Dielectric Response of the Oil-Paper Insulation System in Nanofluid-Based Transformers

The interest in developing and testing dielectric nanofluids for electrotechnical purposes has increased significantly in the last ten years. A number of works have been published reporting dielectric and thermal properties for these liquids that enhance those of conventional insulating fluids. Some authors propose that the application of dielectric nanofluids to transformer insulation could improve the reliability of transformers and open new possibilities for transformer design. However, this will not be feasible until thorough studies on the interaction of these materials with other elements of the transformer, specially the solid insulation, are carried out. In this work, the effect of the presence of nanoparticles on the dielectric response of oil and oil-paper insulation is analysed in laboratory conditions. Specimens have been prepared to emulate the insulation system of transformers and the dielectric response in the frequency domain of these specimens has been characterized. The dependence of nanoparticle concentration on the dielectric response has been analysed. Proposing physical mechanisms that explain the experimental results observed over the oil and the paper samples. Some conclusions are extracted in this work that may be of interest if nanofluids are considered as liquid insulation for transformers.