Impact of Carbon Nanotubes on the AC Breakdown of Mineral Oil with the Presence of Polyvinylpyrrolidone

Abstract

The research on the nanofluid as an alternative transformer oil has been widely attracted the concern of many researchers as the effectiveness as insulation and cooling agent of the existing transformer oil is not achieved satisfactory to accommodate the rising demand of high voltage rate. In this study, nanofluid with a nanomaterial, Carbon Nanotube (CNT), with and without Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) has been formulated, and their AC breakdown voltage of the mineral oil (MO) according to IEC 60156 standard has been characterized. The concentration of CNT study is 0.005, 0.01, 0.015 and 0.02 g/L. It is found that the optimum concentration in nanofluids without PVP is 0.005g/L of nanofluids concentration with the highest breakdown voltage 53.52. In comparison, the highest breakdown voltage for nanofluids with PVP is 33.4kV at 0.01g/L. The existence of PVP in the nanofluids seems not significantly affect the dielectric performance of the degradation of the nanofluid from 5% to 43%. Hence, nanofluids with CNT addition are proofed as a good additive in insulation oil for future transformer applications.