The Transformer Gas Analyzer: A Practical Expert System for the Diagnosis of Operational Faults in Electrical Transformers

摘要

The Consolidated Edison Transformer Gas in Oil Analyzer™ (TGA™) is a personal computer based expert system that diagnoses operational faults in electrical transformers. The TGA™ analyzes output acquired directly from gas chromatographs or from manual sample input from field technicians. After a gas chromatograph determines which gases are dissolved in a sample of transformer oil, an embedded expert system compares the gas analyses to the gas limits, ratios and transformer history and then produces a detailed transformer diagnosis.The TGA™ makes detailed knowledge available to nonexperts, evaluates historical data, provides consistency across all diagnoses; thereby, expediting the processing of transformer samples, and providing timely information on potential transformer failures. Through the use of the TGA™ at Consolidated Edison Company of New York's Astoria Chemical Labs, the number of transformer oil samples which can be tested has risen from 1,200 per year to over 4,000 per year.The TGA™ system at Astoria runs in the ISC Unix, XWindows environment and communicates with Consolidated Edison's Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), making TGA™'s powerful transformer analysis and associated information management and reporting/trending capabilities available throughout the LIMS network topology. The system can be delivered on all major platforms, including UNIX, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, and the Macintosh. The expert system component was developed using NeuronData Corporation's NEXPERT OBJECT®. The user interface was developed using Neuron Data Corporation's Open Interface™ software tool.This paper provides an overview of the TGA™ system, discusses the experiences learned in developing this system, the real-world practical advantages gained from the TGA™'s use at Consolidated Edison's chemical testing laboratory in Astoria, New York, and the plans for future client/server enhancements of this powerful expert system.