Oil
Large power transformers are filled with oil that cools and insulates the transformer windings. Mineral oil is the most common type in outdoor transformers; fire-resistant fluids also used include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)s and and silicone.
The insulating liquid is in contact with the internal components. Gases formed by normal and abnormal events within the transformer are dissolved in the oil. By analyzing the volume, types, proportions, and rate of production of dissolved gases, much diagnostic information can be gathered. Since these gases can reveal the faults of a transformer, they are known as "fault gases". Gases are produced by oxidation, vaporization, insulation decomposition, oil breakdown and electrolytic action.
Read more about this topic: Dissolved Gas Analysis
Famous quotes containing the word oil:
“I bade, because the wick and oil are spent
And frozen are the channels of the blood....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Can he who has discovered only some of the values of whalebone and whale oil be said to have discovered the true use of the whale?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“As artists they’re rot, but as providers they’re oil wells; they gush. Norris said she never wrote a story unless it was fun to do. I understand Ferber whistles at her typewriter. And there was that poor sucker Flaubert rolling around on his floor for three days looking for the right word.”
—Dorothy Parker (1893–1967)