Power Plant Engineering

2. Transformer Oil. Oil in transformer construction serves the double purpose of cooling and
insulating. For use in transformer tanks, oil has to fulfill certain specifications and must be carefully
selected. All oils are good insulators, but animal oils are either too viscous or tend to form fatty acids,
which attack fibrous materials (e.g. cotton) and so are unsuitable for transformers. Vegetable oils (chiefly
resinous) are apt to be inconsistent in quality and, like animal oils, tend to form destructive, fatty acids.
Of the mineral oils, which alone are suitable for electrical purposes, some have a bituminous and others
a paraffin base. The crude oil, as tapped, is distilled, producing a range of volatile spirits and oils rang-
ing from the very light to the heavy, and ending with semi-solids like petro-leum jelly, paraffin wax, or
bitumen.
In the choice of oil for transformer use the following char-acteristics have to be considered.
Viscosity. This determines the rate of cooling, and varies with the temperature. A high viscosity
is an obvious disadvantage because of the sluggish flow through small apertures which it entails.
Fig. 12.27. 2000 kVA, 20/6.6 kV, 50 cycle
Transformer.

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POWER PLANT ENGINEERING
Insulating Property. It is usually unnecessary to trouble about the insulating properties of oil,
since it is always sufficiently good. A more important matter, however, is the reduction of the dielectric
strength due to the presence of moisture, which must be rigorously avoided. A very small quantity of
water in oil greatly lowers its value as an insulator, while the presence of dust and small fibers tends to
paths of low resistivity.
Flash Point. The temperature at which the vapour above an oil surface ignites spontaneously is
termed the flash point. A flash point of not less than about 160°C is usually demanded for reasons of
safety.