An Experimental Study of the Sweep Frequency Impedance Method on the Winding Deformation of an Onsite Power Transformer

Abstract

Power transformers are one of the most important devices in electrical networks. The safety operation of the transformers directly affects the reliability of the power system. To diagnose the internal deformation of the transformer as soon as possible is of great significance. As a new technique, sweep frequency impedance (SFI) method has been used to detect the short-circuit fault of the transformer winding. However, the SFI method is still in the early stage and more experimental tests are needed to further demonstrate its accuracy in the detection of other types of winding faults. Therefore, in this paper, the SFI method is investigated to diagnose an open-circuit fault of an onsite transformer. By deeply analyzing the SFI curves and SFI values at power frequency obtained by the SFI test, the open-circuit fault of this transformer winding is determined. Meanwhile, the accuracy of the diagnostic results based on the SFI method is validated by introducing the results of the short-circuit impedance (SCI) and winding resistance measurements. The application of the SFI method on the detection of the open-circuit fault within the transformer winding not only enrich the SFI method research but also provide valuable practical guidance significance for the fault detection.