The Importance of Transformer Diagnostic Technology to Power Grid Safety

The Importance of Transformer Diagnostic Technology to Power Grid Safety

The safe operation of the power grid is the foundation for ensuring a stable and reliable power supply. Power grid failures and large-scale power outages not only cause huge economic losses and disrupt citizens’ normal lives, but also endanger public safety and even have serious social consequences. Numerous investigations into major power outages show that aging transmission lines and outdated transmission and transformation equipment are among the main reasons for dangerous areas in power grid operations. According to the State Grid Corporation of my country’s operational analysis report, from 2005 to 2010, serious power grid failures caused by transmission and transformation equipment malfunctions accounted for 37.10% to 48.15% of all accidents in my country that year. For example, in 2008, among the 54 accidents that significantly impacted power grid operation in my country, 26 were caused by equipment failures. For many years, the failure rate of power grids caused by equipment failures has remained consistently high, with an average failure rate as high as 41.439%, ranking first among the causes of power grid failures. Failures in critical power grid equipment (transformers, switches) can lead to significant losses, including equipment damage, property damage, and major power outages, and may even have severe social consequences. Therefore, improving the operation, maintenance, and repair of critical power grid equipment (transformers, switches), preventing and reducing the probability of failures, and adopting reasonable maintenance strategies to reduce maintenance costs are critical issues that the power industry urgently needs to address. For a long time, the assessment of the health and operational status of power equipment in China has primarily relied on scheduled maintenance, frequently resulting in both over-maintenance and under-maintenance, leading to a huge waste of human and material resources and a decrease in power supply reliability. Therefore, conducting condition-based maintenance of transformers, ensuring that “all necessary repairs are carried out” and “all repairs are done well,” is an inevitable trend in power equipment maintenance. The key to successful condition-based maintenance lies in how to prevent problems before they occur, accurately assess the operational status of power equipment, conduct condition evaluations, and effectively diagnose faults. Power grid critical equipment (transformers, switches) is an extremely complex system with numerous characteristic quantities representing its condition, and the information about its condition is uncertain and ambiguous, making it very difficult to achieve an effective and accurate evaluation of the operating status of key power grid equipment. With the development of sensor and intelligent information processing technologies in recent years, the methods for monitoring the condition of power equipment have developed rapidly. The emergence of these effective online monitoring technologies for key power grid equipment provides technical support for condition-based maintenance based on fault diagnosis. Therefore, conducting effective and in-depth fault diagnosis research on power transformers, guiding transformer operation protection and condition-based maintenance, and preventing and reducing the probability of fault occurrence has significant theoretical and practical implications.