Predictive maintenance of electrical transformers

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The power transformers installed on offshore wind farms are critical pieces of equipment as they represent the only connection point for transmitting the electricity produced by these turbines to the onshore electricity grid.

If this equipment were to fail, production would come to a complete halt, with the resulting financial losses in terms of lost production, repair costs and possible penalties. It is therefore essential for every operator to put in place (all) the means to reduce these risks and limit the impact of any failure as far as possible.

To this end, in addition to spot measurements (statutory annual inspections), the most recent transformers are monitored using multiple on-line measurement systems.

However, the interpretation of these measurements currently remains complex. On the one hand, the measurement systems generate information in silos (completely autonomously) and, on the other, the highly variable operational and environmental conditions of the wind farms, which influence the parameters measured by these systems, are generally not taken into account.  

As a result, deducing a clear and precise diagnosis of the current state of the transformer and its future evolution can quickly become a laborious and energy-consuming task for the operators and maintenance experts in charge of giving recommendations.

To meet these challenges, an online (cloud-based) supervision solution was first implemented. This is used to collect, consolidate and analyse vast volumes of data and information from a variety of sensors and (data) formats. 
Then, the knowledge of machine experts was combined with data analysis methods to provide much more precise indicators of the transformer's state of health and its possible future evolution.

By combining the knowledge of machine experts and data analysis, these solutions make it possible to build analysis models that combine these different data and information, thereby providing much more precise indicators of the state of the transformer and its possible future evolution.

During this webinar, we will use a case study of a transformer at an offshore wind farm in the North Sea to provide an overview of the solutions that have been put in place to meet these challenges. The following topics will be covered:

Critical points of concern relating to transformer ageing:

• Hotspot temperature
  • Dissolved oil gas levels
  • Structure and transformer vibration
  • Measurement systems and available information
• Additional solution (Vibration Monitoring System) 
• Approach taken to address concerns through deployment of a continuous analysis solution

1. Offshore wind farm operators' concerns and challenges
    
2. Information on measurement systems and available information / additional(s)
    
3. Contribution of Cloud solutions for data management and online monitoring of critical equipment
    
4. Concrete information on the approach implemented to address the operator's concerns and the results obtained