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2 Most Common Contributing Factors in Insulation Failure

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2 most common contributing factors in insulation failure (on photo: Insulation Failure from Corona Effect; credit: colmaccoil.com)

Degradation and breakdown

The most frequent failure in electrical equipment is the degradation and breakdown (flashover) of the
insulation. Electrical insulation can be liquid or solid, organic or inorganic.
Organic insulation material consists of: enamels, varnishes, resins, or polymers that are applied to the steel
surface to provide high inter-laminar (between windings) resistance as found on most air-cooled machinery and
some oil-immersed transformers.
Larger transformers are oil-filled with pure mineral oil to provide higher insulation capability and more effective
heat dissipation when equipped with external radiators, fans and pumps. Physical insulation inside these
transformers is often in the form of oil-impregnated paper wrapped around the conductors.
Inorganic insulation material can include a combination of:
Magnesium oxide,
Silicates,
Phosphates, and

Ceramic powder.
This type of insulation is usually heat-treated intothe surface of the steel and is less common than organic
insulation.

No matter what the type of insulation, the two most common contributing factors in insulation
failure are moisture and heat.

Excessive Moisture
On air-cooled electrical machinery, the moisture content of the air is very important. With aging of the
insulation, small hairline cracks will appear in the insulation. Moisture will seep into these cracks and allow an
electrical path to short-circuit between adjacent turns of wire.
Although the voltage between the turns is quite small, when they short together, a closed loop to the magnetic
flux is provided, and this causes tremendous currents to flow inthe shorted loop. This usually destroys the
electrical machine, and it has to be removed and re-wound/replaced.
On oil-cooled machinery (i.e., transformers), moisture can only be detected by regular oil samples. Moisture will
be sucked into the oil via the oil expansion air vent, through the continuous process of transformer heating and
cooling cycles.

Special air dryers (i.e., Drycol) and absorbents can assist in decreasing the rate the moisture
is absorbed into the oil.

With oil-filled transformers it isimportant to note that very little moisture content is required to tremendously
decrease the insulation value of the oil. Only 30 parts of water per million parts of oil can decrease the
insulation capability by 50%.

Excessive Temperature
On air-cooled electrical machinery, prolonged high temperature causes thermal aging. This causes the insulation
to become brittle. Eventual failure can occur due to moisture penetration as just discussed, or by physical contact
of conductors.
In oil-filled transformers the effect is called insulation aging. Chemical aging occurs more rapidly at high
temperatures, with the loss of insulation life being almost exponential with temperature.

As an example for a standard 65C (temperature rise) rated insulation the loss of life increases
from 0.001% per hour at 100C to 0.05% per hour at 140C and 1.0% per hour at 180C.
Translated into time span the expected insulation life would be 11.4 years at 100C, 83 days at
140C, 100 hours at 180C.

It is fairly clear to see the importance of maintaining a daily record of the operating temperatures and
ensuring that all electrical equipment are kept at low ambient temperatures.