DIAGNOSTICS

The danger of vibration

in power transformers
Online detection of windings distortion by direct vibration
measurement using a thin fiber optics sensor

measured inside an oil-filled trans­ 1. Introduction

ABSTRACT former, shows a signature of wider
A thin fiber optics sensor, VibroFibre, band ranging between 20 Hz to The key to a sustainable power grid rests
has been developed to fit into a 2 1000 Hz. The new sensor has shown on high voltage power transformers.
mm gap in transformer windings superior performance, especially in Transformers used in the North
for directly measuring the winding its response to frequencies below American power networks are currently
vibration. The new innovation is 100 Hz. When combined with the new over 30 years of age on average, and many
aimed to help the transformer Long Gauge technology, the response are approaching the end of designed
users to safely extend service lives goes as low as 5 Hz. The sensor’s small service lives. In managing the power
of their assets and to mitigate risk size makes it possible to install the grids safe operation, partial discharge
of unscheduled shutdown due to sensors in the winding spacers with (PD) is considered a best indicator for the
premature equipment failure. The built-in cradle-like slots, which helps transformers’ residual lives. PD monitoring
optic fiber based vibration sensor can avoid possible disturbance to the is currently the most persuasive tool used
be installed inside a transformer and cooling oil flow. to forecast a transformer’s remaining
the resulted vibration measurement life. In this respect, the industry relies on
is no longer affected by various noise KEYWORDS using piezoelectric-based PD sensors,
sources from peripheral equipment. vibration, diagnostics, VibroFibre, In- which are mounted on a transformer’s
The vibration frequency spectrum ternet of Things, oil-filled transformers tank walls to collect the PD related
vibration signature analysis. The difficulty

90 TRANSFORMERS MAGAZINE | Volume 4, Issue 3

 Peter KUNG

A thin fiber optics sensor has been developed

to fit into a gap in the transformer windings to
directly measure the winding vibration

the operating temperature in the core caused by the mechanical movement

of a transformer. A showcase of the and vibration-induced winding wearing
technology’s application was conducted and tearing, chemical corrosion and
in collaboration with an industry partner, manufacturing defects, etc. Windings
which came out with successful results that are a major structure component in the
have proved the technology’s capability in core of a transformer. The dielectric,
providing a cost-effective monitoring and thermal and mechanical stresses the
diagnostic tool. To serve for extending windings are subjected to during the
the installed transformers’ safe operating transformer’s operation will cause material
lives, some further field testing has been deterioration, shape distortion and dis­
arranged with an aim to adapt the sensor’s placement and interconnect loosening,
design structure and to make it compatible etc., which all contribute to the decrease of
with OEMs’ manufacturing process. the transformer performance. Windings
distortion can be mechanically induced
2. Why is transformer during the transport of a transformer,
monitoring necessary? or electrically by large transient current
surges during a lightning event or by a
Drastic changes are happening in the power short circuit, or by aging-induced gradual
industry as everybody is trying to adjust clamping looseness under constant load
to the new Environmental Protection cycling. Winding distortion can create
Agency (EPA) regulations issued in the extra electromagnetic force between the
United States to reduce the greenhouse windings and the core, and in turn give rise
gas emission as a major cause of climate to the change in the transformer vibration
change. One outcome is the rapid growth signature. The signature information is
of renewable energy such as solar and a tool for online condition monitoring
wind power. The intermittent nature of the transformer. The partial discharge
of these renewable sources requires an (PD) monitoring has been widely used as
adaptation of fast-response power sources an indicator of the transformer residual
to balance the grid. Luckily, shale gas is life, yet the piezoelectric based PD sensors
now abundantly available and inexpensive comprise electrically conductive parts,
in the USA, which allows the utility sector which hinders the operation of such sen­­
to switch from coal to gas. On the other sors inside a transformer. As a compromise,
hand, there are utilities that wish to address the PD sensors are in common practice
the reliability and the performance of the installed on the external walls of a trans­
existing grids. Many of them have started former tank. The signals so received are
of signature analysis, which lies with building extensive transmission networks, consequently highly dependent on the
poor signal quality, curbs the accurate for which the key equipment is the high positions where the sensors are moun­­
life prediction. This paper proposes and voltage power transformer. ted, and are contaminated by the noises
describes an innovative method based on from oil pumps, cooling fans, or the
thin fiber optics sensor technology. The Transformer faults exhibit various different tank itself. As a result, a transformer’s
new optic fiber sensor can fit right into modes such as winding distortion and frequency signature such as the PD
transformer windings, thus achieving the displacement, interconnect loosening, counts and the intensity distribution can
desired direct measurement of winding etc. A minor fault can develop to become hardly be analyzed effectively to tie to a
vibration without the signal attenuation major and severe, such as winding unique degradation process, although the
and degradation associated with external breakage and insulation breakdown. The frequency analysis does work sometimes
sensors. The development of this new faults can be attributed to the material and if a transformer happens to operate in a
technology has been inspired by extensive structural deterioration, which are usually resonance condition.
academic research, in which a rigorous
finite element modeling was employed to
simulate the magnetic force interaction With the direct measurement of winding
and the mechanical vibration inside vibration, the signal attenuation and
a transformer. The new sensor is not
only capable of measuring the vibration
degradation associated with external sen­s­­­­ors
behavior, but also simultaneously obtains are avoided
w w w . t ra n sfo r m e r s - m a g a z i n e . co m 91
 DIAGNOSTICS

Figure 1. Low frequency plot of a used transformer [8] Figure 2. High frequency plot of a used transformer [8]

Vibration analysis can detect undesirable interruption. Dissolved gas analysis

(DGA) offers a snapshot, yet it provides no
winding movement caused by transportation information about the rate of transformer
or large current surges due to short circuits degradation. Vibration analysis can detect
undesirable winding movement caused
or lightning strike by transportation or large current surges
due to short circuits or lightning strike [3].

3. Challenges can act as a very good indicator of the Frequency Response Analysis (FRA) has
upcoming winding failures. The winding recently attracted much interest. As a
According to a CIGRE report [1], looseness is a leading cause of internal previous study reported, by comparing
41 % of the failures found in power short circuits. The amplitude change of the the frequency spectrum with a reference
transformers are connected with the vibration signal can be a good indication state, an FRA [4] may indicate structural
on-load tap changer and another 19 % of the loss of winding clamping. The movement in the windings. It has
with the windings. Given that excessive winding movement as another winding been shown that transformer natural
vibration is a major cause that leads to fault is also hard to detect as the windings frequencies tend to decrease as the
winding displacement and deformation are usually encased within the oil tank. clamping pressure reduces and windings
[2], connection looseness and insulation Visual inspections are useful, but not become loose overtime. Indeed, during
deterioration, vibration monitoring very practical since they require service the transformer manufacturing process,

Figure 4. Photograph of windings that under-

Figure 3. The Discrete Fourier Transform showing the signature of winding distortion [8] went deformation [9]

92 TRANSFORMERS MAGAZINE | Volume 4, Issue 3

the winding assembly is clamped to an
intended pressure. While amplitude
diminution is perceived, the frequency
shift remains quite small. FRA remains
a popular method to detect winding
movement, but it is very difficult to
interpret the results. Detecting winding
motion and clamping looseness requires
more sensitive vibration sensors
with higher frequency measurement
resolution. In addition, the frequency
spectra of a fleet of transformers usually
differ from one another, which contributes
to additional complexity in identifying
a defective transformer by comparing
the spectra of all the units. Furthermore,
the commonly practiced FRA has to be
performed on offline transformers, which Figure 5. Long Gauge VibroFibre thin head set into a press wood spacer
implies revenue loss due to the required
downtime. This loss of revenue has
become a deterrent. The frustrations of the following, it will be described how End Winding (SEW) vibration. With a
trying to achieve a simpler method have VibroFibre sensor was adapted to make it small modification that acts like a signal
led to the development of new vibration fit between the narrow gap of the winding enabler, the Long Gauge VibroFibre was
sensors that can work inside the oil tank, turns inside a transformer (see Figure 5). born as a distributed sensor [10]. The
becoming an online tool that can detect interrogator emits a narrowband laser
the ongoing dynamic electromagnetic 4. Long Gauge Vibrofibre signal, whose central frequency is phase-
and mechanical force interaction [2, 3, 5, locked to one of the interference fringes.
6 and 7].
technology
With these new features a Long Gauge
The VibroFibre, originally developed to VibroFibre can detect environmental
The proposed new sensor is 2 mm thick, monitor vibration at the end windings in effects such as vibration and temperature
50 mm long, and 20 mm wide in size. It is large power generators, is mainly used for via the observed interference pattern
the thinnest vibration sensor in the world, capturing the vibration signature via the shift in terms of the voltage sensed by
yet it can measure vibration between 5 Hz sensor head (discrete sensor). VibroFibre embedded photo-electric transducers.
and 1000 Hz. The work is underway to is an extended version of the Fabry-Perot The electrical changes can then be trended
show that the significant faults such as the fiber optics vibration sensor. and compared. The original VibroFibre
winding distortions including buckling design contains a diving board acting
and bulging, the open and short circuits, The latter has been deployed around the as a mechanical amplifier to enhance its
and clamp looseness can be detected and world for monitoring generator Stator sensitivity. The sensor has a thickness of 8
identified (see Figures 1, 2, 3 and 4).

Missing inter-winding separation can

also be identified as the sensor trends The low frequency resolution and difficulties
the vibration amplitudes at twice the line
signal frequency (2xLF). The capability
in identifying the frequency signatures re­
of simultaneous measuring temperature quire usage of multiple sensors on the tank
provides a cost-effective monitoring
solution for extending transformer life
walls (up to 50), making such tests expensive
while providing online diagnostics. In for commercial use

Figure 6. Block diagram of the distributed vibration sensor: a laser source interrogates Figure 7. Example of internal structure of the
Progressive insulation used in wire windings
the sensing fiber and feedback is returned to a photodetector via the VibroFibre VibroFibre with emphasis on the fiber optics

w w w . t ra n sfo r m e r s - m a g a z i n e . co m 93
DIAGNOSTICS

For sensors to work inside the oil tank, the sen- used in one transformer test. The signals re­
ceived by the sensors were mainly in lower
sor cabling must not allow any air bubbles to frequencies between 120 Hz and 240 Hz [2
be trapped in and introduced to the mineral oil and 13]. This made such test overly expen­
sive for commercial deployment.

6. Winding vibration
mm, which makes it unfit to the narrow gap the vibration noise coming from peri­
monitoring in field tests
between winding turns of the transformer. pheral equipment such as the pumps and
This sensor has been modified by splicing cooling fans. Also, the sensor-received In studying Stator End Winding (SEW)
a length of single-mode optical fiber into vibration signals depend very much on vibration of a power generator, the main
the cavity, and as a result, the whole fiber the sensor location [7, 11 and 12]. Some signal received is the 2xLF. The sensors are
became a distributed vibration sensor earlier work has shown the difference installed inside the generator on the end
(Figure 6). The innovation has turned among the vibration signals received at winding. An aging generator will suffer
the vibration sensor into a wideband the top and the bottom of the transformer from severe structure looseness, resulting
one since the fiber is now resting freely tank, as shown in [6]. More extensive ana­ in the increased structure vibration
inside a 900 µm Teflon tube. Figure 5 lysis succeeded in differentiating the time amplitude. This phenomenon can be
illustrates how we cut a slot into the press domain of the signals that were received utilized as a criterion in the vibration
wood spacer to fit the thin sensor. The from new, used and anomalous transfor­ monitoring. According to the published
spacer acts like a package and protects the mers (see Figure 10 and [5]). It seems that literature the vibration signatures inside
sensing fiber without obstructing the flow the lower frequency signals (below 1 kHz) the oil tank of a transformer have a
of the cooling oil. In doing so, a small size are more discriminating in comparison to wideband frequency ranging from 20 Hz
fiber can readily be used to reduce the size the higher frequency signals since the lat­ to 1000 Hz. In our previous collaboration
of the vibration sensor (see Figure 7). ter were heavily affected by the large back­ with Manchester University as it was shown
ground noise floor. For transformers under in [12], we compared the VibroFibre with
5. Vibration measurement suspicion, the high frequency side of the the conventional piezoelectric sensor. The
outside and inside the signal is less continuous in time, display­ results proved that the VibroFibre had
ing instead ephemeral bursts of periodic a superior performance in monitoring
transformer
signals similar to those caused by partial frequencies lower than 100 Hz. In a field
Figure 8 demonstrates how the new discharges. Coping with the low frequency test conducted in China, the new sensor
sensor can measure the vibration inside resolution and the difficulties in identifying was installed inside a test transformer
a transformer. In contrast, if the vibration the frequency signatures, many researchers (110 kV, 350 MVA) in a location between
sensors are mounted on an external wall, opted to mount multiple sensors on the the winding turns to measure the
as seen in Figure 9, they are disturbed by tank walls; as many as 40 to 50 sensors were windings axial vibration. A built-in slot
was prepared in a winding spacer to act
as a cradle of the sensor body. The scheme
provided physical protection to the sensor,
yet no disturbance was exerted on the flow
of the cooling oil as the result of the sensor
installation. This filed test was the first
on-site demonstration, and it successfully
showed the technology’s unique capability
in observing various vibration signatures
in relation to the winding looseness,
movement and distortion, etc. (see Figures
1, 2, 3 and 4).

7. Proposed solutions
Companies in the power generation in­
dustry are typically conservative in that
they barely allow internet connections
in their control room. The fear is that a
cyber-attack, if happened, could turn off
their generators. When we installed the
vibration monitoring solution for the sta­
tor end windings, it was very difficult to
obtain the final data that we helped collect
and trend until some personal relation­
Figure 8. The press wood spacer is inserted between the winding turns. The coupled ships were built with individual technical
sensing fiber picks up vibration signature. staff at the plant to send the data offline.

94 TRANSFORMERS MAGAZINE | Volume 4, Issue 3

In the last five years we were unable to
provide an optimal value of our solution
due to this lack of data. Given that the
timely information and diagnostics are
critical for optimizing the maintenance
programs, the recent emergence of the
Internet of Things (IoT) is proving to be
one of the best solutions. In addition to
the sensor innovation, the architecture of
the Transformer Guard – a system whose
embedded laser interrogates the fiber op­
tics based sensor – also underwent appli­
cation adaptation. While keeping many
features for interrogating the VibroFibre,
new elements had to be implemented to
optimize the quasi-distributed ability of
the Long Gauge VibroFibre.

Regarding the optical networking, the

sensors are placed inside the oil tank and
output optical signals are transmitted via
a hermetic junction plate to a composite
optical cable. The latter can drive the sig­
nals to the control room located at a dis­
tance up to several kilometers. The optical
form of the data prevents any possibility of
electrical interference and noise contami­ Figure 9. Accelerometer locations on a transformer tank [7]
nation of the original signals. The interro­
gation unit used is equipped with an inter­
face module to enable data transmission to cloud-based sensor node at the tank wall tion sensing head will need to consist of
a cloud. The module is also built with the in order to transmit data to the cloud such single-mode fiber enclosed inside the per­
connection to the conventional standard as tank temperature, DGA and PD mea­ forated Teflon tubes. In fact, the sensors
Modbus via RS-422/485. The edge mo­ surements. An operator or technical staff being developed such as the moisture sen­
dule has a processing power sufficient to equipped with a cellphone or a tablet can sor and PD sensors for working inside the
perform data processing and data summa­ obtain warning and detailed information transformers need to be equipped with the
ry, which means it is unnecessary to send that is sent from the system via the cloud porous cables, since the dense pores along
a huge amount of raw data to the cloud. while physically being off site, where the the cable could allow air to escape during
The proposed solution will also employ a hostile environment temperature could go the vacuum process in manufacturing.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisi­ from -40 °C to 60 °C. Some other critical
tion (SCADA) system, which is a control issues need to be tackled in order to enable The solutions will be first introduced to
system architecture that uses computers, the new sensors to work inside the oil tank, transformer OEMs who can integrate
networked data communications and gra­ including that the sensor cabling must not them into their manufacturing process
phical user interfaces to provide a high- allow any air bubbles to be trapped in and to contribute to timely service and main­
level process supervisory management. introduced to the mineral oil. The air is tenance of their products in order to ex­
The obtained test data is correlated to the easy to break down to the oil, triggering tend service life. In the meantime, we have
operating data from the customer’s SCA­ arcing events inside a transformer. plans to approach service companies and
DA system and other external s­ources. help the customers rework and repair the
The present technology, the Long Gauge As the industry is headed towards using existing transformers. These results will be
VibroFibre, picks up vibration excitations higher voltage transmission to reduce reported later.
along the optical fiber and the sensor head the transmission loss, there will be more
can measure temperature. Provided ano­ technical problems associated with this. Conclusion
ther transduction model is added, such In addition, different forms of adapted
as moisture sensing via fiber optics and Long Gauge vibration sensor are needed The adaptation of the vibration sensor
trending of current load, correlation ana­ to measure the vibration of the windings technology is aimed to work inside
lysis enables a most complete picture of along the radial as well as the lamination transformers. The currently available
the transformer aging condition. Via the directions of the core. Indeed, similarly to solution is capable of providing an
cloud, the said raw data will be turned the sensors set to the tank wall showing integrated monitoring platform for
into useful information for the manage­ dependency to location, measuring diffe­ improved predictions of the residual lives
ment decision making, and become acces­ rent directions (phases) of winding along of transformers. A large step forward has
sible by all relevant units in a customer’s its different components displays various been made beyond the sampling of the
organization. Another module acts as a signature facets. In these cases, the vibra­ insulation oil with neither reference nor

w w w . t ra n sfo r m e r s - m a g a z i n e . co m 95
DIAGNOSTICS

transformer from the internal structures

to the tank
[8] C. Bartoletti, M. Desiderio, D. Di Carlo,
G. Fazio, F. Muzi, G. Sacerdoti, et al., Vibro-
acoustic techniques to diagnose power
transformers, Power Delivery, IEEE Trans­
actions on, vol. 19, pp. 221-229, 2004
[9] Ji Shengchang, Zhu Lingyu and Li
Yanming, Study on transformer tank vi-
bration characteristics in the field and
its application, PRZEGLĄD ELEKTRO­
TECHNICZNY (Electrical Review), R. 87,
No. 2, 2011
[10] M. I. Comanici, L. R. Chen, and P. Kung,
Long-gauge distributed sensor for moni-
toring vibration, in Photonics Conference
Figure 10. Low frequency plot of a new transformer [8] (IPC), 2014 IEEE, 2014, pp. 374-375
[11] M. Nafar, A. Gheisari, and A. Ale­
saadi, Circuit Breaker and Transformer
The currently available solution is capable of Monitoring, World Academy of Science,
providing an integrated monitoring platform Engineering and Technology, International
Journal of Electrical, Computer, Energetic,
for improved predictions of the residual lives Electronic and Communication Engineer­
of transformers ing, vol. 4, pp. 1548-1552, 2010
[12] D.S. Vilchis-Rodriguez, S. Djurović,
P. Kung, M.I. Comanici, and A.C. Smith,
correlation to the operating temperature using on- and off-line methods: Results, „Investigation of Induction Generator
and the loading information. Further field examples and future trends, CIGRE Wide Band Vibration Monitoring Using
tests will enable design adaptations of the p­aper, pp. 12-204, 2000 Fibre Bragg Grating Accelerometers,“ 2014
sensor structure to make it compatible to [4] P. Mariño, F. Poza, S. Otero, and F. IEEE, 2014, pp. 1772-1778
the OEMs’ manufacturing process. Machado, Development of condition [13] J. T. Yoon, K. M. Park, B. D. Youn, and
monitoring instrumentation for sensing W.-R. Lee, Diagnostics of Mechanical
The next challenge is to develop a trace power transformers, International Confe­ Faults in Power Transformers-Vibration
moisture and temperature fiber optics rence on Sensing Technology, 2005 Sensor Network Design under Vibration
sensor. Once the capability of collecting the [5] S. Tenbohlen, T. Stirl, G. Bastos, J. Uncertainty
failure relevant data is enabled, focus will B­aldauf, P. Mayer, M. Stach, et al., Ex­
be shifted to help the customers measure perienced-based evaluation of economic Acknowledgement
the logistics of moisture transport in oil benefits of on-line monitoring systems
and to understand the mechanism that for power transformers, CIGRE Session The author would like to thank Chris (Jian
the moisture goes back and forth from 2002, pp. 12-110, 2002 Bin) Fu, Huayna-Chaska Vera-Durand,
the oil to the pressed wood holding frame [6] M. Wang, Winding movement Sean (Chang Shui) Yang, Robert Idsin­
and the cellulose paper wrapped around and condition monitoring of power ga from QPS Photronics as well as Maria
the windings. The transport mechanism transform­ers in service, The University of Iulia Comanici from McGill University
is apparently dependent on the operating British Columbia, 2003 and Hua Lu from Ryerson University for
temperature of the transformer, which is in [7] M. Jin, J. Pan, H. Huang, and J. Zhou, their contribution in the development of
turn affected by the ambient temperature Transmission of vibration of a power this article.
and the loading.

References
Author
[1] CIGRE Working Group 05, An inter- Peter Kung obtained his MSEE degree from the University of
national survey on failures in large p­ower Minnesota. He is currently the president of QPS Photronics Inc.
transformers in service, Electra, no. 88, in Canada. Peter has 20 years of semiconductor experience and
May 1983 another ten years in Telecom. He invented the phase masks in
[2] Y. Wang, B. Eng, and M. Eng, Trans­ 1991 and spent 15 years developing the fiber grating technology,
former vibration and its application process and products. His latest invention is the VibroFibre –
to condition monitoring, University of vibration sensors used to monitor vibrations in the stator end
W­estern Australia, 2015 windings inside high power turbine generators. His objective
[3] S. Tenbohlen, D. Uhde, J. Poittevin, H. is to work with partners to adapt this technology platform towards greenhouse gas
Borsi, P. Werle, U. Sundermann, et al., En- monitoring, enhancing the reliability of the power grid.
hanced diagnosis of power transformers

96 TRANSFORMERS MAGAZINE | Volume 4, Issue 3