Investigations on PD characteristics of vegetable oils for high voltage applications

摘要

Petroleum based mineral oils are mostly used for power apparatus insulation applications. They are not biodegradable and difficult to decompose the result of which has led to the development of vegetable based oils. Analysis of partial discharge characteristics of vegetable oil is very important, before suggesting it as an alternate to mineral oil for liquid insulation in high voltage apparatus. This paper deals with the analysis of partial discharge characteristics of extra virgin olive oil, castor oil and mineral oil. Partial discharge signals were measured with the help of an innovative PD detection system PDBASEII. The PRPD pattern, time domain and frequency domain characteristics of PD pulses of vegetable oils were measured and they were compared with the mineral oil. Preliminary results show that vegetable oils could be used as an alternate for mineral oils for high voltage insulation applications.