Prediction of hottest spot temperature in power transformer windings with non-directed and directed oil-forced cooling

Power transformer outages have a considerable economic impact on the operation of an electrical network. One of the most important parameters governing transformer's life expectancy is the hottest spot temperature (HST) value. The classical approach has been to consider the hottest spot temperature as the sum of the ambient temperature, the top-oil temperature rise, and the hottest spot to top-oil temperature gradient. The authors proposed a numerical method based on heat transfer theory using the finite element method and they only needed to solve heat conduction equation. The transformer selected for simulation was a 32 MVA transformer with non-directed oil-forced (NDOF) cooling and directed oil-forced (DOF) cooling. A comparison of the authors results with those obtained from finite integral transform and experimental test confirms the validity and accuracy of the proposed method. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.