Vegetable-Oil-Based Dielectric Coolants

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Electrical transformer insulation systems are evaluated based on economic, safety, and environmental standpoints using total life cycle analysis. Because of the inherent high efficiency of liquid-cooled transformer designs, new developments focus on improving the environmental and safety properties of fire resistant (less-flammable, high fire point) fluids. This article reports the latest findings on dielectric systems using natural ester (vegetable oil) fluids. Because esters naturally have lower oxidation resistance than mineral oils, a novel blend of base oils and additives were developed to overcome this potential handicap. Single- and three-phase prototype field installations using these new dielectric coolants are discussed.