The Effects of Insulating Oil Replacement Upon Power Transformer Condition Assessment

—Insulating oil replacement is one of the most commonly used measures to solve oil deterioration in field transformers. However, the effects of oil replacement upon transformer condition assessment are still unknown. This article presents a simulated oil replacement in the process of an accelerated thermal aging test. The accelerated thermal aging experiment was conducted at 130°C for 80 days; insulating oil was replaced on the 25th day of aging. Several common condition assessment methods, including degree of polymerization of the paper, oil acidity, dielectric strength of the oil–paper insulation, moisture estimation, and furfural analysis, were compared before and after oil replacement. Results showed that oil replacement is effective in solving the degradation of insulating oil but not in restraining the aging of paper. The variation of dielectric strength of insulation paper caused by oil replacement could be neglected. Moisture estimation of insulation paper was closely related to the aging degree of oil–paper insulation but not obviously influenced by oil replacement. Furfural analysis would be seriously affected by oil replacement because furfural in oil was eliminated during the oil-drainage process, so the effect of oil replacement should be corrected when estimating transformer aging condition with furfural analysis method.