Transformer Services solutions

Towards condition-based maintenance

Power transformers are becoming older and older and it is not uncommon to see a service life of more than 50 years. Operators also have new challenges to face, such as higher and fluctuating transformer loads from renewable energies, higher probabilities of equipment failure and a lack of information about the condition of transformers. While transformer assessments used to be based primarily on age alone (a time-based maintenance philosophy), the current trend is towards condition-based maintenance. But this requires detailed knowledge of the condition of transformers and their components, and therefore the availability of an extensive database for a correct interpretation of the information.

MR has been working with their partners on the development of the right tools and services in order to respond to operators’ need for effective transformer asset management. Through this development they have completed the portfolio of asset management solutions. The portfolio is quite comprehensive, and it covers four groups of solutions. Two of these groups, technical service and modernisation, are a conventional or standard part of the portfolio that MR has already been offering for many years. As a result of the continuous development, the portfolio has been extended to other two fields: diagnostics and consulting.

Technical service

Installation and commissioning

Technical service includes activities such as installation and commissioning of the whole transformer, and tasks and activities belonging to this field. There are some regions where MR is particularly strong offering these services, such as South Africa and America.

Maintenance of OLTCs

Then, there is also MR’s core competence – maintenance of on-load tap-changers. There are many different types of tap-changers used in the field, and they need to be maintained. There are very clear requirements when the maintenance of OLTC should be done. Sometimes, the criterion is the number of switching operations; sometimes it‘s the service time, and depending on the type of the tap-changer, they should be maintained when the criteria have been fulfilled. Maintenance also requires conducting different diagnostic tests and analyses, which MR is naturally able to do.