What’s happening inside and outside of your transformers? Will today’s minor problems turn into tomorrow’s catastrophic failures?
As transformers age, the probability of failure increases. With a proper condition assessment and maintenance program, transformers can provide reliable service for years, even decades more than the average life expectancy.
KNOWLEDGE IS POWER
With the right information, you can make the critical decisions necessary to extend the life of your transformers. These decisions could be the difference between planned, cost-effective maintenance and life-extension solutions or expensive responses to preventable disasters.
Make informed decisions by knowing what is happening with your critical assets. This can be accomplished through a comprehensive condition assessment program. Doble’s proprietary method systematically identifies changes in transformer condition to establish health and what’s needed to extend service life.
KNOW YOUR TRANSFORMER
How well do you know your transformer? Warning signs can be spotted in the details, but knowing what to look for is the key. Doble can help you learn more about your transformers through an asset health review, the first step in our condition assessment program. This preliminary evaluation is a review of existing data, which not only gives an overview of transformer condition, but also helps determine which assets will need further – and what kind of – evaluation.
The asset health review process includes the analysis
of a variety of data, including:
• Nameplate
• Design family
• Operating and running history
• Electrical test history
• Maintenance and repair information
• Dissolved gas analysis review
• Loading history
• Abnormal event records
• Existing IR (Infra-Red) and RFI
(Radio Frequency Interference) survey information
This information is compiled, analyzed and compared to statistical data to determine current condition, prioritize critical assets and develop a strategy for any transformers needing further evaluation.
TRANSFORMER HEALTH & FITNESS
The evaluation process continues with an on-site condition assessment. This determines a transformer’s “fitness” for continued service through an external
visual inspection and a full suite of offline tests, which include:
• Power Factor and capacitance (over a range of frequencies) – often referred to as the “Doble Test”
• Winding Resistance
• Insulation Resistance
• Sweep Frequency Response Analysis
After this in-depth evaluation is complete, you will have a comprehensive report detailing areas of concern, complete with recommendations for dealing with current problems and planning for the future. Once condition is assessed, attention can be focused on specific problems, which can be managed to minimize out-of-service time.
THE DOBLE DIFFERENCE
When you work with Doble, you are accessing the collective knowledge of our experienced engineers who are known throughout the industry for providing unbiased, expert diagnosis and assessments. Their technical knowledge is paired with the cumulative information of the Doble Knowledgebase, which contains nearly a century of trending data. That’s over 28 million data points from over 350,000 types of electrical apparatus – a resource that is growing daily.Decades of data, investigations and forensic analysis are used as a critical, comparative resource in helping determine transformer condition assessment. This database is unique to Doble, making us the knowledge source for the industry.
PREVENTATIVE MEDICINE
By understanding the true condition of transformers and how they age, proper maintenance can be used to extend the life of such important critical assets.Advanced and routine testing can be performed by Doble engineers and with Doble’s diagnostic test instruments, which are legendary for reliability in the field.
We can work with you to create a cost-effective testing programme specifically tailored to your needs.
Doble PowerTest Ltd.
Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom
+44 (0) 1483 514124
