Comparative Performance Study of Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) Methods for Identification of Faults in Power Transformer

Abstract

The power transformer is an essential component of the electrical network that can be used to step up and step down voltage. Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) is the most reliable method for the identification of incipient faults in power transformers. Various DGA methods are used to observe the generated key gases after oil decomposition. The main gases included are hydrogen (H2), ethylene (C2H4), acetylene (C2H2), methane (CH4), and ethane (C2H6). There is a lack of research that can compare the performance of various DGA methods in identification of faults in power transformer. In addition, it is also not clear which DGA method is optimal for identification of faults in power transformer. In this paper, the comparative performance study of seven DGA methods such as Roger’s ratio, key gas, IEC ratio, the Doernenburg ratio, the Duval triangle, three-ratio method, and the relative percentage of four gases is carried out in order to identify the optimal technique for fault identification in transformer. The data of various power transformers installed in “RAWAT” NTDC grid station, Islamabad, and “UCH-II” power station, Balochistan, are considered for the comparative analysis. This analysis shows that the three-ratio method provides better performance than other DGA methods in accurately identifying the faults in power transformers. The three-ratio method has 90% accuracy in identifying the faults in power transformer.