From 11th to 13th May 2011 VI International Scientific and Technical Conference “Transformers in Operation” was held in Kolobrzeg (Poland). Hotel AQUARIUS SPA was the conference venue and the accommodation of the participants. The organizers of the conference were the following companies: ENERGO-COMPLEX and Maschinenfabrik REINHAUSEN. The conference was under the scientific patronage of Technical University of Opole.
170 participants took part in the session. There were mostly people responsible for the exploitation of electric power devices representing national and international companies as well as the representatives of the scientific environment.
The subject matter of the conference was established on the basis of the suggestions of the participants from the previous conferences and the proposals connected with the necessity of inclusion in the conference proceedings of the fact of the interrelationship of many issues from the field of electric power devices exploitation. That is why it went beyond the transformer subject and it embraced the issues from broadly defined electric power devices diagnostics. It concerned mainly the topics related to the possibility of the devices technical state assessment during their regular functioning.
There were 6 topical sections at the conference and 34 papers were delivered. The debates concerned the following topics:
- “The use of acoustic emission in diagnostics”
- “Transformer exploitation”
- “Innovations in transformer exploitation”
- “Diagnostics of mechanical state of active transformer part “
- “New methods of transformer capacity insulator diagnostics”
- “Technical state assessment of transformer insulation “
Plenty of prominent specialists created the area of mutual exchange of experience within the European and world trends in the technical state diagnostics of the electric power devices.
Scientific Committee watched over the preparation of papers and the course of discussion during the conference. It included the following members:
- Prof. Ryszard Malewski PhD. (chairman)
- Prof. Bolesław Mazurek PhD. Eng. (IEL O/Wroclaw)
- Prof. Hanna Mościcka-Grzesiak PhD. Eng. (Poznań University of Technology)
- Prof. Jerzy Skubis PhD. Eng. (Opole University of Technology)
- Prof. Tadeusz Skubis PhD. Eng. (Silesian University of Technology)
- Prof. WPUT Jan Subocz PhD. Eng. (West Pomeranian University of Technology)
- Prof. LUT Paweł Żukowski PhD. Eng. (Lublin University of Technology)
- Władysław Pewca PhD. Eng.
The conference was also patronized by Honor Committee with many prominent specialists from the world of transformer technology: Johannes Gebauer and Harald Rotter (REINHAUSEN), Rafał Pająk (NYNAS), Mikhail Jarmarkin (Petersburg Electric Power Institute) as well as Helena and Jerzy Słowikowski.
Along with the conference there was an exhibition of the latest technical achievements of electric power companies. Such companies as: PFISTERER , BEZPOL from Myszków, SERGI FRANCE, MESSKO, REINHAUSEN, NYNAS, ORGREZ, ENERTEST, POLTRADE presented their advertising stands. During the intervals between the sessions the conference participants had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the offers of these companies. There were also a lot of heated conversations and opinion exchange behind the scenes.
It is also worth mentioning that the organizers prepared many other attractions apart from the basic program. One of them was the cooking demonstration of Karol Okrasa famous from TV shows. You could not only verify your cooking skills there, but also taste the spirit of competition: 10 teams were fighting by preparing special dumplings filled with cheese or meat.
As man cannot live by bread alone, there was also a special performance during the conference. The concert of the Polish stage legend Józef Skrzek took place at the concert hall in Regional Culture Centre in Kołobrzeg. The performance was entitled: TIME. It was possible not only to listen to music there, but also to see it thanks to the visualization projected on the big screen.
Before the performance there was the ceremony of presenting the “Anioł” award for people and institutions who contributed hugely to ENERGO-COMPLEX company development. This time it was given to Johannes Gebauer, the representative of Maschinenfabrik REINHAUSEN by chairman of the board Marek Szrot.
To sum up, it might be said that the issues connected with new advanced diagnostics methods and energy transformers exploitation systems were dominant at the conference.
Among the first issues the use of the theory of acoustic signals generation in vibroacoustic vibration measurements analysis of transformer construction is worth mentioning. It seems that presented works from West Pomeranian University of Technology and Opole University of Technology opened new possibilities in that area, particularly because the suggested method does not require to cut off a transformer.
Traditionally, the subject of wet transformer paper-oil insulation was broadly discussed. It might seem that it is difficult to find new solutions or ideas in this research area as it has been discussed for many years. Yet the possibility of sediment identification on the winding with the analysis of relaxation processes and conductivity presented by ENERGO-COMPLEX and WPUT is undoubtedly an interesting new idea for renovation and exploitation practice as well as the lowest temperature of bubbling effect (920C) given by the representatives of Poznań University of Technology.
A new subject matter particularly apparent at the conference was advanced diagnostics methods of insulation transformer bushing. It complies with the worldwide trend in HV devices diagnostics, it is also a response to the growing demand for exploitation services in this field. New non-standard approach to technical state assessment of OIP and RIP transformer bushing was presented among others in the article concerning their thermal model which might be the foundation of new diagnostics technology making use of numerical analysis of thermovisual measurements. What is more, very interesting articles concerning exploitation, network and equipment problems were delivered at the conference. It is worth marking that they were mostly prepared by the engineers dealing with direct transformer exploitation.
Generally, it could have been noticed that new more advanced diagnostics technologies require deepened knowledge of such areas as dielectric physics, vibration and acoustic signals theory as well as good skills in the field of mathematical analysis and computer science. It is undoubtedly a trend which is going to be continued in the future resulting in the replacement of simple measurements and diagnoses with the broad analysis of physical phenomena with the use of computer science and mathematical methods. This process poses a big challenge for engineers and exploitation services due to the need of both complete understanding of new methods’ theoretical basis and reasonable choice of the diagnostics technologies offered by various suppliers.
VI International Conference has finished but the memories connected with it will remain for a long time…
