Proceedings of the 7th International Conference an

Properties and Applications of Dielectric Materials

June 1-5 2003 Nagoya

P1-45

Study of Aging Characteristics of Generator Stator Insulation Based on Temperature

Spectrum of Dielectric Dissipation Factor
Xiaoqin Ma Xiaowei Ma Bo Yue Weisheng Lu Hengkun Xie
State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation for Power Equipment, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, 710049, China
* E-mail : mxq_q@hohnail.com

Abstract: In this paper, accelerated multi-factor aging

tests in laboratory have been conducted on the stator
ham of a large generator. During the period of aging,
the temperature spectra of dielectric dissipation factor
tan 6 of stator insulation were employed to investigate
aging characteristics of insulation materials. Test
results showed that the peak temperature T,,, of the tan
6 -T curve under 0.2U. shifts to higher temperature
with aging time. At the same time, the gradient of the
peak decreased with aging time and the peak even
disappeared in the measurement range of temperature
finally. It was suggested that temperature spectra of
dielectric dissipation factor tan 6 of stator insulation
could be used to estimate the aging condition of large
generator stator insulation.

Key words: stator insulation: multi-factor aging:

dielectric dissipation factor

turbogenerator of 3OOMW/lSkV, which had operated

for 16 years, is investigated. By studying the
temperature spectra of dielectric dissipation factor tan
6 at different aging time during the accelerated
multi-factor aging of stator bars, it is found that the
peak temperature T,,, of the tan 6 -T curve under 0.2Un
could be employed to describe the aging condition of
stator insulation. The developing rule of T,,, with aging
time is analyzed. Furthermore, temperature spectra of
dielectric dissipation factor of new bars which have
never been used in operation are studied either for
reference.
RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN
DIELECTRIC
DISSIPATION FACTOR AND TEMPERATURE IN
AC ELECTRIC FIELD

The equivalent circuit of dielectric and current vectors

diagram in ac electric field are shown in Fig.1 I.

INTRODUCTION

Stator insulation system is one of the most important

parts of large generators. It is exposed to a combination
of thermal, electrical, vibrational, thermo-mechanical
and environmental stresses in service. In the long term,
these multiple stresses cause insulation aging which
leads to final insulation rupture. It will not only
endanger generators, hut also result in a costly outage
and great economic loss. Breakdown voltage i s the
only reliable characteristic parameter to describe the
insulation condition of large generators. However, as a
kind of destructive parameter, breakdown voltage can
not he employed to assess the stator insulation
condition of large generators when they are in
operation. Hence, non-destructive parameters must be
used instead of destructive one. Through the
developing rules of non-destructive parameters during
insulation aging and the relationship between them and
breakdown voltage, the aging condition and remaining
life of stator insulation can be evaluated. Therefore, it
is of great importance to study the aging characteristics
of generator stator insulation based on non-destructive
characteristic parameters for improving reliability of
generators.
In this paper, the stator winding used in a large

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Fig.1 Equivalent circuit of dielectric and current

vectors diagram
Dielectric dissipation factor tan 6 is expressed21 as
follows:

where &and I p are effective values of active component

and reactive component of dielectric current in ac
electric field respectively; w is the angular frequency
of ac voltage; y is conductance of dielectric. g is
equivalent conductance of relaxation polarization
dissipation which can be expressed as follows:

(2)

where &o is the dielectric constant of vacuum; &, is

is optical
static relative dielectric constant; &,
frequency relative dielectric constant corresponding to
instant displacement polarization, and T is the slack
time of relaxation polarization.
If conductance dissipation is ignored, Equation (1)
results in the following one:

(3)
Using atan6/aT = 0 and
be concluded that when WT
be a m a x i " of tan 6 given by

the slack time reduces. The direction finding of polar

molecules can catch up with the variation of electric
field in time. So the relaxation polarization loss and tan
6 decrease with the increasing of temperature. In high
temperature range, because the heat motions of
molecules are drastic enough to prevent polar molecules
from direction finding and the conductance current
enhances as the conductance increases exponentially
with temperature, the corresponding dielectric
dissipation increases in accordance with exponential
curve with temperature again. If the conductance loss is
large, the maximum of tan 6 caused by relaxation
polarization loss will not he distinguished, or even
disappear.
TEST AND RESULTS

Generally, variety of&s with temperature can be ignored

compared with variety of T with temperature.
Therefore, the relationship between tan 6 and
temperature is specified by correlativity between z
and temperature. The slack time T can be expressed
as an exponential function of temperature T
approximately ( T =edT, k is Boltmann constant; U is
activation energy, which is not affected by temperature),
so the relationship between tan 6 and temperature can
be shown roughly as Fig.2.

Dielectric Dissipation Factor Measurement

The temperature spectra of dielectric dissipation factor

tan 6 under 0.2U. of the new stator bars and the used
stator bars at different aging time during the accelerated
multi-factor aging were measured. The experimental
system is shown as Fig.3. In order to obtain precise
result, three-electrode measurement system is adopted
to shield the surface current.

One part of the stator bars studied in this paper was

obtained from a water-cooled turbogenerator of
300MW/18kV, which has operated for 16 years. Its
insulation (Class F) is based on mica-fiberglass
impregnated with epoxy resin. Accelerated multi-factor
aging experiment has been performed on these stator
bars. The other part is the new bars for the same
generator.

T
Fig.2 The curve of tan 6 with respect to
temperature T

Under low temperature, the heat motions of polar

molecules are very weak. The conductance dissipation
is so low that can be ignored comparing with the
relaxation polarization dissipation. Since the relaxation
dissipation is proportional to g (namely, e-uniT ), the
dielectric dissipation increases with temperature in
accordance with exponential curve. Once the
temperature increases, the heat motions of polar
molecules become more fre uent and the maximum of
tan 6 is found at wr = E,/&, x 1 without regard to
the conductance dissipation. With the higher
temperature, heat motions of the molecules enhance and

P-

Fig.3 Experimental system for dielectric dissipation

measurement
In Figure 3: Cx and RXare capacitance and resistance of
stator bar respectively; S is a temperature control oven;
Q is a shielding box; CN is a standard capacitor; R3 and
& are resistance proportion arms wbicb are used to
balance Cx and CN;C4 is used to balance the dielectric
dissipation factor tan 6 of the stator bar. By adjusting R3
and C4,the bridge can be balanced.

295 -

53'tzz!!zz

Result and Analysis

1.5

Dielectric loss of stator insulation under O.2Un mainly

results from conductance loss, relaxation polarization
loss ,and interfacial polarization loss. It primarily reflects
the property of epoxy-mica insulation materials.

t 2.5
r

Therzfore, this paper studied the variation of insulation

materials property with aging time by researching the
temperature spectra of tan 6 under O.ZU, at different
aging time.
1.2

1.5

0.50

25 50 70 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160

('c)

1.0

(b)
1.5
4

1 0.2- 1

0 0 1

28

'

'

50

10

'

Bo

'
'
'
'
'
'
90 100 110 120 130 1YI I60

-t

Fig.4 Typical tan 6 02Un-Tcurve of new bars

0,
0

Fig.4 and Fig3 show typical tan 6 2Un-Tcurves of new

bars and used bars at different aging time respectively.
From Fig.4, it can he observed that the peak of the curve
is very distinct and appears hetween 343K (70%) and
3S3K (80%). This tan 6 02Un -T curve is consistent with
the curve in Fig2 completely indicating that the
relaxation polarization loss is the main part of dielectric
loss of the new bars. In Fig.S(aWc), a peak appears at
different temperature in each tan 6 -T curve. Before the
multi-factor aging experiment was performed on the
used bars, the corresponding temperature T, of the peak
in Fig.5 (a) is about 383K (110%) which is higher than
that of new bars. After aging for 700 hours, the value
rises to 413K (140'C) and after 1400 hours, it continues
to increase and amounts to nearly 423K (150 C).
Besides, it can be found that the peak tends to be flat
gradually with the increasing of aging time. However,
after aging for 2100 hours, the peak in the measurement
range of temperature does not exist as shown in Fig3
(d). The reasons are analysed that maybe the
corresponding temperature of the peak has exceeded the
range of measuring temperature, or mayhe the peak has
disappeared.

50

70

90 1 M 110 I20 130 M O 150 160

('c)

(C)

r
5 2.;

~:~~
1.5
1
0.50

25

50

10

90 LOO 110
T (E)
I20 I30 I40 150 160

(d)

FigS Typical tan 6 0.2Un-T

curves of bars at different
aging time (a) 0 hour; (b) 700 hours; (c) 1400 hours;
(d) 2100 hours.
Epoxy resin is a kind of polar high molecule polymer.
When the temperature is under the vitrification point,
macromolecules are combining firmly each other and
heat motions of molecules are very weak. Comparing
with relaxation polarization loss, the conductance loss
can he neglected. Since the relaxation loss is
the dielectric dissipation factor
proportional to
increases exponentially with temperature. When the
temperature is higher than the vitrification point, heat
motions of the molecules enhance and the slack time
decreases. The relaxation polarization loss gradually
reduces with the increasing of temperature because the
direction finding of polar molecules can catch up with
the variation of electric field in time. So the peak of tan
6 -Tcurve is generated. From the analysis above, it can

35

a 3
2.5
2

1.5
I
0.5

I
.
.
.
I
.
I
I
.
.
.
I
25

i s

2.5
2
1. 6
1

T ('c)

5 I

3.5
3

296

be drawn that the peak of tan 6 -T curve depends on the

vitrification point of stator insulation tightly.
Owing to gradual aging of stator insulation, its
vitrification point rises continuously [31. As a result, the
peak of tan 6 -T curve moves to high temperature and
T, increases with aging time. Furthermore, during the
aging of insulation, chemical changes take place in
epoxy resin. The inkared spectrum analysis of the stator
insulation at different aging time indicate that hydrolyse
reaction happens
Due to ceaseless generation of
small molecules and ions in stator insulation, the
conductance loss increases continually and with the
aging of generator stator insulation, the development of
delamination in insulation enhances the interfacial
polarization loss. Both of them cause the maximum of
tan 6 resulted 6om relaxation polarization loss is not
evident any more, and even disappears. This is the
reason that the peak of tan 6 -T curve tends to be flat
gradually. The above factors make the peak temperature
T, of tan 6 -T curve increase with the aging time, and
even exceed the measurement range of temperature or
lead to the case of having no evident peak.
From the above analysis, the peak temperature T, of
dielectric dissipation factor tan 6 under 0.2U. of large
generator stator insulation mainly describes the
properties of insulation materials. Its variation with
aging time indicates essential change of insulation
material during the multi-factor aging, i.e. microcosmic
change of insulation materials. In the experiments, it
was noted that the values of T, in a same set of stator
bars scattered in a small range, and the developing rules
of different stator bars with aging time correspond each
other while the scattered range of dielectric dissipation
factor and its increment is larger in comparison. Besides,
it can be found that the peak temperature T, of dielectric
dissipation factor tan 6 under 0.2U. relates to
vitrification point measured in dynamic mechanical test
tightly. Since dielectric dissipation measurement is
non-destructive for bars, it can substitute the dynamic
mechanical test which is destructive to be employed for
studying the variation of material properties in
multi-factor aging of large generator stator insulation. In
final aging period, owing to the enhancement of
conductance loss and interfacial polarization loss, the
peak of tan 6 OIUn-T curve becomes flat and even
disappears, causing the peak temperature T, can not
be obtained. Then, other parameters should be employed
to estimate the aging condition of stator insulation.

increases and the peak trends to be flat gradually with

the aging time due to the aging of insulation materials.
Consequently, T, can be regarded as a parameter which
can be employed to describe the aging condition of
stator insulation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to thank National Natural

Science Foundation of China for financial support with
grant No.59837260.
REFERENCE

[I] Weifang Jin, Dielectric Physics, Beijing, China:

Mechanical Industry Press, 1997.
[2] Jidan Chen, Z i p Liu, Dielecfric Physics, Beijing,
China: Mechanical Industry Press, 1982
[3] Jiancheng Song, Study on the Multi-sfress Aging
Characteristic Parameters of Large Generator Stator
Winding Insulation, Xian, China: Xian Jiaotong
University, 1999.
[4] Zhidong Jia, Macro-micro Study on the Multi-stress
Aging of Stator mnding Insulation in Large Generator,
Xian, China: Xian Jiaotong University, 2001.

CONCLUSION

By studying the developing rule of temperature

spectrum of dielectric dissipation factor tan 6 with
aging time during the multi-factor aging of stator bars, it
is found that the peak temperature T, of tan 6 -T curve

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