Gain accurate insights to maximise operational up-time.
There is an ever increasing range of transformer monitoring and diagnostics equipment available to the market that empowers asset managers with real time information.
With this broad range of asset information - connected online and available continuously - better decisions can be made to improve reliability, reduce maintenance expenses, proactively manage performance and delay or decrease capital expenditure.
Address Developing Faults
Comparing continuous data from online sensors means small changes and trends can be identified, allowing issues to be addressed before they become a problem.
Identify Premature Ageing
Closer monitoring of critical transformers enables action to be taken earlier, thus halting premature aging caused by untreated defects and loading patterns.
Vital Health Information
Gathering data from assets while they are operational offers
insight as to the health of these assets that offline testing simply
cannot match.
Reduce Unplanned Outages
Unplanned transformer outages or failures have the potential to interrupt service to thousands of customers.
Smaller Transformers
Many smaller transformers are left unmonitored because the perceived benefits do not outweigh the system costs.
However there are many cases where smaller transformers can be critical to part of a network and where operational teams would benefit from key insights into the condition of these assets from online monitors.
On the technology side, there are a number of newer devices that offer lower cost entry into monitoring for exactly these situations. These include dissolved gas analysis, moisture and temperature information - the most critical in identifying problems or providing early warning.
Insulect can assist with evaluation and recommendations on what solution is best for your situation.
Large Transformers
At the upper end of the spectrum, the biggest challenges are usually deciding what to monitor and how to best make use of available data.
Most critical large transformers will have multiple monitoring systems equipped, with all data being connected into a central "online" transformer management system.
Interpretation and analysis of this data is critical to successful asset management. Data overload and lack of experts’ time have
combined to dictate the need for intelligent analytic algorithms. Their role is to automatically evaluate the incoming data to determine the risk level and prioritise the need for a human expert to delve further into the data.
Take a more detailed look at transformer software below or talk to Insulect about your transformer monitoring application.
Moisture
Water has long been challenging to manage because of the many ways it finds its way into transformers.
Temperature
Hot spots are the critical points in the insulation that age fastest leading to failures.
Dissolved Gas
DGA is the most effective method for identifying developing faults of all kinds.
Bushings
Bushings are more susceptible to fail as they age, leak oil or due to moisture ingress.
OLTC
There are numerous issues that can develop due to the mechanical action of OLTCs.
Partial Discharge
PD is an early sign of impending insulation failure and is getting growing attention.
DGA is accepted as the most effective method of transformer health assessment.
This is because the transformer oil contains 70-80% of transformer health information. When a thermal or electrical fault occurs in a transformer, the oil and paper insulation will break down generating gases that dissolve back into the insulating oil.
Dissolved Gas Analysis is the extraction and analysis of those gases for monitoring and diagnostic purposes. The types of gases present in the oil indicate the nature of the fault; the rate of increase of these gases over time indicates the developing severity of the fault.
Discover more in our technical papers below.
Transformer Insights
We have some great papers that help to expand on transformer condition monitoring: from dissolved gas analysis, to fibre optic temperature monitoring, online moisture management and plenty more.
Transformer Condition Monitoring Products
There are a growing number of transformer monitoring and management products available in this market. Here's a selection of those we work with.
The Latest News in Transformers
Insulect works inside and outside of Transformers.
Specification Development
We work closely with end user teams to understand their challenges, network needs and existing asset base, so to help guide future specifications and investment decisions.
System Commissioning
Our team can support system setup, from integration with existing architecture, through to installation and commissioning.
Expert Advice
From the insulation system, to key transformer components and monitoring applications, our team has plenty of insight into the complexities of transformer management.
Fleet Maintenance
We offer a range of services to support the lifetime operation of monitoring hardware and can customise this to suit individual networks.
More Transformer Applications:
TRANSFORMER PROTECTION & MEASUREMENT
Devices for pressure, moisture, oil level, oil temperature, gas accumulation
Transformer Ester Fluids
Natural ester and synthetic ester fluids from MIDEL.
TRANSFORMER INSULATION
Cellulose and composite insulation products
Find out more today.
Whether you're operating a Transmission or Distribution network, a Generation plant, or Industrial site, we would be glad to have a no obligations discussion to understand how we can help your organisation.