Bahir Dar Institute of Technology- Bahir Dar University

Faculty of Electrical Engineering

Title: - Design and Development of Condition Monitoring and control System

for Distribution Transformer

(Case of BIT)

Prepared by: ID.No

Behailu Mesganaw 1296/03
Marsilas Darsema 1886/03
Matyos Kiflu 1233/03

Advisor name:
Mr. Habtemariam A.

A Final Year Project Submitted to the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Bahir Dar Institute
of Technology - Bahir Dar University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering

June 2015

Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

 Declaration

we, the undersigned , declare that this project is original work, has not been presented for a
degree in this or any other universities, and all sources of materials used for the project have
been fully acknowledged.

Student Name Signature

Behailu Mesganaw _______________

Marsilas Darsema _______________

Matyos Kiflu ________________

This Project has been submitted for examination with my approval as a university advisor.

Project Advisor Signature

Mr. Habtemariam A. ________________

i
 Approval by Board of Examiners

Chair Person Signature

_______________________ _________

Project Advisor Signature

_______________________ _________

Project Examiner 1 Signature

_______________________ _________

Project Examiner 2 Signature

_______________________ _________

ii
 Acknowledgement

We place on record and warmly acknowledge the continuous encouragement,

invaluable supervision, timely suggestions and inspired guidance offered by our guide Mr
Habtemariam. A in bringing this project to a successful completion.

We are grateful to Mr Girma.N and Mr Fasil for permitting us to make use of the
facilities available in the department to carry out the project successfully. Last but not the least
we express our sincere thanks to all of our department staff who have patiently extended all
sorts of help for accomplishing this undertaking.

Finally we extend our gratefulness to one and all who are directly or indirectly involved
in the successful completion of this project work.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgement ..............................................................................................................iii

List of Figures ...................................................................................................................vii

List of Table ....................................................................................................................... ix

Acronyms ............................................................................................................................ x

Abstract ............................................................................................................................. xii

Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 1

Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1

1.1 Background of Study..................................................................................................... 1

1.2 Statement of the Problem .............................................................................................. 3

1.3 Objectives of CMC System ........................................................................................... 4

1.3.1 General Objective ....................................................................................................... 4

1.3.2 Specific Objective ...................................................................................................... 4

1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 5

1.5 Literature Review .......................................................................................................... 5

1.6 Scope of the Project ....................................................................................................... 6

Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................. 7

CMC System Design and Analysis for Distribution transformer ........................................ 7

2.1 Condition Monitoring System ....................................................................................... 8

2.2. Control System ........................................................................................................... 10

2.2.1 Transformer Internal Fault Control .......................................................................... 10

2.2.1.1 Method of Incipient Fault Monitoring and Controlling ........................................ 12

2.2.2 Transformer Load Control Switch ........................................................................... 15

2.2.3 Wireless Emergency Transformer Isolator System .................................................. 15

2.2.4 Automatic Transformer Tab Changer ...................................................................... 16

2.3 System Component and Circuit Design ...................................................................... 21

2.3.1 Microcontroller......................................................................................................... 21

iv
2.3.2 Design of Current Transformer ................................................................................ 22

2.3.3 Voltage Transformer ................................................................................................ 24

2.3.4 Design Relay Driver Circuit ..................................................................................... 29

2.3.5 Temperature Sensing Unit ........................................................................................ 31

2.3.6 Design Oil Level Circuit .......................................................................................... 32

2.3.7 Design 12V DC Fan Circuit .................................................................................... 32

2.3.8 Design Power Supply Circuit ................................................................................... 33

2.3.9 Internal Fault Sensing Circuit .................................................................................. 34

2.4 Software Design and Interface .................................................................................... 38

2.4.1 HMI Design through LabVIEW Front Panel ........................................................... 39

2.4.2 Database ................................................................................................................... 44

2.4.3 Report Generation .................................................................................................... 45

2.4.4 LabVIEW Report Generation Toolkit ...................................................................... 45

2.4.5 System Viewing and Controlling Remotely with the Web Server........................... 45

2.4.6 Access Control System Operation............................................................................ 46

2.4.7 Hardware Interfacing................................................................................................ 49

2.4.7.1 Interfacing Arduino Microcontroller Board with LabVIEW ................................ 49

2.5 Flow chart of the entire system ................................................................................... 49

Chapter 3 ........................................................................................................................... 51

Results and Discussions .................................................................................................... 51

3.1.2 Proteus VSM ............................................................................................................ 51

3.2.1. Schematic Diagram ................................................................................................. 52

3.2.2 Project Prototype ...................................................................................................... 55

Chapter 4 ........................................................................................................................... 57

Conclusion and Recommendations ................................................................................... 57

4.1 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 57

4.2 Recommendations ....................................................................................................... 58

v
Reference ........................................................................................................................... 59

Appendix A ....................................................................................................................... 60

Appendix B........................................................................................................................ 63

vi
List of Figures

Figure 1 : CMC system model for distribution transformer in BiT............................................ 7

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the entire system ..................................................................... 8
Figure 3 shows Classification of maintenance activities. .......................................................... 8
Figure 4 : Shows a block diagram of a CBM system integrated with CM and CA systems. ..... 9
Figure 5 : Mobile phone external key....................................................................................... 16
Figure 6 : On load tap changing procedure .............................................................................. 20
Figure 7 : Toroidal current transformer .................................................................................... 22
Figure 8 : CT circuit diagram ................................................................................................... 23
Figure 9 : Designed CT diagram .............................................................................................. 23
Figure 10 : VT circuit diagram ................................................................................................ 24
Figure 11 : Rectifier output voltage of VT conditional circuit bridge without capacitor ......... 25
Figure 12 : Full-wave rectifier output with filtering capacitor capacitor ................................ 27
Figure 13 : Voltage dividing rule circuit ................................................................................. 28
Figure 14 : N-channel MOSFET relay switch circuit............................................................... 30
Figure 15 : Temprature sensor circuit....................................................................................... 31
Figure 16: Oil level circuit ....................................................................................................... 32
Figure 17 : 12V DC Fan circuit ............................................................................................... 33
Figure 18 : Power supply circuit simulation............................................................................. 33
Figure 19 : Power supply circuit output waveforms................................................................. 34
Figure 20 : Hydran fault sensing circuit ................................................................................... 35
Figure 21 : PCB scheme ........................................................................................................... 37
Figure 22 : Complete circuit PCB design ................................................................................. 37
Figure 23 : Complete circuit PCB design with component ...................................................... 38
Figure 24 : HMI system ............................................................................................................ 39
Figure 25 : Home page ............................................................................................................. 40
Figure 26 : Transformer voltage ,current,temprture and oil level status page.......................... 41
Figure 27 : Transformer chemistry status page ........................................................................ 42
Figure 28 : Transformer tab position status page ..................................................................... 42
Figure 29 : Load rejection or disconnector page ...................................................................... 43
Figure 30 : Help front page....................................................................................................... 44
Figure 31 : Viewing and controlling front panels remotely with the web server ..................... 46
Figure 32 : Administrator password dialog box ....................................................................... 47

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Figure 33 : Supervisor password dialog box ............................................................................ 48
Figure 34 : Operator password login ........................................................................................ 48
Figure 35: Flowchart description entire of the system ............................................................ 49
Figure 36: Overall system complete schematic ........................................................................ 54
Figure 37 : Project prototype .................................................................................................... 55
Figure 38: Output voltage vs. Temprature ............................................................................... 63

viii
List of Table

Table 1: Correlation between power transformer internal faults and causes ........................... 12
Table 2: Suggested diagnosis from gas ratios-rogers ratio method .......................................... 14
Table 3: Gas detection sensitivity of hydran sensor ................................................................. 35
Table 4 : VT conditional circuit diagram root sheet ................................................................. 60
Table 5: Oil level sensor conditional circuit diagram root sheet .............................................. 60
Table 6: N-channel MOSFET relay switch circuit root sheet .................................................. 60
Table 7: Physical partlist View ................................................................................................. 61

ix
Acronyms

BiT Bahir Dar Institute of Technology

BJT Bipolar Junction Transistor

CA Condition Assessment

CBM Condition Based Maintenance

CM Condition Monitoring

CMC Condition Monitoring and control

CT Current Transformer

DBMS Database Management Systems

DGA Dissolved Gas Analysis

EEPROM Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory

GUI Graphical User Interface

HMI Human Machine Interface

LED Light Emitting Diode

LIFA LabVIEW Interface for Arduino

LabVIEW Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench

MOSFET Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors

MCB Magnetic Circuit Breaker

NI National Instrument

NMOS Negative Channel Metal-Oxide Semiconductor

OLTC On load Tap Changer

x
PLC Programmable Logic Controller

RTD Resistance Temperature Detectors

RTU Remote Telemetry Unit

SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition

TBM Time Based Maintenance

USB Universal Serial Bus

VDC Volts of direct current

UI User Interface

VT Voltage Transformer

VI Virtual Instrument

xi
Abstract
Condition Monitoring and control (CMC) system is taken to mean the use of advanced
technologies in order to determine equipment condition, and potentially predict failure. CMC
is essential to prevent faults that are costly to repair and result loss of service. It is used to
protect and ensure the integrity, reliability and functionality of distribution transformers in
Bahir Dar Institute of Technology (BiT). It has a great advantage to improve durability of the
distribution transformers which are installed with a high cost and human effort.

In this project supervisory web based remote condition monitoring and control system were
designed which have Human machine interface (HMI) to monitor and control the transformer
parameters such as load current and voltage, transformer temperature, transformer incipient
fault and transformer oil level. The system have a database and report generation. Report
generation system can send automatically to printer to print the hard copy. The data captured
from the sensors and stored in a database will be used by an application that need to predict the
behaviour of the distribution transformers as well as history of end user analysis.

Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Engineering Workbench (LABVIEW) Front Panel

Graphical user interface (GUI) provides all the necessaries to us to design the virtual front panel
of an embedded device. Data Acquisition and Storage parts of a measurement system that will
be used for the CMC of distribution transformers done. Data Acquisition and Storage was
developed by interfacing Arduino mega microcontroller and LabVIEW software. Output and
input circuit for current transformer, voltage transformer, temperature sensor, oil level sensor,
incipient fault sensor and printed circuit board (PCB) layout were designed.

Finally the prototype model for monitoring and controlling distribution transformer parameters
were tested and interfaced with the software part. It perform its operation perfectly as expected.

xii
 Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Background of Study

With the progressive aging of electrical power distribution equipment, growing awareness
focuses on the reliability of the equipment. Decisions regarding associated distribution
equipment replacement, for example, may take into account the need to extract maximum return
from operating costs and capital investments. Such decisions may rely on a dependable
assessment of equipment. Several methods have been proposed for classifying the condition of
certain power transmission components based on limited duration check-up type testing.
However, the limited “snapshot” data acquired in such equipment tests may not provide a
realistic evaluation of actual equipment conditions. A need remains for improved systems and
methods for asset CM and control system in electrical power distribution equipment.

In particular, major changes in the utility industry have caused increased interest in more
economical and reliable methods to generate, transmit and distribute electric power. In this
regard monitoring the health of equipment constituting the system is critical to assure that the
supply of power can meet the demand. There is an increasing interest in developing and
applying CM and control techniques for electrical equipment like transformers, generators and
power induction motors etc. In northern grid failure on 30th and 31st July 2012 due to inefficient
load management functions lead to wider blackout, leaving al-most 700 million people without
electricity in six northern states of India. CM has the potential to reduce operating costs,
maintenance and increasing the reliability.

CM related problems in distribution transformer are transformer insulation breakdown, stator

winding insulation breakdown, transformer overload, transformer oil level droplet, overall
transformer temperature raise. This problem reduce equipment life time and compromise the
reliability of the power system. With CM, catastrophic equipment failure can be prevented,
frequency of preventive maintenance can be reduced as well as operating costs and it improve
the efficiency and reliability of the system.

Distribution Transformer CM is used to control fault happen in a transformer. A power

transformer consists of a set of windings around a magnetic core. The windings are insulated
from each other and the core. Operational stresses can cause failure of the transformer winding,

1
insulation, and core. The power transformer windings and magnetic core are subject to a number
of different forces during operation. The following discussion highlights on different capability
limits of transformer over current is the current flowing through the transformer resulting from
faults on the power system. Fault currents that do not include ground are generally in excess of
four times full-load current. In summary, loading large transformers beyond nameplate ratings
can result in reduced dielectric integrity, thermal runaway condition (extreme case) of the
contacts of the tap changer, and reduced mechanical strength in insulation of conductors and
the transformer structure. Over temperature happen when there is over voltage and over current
at the transformer. Excessive load current alone may not result in damage to the transformer if
the absolute temperature of the windings and transformer oil remains within specified limits.
Transformer ratings are based on a 24-hour average ambient temperature of 30°C (86°F). Due
to over voltage and over current, temperature of oil increases which causes failure of insulation
of transformer winding. Over Excitation since flux in the transformer core is directly
proportional to the applied voltage and inversely proportional to the frequency, over excitation
can occur when the per-unit ratio of voltage to frequency (Volts/Hz) exceeds 1.05 per-unit at
full load and 1.10 per-unit at no load. An increase in transformer terminal voltage or a decrease
in frequency will result in an increase in the flux. Over excitation results in excess flux, which
causes transformer heating and increases exciting current, noise, and vibration.

Transformer Oil mainly used for two purposes one is for cooling of transformer and another
use is for insulation purpose. When temperature of transformer goes high, oil level in
transformer tank decreases due to heating effect. For normal operation of transformer oil level
should maintain at required level. If oil level decreases beyond required level, it affect cooling
and insulation of the transformer

In a deregulated or reformed environment, electric utilities are under constant pressure to reduce
operating costs, to enhance the availability of transmission and distribution equipment, and to
improve the quality of power and service provided to the customer. Running the system at its
optimum limit has become a reality, and the risk involved in running the system without proper
attention to the assets in service has therefore become very significant, as well, the probability
of losing equipment vital to the transmission and distribution system, such as power and
distribution transformers, is also increasing. Today, the operation scenario has changed and
efforts are now being directed at exploring new approaches and techniques for the maintenance,
life span assessment, and condition evaluation of power system assets.

2
In power systems, distribution transformer is electrical equipment which distributes power to
the low-voltage users directly, and its operation condition is an important component of the
entire distribution network operation. Operation of distribution transformer under rated
condition( as per specification in their nameplate) guarantees their long life .However, their life
is significantly reduced if they are subjected to overloading, resulting in unexpected failures
and loss of supply to a large number of customers thus effecting system reliability. Overloading
and ineffective cooling of transformers are the major causes of failure in distribution
transformers. Distribution transformers are one of the most important equipment in power
network. Because of, the large number of transformers distributed over a wide area in power
electric systems, the data acquisition for condition monitoring control system is an important
issue.

Currently there is an increasing interest in developing and applying CM and control techniques
for electrical equipment in a power system. CM and control system has the potential to reduce
operating costs and maintenance, increasing the reliability. Distribution transformers’ failures
carry great costs to electric companies and its prevention is very interesting for them. Predictive
and preventive maintenance requires some means of assessing the actual condition of the
machinery and can often detect early failure using condition monitoring techniques.

Distribution transformer installed in BIT are dispersed each other and have no any CM and
control system at all. Having this in mind we are motivated to design CM and control system
for them. This paper presents design and implementation of LabVIEW based HMI system and
Hardware prototype to monitor and control condition of BiT distribution transformers, by
record key parameter of distribution transformer like load currents, transformer oil level,
incipient fault ambient temperatures and voltage of three phases.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

An essential concern in transformer protection is the high cost of the transformer and the
relative long outage time that occurs when a large transformer fails. The proper type of
protection can often detect initial faults before they become major, and thereby prevent major
physical damage and long outage times (Anderson, 1999 , P.67).

Whenever the winding temperature raises and exceeds transformer thermal limits, the insulation
will deteriorate and may fail prematurely. Continuous thermal overload (over temperature)
might weaken the insulation of a transformer and resulting in rapid transformer loss of life.
3
Over excitation (an increase in system voltage), internal faults can lead to deterioration,
acceleration aging and fault trips in transformer protection function (Reza, 2003).

Power system equipment such as distribution transformers installed with high cost and they are
coasty to maintain and re-installed. Those equipment are not monitored and controlled properly
and efficiently in BiT. There is a continues power flow problems in BiT and also there is
additional problem such as unscheduled maintenance cost, Phase-out of the equipment before
the normal operating period, Power fluctuation, Shortage of data for future end user analysis
and no methods to know the exact cause of the problems because of there is no CMC system.

However engineers and scientist have worked out various ways in which the transformer can
be protected; one of such ways is by using a relay. Therefore in order to protect the transformer
using relay, a CMC system project is developed through the use of microcontroller.

1.3 Objectives of CMC System

1.3.1 General Objective

The main objective of this project is to protect, control, data store and ensure the integrity,
reliability and functionality of distribution transformers in BiT.

1.3.2 Specific Objective

The specific objective of this project is:-

To develop microcontroller based intelligent controller

To interface and process the real time signals for the real application.
To implement data logging and report Generation system for the BiT distribution
transformer.
To design the current and voltage sensing circuits that will be interfaced to the
microcontroller for monitoring
To develop HMI using active line diagram for the central control centre.
Design sensors that are not available in BiT, PCB design and construct hardware
prototype
Finally motivate the next generation student by giving tutorial and doing this project
with them.

4
1.4 Methodology

For successful completion of this project some steps will be followed to carry out different
tasks. Different literature will be revised relating to this project and data will be collected about
condition and control parameter of distribution transformer. Based on this parameter system
model was designed. Some software's were selected to develop the software programing. All
the required material are not available in BiT so some sensors and conditional circuit were
designed locally to implement the required prototype. Then after, build the system prototype
and write documentation report to complete our project.

1.5 Literature Review

Distribution transformer is one of the most expensive equipment in electrical power system and
it can act as a critical part of grid within electricity transfer. If a transformer fails, it may lead
to a power failure, material damages, personal injury or oil spill to nature. Not to mention the
financial loss, it is cheaper to maintain the condition of the transformer by monitoring it than
using the transformer until it breaks down. A lot of research work has been published in the
field of CM and various techniques have been proposed.

According to Han [1] condition monitoring has the potential to reduce operating costs, improve
the reliability of operation, and enhance power supply and service to customers. Distribution
transformers have sensitive and critical part in power transfer, if a transformer failures it causes
stopping of all electrical devices that are connected under the transformer. Most of distribution
transformer failures causes large economic damage, especially in industry area. By using
condition monitoring system it is possible to prevent unwanted transformer failure and decrease
the time of transformer failure to repairs.

Abniki [2] introduces a new condition monitoring tool which provide a fully automatic
supervision and control of the wind farm on internet and data can be accessed with common
interface for all form of data from farm.

Tang [3] says that the normal life expectance of a distribution transformer is around 40 years.
Because the investment boom after the 1970s the percentage of transformers operated in many
power systems more than 30 years is increasing. Therefore the failure rate of transformers is

5
expected to rise sharply in the coming years. Transformer failures are sometimes catastrophic
and almost always include irreversible internal damage in transformer. Therefore, all the key
distribution transformers in a power system should be monitored closely and continuously in
order to ensure their maximum operation time.

Generally, we are determine that there are four main aspects of transformer condition
monitoring and control and estimation, including thermal dynamics, dissolved gas, partial
discharge and winding deformation, which should be monitored closely in order to determine
transformer conditions. But we are specified on dissolved gas, partial discharge and winding
deformation to design our project because they are strictly may condition and control for
transformer to perform its task without any interruption.

1.6 Scope of the Project

The scope of this project is develop continuous real time condition monitoring and control
system for BiT distribution transformer based on LABVIEW. All the sensors were installed
remotely to acquire data from the transformer and transfer the data they acquire to Arduino
mega microcontroller board. A serial port communication is used between Arduino mega
microcontroller based on ATmega2560 and computer. Internet based communication media
between remote telemetry unit (RTU) and the control unit is used. In this project we only
implement hardware prototype due to lack of equipment. We didn’t use the existing transformer
for tab changer part it doesn’t much with our system design rather we need automatic tab
changer transformer with relay switch is preferred.

Finally, the highest priority is given to the software design and implementation in order to
develop a suitable algorithm that will promptly interact with the, microcontroller and the
personal computer.

6
 Chapter 2

CMC System Design and Analysis for Distribution transformer

Figure 1 : CMC system model for distribution transformer in BiT

The design model is based on the analysis and architectural requirements of the system. It
represents the application components and determines their appropriate placement and use
within the overall architecture. In the design model, packages contain the design elements of
the system, such as design classes, interfaces, and design subsystems, that evolve from the
analysis classes. Each package can contain any number of sub packages that further partition
the contained design elements. These architectural layers form the basis for a second-level
organization of the elements that describe the specifications and implementation details of the
system.

Within each package, sequence diagrams illustrate how the objects in the classes interact, state
machine diagrams to model the dynamic behaviour in classes, component diagrams to describe
the software architecture of the system, and deployment diagrams to describe the physical
architecture of the system.

Figure 1 shows that all sensors are integrated with the central condition monitoring center. The
sensor acquire data and send to central unit through communication media which is internet.
7
The operator can generate report the numerical data and graph through the LabVIEW front
panel for data acquisition. The shematic diagram of the system is shown in figure 2 identify the
system flow .

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the entire system

2.1 Condition Monitoring System

Condition Monitoring (CM) is taken to mean the use of advanced technologies in order to
determine equipment condition, and potentially predict failure. CM is most frequently used as
a Predictive or Condition-Based Maintenance technique. Figure 3 shows Classification of
maintenance activities.

8
 Figure 3: Classification of maintenance activities.

CBM relies on performing maintenance when the CM system detects an incipient fault. This
incipient fault will change to be a complete failure if not treated early by the CBM, i.e., suitable
maintenance must be performed after detection of the fault by the condition assessment (CA)
system. By using this technique, the risk of complete failure is reduced. CBM lets operators
know more about the condition of a transformer, to know clearly when and what maintenance
is needed. A transformer’s historical data - such as operation parameters, diagnostic tests, and
environmental conditions - will identify which parameter/part should be monitored and the
correct method of monitoring.

Figure 4 shows a block diagram of a CBM system integrated with CM and CA systems. The
maintenance action is taken in the final stage according to the outputs stage.

Figure 4 : Shows a block diagram of a CBM system integrated with CM and CA systems.

The general meaning of CBM is performing maintenance only upon request from the CM
system. The advantages of CBM are listed below.

9
 Maintenance is done when it is necessary
Reducing costly unnecessary inspections
Saving manpower
Reducing the unnecessary shutdowns of the system and
Low possibility of complete failure.

CM of transformers is the process of acquisition and processing of data related to various

parameters of transformers so as to predict and prevent the failure of a transformer. This is done
by observing the deviation of the transformer parameters from their expected values.
Transformer failures could cause power outages, personal and environmental hazards and
expensive rerouting or purchase of power from other suppliers.

Transformer failures can occur due to various causes. Transformer in-service interruptions and
failures usually result from dielectric breakdown, winding distortion caused by short-circuit
withstand, winding and magnetic circuit hot spot, electrical disturbances, deterioration of
insulation, lightning, inadequate maintenance, loose connections, overloading, failure of
accessories such as on load tap changer (OLTCs), bushings, etc. Integrating the ‘individual
cause’ monitoring allows for monitoring the overall condition of transformer.

This is all about the general basics of condition monitoring but in this project we are performed
some condition parameters of Bit distribution transformer such as monitoring current and
voltage status , temperature ,incipient fault and oil level of the transformer .

2.2. Control System

2.2.1 Transformer Internal Fault Control

The faults that occur within the transformer protection zone are internal faults. Transformer
internal faults can be divided into two classifications: internal short circuit faults and internal
incipient faults. Internal short circuit faults are generally turn-to-turn short circuits or turn to
earth short circuits in transformer windings. Internal incipient transformer faults usually
develop slowly, often in the form of a gradual deterioration of the insulation due to some causes.

Transformer incipient faults is faults which are not serious at the beginning but which slowly
develops into serious faults are known as incipient faults. Transformer is static electromagnetic
device. From the day of this equipment in service, different stresses like electrical, mechanical,
chemical and environmental effect the condition of the transformer. At the initial stages,

10
degradation of insulation quality occurs slowly. But this deterioration multiplies in due course
of time and leads to final failure of the transformer. So, to overcome this situation, continuous
monitoring of the condition and preventive measures is required for correct maintenance of the
transformer. This can be achieved by providing the condition monitoring of transformer to be
done at earlier Stages via online or through offline.

Statistics show that winding failures most frequently cause transformer faults (ANSI/IEEE
1985). Insulation deterioration, often the result of moisture, overheating, vibration, voltage
surges, mechanical stress created during transformer through faults, are the major reason for
winding failure. Voltage regulating load tap changers, when supplied, rank as the second most
likely cause of a transformer fault. Tap changer failures can be caused by a malfunction of the
mechanical switching mechanism, high resistance load contacts, insulation tracking,
overheating, or contamination of the insulating oil.

Transformer bushings are the third most likely cause of failure. General aging, contamination,
cracking, internal moisture and loss of oil can all cause a bushing to fail. Two other possible
reasons are vandalism and animals that externally flash over the bushing. Transformer core
problems have been attributed to core insulation failure, an open ground strap, or shorted
laminators.

Other miscellaneous failures have been caused by current transformers, oil leakage due to
inadequate tank welds, oil contamination from metal particles, overloads and over voltage. The
factors responsible for failures and accelerated deterioration can be categorized as:

 operating environment (electrical): load current, short circuits, lightening and

switching surges;
 operating environment (physical): temperature, wind, rain, pollution;
 operating time: time in service and time under abnormal conditions;
 number of operations of tap changer;
 vibration effect: sound and material fatigue;
 Contaminants: moisture, presence of oxygen and particles in oil.

11
 Table 1: Correlation between power transformer internal faults and causes

Faults
Causes Arcing Corona Overheating of Overheating
cellulose of oil
Winding turn-to-turn short-circuit X X
Winding open circuit X X
Operation of build-in LTC X
Winding distortion or displacement X X
Lead distortion or displacement X X
Loose connection to bushing terminals, X X X
tap leads, terminal boards
Free water or excessive moisture in oil X X
Floating metal particles X X
Loose connection to corona shields X
Loose collars, spacers, core ground X
straps, core hold down angle (Braces)
Through fault X
Overloading X X
Damaged yoke bolt insulation X
Rust or other damage on core X
Damaged shunt packs of tank X
Jammed oil circulating path X
Cooling system malfunction X

2.2.1.1 Method of Incipient Fault Monitoring and Controlling

Dissolved gas analysis has become a very popular technique for monitoring the overall health
of a transformer. As various faults develop, it is known that different gases are generated. By
taking samples of the mineral oil inside a transformer, one can determine what gases are present
and their concentration levels. Researches have been done to connect theoretically the gaseous
hydrocarbon formation mechanism with the thermodynamic equilibrium.

12
Some studies indicated that the hydrocarbon gases with the fastest rate of evolution would be
methane, ethane, ethylene and acetylene. Some studies have focused on key gases and what
faults they can identify. In Table 1 the relationship between fault types and the key gases is
shown. In the case of key gas analysis, a fault condition is indicated when there is excessive
generation of any of these gases.

The most sensitive and reliable technique used for evaluating the health of oil filled electrical
equipment is dissolved gas analysis (DGA). Insulating oils under abnormal electrical or thermal
stresses break down to liberate small quantities of gases. The qualitative composition of the
breakdown gases is dependent upon the type of fault. By means of dissolved gas analysis
(DGA), it is possible to distinguish faults such as partial discharge (corona), overheating
(pyrolysis) and arcing in a great variety of oil-filled equipment. Information from the analysis
of gasses dissolved in insulating oils is valuable in a preventative maintenance program. A
number of samples must be taken over a period of time for developing trends. Data from DGA
can provide.

 Advance warning of developing faults

 A means for conveniently scheduling repairs and
 Monitor the rate of fault development.

Gases are produced by degradation of the transformer oil and solid insulating materials. Gases
are generated at a much more rapid rate whenever an electrical fault occurs. Normal causes of
fault gases are classified into three categories:

Partial discharge:-is a fault of low level energy which usually occurs in gas-filled voids
surrounded by oil impregnated material. The main cause of decomposition in partial discharges
is ionic bombardment of the oil molecules. The major gas produced is Hydrogen. The minor
gas produced is Methane.

Thermal faults:-a small amount of decomposition occurs at normal operating temperatures.

As the fault temperature rises, the formation of the degradation gases change from Methane
(CH4) to Ethane (C2H6) to Ethylene (C2H4). A thermal fault at low temperature (<300deg/C)
produces mainly Methane and Ethane and some Ethylene. A thermal fault at higher
temperatures (>300deg/C) produces Ethylene. The higher the temperature becomes the greater
the production of Ethylene.

13
Arcing: - is a fault caused by high energy discharge. The major gas produced during arcing is
acetylene. Power arcing can cause temperatures of over 3000deg/C to be developed.

A normally aging conservator type transformer having a CO2/CO ratio above 11 or below 3
should be regarded as perhaps indicating a fault involving cellulose, provided the other gas
analysis results also indicate excessive oil degradation.

There are several DGA data interpretations. From many type of interpretations we used for our
project transformer incipient fault identification the Rogers ratio method. This method is the
most acceptable one from the other methods and it can indicate many fault types.

Table 2: Suggested diagnosis from gas ratios-rogers ratio method

𝐶𝐻4 𝐶2 𝐻6 𝐶2 𝐻4 𝐶2 𝐻2 Suggested diagenosis

𝐻2 𝐶 𝐻4 𝐶2 𝐻6 𝐶2 𝐻4
>0.1 <1.0 <1.0 <0.5 Normal
<1.0
≤0.1 <1.0 <1.0 <0.5 Partial discharge corona
≤0.1 <1.0 1.0 ≥0.5 or ≥3.0 Partial discharge corona With tracking
<3.0
>0.1 <1.0 ≥3.0 ≤3.0 Continous discharge
<1.0
>0.1 <1.0 ≥1.0 or ≥3.0 ≥0.5 or ≥3.0 Arc - with power follow through
<1.0 <3.0 <3.0
>0.1 <1.0 <1.0 ≥0.5 Arc - no power follow through
<1.0 <3.0
≥1.0 or ≥3.0 <1.0 <1.0 <0.5 Slight overheating to 150 0C
<3.0
≥1.0 or ≥3.0 ≥1.0 <1.0 <0.5 Overheating 150 0C- 200 0C
<3.0
>0.1 ≥1.0 <1.0 <0.5 Overheating 200 0C- 300 0C
<1.0
>0.1 >1.0 >1.0 <0.5 General conductor overheating
<1.0 <3.0
≥0.1 <1.0 ≥1.0 <0.5 Circulating currents in winding
<3.0 <3.0
≥0.1 <1.0 ≥3.0 <0.5 Circulating currents core and tank,over
<3.0
loaded joint

14
2.2.2 Transformer Load Control Switch

A load control switch is a remotely controlled system which enable the operator can reject or
restore the load. In power distribution networks, the power distributing and the electrical load
(demand) must be very close to equal every second to avoid overloading, overcurrent, over
voltage, under voltage and over temperature of network components, which can cause severely
transformer damage. The system can automatically detect overcurrent, over voltage, under
voltage and over temperature and display on the computer then an operator will be able to make
more intelligent decisions regarding the continuing use of certain transformers in certain
situations. Decisions might then be made to switch out a particular load

2.2.3 Wireless Emergency Transformer Isolator System

In electrical engineering, a disconnector, disconnect switch or isolator switch is used to ensure

that an electrical circuit is completely de-energised for service or maintenance. Such switches
are often found in electrical distribution and industrial applications, where machinery must have
its source of driving power removed for adjustment or repair. High-voltage isolation switches
are used in electrical substations to allow isolation of apparatus such as circuit
breakers, transformers, and transmission lines, for maintenance. The disconnector is usually not
intended for normal control of the circuit, but only for safety isolation. Disconnector can be
operated either manually or automatically (motorized disconnector).

Wireless emergency system isolator using mobile phone was designed. If there may be fault in
system that the user get phone call whenever the system at warning condition. Then to isolate
the system the operator again call back to the system then the system become completely isolate.
We are using some mobile key pad such as left soft key, PWR/END, CLR key/voice command
key and send key shown externally like below.

15
 Figure 5 : Mobile phone external key

2.2.4 Automatic Transformer Tab Changer

It is a normal fact that increase in load lead to decrease in the supply voltage. Hence the voltage
supplied by the transformer to the load must be maintained within the prescribed limits. This
can be done by changing the transformer turns ratio. A tap changer is a device fitted to
transformers for regulation of the output voltage to required levels. This is normally achieved
by changing the ratios of the transformers on the system by altering the number of turns in one
winding of the appropriate transformer/s. Supply authorities are under obligation to their
customers to maintain the supply voltage between certain limits. Tap changers offer variable
control to keep the supply voltage within these limits. About 96% of all power transformers
today above 10MVA incorporate on load tap changers as a means of voltage regulation. Tap
changers can be each turn on both the high and low voltage coils has the same voltage. This means
that the voltage ratio of the high voltage coil compared to the low voltage coil is the same as the ratio of
the number of turns in the high voltage coil to the number of turns in the low voltage coil. Taps will
add or subtract a number of complete turns to fine tune the turns ratio. Note that partial turn taps are
not possible. The industry standard is to supply taps on the primary winding in 2.5% or 5.0% increments
of the rated voltage, two above and two or four below rated, to compensate for variation in the supply
voltage.

16
Take a 480 V primary to 120 V secondary single phase transformer. Its primary winding may
be wound with 80 turns for 480 V and its secondary winding will have 20 turns for 120 V. For
two 2.5% taps above and two 2.5% taps below rated in the primary, each tap will be 2 turns. The
primary coil would be wound with a total of 84 turns and have leads to remove 8 turns from the
coil in 2 turn steps. This will allow the rated primary voltage of the transformer to be adjusted
to any of the following to compensate for variance in the supply voltage and have an output
close to 120 V: 504 V, 492 V, 480 V, 468 V and 456 V. This holds true for three phase
transformers as well.

Larger transformers are wound with fewer turns. The same 480 V primary to 120 V secondary
single phase transformer ratio but a much larger rating may be wound with 24 turns for 480 V
and 6 turns for 120 V. Because taps must be made with complete turns, the minimum number
of turns between taps would be 1 turn. This means that for this particular transformer, tap
increments cannot be any smaller than 4.17% – the industry standard 2.5% taps cannot be
achieved. If this same transformer had a primary voltage of 4160 V instead, there would be
208 primary turns and 2.5% taps could be achieved with 5 turns per tap (within the +/- 0.5%
tolerance allowed on the turns ratio).

Taps are usually full capacity, meaning that the kVA rating stays the same regardless of the tap
position. This means that the rated current on each tap is different – the higher voltage taps
have lower rated current and the lower voltage taps have higher rated current. Taps may also
be reduced capacity where the current does not increase above rated current for taps at lower
than rated voltage. Assume that the 480 V to 120 V example above is rated 30.0 kVA. Rated
current at the nominal tap would be 62.5 A. With full capacity taps, the rated current on the
504 V tap would be 59.5A and the rated current on the 456 V tap would be 65.8 A. If the taps
were reduced capacity, the current on the 456 V tap would be 62.5 A, giving a rated kVA on
that tap of 28.5 kVA.

Need for system voltage control

System voltage control is essential for:

1. Adjusting the terminal voltage of consumer within the prescribed limits

2. Adjustment of voltage based on change in load.
3. In order to control the real and reactive power.
4. For varying the secondary voltage based on the requirement.

17
Types of taps

Taps may be principal, positive or negative. Principal tap is one at which rated secondary
voltage can be obtained for the rated primary voltage. As the name states positive and negative
taps are those at which secondary voltage is more or less than the principle tap.

Taps are provided at the HV windings of the transformer because of the following reasons.

The number of turns in the High voltage winding is large and hence a fine
voltage variation can be obtained.

The current on the low voltage winding of large transformers are high.
Therefore interruption of high currents is a difficult task.

LV winding is placed nearer to the core and HV winding is placed outside.

Therefore providing taps on the HV winding is comparatively easier than
that of the LV winding.

Location of Taps

The taps can be provided at the phase ends, at the neutral point, or in the middle of the winding.
The number of bushing insulators can be reduced by providing taps at the phase ends. When
the taps are provided at the neutral point the insulation between various parts will be reduced.
This arrangement is economical particularly important for the large transformer.

Tap changing methods

Tap changing causes change in leakage reactance, core loss, copper loss and perhaps some
problems in the parallel operation of dissimilar transformer. There are two methods of tap
changing.

1. No load(off load) tap changing

2. On load(on line) tap changing

No load (Off load) tap changing

As the name indicates, in this method tap changing is done after disconnecting the load from
the transformer. Off load tap changing is normally provided in low power, low voltage
transformers. It is the cheapest method of tap changing. The tap changing is done manually

18
though hand wheel provided in the cover. In some transformers arrangements to change the
taps by simply operating the mechanical switches are also provided.

The winding is tapped at various points. Since the taps are provided at various points in the
winding single tap must be connected at a time otherwise it will lead to short circuit. Hence the
selector switch is operated after disconnecting the load.

To prevent unauthorized operation of an off load tap changer, mechanical lock is provided. To
prevent inadvertent operation, electromechanical latching devices are provided to operate the
circuit breakers and de-energize the transformer as soon as the tap changer handle is moved.

On load (on line) tap changing

On load tap changers are used to change the turn’s ratio without disconnecting the load from it.
Tap changing can be done even when the transformer is delivering load. On load tap changers
considerable increases the efficiency of the system. Nowadays almost all the large power
transformers are provided with on load tap changers.

The reason for providing on load tap changer in power transformers are

During the operation of on load tap changers the main circuit remains unaffected.
Dangerous sparking is prevented.

The taps on the windings are brought to a separate oil filled compartment in which the on load
tap changer switch is housed. The tap changer is a form of mechanical selector switch which is
operated by a motor by local or remote control. A handle fitted for manual operation in case of
emergency. The selector switch is a form of make before break switch and during the transition
of the tap changers from one tap to another, momentary connection must be made between the
adjacent taps. This results in short circuit between the adjacent taps. The short circuit current
must be limited by including resistor or reactor. Hence all forms of on load tap changer are
provided with an impedance to limit short circuit current during tap changing operation. The
impedance may be resistance or a center tapped reactance. In modern designs it is invariably
carried out by a pair of resistors.

19
 Figure 6 : On load tap changing procedure

Consider a high speed resistor type on load tap changers provided at neutral end of each phase
as shown. The load is now supplied from the tap 1. The selector switches 1 and 2 are in contact
with the taps 1 and 2. Now to switch over to the tap 2, the selector switch follows the following
steps:

1. Contacts a and b are closed. The load current flows from tap 1 through contact b.

2. The external mechanism moves the diverter switch S3 from b, now load is supplied from
contact a through resistor R1.

3. When diverter switch moves further it closes the contact d and both R1 and R2 are connected
across taps 1 and 2 and the load current flows through these resistances to its mid-point.

4. When S3 moves further to the left, contact a is opened and the load current flows from tap 2
through resistor R2 and d.

5. Finally the contact reaches the contact c and resistor R2 is short circuited. The load current
flows from tap 2 through contact.

Now to change the tap from 2 to 3, the selector switch S1 is first moved to tap 3 and the above
steps are reverse. In order to limit the power loss it is necessary that the transformers are kept
in the circuit for as minimum time as possible.

Automatic electrical tab changer is used for our system. Relay is responsible for switching
purpose which is controlled by Arduino mega microcontroller based on ATmega2560.

20
2.3 System Component and Circuit Design

Based on the various reviews conducted on transformer protection and the above block diagram
which was conceived out of those literature reviews conducted, numbers of components are
required in developing the protection system.

2.3.1 Microcontroller

The microcontroller is required to serve the purpose monitoring and controlling the transformer
information such as temperature, oil level, voltage and current through the personal computer
and triggering the relay when there is any fault. Modern power networks require faster, more
accurate and reliable protective schemes.

Microcontroller-based protective schemes are capable of fulfilling these requirements. They

are superior to electromagnetic and static relays. These schemes have more flexibility due to
their programmable approach when compared with the static relays which have hardwired
circuitry.

Therefore in order to achieve this task the Arduino mega microcontroller based on
ATmega2560 was chosen because of its suitability for this project such as speed, power
consumption, and universal synchronous asynchronous receiver transmitter (USART)
functionality, in built ADC, and amount of RAM and ROM on the chip.

Arduino is an open-source physical computing platform based on a simple I/O board and a
development environment that implements the Processing/Wiring language. Arduino can be
used to develop stand-alone interactive objects or can be connected to software on your
computer. The open-source IDE can be downloaded for free (currently for Mac OS, Windows,
and Linux).

The Arduino Mega is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560. It has 54 digital
input/output pins (of which 14 can be used as PWM outputs), 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs
(hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP
header, and a reset button. It contains everything needed to support the microcontroller; simply
connect it to a computer with a USB cable or power it with AC-to-DC adapter or battery to get
started.

21
2.3.2 Design of Current Transformer

The CT is a type of “instrument transformer” that is designed to produce an alternating current

in its secondary winding which is proportional to the current being measured in its primary. CT
reduce high voltage currents to a much lower value and provide a convenient way of safely
monitoring the actual electrical current flowing in an AC transmission line using a standard
ammeter. The principal of operation of a CT is no different from that of an ordinary transformer

We consider 60W incandescent lamp as a load for our system so the current passing thrower
the line is about 1.36A which is 60W 220V ac incandescent lamp we used 5 lamps. Therefore
I1=1.36A the output current is required to about 30mA therefore by using equation 1 the turn
ration is calculated.

𝐼1
𝑛 = … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . (1)
𝐼2

1.36𝐴
= = 40 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑠
30𝑚𝐴

We need toroidal current transformer which do not contain a primary winding. Instead, the line
that carries the current flowing in the network is threaded through a window or hole in the
toroidal transformer. Some current transformers have a “split core” which allows it to be
opened, installed, and closed, without disconnecting the circuit to which they are attached.

The toroidal current transformer type which have one turn primary winding (N1=1) and
secondary winding 40turns (N = 40).

Figure 7 : Toroidal current transformer

22
The burden resister is about 35ohm which if the standard resister for lower current value so the
output voltage calculated using equation 2.

𝑉 = I × R … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . . (2)

𝑉2 = 𝐼2 × R

𝑉2 = 30𝑚𝐴 × 35 = 1.05V

Therefore, the maximum output voltage is 1.05V and the maximum secondary current is 30mA.

Figure 8 : CT circuit diagram

Figure 9 : Designed CT diagram

23
2.3.3 Voltage Transformer

The 230VAC:12VAC step down voltage transformer is used to measure the load voltage. The
voltage transformer will pass through rectification process before fed to the ADC. The over
voltage and under voltage protection circuit is capable of measuring and monitoring voltage
from 200 to 250VAC. In this project the voltage can be varies by using the potentiometer and
the output of the voltage monitoring circuit is fed to ADC converter, whenever the voltage is
varied to 200VAC, the microcontroller will detect under voltage fault and whenever the voltage
is varied to 250VAC, the microcontroller detects over voltage fault, consequently the
microcontroller sends a trip signal to the relay, and the relays cuts the primary of the transformer
from the AC mains, thereby protecting the transformer.

2.3.3.1 Design Voltage Protection Circuit

The output of the voltage transformer is 12V for further used in our system it must conditioned.
This conditional circuit consists of three stages.

Rectification stage
Filtering stage
Attenuation stage

Figure 10 : VT circuit diagram

Rectification stage
Rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically
reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction. The process is
known as rectification and the stage is known as rectification stage. In this stage we use full

24
wave bridge rectifier .This type of single phase rectifier uses four individual rectifying diodes
connected in a closed loop “bridge” configuration to produce the desired output. Here we are
used 1N4007. The main advantage of this bridge circuit is that it does not require a special
centre tapped transformer, thereby reducing its size and cost. The single secondary winding is
connected to one side of the diode bridge network and the load to the other side as shown below.

Figure 11 : Rectifier output voltage of VT conditional circuit bridge without capacitor

The Positive Half-cycle

The four diodes labelled D1 to D4 are arranged in “series pairs” with only two diodes conducting
current during each half cycle. During the positive half cycle of the supply,
diodes D1 and D2 conduct in series while diodes D3 and D4 are reverse biased and the current
flows through the load as shown below.

The Negative Half-cycle

During the negative half cycle of the supply, diodes D3 and D4 conduct in series, but
diodes D1 and D2switch “OFF” as they are now reverse biased. The current flowing through
the load is the same direction as before. As the current flowing through the load is
unidirectional, so the voltage developed across the load is also unidirectional the same as for
the previous two diode full-wave rectifier, average DC voltage is shown in equation 3.
𝑉𝑑𝑐 = 0.637𝑉𝑚𝑎𝑥 … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . (3)

However in reality, during each half cycle the current flows through two diodes instead of just
one so the amplitude of the output voltage is two voltage drops ( 2 × 0.7 = 1.4V ) less than the
input VMAX amplitude. The ripple frequency is now twice the supply frequency (e.g. 100Hz for
a 50Hz supply or 120Hz for a 60Hz supply).

25
Filtering stage and smoothing circuit

To remove the AC components or filter them out in a rectifier circuit, a filter circuit is used. A
filter circuit is a device to remove the A.C components of the rectified output, but allows the
D.C components to reach the load. We are use in our design capacitor filter. In this filter a
capacitor is connected across the load during the rise of voltage cycle it gets charge and this
charge is supply to the load during the fall in the voltage cycle. This process is repeated for each
cycle and thus the ripple is reduced across the load. It is shown in the above Figure. It is popular,
because of its low cost, small size, less weight and good characteristics. Useful for load up to
50mA as in transistor radio battery eliminators.

The raw DC supplied by a rectifier on its own would consist of a series of half sine waves with
the voltage varying between zero and √2 times the RMS voltage (ignoring any diode and other
losses). A supply of this nature would not be of any use for powering circuits because any
analogue circuits would have the huge level of ripple superimposed on the output, and any
digital circuits would not function because the power would be removed every half cycle.

To smooth the output of the rectifier a reservoir capacitor is used - placed across the output of
the reciter and in parallel with the load. This capacitor charges up when the voltage from the
rectifier rises above that of the capacitor and then as the rectifier voltage falls, the capacitor
provides the required current from its stored charge.

The choice of the capacitor value needs to fulfil a number of requirements. In the first case the
value must be chosen so that its time constant is very much longer than the time interval between
the successive peaks of the rectified waveform:

1
𝑅𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 × C ≫ … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … . (4)
𝑓
Where:
𝑅𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑 = the overall resistance of the load for the supply
C = Value of capacitor in Farads
𝑓 = The ripple frequency this will be twice the line frequency a full wave rectifier is used
shown in equation 5.
𝑓 = 2 × line frequency … … … … . … … … … … … . . (5)

𝑓 = 2 × 50 = 100Hz

26
By rearrange equation (5)
1
C ≫
𝑓 × 𝑅𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑
1
C ≫
100𝐻𝑧 × 10K
C ≫ 1𝑢𝐹
For perfect smoothing purpose we take the capacitor value is 100uF.

Figure 12 : Full-wave rectifier output with filtering capacitor capacitor

The smoothing capacitor converts the full-wave rippled output of the rectifier into a smooth DC
output voltage. Generally for DC power supply circuits the smoothing capacitor is an
Aluminium Electrolytic type that has a capacitance value of 100uF or more with repeated DC
voltage pulses from the rectifier charging up the capacitor to peak voltage.

However, there are two important parameters to consider when choosing a suitable smoothing
capacitor and these are its Working Voltage, which must be higher than the no-load output
value of the rectifier and its Capacitance Value, which determines the amount of ripple that will
appear superimposed on top of the DC voltage.

Too low a capacitance value and the capacitor has little effect on the output waveform. But if
the smoothing capacitor is sufficiently large enough (parallel capacitors can be used) and the
load current is not too large, the output voltage will be almost as smooth as pure DC. As a
general rule of thumb, we are looking to have a ripple voltage of less than 100mV peak to peak
The maximum ripple voltage present for a Full Wave Rectifier circuit is not only determined
by the value of the smoothing capacitor but by the frequency and load current, and is calculated
as:

27
Bridge Rectifier Ripple Voltage

Bridge Rectifier Ripple Voltage is calculated using equation 6 where, I is the DC load current
in amps, ƒ is the frequency of the ripple or twice the input frequency in Hertz, and C is the
capacitance in Farads.

𝐼𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑
𝑉𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒 = … … … … … … … … … … … … … . (6)
𝑓×C

The main advantages of a full-wave bridge rectifier is that it has a smaller AC ripple value for
a given load and a smaller reservoir or smoothing capacitor than an equivalent half-wave
rectifier. Therefore, the fundamental frequency of the ripple voltage is twice that of the AC
supply frequency (100Hz) where for the half-wave rectifier it is exactly equal to the supply
frequency (50Hz).

Attenuation stage

An Attenuator is a special type of electrical or electronic bidirectional circuit made up of

entirely resistive elements. An attenuator is a two port resistive network designed to weaken or
“attenuate” (hence their name) the power being supplied by a source to a level that is suitable
for the connected load.

Figure 13 : Voltage dividing rule circuit

𝑉𝑖𝑛 = 15V

We need the output voltage value doesn’t exceed 3.6V

𝑉𝑂𝑢𝑡 𝑅𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚
= … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … (7)
𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝑅𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚 + 𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑝

28
 3.6 𝑅𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚
= 0.24 =
15 𝑅𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚 + 𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑝

𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑝

𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 3.16𝑅𝑏𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑜𝑚

𝐿𝑒𝑡 𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 10K

𝑅𝑡𝑜𝑝 = 3.16 × 10𝐾 = 30 (𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦)

2.3.4 Design Relay Driver Circuit

Arduino microcontroller pins lack sufficient current to drive a relay. While the 30volts relay’s
coil needs around 16A to be energized, the current is obtained by the V/R expression. For
example, if the coil is 6VDC and the coil resistance is 500Ω, a minimum of 12mA (6V/500Ω
= 12mA) is need to energize the relay while the microcontroller’s pin can provide a maximum
of 1-2mA current, therefore field-effect transistors (MOSFET) used as relay driver which is
placed between the microcontroller and the relay as shown in figure 28

The MOSFET is used as the driver and the basic function of the driver circuit is to provide the
necessary current to energize the relay coil.

The driving circuit based on the Arduino output. The Arduino microcontroller have an output
of 0 or 5 volt through digital pin. This pin is directly feed to N-channel metal-oxide-
semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET).Relays are electromechanical devices that
use an electromagnet to operate a pair of movable contacts from an open position to a closed
position. The advantage of relays is that it takes a relatively small amount of power to operate
the relay coil, but the relay itself can be used to control motors, heaters, lamps or AC circuits
which themselves can draw a lot more electrical power.

The Electro-mechanical Relay is an output device (actuator) which come in a whole host of
shapes, sizes and designs, and have many uses and applications in electronic circuits. But while
electrical relays can be used to allow low power electronic or computer type circuits to switch
relatively high currents or voltages both “ON” and “OFF”, some form of relay switch circuit is
required to control it.

29
MOSFET relay switching operation is very similar to Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) switch
operation. However, there are some major differences in the operation of the MOSFET circuits
with the main ones being that MOSFETs are voltage operated devices, and as the Gate is
electrically isolated from the Drain-Source channel, they have very high input impedances so
the Gate current for a MOSFET is zero, therefore a base resistor is unnecessary.

MOSFETs conduct through a conductive channel with the channel initially being closed,
transistor “OFF”. This channel gradually increasing in conductive width as the voltage applied
to the Gate terminal is slowly increased. In other words, the transistor operates by enhancing
the channel as the Gate voltage increases and for this reason this type of MOSFET is called an
Enhancement MOSFET, or E-MOSFET.

N-channel Enhancement MOSFETs (NMOS) are the most commonly used type of MOSFET
as a positive voltage on the Gate terminal switches the MOSFET “ON” and zero or a negative
voltage on the Gate switches it “OFF”, making ideal as MOSFET relay switch. Complementary
P-channel Enhancement MOSFETs are also available which, like the PNP BJT work with
opposite voltages.

Figure 14 : N-channel MOSFET relay switch circuit

The above MOSFET relay switch circuit is connected in a common-source configuration. With
zero voltage input, LOW condition, the value of VGS, there is insufficient Gate drive to open

30
the channel and the transistor is “OFF”. But when VGS is increased above the MOSFETs lower
threshold voltage VT, the channel opens, current flows and the relay coil is operated.

Then the enhancement mode MOSFET operates as a normally open switch making it ideal for
switching small loads such as relays. E-type MOSFETs have high “OFF” resistance but
moderate “ON” resistance (OK for most applications), so when selecting one for a particular
switching application, its RDS value needs to be taken into consideration.

2.3.5 Temperature Sensing Unit

An analog temperature sensor is pretty easy to explain, it is a chip that tells you what the ambient
temperature is. These sensors use a solid-state technique to determine the temperature. That is
to say, they don't use mercury (like old thermometers), bimetallic strips (like in some home
thermometers or stoves), nor do they use thermistors (temperature sensitive resistors). Instead,
they use the fact as temperature increases, the voltage across a diode increases at a known rate.
(Technically, this is actually the voltage drop between the base and emitter - the Vbe - of a
transistor.) By precisely amplifying the voltage change, it is easy to generate an analog signal
that is directly proportional to temperature. There have been some improvements on the
technique but, essentially that is how temperature is measured.

Figure 15 : Temprature sensor circuit

Because these sensors have no moving parts, they are precise, never wear out, don't need
calibration, work under many environmental conditions, and are consistent between sensors
and readings. Moreover they are very inexpensive and quite easy to use.
31
2.3.6 Design Oil Level Circuit

Level sensors detect the level of oil. Oil level sensor is float type angular potentiometer. The
sensor is immersed in oil and its mechanical output is given to angular potentiometer. When
there is any mechanical movement of float, there is voltage generation corresponding to
mechanical movement of float. That voltage is used for oil level monitoring. The level
measurement can be either continuous or point values. Point-level sensors only indicate whether
the substance is above or below the sensing point. Generally the latter detect levels that are
excessively high or low. While we are design continuous level sensors measure level within a
specified range and determine the exact amount of oil in the transformer oil tank.

Figure 16: Oil level circuit

2.3.7 Design 12V DC Fan Circuit

We are design output conditional circuit based on the Arduino output. The Arduino
microcontroller have an output of 0 or 5 volt through digital pin. This pin is directly feed to N-
channel MOSFET.

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 Figure 17 : 12V DC Fan circuit

2.3.8 Design Power Supply Circuit

The power supply circuit design is one of the important parts of this project, without a power
supply the electronic devices such as microcontroller, relay, alarm, etc. display will not
function. Similarly a wrong power supply design will lead to the damaging of the electronic
devices used in this project.

The main power supplies needed for this project is 30VDC, +15VDC and -15VDC in order to
power on the relay and other electronic devices such as microcontroller and MOSFET VDD
etc. The design is done using a transformer, bridge rectifiers and filter capacitor. Figure 16
shows the sequential process of designing a constant DC power supply.

230 V, 50Hz Transformer Bridge

Rectifier Filter DC Output
Ac 20:1

Figure 18 : Power supply circuit simulation

In Figure 17 the input voltage is obtained the main 230VAC outlet and then connected to the
transformer. A step down transformer is used in stepping the 230VAC to a 24VAC .The 42VAC
serves as an input voltage to the bridge rectifier which is basically for diodes connected where
two diodes are in forward biased and the other two are in reversed biased for each half cycles.

33
The bridge rectifier is used in converting the 24VAC into a dc voltage. The filter capacitor
serves as a smoother to smooth the dc voltage from the bridge rectifier.

Figure 19 : Power supply circuit output waveforms

2.3.9 Internal Fault Sensing Circuit

The faults that occur within the transformer protection zone are internal faults. Transformer
internal faults can be divided into two classifications: internal short circuit faults and internal
incipient faults

The Hydran is an economical, yet powerful all-in-one transformer monitoring device that
allows utilities and other customers to deploy transformer monitoring to a large number of
transformers that will benefit from its advanced features. The Hydran with models is an early
warning device for detection of primary faults at transformers and other oil-filled equipment
with its on-line fault gas and moisture sensors. Additional analog and digital inputs allow the
monitoring of other important transformer variables. The new transformer models extend the
monitoring power and asset management capability of the Hydran , bringing more decision
power to operation and maintenance personnel.

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 Figure 20 : Hydran fault sensing circuit

The high sensitivity to hydrogen allows detection of minute change in the hydrogen gas
concentration. The carbon monoxide is also detected, with attenuation to 18% thus leading to a
value of the same order of magnitude as the typical hydrogen content. A composite value of the
two gasses, with additional traces of acetylene and ethylene, is provided and is known as the
"hydran reading". Accurate and dependable trending of the composite value of these gasses
provides a wide coverage over any type of fault developing in the transformer tank. This
technology does not require any consumable items such as helium gas, nor calibration gases for
normal operation.

The approach that hydran uses to measuring dissolved combustible gas is that transformer oil
passes through a membrane where H2, CO, C2H2, C2H4 permeate and the passed gases then
chemically “burn” in what is essentially a fuel cell to create an electric current. This current,
being proportional to the gas content of the oil, is then measured to give readings as a composite
value of gases in ppm.

Table 3: Gas detection sensitivity of hydran sensor

Key gas Fault type HYDRAN relative sensitivity

(% of concentration)
H2 Corona (Low energy discharge) 100
CO Overheating of Cellulose 18 ± 3
C2H2 Arcing (High energy discharge) 8±2
C2H4 Overheating of oil 1.5 ± 0.5

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Devices evolving from the Hydran technology are free of any moving part and connected to a
single valve thus providing easy installation and safe operating conditions. These devices
features automatic self-test process, twice per month, to track the operating performance of the
sensor. Most recent version also includes a moisture sensor allowing calculation of moisture
content in solid insulation.

Moreover this recent version also provides transformer Models allowing converting several
measured values into more valuable information such as:

Insulation hot-spot temperature calculated separately for each windings

Insulation aging considering the type of paper, moisture content and oil
preservation system
Moisture content in winding insulation in the hot-spot area
Threshold temperature for the release of bubbles from winding
overheating
Moisture content in insulating barriers at cool bottom oil temperature
Cooling system efficiency and compliance with rated values
Refined cooling system control based on load, top oil and winding
temperature
Tap changer overheating

2.3.10 Design PCB

Earlier, testing on bread board was done and the working process of the circuit was properly
tested, problems were troubleshot and rectified. After the bread board testing here comes the
PCB. Dip trace software was used to place the components, which are joined together with
multiple of tracks that gives out the physical and electrical connections. This software was used
due its neat layout and accurate PCB layout is always the main priority section of the design

36
 Figure 21 : PCB scheme

Figure 22 : Complete circuit PCB design

37
 Figure 23 : Complete circuit PCB design with component

The PCB layout schematics were printed on a transparent paper, where the layouts were printed
with a laser printer. Pressing iron was used to iron the transparent paper on the PCB board
systematically for about 10 minutes. The copper clads were allowed to cool off and the
transparent paper was removed from the PCB board to expose the transferred image. A
permanent marker was used to replace the missing tracks before etching. Etching chemical
(HCL acid) was poured into a squared shaped container and the PCB board was placed inside.
After that the board was cleaned with Tina chemical in order to remove the unwanted copper
and makes the board ready for drilling.

2.4 Software Design and Interface

The software design plays a very important role in the working of the entire system; the system
will not operate without the software. An algorithm needs to be developed to enable the AVR
controllers read the input and respond accordingly. The programming language selected for this
project is the C program. The C program will enable communication between the transformer,
microcontroller and PC with other different interfaces in the system. With the software
programed into it, microcontrollers acts as brain of the whole transformer protection and
transmit its parameters for monitoring and control. It will send the information to PC via serial
port.

38
The flow chart diagram developed will give an initial description of the system software. The
programs are divided into two parts which are main program and interrupt program. The
microcontroller will always loop the main program until an interrupt occurred. When the
controller receives an interrupt flag, then it will jump to interrupt the process.

2.4.1 HMI Design through LabVIEW Front Panel

HMI is a device for providing the means of controlling, monitoring, managing and visualizing
device processes. With controls and readouts graphically displayed on the screen, the operator
can use either external buttons or the touch screen to control the machinery. HMI can also be
defined as the interaction between a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) or SCADA system
and an operator. The interaction is presented by a screen with dynamic icons, figures and text.
An operator can monitor the production and control it to a certain level by the help of an HMI
panel or PC. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is
effective operation and control of the machine and feedback from the machine which aids the
operator in making operational decisions. The user interface includes hardware and software
components. For various systems and provide a means of input allowing the users to manipulate
a system, and output allowing the system to indicate the effects of the users' manipulation

Figure 24 : HMI system

LABVIEW Front Panel Graphical user interface (GUI) provides all the necessaries to design
the virtual front panel of an embedded device. It allows to simulate both software and hardware
that interact with the users. It enables to instantly test the designed GUI on computer and so
detect room for improvement before migration to the target device. The simulated objects that
reproduce the behaviour of real-environment objects interact with the user’s computer in two

39
ways: Output such as Light emitting diode (LEDs), graphical displays, and input such as
buttons, joystick, touch, haptic sensors, etc

Web based HMI for BiT distribution transformer condition monitoring and control system
using LabVIEW front panel were designed. The system is responsible to display real time
condition monitoring of the transformer parameter. It contain different pages.

Home page: - a home page is generally the first page that is used to facilitate navigating to the
transformer condition monitoring and control center and may also serve as a landing page to
attract the attention of visitors.

Figure 25 : Home page

Transformer Voltage and current status: - the real time voltage and current status are
presented here, such as numerical voltage and current value, real time voltage and current plot
and the present condition of voltage and current. Whenever the voltage and current greater than
the ratting value it display over voltage and over current. Whenever the voltage and current less
than the ratting value it display under voltage and under current.

Transformer Temperature and oil level: - the transformer temperature and oil level data is
acquired by the TEMP36 temperature sensor and oil level sensor respectively. User can get this

40
information in this page. The value of maximum temperature and the minimum oil level can be
set by the user.

Figure 26 : Transformer voltage ,current,temprture and oil level status page

Transformer chemistry:-this page is used to observe DGA for transformer condition

monitoring. It offer new insights into the use of DGA to identify and analyze quick developing
faults in power transformers. After watching this he should be able to:

Avoid misinterpretation of DGA data and making the wrong decision for
transformer maintenance
Avoid quick developing catastrophic transformer failure and resulting
supply disruption

41
 Figure 27 : Transformer chemistry status page

Transformer tab position: - on load tap changers are used to change the turn’s ratio without
disconnecting the load from it. Tap changing can be done even when the transformer is
delivering load. For this project automatic electrical tab changer transformer is developed. In
this page the transformer tab position and the line voltage is displayed for the operator. The
operator set the value of upper and lower line voltage for each tap position. In practical
distribution transformer 2.5 percentage difference have between two tap winding.

Figure 28 : Transformer tab position status page

42
Load rejection or disconnecting: - in electrical engineering, a disconnector, disconnect
switch or isolator switch is used to ensure that an electrical circuit is completely de-energised
for service or maintenance. Such switches are often found in electrical distribution
and industrial applications, where machinery must have its source of driving power removed
for adjustment or repair. High-voltage isolation switches are used in electrical distribution to
allow isolation load for maintenance. The disconnector is usually not intended for normal
control of the circuit, but only for safety isolation. Disconnector can be operated either manually
or automatically (motorized disconnector).but in this case computer based disconnector which
use can reject the load using this system.

Figure 29 : Load rejection or disconnector page

Help: - it is intended to provide the user with information and support related to the system and
services. Usually used to troubleshoot problems or provide guidance about products. The help
page gives an introductory part or a user manual how the use interact with the system.

43
 Figure 30 : Help front page

2.4.2 Database

A database is a data structure that stores organized information. Most databases contain multiple
tables, which may each include several different fields. For example, a company database may
include tables for products, employees, and financial records. Each of these tables would have
different fields that are relevant to the information stored in the table.

A database is an integrated collection of logically related records or files consolidated into a

common pool that provides data for one or more multiple uses. One way of classifying
databases involves the type of content, for example: bibliographic, full-text, numeric, and
image. Other classification methods start from examining database models or database
architectures. The data in a database is organized according to a database model. The relational
model is the most common.

A Database Management System (DBMS) consists of software that organizes the storage of
data. A DBMS controls the creation, maintenance, and use of the database storage structures of
organizations and of their end users. It allows organizations to place control of organization-
wide database development in the hands of Database Administrators (DBAs) and other

44
specialists. In large systems, a DBMS allows users and other software to store and retrieve data
in a structured way.

2.4.3 Report Generation

A report generator is a computer program whose purpose is to take data from a source such as
a database, spreadsheet, and use it to produce a document in a format which satisfies a particular
human readership. Report generation functionality is almost always present in database
systems, where the source of the data is the database itself. It can also be argued that report
generation is part of the purpose of a Spreadsheet. Standalone report generators may work with
multiple data sources and export reports to different document formats.

Information Systems theory specifies that information delivered to a target human reader must
be Timely, Accurate and Relevant. Report generation software targets the final requirement by
making sure that the information delivered is presented in the way most readily understood by
the target reader.

2.4.4 LabVIEW Report Generation Toolkit

National Instruments provides a few options for generating reports. Each method has its
advantages and disadvantages and understanding these is critical for choosing the right method
for our application.

The LabVIEW Report Generation Toolkit for Microsoft Office is a library of flexible, easy-to-
use VIs for programmatically creating and editing Microsoft Word and Excel reports from
LabVIEW. Whether you need to generate reports summarizing manufacturing test results or
compile process statistics to improve your production yields, the LabVIEW Report Generation
Toolkit speeds development of customized, professional reports. This system can create custom
reports in even less time using the new Microsoft Office Report Express VI.

2.4.5 System Viewing and Controlling Remotely with the Web Server

The embedded option embeds the front panel of the VI so clients can view and control the front
panel remotely using a browser. The VI must be in memory on the server computer so clients
can view and control the front panel. With LabVIEW, we can operate our front panel on a
machine that is separate from where the VI resides and executes. Furthermore, we can embed
the front panel into a web page and operate it within that page. All that is required on the client

45
machine for executing in a web page is a browser and the LabVIEW run-time engine and
browser plug-in.

Figure 31 : Viewing and controlling front panels remotely with the web server

2.4.6 Access Control System Operation

An access control system determines who is allowed to enter or exit, where they are allowed to
exit or enter, and when they are allowed to enter or exit. Passwords are a common means of
verifying a user's identity before access is given to information systems. For viewing and
controlling purpose the system provides three levels of privilege security.

 Administrator
 Supervisor and
 Operator.

Administrator
A system administrator (sometimes abbreviated as sysadmin) is a person who is responsible for
managing a multi-user computing environment. Any person in this level can do anything the
system can perform and also possible to edit the software programing part. The administrator

 Have the right to access the data from the sensor measurement either stored data or
live data

46
  Have the right to control the system up to transformer rejection. The administrator
have the controlling centre password and phone number that mounted to reject the
system.
 Have the right to edit the software for more application. The administrator have the
password to login software edited part (system block diagram window)..

Figure 32 : Administrator password dialog box

Supervisor

The definition of a supervisor is a person who is in charge of overseeing and directing a project
or people. Supervisors should tend to visualize problems and opportunities in terms of their
particular areas of concentration.

In our control system hierarchy Supervisor is the level below the administrator any person in
this level can take action if the condition of the transformer is not well. The control unit is
accessible only for the supervisor. The password to login control centre is known for the
supervisor only. The supervisor can view the overall system. The only limitation of the
supervisor is that it can’t edit or update the software.

47
 Figure 33 : Supervisor password dialog box

Operator
Operator is traditionally an employee in a manufacturing or production facility who runs
machine tools and equipment. In our system operators can run the software and access the
condition of the transformer at any time. If there is a problem in the system they ready
themselves for maintenance and using their monitoring authority right they can easily predict
the fault or the problem. Any operator have a login password and username to access the
monitoring centre.

Figure 34 : Operator password login

48
2.4.7 Hardware Interfacing

2.4.7.1 Interfacing Arduino Microcontroller Board with LabVIEW

Arduino microcontroller is interfaced to the computer using USB port through serial
communication. The serial data sends from the microcontroller is then fed to the PC through
USB port for monitoring purpose. NI LabVIEW is a graphical programming environment used
by millions of engineers and scientists to develop sophisticated measurement, test, and control
systems using intuitive graphical icons and wires that resemble a flowchart. Through the NI
LabVIEW Interface for Arduino Toolkit, you can now leverage all of the benefits of NI
LabVIEW graphical programming for your Arduino projects. The LIFA (LabVIEW Interface
for Arduino) toolkit is a free download which allows a LabVIEW developer to easily get data
to and from the ever-popular Arduino microcontroller. The basic architecture behind it is that
there is an I/O engine programmed to the Arduino which waits for serial commands from
LabVIEW and responds with the requested data or action.

2.5 Flow chart of the entire system

The flowchart gives a diagram representation of the program algorithm. The system flowchart
is designed as shown below:

Figure 35: Flowchart description entire of the system

49
The flowchart above shows the initial description of the system program code. The first thing
the program will do is to initialize and read the ADC, then sends the transformer parameters
which are fed to the ADC to the personal computer system using the microcontroller Write
command, then to the LCD display. The microcontroller ADC will continuously capturing the
transformer parameters, as soon as the transformer secondary current is greater than 1A, it sends
a trip signal to the overcurrent relay, and it cuts off the load that leads to the overcurrent, thereby
protecting the transformer from burning. Same process goes to the over voltage protection, it
will check whether the transformer input voltage is greater than 230Vac, if so, it sends a trip
signal to overvoltage relay, thereby protecting the transformer.

50
 Chapter 3

Results and Discussions

Simulation software is based on the process of modelling a real phenomenon with a set of
mathematical formulas. It is, essentially, a program that allows the user to observe an operation
through simulation without actually performing that operation. In this project, distribution
transformer monitoring and control protection using a microcontroller is proposed. For
transformer voltage and current sensing, a current sensing circuit and voltage sensing circuits
were designed and the results have been verified with proteus simulation. Hardware with an
Arduino mega microcontroller based on ATmega2560 was implemented to verify the proposed
technique and the performance of the real time hardware was compared with the proteus
computer simulation.

Through the transformer current analysis the current of the transformer rises as load increases,
whenever the load current goes above the transformer rated current, the microcontroller detects
an overcurrent and it sends a trip signal to over current relay thereby protecting the transformer
from burning. As the load current goes below the rated current of the transformer, the
microcontroller detects normal there by sending an on signal to the overcurrent relay.

Moreover, through the transformer voltage analysis the voltage of the transformer rises above
the rated value automatic tab changer regulate the voltage to its normal value we are using this
in our prototype using potentiometer. For the same manner the temperature, incipient fault, and
the oil level of the transformer can view and control the front panel remotely using a browser

3.1.2 Proteus VSM

We simulate the prototype in Proteus. Proteus Virtual System Modelling (VSM) combines
mixed mode SPICE circuit simulation, animated components and microprocessor models to
facilitate co-simulation of complete microcontroller based designs. For the first time ever, we
develop and test such designs before a physical prototype is constructed.

Proteus VSM uses our proven Schematic Capture software to provide the environment for
design entry and development. Proteus capture is a long established product and combines ease
of use with powerful editing tools. It is capable of supporting schematic capture for both
simulation and PCB design. Designs entered in to Proteus VSM for testing can be net listed for

51
PCB layout either with our own PCB Design products or with third party PCB layout tools. The
Proteus schematic capture module also provides a very high degree of control over the drawing
appearance, in terms of line widths, fill styles, fonts, etc. These capabilities are used to the full
in providing the graphics necessary for circuit animation.

Proteus VSM for Atmega16 encloses everything necessary to develop; test and almost model
the embedded system designs based around the AVR Atmega16 microcontrollers. With the
exclusive feature of the Proteus simulation software, it helps in easy development of both the
system hardware and software. The Proteus design enables us to progress in our project more
rapid, giving us the ability to make hardware or software changes which reduces hardware and
software troubleshooting problems.

The project was built and tested in Proteus just by using the software prototype components
without using the physical hardware prototype. Therefore using Proteus software, the voltage
sensing circuit, current sensing circuit, temperature sensor, relays, LED’s, LCD display and
serial communication were all developed and tested as shown figure 4.7.

3.2.1. Schematic Diagram

As designed in chapter 2, the circuit section consists of Arduino mega microcontroller based
on ATmega2560, step down transformer circuit for voltage sensing, current sensing circuit,
relay circuits, a temperature sensor and oil sensor.

The step down transformer used is a 230VAC to 12VAC transformer and is used for the purpose
of sensing the output voltage of distribution transformer with. The step down transformer output
been rectified and filtered to a pure dc which goes directly to microcontroller analog pin for
monitoring the load voltage. For the purpose of current sensing, a current transformer was used
for that purpose. It pass through rectification and filtering process then directly connected to
the microcontroller analog pin for monitoring the load current. The transformer temperature
sensor is used to sense the transformer body temperature and the oil level sensor is measure the
level of the oil and the sensor output pass through the conditional circuit which goes directly to
microcontroller

The microcontrollers send the monitored parameters to a personal computer. The transmission
to personal computer was made possible by interfacing the microcontroller with the computer
USB port serial communication. USB port supports both synchronous and asynchronous

52
transmission and its user data is send as a time series of bits. While monitoring the parameters,
whenever a fault occurs which might be high voltage or over current, the microcontroller sends
a trip signal to the relay and thereby protecting the transformer from burning.

53
 LCD1
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54
3.2.2 Project Prototype

As seen in figure 37 the system prototype has been developed with all the features of a
microcontroller based distribution transformer condition monitoring and control system as
named to be the project title. The loads are connected to the transformer secondary, and a
current sensor is connected in series with load for real time current monitoring. Based on the
real time current monitored values, the microcontroller takes decision over the relay whether
to cut off or not. The step transformer connected to the load voltage is used for high voltage
monitoring, based on the monitored voltage values; the microcontroller takes decision over the
relay. The Arduino mega microcontroller board contains all the sub circuits or conditional
circuit on-board including lamp for indication and finally transformer parameters transmitting
through serial USB port to PC.

Figure 37 : Project prototype

It can be seen from the prototype developed that all the features of a microcontroller based
transformer condition monitoring and controlling were provided and well defined. The input

55
AC voltage was given through the autotransformer, the loads were connected at the output of
the transformer and the transformer parameters are monitored in personal computer.

Finally, the Proteus simulation software made it easy to test, and troubleshoot the hardware and
the program which saved much of the time and reduced cost of the project. Therefore, it can be
concluded that the hardware and software implementation were positively achieved.

56
 Chapter 4

Conclusion and Recommendations

4.1 Conclusion

Distribution transformers are one of the most important equipment in power network. Because
of, the large number of transformers distributed over a wide area in power electric systems, the
data acquisition and condition monitoring is an important issue to control or protect the
transformer from failure.
Distribution transformer installed in BIT are dispersed each other and have no any CMC system
at all. Having this in mind CMC system was design. Arduino microcontroller is interfaced to
the computer using USB port through serial communication. The serial data sends from the
microcontroller is then fed to the PC through USB port to display for the user. The system is
achieves numerous advantages over the existing systems in fast response, better isolation, and
accurate detection of the fault.

The embedded option embeds the front panel of the VI so clients can view and control the front
panel remotely using a browser. The VI must be in memory on the server computer so clients
can view and control HMI through web server. Report generation software targets the final
requirement by making sure that the information delivered is presented in the way most readily
understood by the target reader. Data Acquisition and Storage was developed by interfacing
Arduino mega microcontroller and LabVIEW software.

Output and input circuit for current transformer, voltage transformer, temperature sensor, oil
level sensor, incipient fault sensor and printed circuit board (PCB) layout were designed.
Hardware prototype to monitor and diagnose condition of BIT distribution transformers were
implemented , by record key operation indictors of a distribution transformer like load currents,
transformer oil level, internal fault ambient temperatures and voltage of three phases.

Finally, the practical results matched with the simulation perfectly, therefore the aim and
objectives of the project were all achieved successfully and project is said to be industrious and
fully automated with no manual interface required.

57
4.2 Recommendations

Any work and investigation on transformer protection is very advantageous and challenging.
Based on the present time, it can be observed that the world’s population is increasing rapidly.
Therefore demands on electricity will be high and these will lead to demands of highly
sophisticated protection devices, which will be incorporated in transformer protection schemes.

Based on the work done in this project which protecting transformer using microcontroller,
some improvements need to be made in the future work. It was noticed that use of current sensor
prevent the protection from high performance application because the CT designed locally
needs some amount of time to sense the load current and transfer the signal to the
microcontroller ADC. Correspondingly, a real current transformer can be used instead CT
designed by us , switching semiconductor device such as thyristor can be used instead of relay,
highly advanced microcontroller such as 16bit PIC microcontroller or a digital signal processor
can be used for high speed analogue to digital (ADC) conversion of the transformer voltage and
current.

Finally this project is the introductory part of designing SCADA system for electrical power
system.so it is not done this much further now when we compare with the future work which
has been include in this project. In future research, an integrated monitoring system which has
been designed will be applied directly to the electrical distribution transformer. In this way,
some weaknesses that still exist can be improved. Finally the next batch student also participate
in this project to overcome the goal this project.

58
Reference

[1] Han Y. & Y. H. Song , Condition Monitoring Techniques for Electrical Equipment
Literature Survey. (2003), IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery 18:1, 4-13.

[2] Abniki Hassan, H. Afsharirad, A. Mohseni, F. Khoshkhati, H. Monsef, & Sahmsi Pou-rya .
Effective On-line Parameters for Transformer Monitoring and Protec-tion. North American
Power Symposium (NAPS), 2010. IEEE. Teheran.

[3] Tang W.H., Hu Wen, Condition monitoring and assessment of power transformers using
computational intelligence. 2011 ,London. ISBN 978-0857290519.

[4] T. D. Poyser, "An On-Line Microprocessor Based Transformer Analysis System to

Improve the Availability and Uti'lization of Power Transformers". IEEE Trans. On Power
Apparatus and Systems, Volume PAS-102, April 1983, pp.957-962.

[5] Muhammad Ali Mazidi , Janice Gillispie Mazidi, Rolin D.Mckinlay, The 8051
Microcontroller And Embedded Systems Using Assembly And C,Second Edition, Pearson
Education, 2008, India.

[6] Microcontroller ATmega 16; www.atmel.com/Images/doc2466.pdf.

[7] Constantin Daniel Oancea,” GSM Infrastructure Used for Data Transmission”,

7th International Symposium on Advanced Topics in Electrical Engineering (ATEE), 2011

May 12-14, Page(s): 1 – 4.

[8] Abdul-Rahman AI-Ali, Abdul Khaliq & Muhammad Arshad,” GSM-Based Distribution
Transformer Monitoring System”, IEEE MELECON 2004, May 12-15,2004, Vol 3 Pages-999-
1002, Croatia

[9] Lei fried, T, “Online monitors keep transformers in service”, Computer Applications in
Power, IEEE, Volume:11 Issue: 3 , July 1998 Page(s):36 -42.

[11] Par S. Tenbohlen,T. Stirl, M. Rösner,” Benefit of sensors for on-line monitoring systems
for power transformers”

59
Appendix A

Table 4 : VT conditional circuit diagram root sheet

Table 5: Oil level sensor conditional circuit diagram root sheet

Table 6: N-channel MOSFET relay switch circuit root sheet

60
Table 7: Physical partlist View

61
62
Appendix B

Figure 38: Output voltage vs. Temprature

How to Measure Temperature

Using the TMP36 is easy, simply connect the left pin to power (2.7-5.5V) and the right pin to
ground. Then the middle pin will have an analog voltage that is directly proportional (linear) to
the temperature. The analog voltage is independent of the power supply.

To convert the voltage to temperature, simply use the basic formula:

[ (𝑉𝑜 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑉) − 500]

Temp in °C = … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … (7)
10

So for example, if the voltage out is 1V that means that the temperature

1000 𝑚𝑉) − 500]

Temp in °C = = 50 °C
10

63