BIOTRAFO

Project

The BIOTRAFO project analyses the effect of temperature on the designs of power transformers that use biodegradable esters as coolant, the environmental and fire performance of these liquids being also evaluated. These machines are very common in our power distribution systems. Since electricity is generated until it reaches households, it passes through an average of four transformers. Currently the liquid used in most of these machines is a petroleum derivative, since its good performance is well known. However, the environmental awareness of many companies is demanding new transformers that are cooled by esters of natural origin.

In this framework, BIOTRAFO proposes a study that allows knowing the temperature in the windings of the transformer when using biodegradable liquids, which by their nature are more viscous. This temperature is a critical factor for the useful life of the transformer, due to the aging of dielectric solid materials. The aging of these materials when immersed in these liquids will also be analyzed. Not only the question will be observed from a theoretical perspective, industrial platforms will also be used to test the generated models.

The results of the research will be disseminated among specialized and non‐specialized audiences, through broad different channels and considering the commercial exploitation of the results obtained. The project will also carry out tasks of knowledge transfer generated for this purpose. Moreover, the training aspects of the research personnel involved in the project will be taken care of in order to boost their careers.

To this end, a complementary high‐quality consortium of thirteen partners has been formed, six of which do not belong to the EU. All of them have knowledge and proven experience in the field of study. Ten of the partners belong to the academic sector and three are companies. Two are manufacturers of power transformers, while the other performs diagnostic work on transformers that are in operation.

Consortium

Coordinator

University of Cantabria (UC), Spain

Universidad de Cantabria (UC) is a modern public institution from Northern Spain positioned among the first five Spanish universities in terms of world impact and excellence of its scientific publications (SCIMAGO 2015 Ranking). It is the 4th more productive Spanish university in teaching, research and knowledge transfer (BBVA Ranking/IVIE 2018). In BIOTRAFO, it participates through GITEP – Research Group in Electrical Power Transformers with experts in dielectric systems of power transformers, aging of transformers’ dielectric systems, heat transfers, fluid mechanics and thermos fluid analysis of power transformers.

https://web.unican.es/

Beneficiaries

University Carlos III of Madrid (UC3M), Spain

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid is a public university founded in 1989 among the top 30 universities in the World Less than 50 Years Old according to the Ranking QS Top 50 Under 50 and among the top five Spanish universities in general performance according to the U-Ranking 2017. The group DIAMAT participating in BIOTRAFO has worked in transformer life management for the last 20 years, and is experienced in the evaluation of the condition of solid and liquid insulations including the aging processes, the condition of solid and liquid insulations including the aging processes, the moisture dynamics, and the dielectric performance of solid and liquid insulation.

https://www.uc3m.es

University of Manchester (UM), United Kingdom

The transformer research group at The University of Manchester is led by Professor Zhongdong Wang (Professor in High Voltage Engineering). The team includes Professor Paul Jarman and Reader Dr Qiang Liu, as well as 3 Research Associates, Dr Shanika Matharage, Mr Yiming Huang, Dr Xiang Zhang and 12 PhD Students. The research activities cover the full life cycle of transformers, with considerable work looking into areas such as: modelling of transformers' electrical, thermal or mechanical behaviours; alternative liquids as insulators; DGA and FRA for diagnostics; end-of-life modelling; dielectric performance of aged insulation. The group is esteemed as an internationally recognised world leading group. In the last 20 years it has delivered 60 journal publications and 200 conference publications, and made contributions to 11 CIGRE Working Groups and 6 IEC standards.The University of Manchester participated in the project until October 24, 2020.

www.manchester.ac.uk/transformers

University of Exeter(UNEXE), United Kingdom

The University of Exeter has been dedicated to discovery and changing lives through education since 1851 when the Exeter Schools of Art and Science were founded. Currently the university has over 25,000 students from 130 countries. In recent years university was continuously ranked within top 200 universities worldwide and top 25 universities in the UK according to major league tables including QS World University Rankings and Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Smart Grids research group at the University of Exeter that involve with BIOTRAFO is led by Professor Zhongdong Wang (Professor of Electrical Power Engineering). The team consists of a Lecturer in Smart Grid, Dr Shanika Matharage, two Postdoctoral Research Fellows Dr. Shuhang Shen and Dr. Bin Cao and seven PhD Students. The research activities of the group include smart grids and low carbon electrical energy networks, in particular condition monitoring techniques, thermal, electrical transient and magnetic modeling techniques for power system networks, dielectric insulation ageing mechanisms, alternative environmentally friendly liquid insulating materials, and transformer asset management. The University of Exeter is part of the BIOTRAFO consortium since July 1, 2020.

www.exeter.ac.uk

University of Rome-Sapienza (UR), Italy

Sapienza University of Rome, founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the largest university in Europe: there are around 120.000 students enrolled, of which 8.000 coming from abroad, and more than 4.700 professors and researchers. Currently, it ranks as first amongst Italian universities (ARWU - Academic Ranking of World Universities, U.S. News), while, according to the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds), it ranks number 213 globally and as the 22nd best university in the world for Physics.

https://www.uniroma1.it

Silesian University of Technology (SUT), Poland

SUT is one of top-five technical universities in Poland. Its staff educates nearly 23 thousand students in 13 faculties, 2 colleges, 1 institute and 2 education centres. SUT has been involved in a number of the FP7 and H2020 projects. SUT is also active in Erasmus+, Erasmus Mundus and Tempus Programmes as well as well-known EU funding schemes such as LIFE+, ERA-NET, Interdoareg and RFCS. In January 2017, SUT has been certified by the European Commission with Human Resources Excellence in Research.

https://www.polsl.pl

University of Stuttgart (US), Germany

The University of Stuttgart is one of the leading technically oriented Universities in Germany. Our institute’s main research topics are related to the reliability, cost-efficiency and sustainability of electric power supply. We deal with tasks from the field of high-voltage insulation performance and condition assessment but also with requirements arising from the growing use of renewable energies.

https://www.ieh.uni-stuttgart.de/en/

Best Transformers (Best), Turkey

BEST has been continuously growing since its start of transformers production in 1966. Best Co. developed its own technology with more than 50 years of experience.

http://www.besttransformer.com

Sea Marconi (SM), Italy

Sea Marconi provides sustainable solutions for the life-cycle management (LCM) of electrical transformers filled with insulating fluids, offering products and services for the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of technological pathologies of such electrical equipment. With offices in Italy, France, Spain and Argentina, and through qualified partners in other areas, Sea Marconi holds a leading market position in the sector, serving more than 3000 clients across 5 continents.

https://www.seamarconi.com

Partner Organisations

Kyushu Institute of Technology (KT), Japan

Kyushu Institute of Technology is a National University Corporation created in 1907. It has 4,100 grade students, 1,500 post-graduate students, 358 teachers, 77 researchers, 198 administrative staff, and it carries out 116 international agreements. The research group involved in BIOTRAFO has experts in aging of insulating liquids and composite insulation consisting of pressboard and the liquid dielectric. Moreover, it collaborate with industries in Japanese large transformer manufactures such as Mitsubishi Electric Co. , Daihen Co. and Toshiba Co.

http://www.kyutech.ac.jp

National University of the Littoral (UNL), Argentina

UNL participates in BIOTRAFO through the Research Center for Computational Methods (CIMEC). CIMEC is a center of research and development dedicated to the implementation of computational methods in science and engineering. The main areas of expertise are Computational Thermofluid Dynamics, Fluid Structure Interaction, High Performance Computing.

https://cimec.org.ar/

University of Piura (UP), Perú

University of Piura is a private non-profit university founded in Piura in 1969 and one of Peru’s top ten universities. UDEP’s mission is to provide a comprehensive education to students, so that they can effectively serve the society and contribute to the development of the region and the country. The slogan that defines UDEP is "better people, better professionals”.

http://udep.edu.pe

University of El Valle (UV), Colombia

University of El Valle established in 1945. In 2014 we obtained the High Quality Accreditation by the Ministry of National Education for ten years, the highest given by the Ministry. The university has extended its presence to eight regions of the Valle del Cauca Department, and to the northern Cauca region, for a total of 11 locations, attractive for international academic mobility. We have 9 Faculties and 2 Institutes in different fields of knowledge. Universidad del Valle has 239 research groups, of which 174 are recognized by COLCIENCIAS. We also have 7 centres and 4 research institutes.

https://www.univalle.edu.co

Tadeo Czerweny (TC), Argentina

Tadeo Czerweny S.A. was founded in 1958 in the city of Gálvez, Santa Fe (Argentina). It) and is a company dedicated to design, manufacture, sale, installation, servicing and repairing of mobile substation, power, distribution and rural transformers.

https://www.tadeoczerweny.com.ar

Library

Journals

“Maghemite nanofluid based on natural ester: cooling and insulation properties assessment”,

Cristian Olmo, Cristina Méndez, Félix Ortiz, Fernando Delgado, Rafael Valiente, Peter Werle, IEEE Access, 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2945547, October 2019

“Thermal Modelling of a Power Transformer Disc Type Winding Immersed in Mineral and Ester-Based Oils Using Network Models and CFD”,

Agustin Santisteban, Alejandro Piquero, Félix Ortiz,Fernando Delgado and Alfredo Ortiz, IEEE Access, 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2957171, December 2019

“Titania Nanofluids Based on Natural Ester: Cooling and Insulation Properties Assessment”,

Cristian Olmo,Cristina Méndez,Félix Ortiz,Fernando Delgado and Alfredo Ortizz, Nanomaterials, 10.3390/nano10040603, March 2020

“Moisture dynamics in natural-ester filled transformers”,

Rafael Villarroel,Belén García de Burgos and Diego Fernando García, International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, 10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2957171, December 2019

“Use of Alternative Fluids in Very High-Power Transformers: Experimental and Numerical Thermal Studies”,

R. Altay, A. Santisteban, C. Olmo, C.J. Renedo, A. Ortiz, F. Ortiz and F. Delgado, IEEE Access, 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3037672, November 2020

"Moisture dynamics in natural-ester filled transformers”,

Rafael Villarroel, Belén García de Burgos, Diego Fernando García, International Journal of Electrical Power & Energy Systems, 10.1016/j.ijepes.2020.106172, January 2021

"Dielectric design of ester-filled power transformers: AC stress analysis”,

Andres Montero Romero; Belen Garcia; Juan Carlos Burgos; Carlos Gonzalez-Garcia, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, 10.1109/TPWRD.2022.3145880, January 2022

Conferences

"Thermal Modeling of a Power Transformer with Different Dielectric Liquids”,

A. Santisteban, F. Ortiz, C. J. Renedo, S. Pérez, C. Méndez, C. Fernández-Diego, XI National and II lnternational Engineering Thermodynamics Congres, Albacete, Link, June 2019

"Impregnation processes of insulation rigid components of cellulose in synthetic ester and mineral oil",

Alfredo Ortiz, Jaime Sanz, Severiano Pérez, Cristina Fernández-Diego, Ernesto Iván Diestre, Ismael Vela, IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Roma, 10.1109/ICDL.2019.8796739,June 2019

"Kraft and Diamond Dotted paper thermally aged in mineral oil and natural ester: mechanical characterisation",

Cristina Fernández-Diego, Isidro A. Carrascal, Alfredo Ortiz, Inmaculada Fernández, Fernando Delgado, Cristian Olmo, IEEE International Conference on Dielectric Liquids (ICDL), Roma, 10.1109/ICDL.2019.8796691, June 2019

"Analysis of the Impregnation Process of Cellulosic Materials by Ester-Based Insulating Liquids”,

Oasis Sancibrian, Carlos Vila, Inmaculada Fernandez, Cristian Olmo, Alfredo Ortiz, 2019 6th International Advanced Research Workshop on Transformers (ARWtr), Cordoba, Link, October 2019

"Analysis of thermal-electrical modelling of a distribution transformer using ansys and code_saturne",

Luciano Garelli, Gustavo Ríos Rodriguez, Paweł Lasek, Krzysztof Kubiczek, Mariusz Stepien and Mario A. Storti, XXIV Congreso sobre Métodos Numéricos y sus Aplicaciones, Santa Fe, Link, November 2019

"Determination of heat generation in power transformers by electromagnetic harmonic fem analysis",

Paweł Lasek, Krzysztof Kubiczek, Luciano Garelli, Gustavo Rios Rodriguez, Mariusz Stepien and Mario A. Stortic, XXIV Congreso sobre Métodos Numéricos y sus Aplicaciones, Santa Fe, Link, November 2019

"Analysis of the heat dissipation efficiency of the low voltage coil of a power transformer operating in ONAN/ONAF mode",

Jonathan J. Dorell, Mario A. Storti, Gustavo A. Ríos Rodriguez y Luciano Garelli, XXIV Congreso sobre Métodos Numéricos y sus Aplicaciones, Santa Fe, Link, November 2019

"Application of multiscale calculation of heat transfer in electric transformer winding channels",

Mario A. Storti, Jonathan J. Dorella, Luciano Garelli and Gustavo A. Ríos Rodríguez, XXIV Congreso sobre Métodos Numéricos y sus Aplicaciones, Santa Fe, Link, November 2019

"Application of biodegradable fluids as liquid insulation for distribution and power transformers ",

Belén García, Juan Carlos Burgos, Alfredo Ortíz, Diego García Gómez, Carlos Renedo, Daniel Pérez Rosa , EEEIC – 20th International Conference on Environment and Electrical Engineering, Madrid, Link, June 2020

"Numerical Investigation on the Influence of Clack-bands on Lifetime of Disc-type Windings ”,

Khandan S., Tenbohlen S. , International Conference on Dielectrics (ICD 2020), Valencia, 10.1109/ICD46958.2020.9342026, June 2020

"Coupled CFD and electromagnetic analysis of an ONAN distribution transformer cooled with mineral oil and biodegradable esters”,

Luciano Garelli, Gustavo Rios, Mario Storti, Francisco Pessolani, Mauro Amadei, Pawel Lasek, Krzysztof , International Conference on Dielectrics (ICD 2020), Valencia, 10.1109/ICD46958.2020.9341955, July 2020

"Thermal analysis of a low voltage winding of a power transformer working with natural ester and mineral oil ”,

Agustín Santisteban, Jonathan Dorella, Luciano Garelli, Mario Storti, Fernando Delgado, Alfredo Ortiz., International Conference on Contemporary Problems of Thermal Engineering (CPOTE 2020), Online , Link, September 2020

"Influence of Water Contents on Ester Liquids Partial Discharge Inception Voltage”,

L. Calcara; Alan Sbravati; Kevin Rapp; Massimo Pompili, 2020 IEEE Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena (CEIDP), East Rutherford, 10.1109/CEIDP49254.2020.9437441, May 2021

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