Design of Smart Cooling System for Power Transformer

The flexibility of a transformer enables it to have a wide range of applications. One of the most important parameters that has an influence on the transformer insulation is the temperature. Hence, the parameter to be controlled is the fan speed and flow rate of oil (using pumps) that varies invariantly with the load. The conventional control technique which is winding Temperature Indicator (WTI) fails to achieve this task. The mechanism for Cooling of power transformer is designed on the process of measuring top-oil temperature along-with a simulation used to find the point of highest temperature in the winding. WTI has some short-comings and researchers now prefer the presentation of fiber optic based temperature sensors for this critical function. Fiber optic sensors have been selected for the control of the cooling banks. The long-term performance of transformer cooling can be better achieved with these more accurate and modern fiber optic sensors. This paper presents a mechanism to control the temperature of power transformer using smart cooling system which includes Forced Oil (FO) pumps and fans. A comparative analysis is also performed between the WTI system and the proposed smart cooling system. Flow control of these cooling devices is controlled and monitored by the use of PID-controller via traditional Ziegler-Nichols algorithm and advanced Ziegler-Nichols algorithm organized with fresh developments in sensor technologies. This regulator pushes the designed system to operate in flow and temperature regimes which limit the problem of minimizing thermal degradation of the insulation.