Table Of ContentA Guide To
Transformer Maintenance
A Guide To
fc Transformer Maintenance
By
S. D. Myers
J. J. Kelly
R. H. Parrish
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[ TMI
Transformer Maintenance Institute,
Division, S. D. Myers, Inc.
Akron, Ohio
Acts 4:12
Copyright® 1981 by Transformer Maintenance Institute, Division of
S.D. Myers, Inc. All rights reserved. This book, or any parts thereof,
may not be reproduced in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
Photocopying and recording, without written permission of the
publishers, S.D. Myers, ine,
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: @1-50169.
(SBN 0-939320-00-2
‘Second Printing, 1988
Printed in the United States of America
t
FOREWORS
Transformer Maintenanca Institute's new book A Gritty $a
Transformer Maintendnce does a superior job on filing a long
existing need for the transfarniar owner and operaiay, This
book is of major importance when one considers such things
as the present and future cost of replacing apparatus, the ris
ing cost of transformer oil, and the comptex problems
associated with existing askarel (PCB) transformers.
Tomy knowledge onty one other book, F.M. Clark's Insulating
Materials for Design and Engineering Practice, published in
1962, has covered part of this area of concern. Much that was
written then is now out of date.
AS a Consultant to TMI, | have spent much time over a period
of months on thia project in reviewing the materials, editing
and offering suggestions. The matarial reads easily: he book
is written in language thet can be both understood by non-
electrical oriented personnel and yet technical enough ta In-
terest the electrical engineer in charge of transformers.
‘The bottom line today is saving monay and Preventing power
‘outages, thus, preventing loss of service or production. A
Guide to Transtormer Maintenance is a must for tho
transtormer owner/operator.
Edward L. Raab
Credentials of E.L. Raab
Currently, E.L. Raab is a consultant on tiquid and solid insulatlons for power
transformers, He is a fellow of American Society for Testing and Materials: a
member of D-27 Committee on Electrical insulation Liquide and Gasag and its
Past chairman: member 0-9 Committes on Satid Insulating Materials; senior
member of American Chornical Society and institute of Elacirical and Clee.
fronies Engineers; past chairman of the insulating Flulds Subcommittee of the
Transformers Committee; past chief U.S. delegate to International Eleo.
trotechnical Commission Committee 10.0n liquids and gases; past chairman oF
National Electrical Manufacturers Association Technical Olf Committee and
American National Standards institute 0-107 on askarels, and so on.
Nr. Raab worked for the General Electric Company, Pittsfield, Mass., frover
40 years on research, development and application of liquid and solid in.
sulations for transformers; first, as a development chemist and eventually as
manager of the materiais laboratory. Ed Reab, a graduate of Wesleyan Univer,
sity with aBAand MA In chemistry, hasthus become a recognized authority. as
he fas authored mors than 50 technical articles concerning insulating
materials; especially liquid insuiations.
PREFACE
save written this book for the simple reason that in their
The authors Neve for auch a book as this, there was nana tobe found.
tong, ong oy cid (ind wasa wealth of information fromhere and there,
But wnat echnical presentations or dissertatione on various and
buried Uy pjects, As early a5 1960, Stantey D. Myers, a graduate Elec-
related seineer tram the Class of 1644, University of Akron (Ohio),
trea ejooumulating this information in his files. Because the Feld of
ener fing and maintaining existing electrical equipment was of
precial interest to Mr. Myers, he became very active in soliciting infor-
Spe ron {rom all sources. Many of the articles that aren his possession
crave from unknown sources, with this simple notation—"Stan, i think
you wil be interested in thio article.”
‘Once Mr. Myers started his own business, the only clear vision he had
was to clean transformer oil which had badly deteriorated, and to do
this work while the transformer was energized.
But as time progressed it became apparent that while cleaning
transformer oll was a gcod thing to do, there were belter things to da.
What were the better things? Why, cleaning from the transformer the
oil decay products that saturated the paper insulation, as well as the
sludges that were deposited throughout the transformer. A dirty
transformer with clean oll (by elther the oil reclamation process or oil
teplacament) remains an economic liability.
Mr. Myers worked out the procedures required to desludge energized
transformers and over a period of 12 years has had the opportunity of
witnessing the effectiveness of this new concept.
The one thing that continues to amaze the authors is the unending
revelation of new Information coming to thelr attention as they con-
tinue their study Into this subjact, Just about the tima they feel there
are ne new horizons, another appears.
Mr. Myers, recognizing this fact, established the TMI (Transformer
Maintenance (nstitute) division of S. D. Myers, inc., to continue the ax-
ploration of this subject. TMI® is advertised as. “The world’s
only: learning and training center for in-service transformers.” TMI has
been holding seminars since 1975, both in its Akron, Ohio facilities anc
in various parts of the U.S.A. The comment of one of those attending a
seminar was: “You ows it to industry to get this information out te them
as fast as possible.”
Ergo, The Book.
Individual contributions to this endeavor by the three stated authors
should be recognized.
Stantey D, Myers, E.E.
Mr. Myers is an entreprengur in the classic definition. of the term.
Although he has @ degree in electricat engineering, he is really a
salesman at heart. Any good salesman has in him a “teacher
complex''—that is, he loves to research a ‘subject, learn the obvious,-
and seek out the unknown factors required to master the subject. He
recognized the difference between a good teacher and a good
salesman is that the salesman asks for an order. He also has recogniz-
ed that while an academic grasp of a subject is desirable, the practical
application of the subject remains the.ultimate goal. Where achemist
would recognize a concept, Stan visualized a service ora business op-
portunity, Therefore, throughout this book: you will find the basic con-
cepts of transformer maintenance as established by Mr. Myers in his
‘own company: They appear as engineering and chemlcai concepis:as
raterenced in the selected bibliography. Thisin turn tormsonly asmall
part of TMI's reference library.
‘Some of the “firsts” established by S. D. Myers, Inc., most of which did
not meet with ready acceptance, but have now become the standards
of the industry, are:
Establishment of the first service in the USA of testing of.
transformer oils at the job site, with a MTL@—Mobile Test.
Laboratory—(see Chapter 9, Part 1).
proper clasaltication of transtormer oil using ACID and IFT
fest results and M.LN, number (Myers Index Number ™ or olt
quality index number—see Chapter 3; Part 2).
Establishment of the concept of transformer core and coil
Gleaning using SLUDGPURG® procedures (seo
Chapter 7, Part3).
In conjunciien with the MTL program, establishment of a
rigorous 3 months’ training program to put qualified men in
the customer's plant to not only conduct the tests properly,
but to spend whatever time is required to explain all the test
procadures. In addition, and this was a big plus, to interpret
the test results so that the customer could understand what all
of those “funny numbers” mean.
The establishment of a training and resource institute to
speek specifically to the maintenance of
transformers. To understand the boldness and courage of this
move you need to understand the philosophy that existed in
industry and utilities at the time this step was taken. The
prevailing concept, heard hundreds—no thousands of times,
as spoken by knowledgeable and influential people,
was—"We haven't even bought a barrel of transformer oil in
the past 20 years—why should we be concerned abaut our
transformers? They just keep working away and {'m just go-
ing to let them alone.” To undertake and underwrite the ex-
pense of setting upa training institute, to research thousands
of articles, to find authoritative information, and to educate
industry and utilities required a vision,
Mr. Myers has been extremely fortunate in pulling together @ team of
men who have a technical background to understand: the con-
cepts—and enough native curiosity to say, “I'm not willing to accept all
of those ideas just because Mr. Myers says it; l'want to know for
myself.” Using the resource materials already gathered by Mr, Myers,
reading “The Consultors” that Stan had already written to promote tha
concept, the search began. These men exhausted all of the resources
fortechnical information, employed a library research team tofind ad-
ditional materials, joined and became active in such societies as IEEE,
ASTM, Doble Engineering Glient Committees, ANS!, AAAS and
others, called outside consultants from different parts ol the country,
and thus left no stone unturned:
Joseph J. Kelly
Mr. Kelly, Director. of TMI, is a graduate of John Carroll University,
Cleveland, Ohio. He is an active member of the Institute of Electrical
and Electronics Engineers (IEEE),. Power Engineering (PES), In-
dustrial Applications (JAS), and Electrical Insulation Societies (EIS).
He is also an active member of the American Society of Testing and
Materials (ASTM):
vos joined S.0. Myers, Inc., In 1972 after 13 years' experience in the
chemical research center of a major rubber firm in Akron, Ohio.
Training in chemistry has glvery Mr. Kelly a different perspective of a
transformer than the engineer. His conviction that a transformer can,
be defined as a chemical reactor that just happens to transform atac-
tricity is very evident throughout the book.
Alter having spent a couple of years in an intensive lterature search he
had the opportunity of studying In detail the engineering reports of
over 100,000 transtormers, Diagnosi ing the prablemareas, making cor-
fective recommendations, and reviewing the results after the corrac-
tive action was completed has mada Mr. Kelly an expert in his field,
Mr. Kelly has both’ written and’ presented papers tor Plant
Engineering®, Transactions of IEEE industrial Applications Society»
Doble Engiriéering Cilent Conferences; as well as biennial
(EEE/NEMA Electrical/Electronics insulation Conferences (E/EIC).
