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High-voltage equipment involves both electrical and electronic components. In electrical power network, which consists of rotating machine, power transformers and transmission lines, field enhancement at critical regions can lead to local breakdown [partial discharges (PD)]. The continuous occurrence of PDs can lead to complete breakdown. While in large power equipment sharp edges can be avoided, this is not the case in power converter due to the miniature nature of the semiconductor device. Sharp edges can also be present in any power equipment in the shape of conducting particles, either stuck at a barrier or freely moving in the bulk oil. This creates high-field regions, prone to PD activities. Different power equipment operates at different voltages such as AC, DC, square voltage, pulse voltage, fast-rise transient voltage etc. This study presents the influence of sinusoidal voltage, slow-and fast-rise square voltage on PDs in two different geometries using optical PD measurement technique. Fast-rise square voltage has the lowest PD inception voltage while the sinusoidal voltage has the highest. This is may be due to the influence of homo-and hetero-charges. Fast-rise square voltage displayed higher PD magnitude at inception which may be connected to the rise time of the voltage.

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link ABSTRACTSamples of a dried composite oil-paper system were thermally aged in the laboratory under N 2 in a sealed container and analysed using their dielectric response. The contributing loss processes were separated using an equivalent circuit model containing constant high frequency capacitances, dc-conductances, a dispersive capacitance, and a low frequency quasi-dc (q-dc) dispersion process as circuit elements. This low frequency dispersion in oil-paper samples is a bulk property of the system that is often mistaken for a dc conduction process when only the imaginary capacitance or acconductance is measured. The Dissado-Hill response function is proposed for the frequency dependence of the dispersive capacitance in the mid-frequency range rather than the Debye function because its cluster concepts correlate with the sample morphology of a matrix of oil-filled cavities. The quasi-dc dispersion is assigned to the transport of mobile charges between charge-clusters associated with locally connected oil filled cavities, which is a process that can be represented on a global scale by the form of hierarchical circuit system that leads to constant phase angle responses, and is here modelled by the Dissado-Hill q-dc function. It was found that the two dispersions moved together to higher frequency with thermal ageing of the composite material. The characteristic frequency common to the dispersions had an activation energy that decreased with thermal ageing, whereas their amplitude increased. This behaviour is discussed in terms of possible changes to the oil-paper composite caused by the ageing process.

This report presents a method for synthesizing base-stock for green industrial products from a 5 vegetable oil with a high composition of unsaturated fatty acids. Epoxy methyl ester of palm kernel oil were synthesized from laboratory purified palm kernel oil using a two-step reaction and the products were used as a base-stock for green electrical insulation fluid. Epoxidized palm kernel oil was first prepared through epoxidation reaction involving purified palm kernel oil, acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide in the presence of amberlite as catalyst which lasted for 4 hours. It was then 10 followed by transesterification reaction involving the epoxidized product a nd methanol in the presence of sodium hydroxide as catalyst to synthesize the corresponding epoxy methyl ester. The thermal and electrical breakdown properties of the epoxy methyl ester demonstrated significantly improved properties for its use as raw material for bio-based industrial products such as electrical insulation fluids.

This is the accepted version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link ABSTRACTNaturally-occurring palm kernel oil (PKO) and its ester derivatives are being considered as sustainable alternatives to synthetic oils for use as dielectric fluids. This paper reports on their dielectric properties, which have been studied and compared to BS148 mineral oil. The low frequency complex dielectric response of the PKO and its derivatives are related to ionic conduction and electrode polarization phenomena. The purified PKO has an electrical conductivity of 3.04 × 10 -12 at 30C; this is 10 times lower than crude PKO but about 10 times great than the BS148 oil. The bulk conductivity is thermally activated, activation energy = 0.47 eV, and influenced by viscosity. The ester derivatives had a higher conductivity than the PKO, which was related to ionic impurities introduced during processing. The breakdown field was measured in a bespoke cell enabling smaller volumes of oil (15 ml) than that used in ASTM D1816. The characteristic AC breakdown strength of purified PKO and is alkyl esters were found to be in the range, 41 to 43 kV/mm, which is significantly higher than the mineral oil (27 kV/mm). The results support the proposition that a dielectric fluid derived from palm kernel oil, once re-purified, may be a suitable replacement for mineral oil based fluids in HV electrical equipment.Index Terms -palm kernel oil, ester derivatives, dielectric loss, viscosity, AC characteristic breakdown field, Weibull distribution.

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Effect of side chains on the dielectric properties of alkyl esters derived from palm kernel oil. Proceedings -IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids, ISSN 2153-3725 This is the unspecified version of the paper.This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Abstract-Alkyl ester derivatives were synthesized from laboratory purified palm kernel oil. The steps in the synthesis involved transesterification of palm kernel oil to produce a methyl ester, followed by epoxidation and then the grafting of side chains by esterification with propionic and butyric anhydride. The dielectric and thermal properties of the ester derivatives were analyzed and compared with the methyl ester. The melting point of the ester derivatives were found to reduce with side chain attachment and antioxidant improved its thermal stability. The dielectric loss was dominated by mobile charged particles and the chemical modification appeared to increase the rate at which electric double layer was formed at the electrodeliquid interface. The esters possessed excellent breakdown strengths suggesting that the processing to optimize their physical properties did not have a negative influence on their electrical breakdown strength. This product may prove useful as an insulation fluid in Electrical Power Transformers. Permanent