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For power supply companies and industrial enterprises, power Yet their physical weight makes transportation both complex
transformers are critical to operations and also highly capital- and costly. Test bays with three-phase converter technology are
intensive investments. Transformer testing and diagnostics are therefore increasingly being used. These systems employ a static,
therefore extremely important. Alongside the various laboratory- IGBT-based (Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor) frequency converter
based processes for testing the insulating liquid, a whole range to generate the variable-frequency output voltage. This converts
of electrical diagnostics processes is available. Several of these a three-phase input voltage into a DC voltage and then (using the
methods can be performed on-site at relatively low costs, while module mentioned above) to a three-phase AC voltage, whose
others require high voltages, which then have to be generated frequency can be adjusted within a range, for example from
with transportable test sources. 15 to 200 Hz.
On-site: Partial discharge measurements based on the Compact design: The new three-phase,
example of a 400 kV/433 MVA generator transformer. mobile test bay from ABB.
(cellulose) of a transformer using two measuring procedures. The key benefits of the new system. The pulse generator is housed
first of these is 'Frequency Domain Spectroscopy' (FDS), which horizontally in a 40 foot container and then erected quickly using
enables dissipation-factor measurements to be made over a wide a hydraulic system, meaning that no other auxiliary equipment is
frequency range from 0.1 mHz to several kHz. The second involves required on-site.
'Polarization Depolarization Current' (PDC) measurement, which
measures the charge and discharge current when applying and Successful partnership
shutting off the DC voltage. By taking measurements on models In cases where transporting a transformer to the manufacturer or
with defined water contents and with equivalent circuit diagrams to the designated repair facility is too expensive, too complex or
which portray the geometry of the transformer insulation with oil too risky, as well as in cases where transformer downtime needs
gaps, barriers and centering rods, the water content in the cel- to be kept to a minimum, on-site repairs represent a sensible
lulose can be determined. The DIRANA testing device combines alternative. Following maintenance/repair work of this nature,
both approaches in one and also reduces the amount of time however, it is necessary to perform standard measurements
needed to perform the tests. and high voltage tests to ensure the quality of the repairs and
the reliability of the transformer. "OMICRON's modern analytical
Mobile voltage pulse test bay technology and ABB's mobile high-voltage testing systems make
With voltage pulse testing systems, lightning surge and switching it possible to meet the increasing requirements of on-site testing
surge voltage tests are performed to simulate transient voltage and also to perform this testing in a similar way in the factory",
stressing. Marx generators are used here to generate a high explains Dr.-Ing. Werle, summarizing the advantages for custom-
voltage pulse using a special arrangement of capacitors, which ers and thereby the result of a successful partnership between the
are charged in parallel and then discharged in series across the two companies.
test object to generate the high test voltage. A large number
of stages on top of one another are required to generate high ABB Engineering Solutions
voltages. Generators for testing large transformers can therefore
easily reach a height of 15 meters and more. ABB has more than 50 transformer plants and more than
30 service sites worldwide. The company is the global market
Hydraulically erectable pulse generator leader for on-site transformer testing and repair work. Its latest
In the past, generators of this kind were often made up of indi- development, a mobile high-voltage test bay for on-site test-
vidual modules stacked on top of each other using a crane when ing of power transformers, offers unparalleled opportunities
performing on-site tests. However, this approach is time-consum- for testing, maintaining and repairing transformers on-site.
ing and expensive. "Our newly developed mobile surge voltage OMICRON supplies the measurement and test engineering
test concept excels above all through the simple and fast erection required for this.
of the pulse generator required to perform the pulse test", com-
ments Dr.-Ing. Peter Werle, Head of Engineering Solutions at Further info: www.ABB.com
ABB Transformer Service Center in Halle/Saale, explaining the