Estimation of Loss of Life due to Hot Spot Development in Power Transformer using MATLAB

Abstract

The opportunity for the research in thermal modeling of power transformer is to estimate their loss of life due to overloading by employing the winding hot spot temperature (HST) and by carrying out aging studies based on heat transfer theory. This is facilitated by developing computational thermal models and their simulation using appropriate software tools. These models are employed to evaluate the actual functional age of transformers by estimating enhanced equivalent life at the reference temperature that will be spent over the specified time period for the given temperature cycle due to acceleration of aging. This paper presents a MATLAB/ Simulink based model for this purpose. The life determines the aging acceleration factor, which has been used for estimation of the loss of life of the transformer. Further, the effect of cooling for reducing the loss of life has also been studied. The proposed model has been validated using real time data gathered from a power transformer in field operation.