Journal of Nanotechnology
Volume 2016, Article ID 5802753, 6 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2016/5802753
Preparation of Three Types of Transformer Oil-Based Nanofluids and Comparative Study on the Effect of Nanoparticle Concentrations on Insulating Property of Transformer Oil
1Beijing Key Laboratory of High Voltage & EMC, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China
2School of Energy, Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, China
Received 21 August 2015; Revised 26 November 2015; Accepted 30 November 2015
Academic Editor: Jorge M. Seminario
Copyright © 2016 Qi Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Nanofluids have the potential to become the alternatives of conventional transformer oil for their exquisite electrical and thermal properties. Three kinds of nanoparticles with distinct conductivities, namely, nonconductive nanoparticle Al2O3, conductive nanoparticle Fe3O4, and semiconductive nanoparticle TiO2, with different concentrations from 5% to 40% w/v were selected and suspended into transformer oil to develop nanofluids. The lightening impulse breakdown strengths of the oil samples with and without nanoparticles were measured according to IEC standard methods. The positive impulse breakdown strength indicated that breakdown strength is first increased up to the maximum value at certain concentration and then starts decreasing. The results of negative impulse breakdown manifested that the breakdown voltages of nanofluids with different concentrations were less than the breakdown voltage of pure transformer oil. Different effect mechanisms of dielectric and conductive nanoparticles were also used to describe the difference among three prepared nanofluids.