Oil offers advantages over water-based fluids in transformers via its large temperature range and electrical insulating properties. Appropriate thermal conductivity of the transformer oil is necessary to prevent failures during instantaneous overload.
Water, ethylene glycol, and mineral oil are popular heat transfer materials in engines, nuclear systems, energy production and supply, as well as many other fields. For this reason the three heat transfer fluids used in this study include distilled water, ethylene glycol from Evans Cooling Systems and Luminol TR-1 transformer oil from Petro-Canada.
The TCi’s small volume test kit (left) was utilized to test the liquid samples. Convection effects are minimized with a required sample volume of 1.25 ml per test. Test results over a temperature range of -25°C to 100°C are displayed below. Experimental data was found to compare within 1.85% accuracy of the comparable calculated book values.