Identifying the Breakdown Voltages of Vegetable Oils with Silicone Carbide Nanoparticle Additive as Insulating Oil for Transformers

Abstract

This paper discusses on the breakdown voltage of vegetable oils with nanoparticles added to be used as insulating oil for transformers. Raw samples of Palm Oil (PO) and Coconut Oil (CO) were used in this research. Different percentages of silicone carbide (SiC) nanoparticles was added into the samples of the vegetable oils. The different parameters of the vegetable oil mixtures were investigated through the breakdown voltage tests to analyse the effect of the additive on the dielectric strength of the oils. The performance of insulating oils varies according to the percentage of nanoparticles added through viscosity test and partial discharge (PD) measurement. The initial results for vegetable oils showed that the percentage of additives influenced the value of breakdown voltage of the oils highly. Furthermore, the result shows that PD measured became very low after the addition of silicone carbide nanoparticles.