Effects of Nanoparticle Materials on Prebreakdown and Breakdown Properties of Transformer Oil

• Main Authors: Yuzhen Lv, Yang Ge, Lei Wang, Zhen Sun, You Zhou, Meng Huang, Chengrong Li, Jinsha Yuan, Bo Qi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-04-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: nanoparticle; impulse breakdown strength; streamer propagation; trap characteristic; electric field distribution
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/4/601

In order to reveal the effects of nanoparticle materials on prebreakdown and breakdown properties of transformer oil, three types of nanoparticle materials, including conductive Fe3O4, semiconductive TiO2 and insulating Al2O3 nanoparticles, were prepared with the same size and surface modification. An experimental study on the breakdown strength and prebreakdown streamer propagation characteristics were investigated for transformer oil and three types of nanofluids under positive lightning impulse voltage. The results indicate that the type of nanoparticle materials has a notable impact on breakdown strength and streamer propagation characteristics of transformer oil. Breakdown voltages of nanofluids are markedly increased by 41.3% and 29.8% respectively by the presence of Fe3O4 and TiO2 nanoparticles. Whereas a slight increase of only 7.4% is observed for Al2O3 nanofluid. Moreover, main discharge channels with thicker and denser branches are formed and the streamer propagation velocities are greatly lowered both in Fe3O4 and TiO2 nanofluids, while no obvious change appears in the propagation process of streamers in Al2O3 nanofluid in comparison with that in pure oil. The test results of trap characteristics reveal that the densities of shallow traps both in Fe3O4 and TiO2 nanofluids are much higher than that in Al2O3 nanofluid and pure oil, greatly reducing the distortion of the electric field. Thus, the propagations of positive streamers in the nanofluids are significantly suppressed by Fe3O4 and TiO2 nanoparticles, leading to the improvements of breakdown strength.