Investigations on electrical insulation parameters of nano modified corn oil for medium voltage applications

Abstract

Electrical utilities give utmost preference for periodical evaluation of the electrical insulation characteristics of liquid insulation used in distribution line power transformers. Recent technological advancements have shown path to the development of natural ester based transformer oils considering its advantages over conventional mineral oils. Many research works have shown that the dielectric breakdown and partial discharge inception characteristics of natural ester oils are comparable and sometimes better than conventional mineral oil. Corn oil results are reported in many works and seem to be a suitable alternative candidate for transformers. In addition, recent developments in nanotechnology have also given horizons for the development of nano fluids as transformer insulation. However, in order to qualify nano modified natural ester insulating fluids for transformer applications and also to have a common dielectric clearance design; it should have similar characteristics comparable with mineral oil. However research reports on the natural ester based nano fluid such as corn oil is scanty and comparison with nano mineral oil is very few. It is important to understand the positive and negative lightning impulse breakdown voltage as per IEC standard at different electrode geometry such as needle/plane and needle/sphere. Partial discharge characteristics of nano modified oils is to be studied at different electrode geometry. Understanding the key parameters of dielectric, thermal, partial discharge and lightning impulse characteristics of nano modified corn oil and mineral oil is very important and collection of these data will be useful for electrical utilities. newline newline