2 0.1605
Similarly the CWC of each ISP in the other SSPs can be
calculated too. From this process, the CWCs of ISPs would
be more objective.
2055
consideration of SSPs is not so important, that is 0.5 ; When

the serious flaw of some SSPs is ruled out, then 0.5 ; 1
mean equal to constant weight mode.
When each status parameter can characterize one part of the
operating condition of a power transformer, the advantage of
VWCs is that, if a status parameter score is significantly lower
than others, the weight coefficient value of this state can be
automatically adjusted according to equations (6) or (7). The
smaller score indicates, more serious the degradation is, greater the
VWC is, and lower the overall assessment score of the transformer
is. Meanwhile, it is more in line with the actual condition.
5 CONDITION ASSESSMENT STEPS

In order to build a condition assessment system, two
main issues, that is, the scoring method of SSPs and
transformer conditions should be disposed.
As shown in Figure 1, the j -th SSP involves several
ISPs (the number is n j ). And each ISP involves two data, a
score and a CWC. The score should be computed from the
historical data. The CWC of each ISP would be computed
based on the historical fault data and the association rules.
The score of ISP can be achieved by the weighted sum.
4 CALCULATION OF VARIABLE WEIGHT

COEFFICIENTS
Association rules can partly improve the situation that the
determination of CWCs depends too much on the subjective
experience. But even so, CWC will be hardly shifted with
change of the status parameter. When a status parameter value
of a power transformer deviates seriously from the normal, a
certain performance of the transformer may appear a serious
decline. It is noticed that the CWC of a status parameter,
whether independent or synthetic, is not great. If condition
assessment only is performed through the CWCs, the overall
transformer condition may still be classified as the normal.
Therefore, it cant accurately reflect the actual operating
condition of power transformers merely using CWCs.
As one of the important modeling principles of the factor
space theory, the variable weight coefficients (VWC) can reflect
the balance of the various element-estates in the comprehensive
evaluation. Accordingly, the variable weight formula is introduced
into the condition assessment of power transformers [25]:
wvj
wj
xj
x
p 1
Figure 1. Scoring method of SSP
(6)
where wvj and x j are the VWC and score of the j -th
SSP, respectively, m is the number of SSPs, w j is the
CWC of the j -th SSP.
If the balanced factor is pulled into the formation of
variable weight synthesizing mode, the variable weight
formula can be obtained as [26-27]:
wvj w j xj 1
w
p 1
xp 1
(7)
Where denotes the balanced factor ( 0 1 ), whose value

depends on the relative importance of each SSP. When the balance
Figure 2. Scoring method of transformer condition
Then, as shown in Figure 2, the weighted score of each

SSP is determined by the score and CWC of this SSP. Next,
the VWC of a SSP should be calculated according to equation
2056
6) or equation 7). The final score of the transformer can be

achieved by the weighted sum. Based on the final score, the
transformer condition may be assessed. And the appropriate
maintenance strategy can be determined.
In summary, the condition assessment of transformers
will consist of the following steps:
Step 1) to classify the ISPs according to the association
theory and the historical fault data in the actual operation, and
establish the SSPs of transformers similar to Table 1.
Step 2) to collect the measured information of the
assessed power transformer. These test data will be used in
the following Step 5.
Step 3) to collect the historical information of ISPs
mentioned in Table 1 related with the transformer running state.
These historical data should be got from the fault diagnosis of
the transformers which operated in the similar environment.
Step 4) to determine CWC wi , j of each ISP in
accordance with association rules based on Eq. (5). On the
other hand, considering the SSPs can accurately characterize
one part of a running transformer condition, the CWCs are
taken as average as w j 1 m , where m is just the number
of all SSPs. Obviously, m =9 in this paper.
Step 5) to calculate the score of each ISP in accordance
with regulation [28]:
y yi , j
100
xi , j
(8)
y y f
xi , j
i -th ISP
is the score of the
(when xi , j 0 , xi , j 0 ; when xi , j 100 , xi , j 100 ), y is
the warning value of this ISP. If the status parameter gives
the attention value y z , then y 1.3 y z if y z y f , or
y y z 1.3 if y z y f . y f is the initial value of status
where
parameter in the new transformer (if y f is vacant, y f can

be replaced with the factory test value or commissioning test
value ). yi , j is the current measured value of this ISP.
Step 6) to calculate the score of SSP according to the
score of ISPs and the CWCs:
x
n j
i 1
xi, j w i, j
(9)
where x j is the score of j -th SSP, n j is the number of

ISPs contained in the j -th SSP.
Step 7) according to the score of j -th SSP, the VWCs
wvj of j -th SSP are calculated through Eq. (7). The
transformer defects reflected by SSP are always more real
and serious, hence the SSP tend to be 0 .
Step 8) based on the score of SSP and VWCs, the final
score of the power transformer is calculated as following:
m
T x j wvj
(10)
j 1
where T denotes the final score of transformer condition.

Step 9) according to the final score, the operating
condition of power transformer will be assessed. And the
appropriate maintenance strategy can be determined. In
related guidance files of SGCC, due to different scores,
transformer condition is divided into 4-level. Referring to

known statistical regularities of condition assessment, the
relationship between the operational status of the power
transformer and the final score is listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Relationship of the transformer condition and the final score.
final score
80-100
60-80
20-60
0-20
operating condition
Normal
Attention
Abnormal
Serious
6 EXAMPLE ANALYSIS
A 220 kV main transformer used in the substation of
Southwest China is taken as for example. The model of this
transformer is SFPS9-150000 kVA/220 kV. A routine test
was performed on April 17th 2010. We collected the data of
ISPs which mentioned in Table1, and show those as the
measured values in Table 3. The relative attention and initial
values are listed too.
Table 3. One set sample of measured data of ISPs.
Measured
Initial values
Attention
ISP
values ( yi , j )
( yf )
values ( yz )
dielectric loss factor of
oil
1.7%
4%
0.5%
water content in oil
12.1 mg/L
25 mg/L
3.5 mg/L
55 kV
35 kV
58 kV
absorptance of
insulation resistance
1.61
1.3
polarisation index
2.03
1.5
2.5
5510 m
310 m
60109 m
359 ppm
150 ppm
6.1 ppm
3.8A
0.1A
0.01A
200 M
100 M
1000 M
92 ppm
65 ppm
2.3 ppm
52 ppm
50 L/L
4.8 ppm
1.5%
4%
1%
12%/month
100%/month
31%/month
200%/month
1.2%
3%
1%
0.36%
0.8%
0.17%
1.4%
5%
1%
5 ppm
72 pC
500 pC
30 pC
1.6%
3%
1%
18.5 ppm
100 ppm
8.7 ppm
0.07 A
1 A
0.02 A
furfural content in oil
0.05 mg/L
0.2 mg/L
polymerization degree
of insulating paper
900
250
1000
volume resistivity
H2 (hydrogen content
in oil)
insulation resistance
of core
C2H6 (ethane content
in oil)
C2H4 (ethylene
content in oil)
difference of winding
DC-Resistance
production rate of
carbon monoxide
(CO)
production rate of
carbon dioxide (CO2)
increment of winding
short-circuit
impedance
capacitance
C2H2 (acetylene
content in oil)
partial discharge
magnitude
total oil dissolved gas
content
CH4 (methane content
in oil)
oil-flow electrostatic
current in neutral point
2057
Table 4. CWCs and support levels of all ISPs involved in SSPs.

SSP
Moistened
insulation
Number of
fault
89
ISP
Total beyond-index
frequency of ISP
Beyond-index frequency of
ISP in all fault of SSP
CWC
wi , j
Support
Level
374
88
0.0640
0.9888
237
87
0.0998
0.9775
162
82
0.1376
0.9213
absorptance of insulation
resistance
76
72
0.2575
0.8090
polarisation index
71
65
0.2488
0.7303
volume resistivity
340
66
0.0528
0.7416
349
82
0.0639
0.9213
262
73
0.0757
0.8202
109
105
0.3945
0.9375
262
102
0.1594
0.9107
142
99
0.2855
0.8839
222
87
0.1605
0.7768
267
94
0.1399
0.9691
99
87
0.3491
0.8969
98
89
0.3608
0.9175
222
84
0.1503
0.8660
101
98
0.3641
0.9608
208
95
0.1714
0.9314
99
97
0.3677
0.9510
349
90
0.0968
0.8824
190
85
0.1917
1.0000
356
78
0.0939
0.9176
349
76
0.0933
0.8941
93
81
0.3733
0.9529
267
71
0.1140
0.8353
237
74
0.1338
0.8706
oil-flow electrostatic
current in neutral point
94
92
0.4627
1.0000
374
85
0.1075
0.9239
volume resistivity
340
89
0.1238
0.9674
356
83
0.1102
0.9022
198
82
0.1958
0.8913
267
95
0.2170
0.9048
190
94
0.3018
0.8952
349
92
0.1608
0.8762
198
104
0.3204
0.9905
117
112
0.2904
0.9825
*H2 (hydrogen content in

oil)
insulation resistance of
core
Core fault
Overheating
112
97
core
*C2H6 (ethane content in
oil)
*C2H4 (ethylene content in
oil)
DC-Resistance
* production rate of carbon
monoxide (CO)
* production rate of carbon
dioxide (CO2)
*C2H4 (ethylene content in
oil)
short-circuit impedance
Winding fault
Partial
discharge
Oil-flow
discharge
Arc discharge
Insulation
102
85
92
105
114
capacitance
oil)
partial discharge
magnitude
* total oil dissolved gas
content
oil)
*CH4 (methane content in
oil)
DC-Resistance

content
* C2H2 (acetylene content
in oil)
DC-Resistance
partial discharge
magnitude
* H2 (hydrogen content in
oil)
* C2H2 (acetylene content
in oil)
* furfural content in oil
CONTINUED
2058
TABLE 4. CONTINUED
aging
374
101
0.0819
0.8860
356
102
0.0869
0.8947
112
110
0.2979
0.9649
208
106
0.1546
0.9298
volume resistivity
340
99
0.0883
0.8684
374
88
0.1336
0.9778
237
71
0.1701
0.7889
162
73
0.2558
0.8111
262
82
0.1777
0.9111
356
79
0.1260
0.8778
340
82
0.1369
0.9111

content
* polymerization degree of
insulating paper
Oil
90
deterioration
core
content
volume resistivity
Table 5. Scores and VWCs of SSPs.

v
j
SSP
Score ( x j )
VWC ( w )
Moistened insulation
61.93
0.0572
Core fault
5.59
0.6331
Overheating
79.03
0.0448
Winding fault
81.39
0.0435
Partial discharge
79.09
0.0448
Oil-flow discharge
92.07
0.0385
Arc discharge
79.29
0.0447
Insulation aging
82.68
0.0428
Oil deterioration
69.85
0.0507
Table 6. Score distribution of the 100 sets of sample data.
data
types
fault
data
set
normal
data
set
Calculated score region
known
data
sets
Serious
Abnormal
0-20
20-60
60-70
70-80
80-100
54
11
36
46
42
Attention
Normal
We organized the 886 sets of historical data which are

from fault conditions. These data were used to calculate the
CWCs of all ISPs applying equations (4) and (5) with
association rules. The results are shown in Table 4 attached in
the end of this paper. It is seen that the support levels of all
ISP are between 0.73 and 1.0. This illustrates the
classification of the ISPs and SSPs is reasonable.
As is described in step 5) to step 8), the data of Table 3
and Table 4 are put into equations (8), (9) and (7) to get the
scores and the VWCs of SSPs, which are shown in Table 5.
The data in Table 5 are put into equation (10), then the
final score of the transformer is calculated as T =31.86.
Compared with Table 2, this score shows that the
transformer condition is abnormal. And the score of Core
fault is only 5.59, significantly lower than the other SSPs,
which indicated that the transformer may go wrong in the
core or fixture. When power-cut detection on April 19th
2010, it was discovered that there was a little metal impurity
on the bottom of the transformer oil tank. This may cause
the unstable multiple grounding and part overheating.
For further verification, 100 sets of the historical
measured data, whose conditions are known, are sampled.
Among them, based on fault reports, it is known that 54 sets
of data were for fault condition. The remaining are in
normal. As space is limited, the detail calculating process of
all 100 sets cannot be represented. Like the measured values
in Table 3, these data are put into the condition assessing
steps, respectively. The calculated scores are distributed in
Table 6.
It can be seen from Table 6 that in all 54 known failure
data sets, the proposed assessment method can judge that 11
sets are in the serious condition, 36 sets are in the abnormal
state, 7 sets are in the attention condition. But the scores of
the 7 sets are close to 60 which are leaned to be abnormal.
While, in all 46 known normal data sets, 42 sets are
assessed in the normal condition, 4 sets are in the attention
condition, and the scores of the 4 sets are close to 80 which
are leaned to be normal. Assessment results are basically
consistent with the known actual situation, which proves
that the method described in this paper can accurately
reflect the operating condition of power transformers.
7 CONCLUSIONS
Condition-based maintenance of power transformers is
significant for the reliability improvement of the power grid.
The contributions of this article are summarized as following:
(1) Transformer condition assessment system is
established based on data mining for routine/preventive test.
And the comprehensive analysis is used to classify for the

ISPs. SSPs are taken as the key elements of the transformer
condition assessment, which is conducive to an accurate
assessment.
(2) The CWCs of status parameters are calculated
through association rules to avoid over-reliance on expert
opinion or subjective experience, and to reflect the weight of
each status parameter based on objective facts.
(3) The VWCs are used to calculate the condition score
of power transformers. It can help solve the problem that it
may not accurately reflect the true state of the transformer
under the condition of CWCs of a few SSPs.
It's worth mentioning that, in this paper, the
transformers ISPs and SSPs were constructed referring to the
guidance document of State Grid Corp. of China published in
2008. For other power grids, the construction of ISPs and
SSPs should be based on the actual situation. And more, for a
lot of data information, computer programming should be
used.
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Lee Li was born in Hubei province, P.R. China in

1976. He received the Ph.D. degree from the
Department of Electronics and Information
Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and
Technology (HUST), Wuhan, China, in 2006. He is
currently an Associate Professor with the College of
Electrical and Electronic Engineering, HUST. He is
working on pulsed-power and arc discharge
technology.
Xie Longjun was born in Anhui province, China, in

1989. He received the B.S. degree from the School
of Hydropower & Information Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
(HUST), Wuhan, China, in 2010. He has been
studying in the High Voltage Engineering
Department for M.S. degree.
2060
Zhang Deng was born in Hubei province, China, in
1985. He received the M.S. degree from the College
of electrical & electronic engineering, Huazhong
University of Science and Technology (HUST) in
2013. He has been working as an engineer in
Dongguan Power Supply Bureau, China Southern
Power Grid, Guangdong Province.
Ge Yafeng was born in Anhui province, China, in 1

990. He received the B.S. degree from China
University of Petroleum in 2012. He has been
studying in the High Voltage Engineering
Department for the Master degree in Huazhong
University of Science and Technology (HUST) for
M.S. degree.
Yu Bin was born in Zhejiang province, China, in

1990. He received the B.S. degree from the College
of electrical & electronic engineering, Huazhong
University of Science and Technology (HUST),
Wuhan, China, in 2012. He has been studying in
high voltage engineering department for M.S.
degree.
Lin Fuchang was born in ZheJiang province, China,

in 1969. He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical
and electronic engineering from HuaZhong
University of science and technology (HUST) in
1996. He has been working on pulsed power
technology and high voltage engineering. He is a
member of the Chinese society for electrical
engineering.

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2052

Condition Assessment of Power Transformers

POWER transformers are required throughout modern

However, single technique also has shortcomings for fault

1070-9878/13/$25.00 2013 IEEE

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 20, No. 6; December 2013

data. There are still considerable challenges and issues

2 CONSTRUCTION OF SYNTHETIC STATUS

dielectric loss factor of oil

* water content in oil

oil breakdown voltage

absorptance of insulation resistance

*H2 (hydrogen content in oil)

insulation resistance of core

core grounding current

insulation resistance of core

*C2H6 (ethane content in oil)

*C2H4 (ethylene content in oil)

difference of winding DC-Resistance

* production rate of carbon monoxide (CO)

* production rate of carbon dioxide (CO2)

*C2H4 (ethylene content in oil)

increment of winding short-circuit impedance

2) winding dielectric loss

increment of winding capacitance

*H2 (hydrogen content in oil)

partial discharge magnitude

* total oil dissolved gas content

*H2 (hydrogen content in oil)

*CH4 (methane content in oil)

difference of winding DC-Resistance

* water content in oil

oil-flow electrostatic current in neutral point

dielectric loss factor of oil

* total oil dissolved gas content

* C2H2 (acetylene content in oil)

difference of winding DC-Resistance

partial discharge magnitude

* H2 (hydrogen content in oil)

* C2H2 (acetylene content in oil)

* furfural content in oil

dielectric loss factor of oil

* total oil dissolved gas content

* polymerization degree of insulating paper

winding dielectric loss

dielectric loss factor of oil

* water content in oil

oil breakdown voltage

insulation resistance of core

* total oil dissolved gas content

3 ASSOCIATION RULE APPROACH OF

An association rule is denoted by A B , and

denotes the percentage of A B contained in D . The closer

For determining constant weight coefficients (CWC) with

Transactions with fault occurrence related to the j -th

As for the confidence of Ai , j B j , lets suppose that:

a) Database D =Transactions with any beyond-index SSP

fault occurrence related to the j -th SSP

Through collecting enough typical power transformer

IEEE Transactions on Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation

Vol. 20, No. 6; December 2013

Through the statistical, in the 112 sets, the beyond-index

A1,2 =109, A2,2 =262, A3,2 =142, A4,2 =222,