Streaming electrification of insulating liquid mixtures

Extensive efforts have been made for many years by the power generating industry to replace conventional solid and liquid insulation with synthetic materials. Those measures are aimed at increasing the load capacity, improved fire safety and extending transformer life during exploitation. Modern insulating materials include aramid fibre-based paper and insulating fluids made of synthetic and natural esters. The paper presents research results of the electrostatic charging tendency (ECT) of mixtures of fresh and aged mineral oil Trafo En with synthetic ester Midel 7131 and natural ester Midel 1204. The measurements were taken in a flow-through system using the pipes made of metal, cellulose and aramid paper. The influence of the liquid flow velocity, the type of material of the measuring pipe and the mixture content on the level of the streaming electrification current generation was determined.