Thermal Analysis of Vegetable Insulation Oil for Hermetically Sealed Wind Turbine Transformer

A hermetically sealed oil transformer is designed by applying expanding function of the tank due to the volume changes of the insulation oil according to the temperature rises. When the insulation oil expands, an increase in the volume of the corrugated fin prevents a pressure rise of the transformer. For a wind turbine transformer, a vegetable-oil-immersed transformer has the advantages of excellent biodegradation and fire-resistant properties like an exceptionally high fire point When vegetable oil is substituted for mineral oil, however, the maximum winding temperature rises because of the decrease in the internal circulation flow rate resulting from the variations of the oil's physical characteristics, such as density and viscosity. The purpose of this study is to develop a hermetically sealed vegetable oil transformer that can be applied in a wind turbine and to analyze the thermal stability of the active part of the transformer to deal with pressure variations due to the temperature changes. In addition, thermal tests for the vegetable oil transformer have been performed, and the measured values are compared with the analysis results.