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A strategy has been developed to prevent transformer tank rupture. This is based on the direct mechanical response of a depressurisation set to the tank inner dynamic pressure induced by electrical faults. A numerical tool is developed to describe unsteady non uniform pressure phenomena fol l owi ng the arc I gni ti on.
A strategy has been developed to prevent transformer tank rupture. This is based on the direct mechanical response of a depressurisation set to the tank inner dynamic pressure induced by electrical faults. A numerical tool is developed to describe unsteady non uniform pressure phenomena fol l owi ng the arc I gni ti on.
A strategy has been developed to prevent transformer tank rupture. This is based on the direct mechanical response of a depressurisation set to the tank inner dynamic pressure induced by electrical faults. A numerical tool is developed to describe unsteady non uniform pressure phenomena fol l owi ng the arc I gni ti on.
Pr i vati sati on of el ectr i ci ty compani es l eads t o an el ect r i ci t y mar ket t hat becomes more and more competitive. To limit costs, companies often reduce the investments by using aging equipment and by overloading power transformers. Oil-filled transformer explosions are then more and more frequent and they result in dangerous fires, ver y expensive damages and possi bl e envi ronmental pol l uti on. To limit these consequences, protective walls may surround the transformers to limit the propagation of the explosions whi l e spri nkl ers exti ngui sh the i nduced fire. In order to complete this chain of protection a strategy has been developed to prevent transformer tank rupture. This is based on the direct mechanical response of a depressurisation set to the tank inner dynamic pressure induced by electrical faults. Once a fault occurs, the explosion is prevented by the fast depressurisation of the transformer induced by the quick oil evacuation to a reservoir. This paper starts with a short review of experi ments that expl ai n the physi cal phenomena l eadi ng t o t he t ank explosions. A numerical tool is developed to describe unsteady non uniform pressure phenomena fol l owi ng the arc i gni ti on. This simulation tool deals with two-phase fl ows, unsteady compressi bl e, vi scous fl ow, el ectromagneti c forces, thermal and gravi ty effects and 3D model i ng. Simulations are performed on an industrial 200 MVA transformer geometry to evaluate a strategy based on a quick oil evacuation to prevent transformer explosions. Experimental tests A compl et e exper i ment al st udy was per f or med by CEPEL, t he Br az i l i an i ndependent hi gh vol tage l abor ator y and SERGI Hol di ngs to understand the explosion process and establish strategies to prevent it. Test configuration The exper i ment s consi st ed of ar ci ng tests in three industrial size oil-immersed transformers (up to 5 m long) with their internal components (windings, cables, etc) and equipped with sensors (pressure, temperature, acceleration). Their large dimensions enabled the detailed study of the pressure non-uniform distribution inside the tank. Furthermore, since transformer expl osi ons ar e ver y danger ous and uncontrollable, transformer protection had to be installed during the experimental tests. The unit shown in green in Fig. 2, is based on the direct mechanical response of a depressurisation set (DS) to the tank i nner pr essur e i nduced by el ect r i cal faults. The detailed conclusions of the tests can be found in [2] and are summarised in the next paragraphs First main conclusion: the vaporisation saturation process When an electrical arc is ignited inside the transformer oi l, i t vapori ses al most instantaneously, producing a significant gas volume (Fig. 3). The generated gas volume was found to be a logarithmic function of the arc energy, which seems Protection of oil-flled transformers against explosions by G Perigaud, SERGI Holdings, Oil filled transformer explosions can result in dangerous spillages, expensive damages and possible environmental pollution. To prevent explosions, a fast depressurisation strategy based on a quick oil evacuation was developed and its efficiency was experimentally tested. The tests showed that an electrical fault generates a dynamic pressure peak which activates the protection within milliseconds, avoiding tank explosion. Fig. 1: Transformer tank rupture. ( from [1]) Fig. 2: CEPEL tests configuration. energize - April 2010 - Page 34 TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION to be in accordance with the vaporization process and especially with the saturation of the vaporisation for high energy arcs. Indeed, after the arc has vaporised the surrounding oil and created a gas bubble, it stays within that volume using its energy to crack the oil vapour rather than continuing directly vaporising the oil: this results in a smoother vaporisation process. The first stage of vaporisation process is almost i nstantaneous and because of the oi l inertia, the gas is ver y quickly pressurised, generating a high pressure peak. Second main conclusion: the pressure wave propagation Experimental pressure profiles are shown in Fig. 4. Each curve shows the pressure evolution near each sensor respectively located in positions A (at the opposite side of the arc, close to the protection), B (relatively close to the arc) and C (where the arc is ignited). The di spl acement of the shock wave i n the tank can be easi l y fol l owed i n Fig. 4. The arc ignition located in C causes a high pressure peak, which propagates leading to a second delayed lower peak in B, ending in A. For each sensor, the other pressure peaks (smaller than the main peak) are due to wave reflections off the walls. It has been experimentally shown that pressure increase is not spatially uniform in the tank, and that the pressure waves propagate at a finite speed. Third main conclusion: tank withstand to high dynamic pressure The static withstand limit of transformer tanks is usually around 2.2 bars (abs.). In other words, if the tank is submitted to uniform and stabilised pressure (hereafter called static pressure) over 2.2 bars then the tank ruptures (see for instance [2] or [3]). During the arcing tests performed by Cepel and SERGI, the sensors measured pressure peaks up to 14 bars (abs.) and no tank rupture was noticed (Fig. 5). In fact, thanks to the protection operation and as shown in Fig 4, the tank was submitted to localised pressure peaks for a ver y short period of time (hereafter called dynamic pressure) and the tank could withstand these high dynamic pressure peaks. The tests showed that if the oil evacuation out of the tank is activated within milliseconds by the first dynamic pressure peak before static pressure increases, explosion can be prevented. Simulations of a 200 MVA transformer explosion and its prevention Description of the simulation tool Ex per i ment s s howed t hat t he key phenomena in transformer explosions and their prevention are firstly the local pressure increase induced by the vaporisation of the oil surrounding the arc and secondly, the pressure wave propagation. The core of the simulation tool then consists of a set of partial differential equations that govern the fluids dynamics while the other physical phenomena (viscosity, thermal effect, electromagnetic effects, etc) are model ed vi a the source terms added in the partial differential equations. The partial differential equation set is based on a five-equation two-phase flow model devel oped i n [4]. Both phases (l i qui d/ gas) are considered compressible. The t her modynami cs of t he t wo phases are careful l y handl ed to prevent any theoretical or numerical problems. The model l i ng i s dedi cat ed t o f l ows wi t h inter faces so that both phases share a single pressure and velocity at a given point in the domain. The aim of this tool i s to esti mate the pressure reparti ti on inside the transformer tank during the first fractions of second after the electrical arc occurrence. All the details can be found in [5]. Aim of the study The present section uses the simulation t ool i n or der t o st udy i n det ai l s t he effects of an electrical arc occurring in a 200 MVA transformer. Moreover, it analyses the consequences of using the strategy presented in the first section to prevent transformer tank explosion. Configuration The 200 MVA transformer is 5,75 m long, 3,25 m high and 2,5 m deep and all the components of the transformer, such as bushing turrets or windings are taken into account. An electrical arc (11.5 MJ arc generating about 3,4 m 3 of gas) ignites near a winding, generating an 11 bar gas bubble. Results of the simulations Fig. 6 shows the simulated evolution of the pressure i nsi de the tank after the occurrence of the gas bubble generated by the arc. On the right side (Fig. 6b), the tr ansfor mer i s equi pped wi th the protection device, while on the left side (Fig. 6a), the transformer is not protected When the transformer is equipped with protection, the pressurised gas bubble creates pressure waves which propagate throughout the transformer, reflecting and Fig. 3: Gas bubble. (5 ms after the arc ignition) Fig. 4: Pressure profiles at different locations. Fig. 5: Max. relative pressure measured for each test vs. arc energy. energize - April 2010 - Page 35 TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION otherwise interacting with the tank structure (Fig. 6b). Within 3 ms, a large pressure peak has reached the entr y of the first bushing. Then the pressure wave triggers the depressurization set activation within about 10 ms after the gas bubble creation. This induces the rapid evacuation of fluid fr om the tr ansfor mer tank whi ch thus generates rarefaction waves spreading throughout the transformer. After onl y 60 ms, t he pr essur e t hr oughout t he transformer stabilises well below dangerous levels. When the tank is not equipped with any protection system, and is subjected to a similar low impedance fault, the tank is exposed to ver y dangerous pressure levels. For instance, 30 ms after the arc occurrence, the pressure i n a bushi ng reaches more than 10 bar as shown in Fi g. 6a. Mor eover, wi t hout t he t ank protection, the static pressure stabilises around 6 bar and the transformer would violently explode (as transformer tanks are designed to withstand static pressure up to about 2,2 bar). Conclusions An ex per i ment al t es t s campai gn was dedi cated to the under standi ng of transformers expl osi on i nduced by el ectri cal arci ng. Because transformer explosions are uncontrollable and lead to huge damages, the tests were performed wi t h t r ansf or mer s equi pped wi t h an expl osi on preventi on technol ogy that operates at a calibrated pressure level due to dynamic pressure peaks. The tests showed that when an electrical arc occurs in the tank, the oil surrounding t he ar c i s qui ckl y vapor i sed and t he generated gas i s pressuri sed because the liquid inertia prevents its expansion. The pressure difference between the gas bubbl es and the surroundi ng l i qui d oi l generates pressure waves that propagate wi thi n the oi l. When the fi rst dynami c pressure peak reaches the protecti on, it triggers an oil evacuation that quickly depressuri ses the tank so that no tank rupture occurs. During the tests, transformer tanks could wi t hst and such hi gh pr essur e peaks (up to 14 bar ) dur i ng sever al tens of milliseconds even if the static withstand l i mi t of t r ansf or mer t anks i s ar ound 2,2 bar. Complementarily, the consequences of arcing inside unprotected transformers can be studied safely using computational simulations. A numerical simulation tool was developed for that purpose. In order to be efficient, it has to deal with liquid and gas and to be able to compute pressure wave propagations. Therefore, a complete modeling for unsteady compressible two phase flows has been adapted and a finite volume method was set to solve the equations on 3D unstructured meshes. S i mul at i ons wer e t hen r un on a 200 MVA transformer; they highlighted the advantages of using advanced simulation tools: First, it gives a deep understanding of what happens during a transformer explosion. The simulation tool confirmed that when an electrical arc occurs insides a transformer tank that is not protected, the dynamic pressure waves generated by the arc propagate through the tank, reflects on the wall and progressively increases the static pressure inside the tank resulting in its rupture. Second, the computational tool is efficient t o st udy t he oper at i on of expl osi on prevention strategies such as the ones based on a fast depressurisation induced by oi l evacuati on. I ndeed, the resul ts showed that thi s fast fl ui d evacuati on generates large rarefaction waves that propagate and depressurise the whole tank within milliseconds thus avoiding the static pressure build up that can not be withstood by the tank. Such s t r at egi es bas ed a f as t t ank depressurisation generated by a quick oil evacuation can thus be considered an efficient protection against transformer explosion. Acknowledgement This paper was presented at the Cigr 6th Southern Africa regional Conference, Somerset West, 2009, and is reprinted with permission. References [1] M Foata, V N Nguyen Transformer Tank Rupture Mitigation HQ Perspective presented at IEEE transformer Subcommittee, Fall 2006, Available: gr ouper.i eee.or g/ gr oups/ Tr ansf or mer s/ subcommi ttees/power/TankRupture/F06- tankRuptureH Q Perspectives-1.ppt [2] S Muller, R Brandy, G de Bressy, P Magnier, G Perigaud, Prevention of transformer tank explosion, Part 1: Experimental Tests on Large Transformers, ASME PVP08 Conference, 2008. [3] B Culver, K Froehlich, L Widenhorn, Prevention of tank rupture of faulted power transformers by generator circuit breakers, European Transactions on Electrical Power, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1996. [4] G Allaire, S Clerc & S Kokh, A Five Equation Model for the Simulation of Interfaces between Compressible Fluids, Journal of Computational Physics, vol. 181, 2, pp. 577-616, 2002. [5] R Brandy, S Muller, G de Bressy, P Magnier, G Perigaud, Prevention of transformer tank explosion, Part 2: Development and Application of a Numerical Simulation Tool, ASME PVP08 Conference, 2008. Contact G Perigoord, SERGI Holdings, marketing@sergi-holding.com v Fig. 6a: Pressure evolution in an unprotected tank. Fig. 6b: Pressure evolution in a transformer tank equipped with a DS.