Dissolved gas analysis evaluation in electric power transformers using conventional methods a review

Transformers are the most important equipment in power systems, and their failure can cause serious problems. In order to avoid hazardous operating conditions and reduce outage rates, fault detection in the incipient stage is necessary. Incipient faults cause thermal or/and electrical stresses on the transformer with a major consequence on insulation decomposition. The insulation decomposition causes the evolution of gases which can be dissolved in oil. Dissolved gas analysis (DGA) interpretation is one of the main techniques used for fault diagnosis in oil-immersed transformers. In this paper, DGA interpretation is evaluated in detecting different faults and the techniques considered as conventional methods of DGA are investigated. The evaluation is based on DGA data obtained from oil samples of real transformers.