An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF MOISTURE REMOVAL TECHNIQUES FOR

MINERAL-BASED INSULATION OIL
Imran Sutan Chairul1, Sharin Ab Ghani1, Hidayat Zainuddin1 and Nur Lidiya Muhammad
Ridzuan1
1

High Voltage Engineering Research Laboratory, Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya 76100 Durian Tunggal, Melaka
Corresponding author: imransc@utem.edu.my

Abstract: Mineral-based insulation oil performances is commonly affected by existence of moisture, suspended
particles and acids. Breakdown voltage (BDV) of mineral oil can be reduced to 20% of dry oil value due to presence
of 0.01% moisture. This paper compared three types of moisture removal technique with the aim to find out the most
effective practice that capable of reducing moisture content in the mineral insulation oil as well as improving the
BDV. The techniques are named as Air Ventilated Oven (AVO), Vacuum Oven (VO) and Nitrogen Saturated (NS)
techniques. The effectiveness of each technique is assessed through moisture content and BDV measurement which
comply with ASTM D1533 and ASTM D1816 respectively. Results show that NS technique is better in terms of both
reducing moisture content and improving BDV compared to AVO and VO techniques. It is proven experimentally
that NS technique is the most effectiveness technique and therefore provides the best solution to remove moisture
from mineral insulation oil.
Keywords: Insulation oil, Moisture removal techniques, Moisture content, Breakdown voltage.

INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, almost entire appliances use electrical energy to operate. Thus, it contributes to a high
demand of electricity. Therefore, issues related to generation, transmission and distribution of electricity
have occupied minds of many people such researchers, policy makers, planners and governments. A main
part of electrical power distribution is transformer. Function of transformer is to change voltage level and
transfer energy. Consequently, the life time of a transformer will affect the distribution of electricity. As a
result, it is important to ensure a longer life span of a transformer by monitoring the condition of its
insulation. Insulations of transformer can be in shape of solid, liquid and gases. This project focuses on
the liquid insulation of a transformer. Liquid insulation has two main functions; as electrical insulation by
insulating the active parts from grounded ones and as cooling medium by dissipating heat from the core
and coils to radiators [1].Under service condition, the insulation oil used in power transformers may
suffer from thermal, electrical and environmental stresses. These stresses can accelerate insulations
deterioration or ageing process and consequently becoming a potential threat to transformer. Ageing is a
process that resulting in slow and irreversible changes in material properties. In general, transformer oil
loses its stability gradually and becomes decomposed and oxidized [2-5]. The oxidation process occurs
due to a presence of oxygen and moisture in the oil. With the assistance of accelerators such heat in
reaction between unstable hydrocarbons inside oil and oxygen, moisture or other chemicals at atmosphere
will resulting decay products in the oil [6].
Transformer damage will interrupt the electrical power distribution and importantly it meant
capital lose because transformer is a costly part either in electrical generation, transmission or distribution
system network. Statistically, most of transformer damage occurs due to dielectric insulation problems.
Dielectric insulation problems can be affected by several factors, such as moisture, suspended particles
and acidity [7]. Besides that, dielectric strength can be decreased to 20% of the dry oil value due the
presence of 0.01% water in transformer oil [8]. Till now, there is no standards available regarding
moisture removal technique even though there are many practices applied by related industry. Thus, this
paper compared three types of moisture removal techniques. Furthermore, identify the best technique to

An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

remove moisture based on three criteria; minimum time to remove moisture, maximum amount of
moisture removed as well as the dielectric strength of mineral oil.

METHODOLOGY
Methodology used for this paper are described as in Figure 1 and Table 1. Figure 1 shows the flowchart of
project implementation while Table 1 are procedures of each moisture removal techniques.
Star
t
Moisture content & BDV measurement on Mineral Oil

Technique 1:
Air Ventilated Oven
(AVO)

Technique 2:
Vacuum Oven
(VO)

Technique 3:
Nitrogen Saturated
(NS)

Moisture content & BDV measurement on Mineral Oil

after moisture removal process

Results & Discussions

End
Figure 1: Flowchart of Project Implementation
Table 1: Procedures of Moisture Removal Techniques
Technique

Description

Air Ventilated Oven

(AVO)

500ml of mineral oil is filled into a 500 ml beaker and placed inside an AVO.
AVO is set for 24 hours with a temperature of 105.

Vacuum Oven
(VO)

500ml of mineral oil is filled into a 500 ml beaker and placed inside a VO. VO
is set for 24 hours with a temperature of 60.

Nitrogen Saturated
(NS)

500ml of mineral oil is filled into a 500ml beaker and placed inside a flask.
Nitrogen gas is saturated into mineral oil for 1 hour without heating up the
mineral oil.

An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Three (3) samples of Fresh Mineral Oil (FMO) taken from a same barrel were prepared. These
samples will be named as VO, AVO and NS respectively as per the moisture removal technique name.
The initial moisture content of these samples was measured (ppm) and named as Fresh Oil (FO). Each
sample was gone through one of the moisture removal technique as described in Table 1. The moisture
content of these 3 samples was measured then. All the moisture contents measurement is as per ASTM
D1533 [9] and shown in Figure 2. It can be seen that FO has the highest amount of moisture content
compared to the VO, AVO and NS. VO has lesser moisture content compare to FO with a difference of
15.28 ppm which equal to 25.42% moisture removal. Moisture content difference between AVO and FO
is 19.38ppm or 32.24% reduced while NS technique shows that moisture content is 33.94ppm drop from
FO moisture content. This technique has the highest number of moisture drop comparable with AVO and
VO technique as it removes moisture until 56.45% from its original content. Unexpectedly, the NS
technique also takes minimum time to remove moisture compared to VO and AVO approach.
Moisture Content
(ppm)

80
60

60.12
44.84

40

40.74

26.18

20

FO

VO
AVO
Oil Samples

NS

Figure 2: Moisture Content (ppm) of Oil Samples

25 data of breakdown voltage (BDV) for each FO, VO, AVO and NS oil samples were measured
and recorded as per ASTM D1816[10]. All the data then are plotted using Weibull distribution as in
Figure 3 to provide reasonable and accurate analysis value for breakdown voltage test. As shown in
Figure 3, the BDV of FO, VO, AVO and NS oil samples are 6.993kV, 8.071kV, 12.737kV and 23.456kV
respectively.

Figure 3: Weibull Plot of FO, VO, AVO and NS Oil Sampless BDV

An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

Thus, a relationship between moisture content and BDV can be gain by plotting a graph of BDV
and moisture content as in Figure 4. It can clearly be seen that while mineral oil has a highest amount of
moisture content, it will have the lowest BDV and vice versa. The relationship gained is higher moisture
content will decrease the BDV of mineral oil. A theoretical statement of moisture content inside
insulating oil will reduce the performance of mineral oil [8] has been proven through these experiments.
70

25

Moisture level line

Breakdown voltage value line

Moisture content, ppm

20
50

15

40
30

10

20
5

Breakdown voltage, kV/mm

60

10
0
FO

VO

Oil Samples

0
AVO

NS

Figure 4: Relationship Between Moisture Content and BDV of Mineral Oil

CONCLUSIONS
This comparative study is used to determine the most effective way to reduce moisture content in
mineral-based insulation oil. The three techniques that been compared are Air Ventilated Oven (AVO),
Vacuum Oven (VO) and Nitrogen Saturated (NS). Each technique has a different process but all results
regarding the breakdown voltage (BDV) and moisture content measurement are conducted complying
standards. Megger OTS60PB according ASTM D1816 is used for breakdown voltage (BDV)
measurement while Karl Fischer Coulometric according ASTM D1533 is used to determine moisture
content. Through these experiments, it shows that Nitrogen Saturated (NS) technique is the most effective
way to reduce moisture. Data obtained clearly indicate that this innovative, environmental friendly and
economically affordable technique can reduce the oxidation decay process of insulation oil by reducing it
moisture content. The reason is when moisture content is high, it indicates that oxidation decay processes
have occurred in the insulation oil and as a result breakdown voltage will be lower. The results obtained
also show that temperature variation (60 and 105) has great influence on the moisture migration in
insulation oil.

An International Multi-Disciplinary Graduate Conference of Terengganu (GraCe 2016)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the Malaysian Ministry of
Higher Education (MOHE) and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) under the following grants:
RAGS/1/2014/TK03/FKE/B00055.

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