INVESTIGATION AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF NANOPARTICLES AND ANTIOXIDANTS BASED NATURAL ESTER

Transformer is one of the critical equipment to be monitored conditionally in a power system network. To balance the demand and supply of the customers, the supply of power from the power system should be uninterruptible, which depends on how reliable the transformer is. The lifetime of the transformer depends on insulating fluid which provides effective cooling and insulation. The traditionally used insulating fluid is mineral oil which is the derivative of petroleum. The objective of the proposed work is to minimize the dependency over the fossil fuel which is running out of demand and to maximize the use of fuels extracted from renewable sources, thereby mitigating the drawbacks associated with mineral oil such as poor biodegradability, poor flash and fire point. Mineral oil is causes harm to aquatic/human life during its disposition and spillage. Hence, there raised a demanding need to find an alternative dielectric fluid which overcomes the limitations of the mineral oil in all aspects. In addition to that, an effort has been made to enhance the critical characteristics of natural esters by adding semiconductive nanoparticles (TiO2 and ZnO) in 0.01 % particle volume fraction and antioxidants (Citric Acid and Butylated Hydroxy Anisole) in 1 g/L (single antioxidant) and 0.5 g/L:0.5 g/L (multiple antioxidants). The critical characteristics like breakdown voltage, impulse breakdown voltage, viscosity, flash and fire point measured according to IEC and ASTM standards before and after adding nanoparticles and antioxidants. Interestingly it is found that the use of nanoparticles and antioxidants can enhance the critical parameters of natural ester and can be used as a substitute of mineral oil. INDEX TERMS — Power Transformer, mineral oil, nanoparticles, antioxidants, critical parameters.