Aging Effect on Insulation Reliability Evaluation with Weibull Distribution for Oil-immersed Transformers

In the condition settings of a power-frequency withstand voltage test for substation equipment, an approach based on insulation reliability evaluation using Weibull distribution is available. However, the subjects which should be investigated remains in this method. One of the subjects is that evaluating the insulated reliability for temporary overvoltage caused in an aged equipment by the pre-aging Weibull parameter. In the first place, for an oil-immersed transformer, the breakdown voltage-time (V-t) characteristics of the oil gap were obtained as basic characteristics in the previous experiment. In this experiment the presence or absence of the oil flow was used as a parameter affecting the history of the applied voltage. Also, the validity of the present evaluation approach to temporary overvoltage during operation was examined. In this paper, an insulation characteristic was obtained in consideration of the age-related deterioration in the field. The results were then analyzed in comparison with the insulation characteristics of a new insulating oil. As a result, there was little change affecting the result of insulation reliability evaluation in the Weibull parameters. Consequently, it is reasonable to evaluate the insulation reliability by the V-t characteristic of the new insulating oil.