Effects of Transformer-Oil Temperature on Amplitude and Peak Frequency of Partial Discharge Acoustic Signals

The behavior of partial discharge (PD) acoustic emission (AE) signals in the transformer oil for a temperature range of 30-75 °C is studied via laboratory experiments. The AE signals are analyzed using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) to obtain the peak frequency and the AE amplitude. A peculiar behavior of reduction in the peak frequency and the AE amplitude observed above 65 °C is reported. An attempt is made to explain the reduction in the AE amplitude after a certain temperature by correlating it with the properties of the transformer oil such as the viscosity and the breakdown voltage. This AE signal analysis is perhaps an important advancement in the PD diagnosis and the PD spectrum analysis at different temperatures in the transformer oil.