Oil-Filled Power Bushing Bellow Pressure Compensation

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Standard oil-filled power bushings experience gas bubble formation due to thermal changes, leading to partial discharges and accelerated aging, and existing solutions like movable pistons and sealed bellows face issues with tightness, friction, and overpressure, compromising the integrity of the bushing.

Innovation Solution

A liquid-filled power bushing with a bellow completely immersed in the expansion chamber, allowing the bellow's interior chamber to communicate with the external atmosphere through a channel or orifice, preventing gas contact with the insulating liquid and enabling expansion and contraction without gas formation within the oil.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If a gas cushion is used in the oil expansion chamber to compensate thermal expansion, then the oil can expand and contract with temperature variations, but gas bubbles form when N2 is released from the oil during sudden temperature drops, causing partial discharges and insulation degradation

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvethermal expansion compensationVSAvoidgas bubble formation
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The invention divides the expansion chamber into two separate compartments: one for oil expansion and another for gas cushion. This segmentation prevents direct contact between the insulating oil and the gas cushion, eliminating the harmful effect of gas bubbles forming in the oil during temperature variations while maintaining the beneficial thermal expansion compensation function

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary structure (the partition wall with communication hole and/or bellow) between the oil and gas cushion. This intermediary allows the gas cushion to compensate for thermal expansion while preventing direct gas-oil contact that would cause bubble formation and partial discharges

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Object-affected harmful factors

If a movable piston is used to separate oil and gas in the expansion chamber, then gas bubbles are prevented from forming in the liquid, but tightness issues and friction occur at the interfaces between the piston and conductor and piston and walls

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvegas bubble preventionVSAvoidtightness and friction
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The invention extracts the harmful friction and tightness problems by replacing the movable piston with a fixed partition wall or bellow structure. This eliminates the sliding interfaces that cause friction and potential leakage, while still achieving complete separation between oil and gas compartments

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent replaces the mechanical sliding piston system with a stationary partition wall or elastic bellow structure. This substitution eliminates the need for sliding contacts, removing the associated friction and tightness issues while maintaining effective oil-gas separation

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Stress or pressure

If sealed bellows are used to compensate oil expansion, then the bellows contract or dilate with liquid volume changes to avoid overpressure, but the bellows must withstand high overpressure generated during liquid expansion

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveoverpressure managementVSAvoidbellows pressure resistance
Core Design Contradiction:
Stress or pressureVSStrength

Solution Approach 1:

The invention segments the expansion chamber into separate oil and gas compartments, allowing the gas cushion to independently absorb pressure variations. This eliminates the need for bellows to withstand high overpressure, as the gas cushion naturally accommodates volume changes without requiring high pressure resistance

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

The solution effectively prevents gas bubble generation, reduces manufacturing costs, and maintains a pressure close to atmospheric pressure, enhancing the bushing's reliability and longevity by allowing it to 'breathe' and preventing overpressure risks.

Implementation Method 1

The bellow according to the invention further comprises a channel or orifice making its interior chamber communicating with a space located outside from the bushing, typically outside from the expansion chamber, so that gas may enter said interior chamber from said space when the volume of the interior chamber increases and may be released from the interior chamber into said space when the volume of the interior chamber decreases

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectAtmospheric pressure equalization: Pressure Gradient

Implementation Method 2

the solubility of the gas in the oil increases with increasing temperature. Consequently, N2 is dissolved in the oil until the oil-gas system reaches an equilibrium corresponding to an N2 saturation level in the oil of 100%. In case of sudden temperature drop (load reduction and/or external cooling), N2 solubility in the oil decreases

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectThermal expansion: Thermal Expansion

Data Source

PatentEP3413319B1Oil filled power bushing with pressure compensation by bellow
Publication Date: 2020.09.30 SIEMENS ENERGY GLOBAL GMBH & CO KG
  • EP3413319B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3413319B1 patent drawingFigure 2~4
  • EP3413319B1 patent drawingFigure 5

AI summary

Oil filled power bushing with pressure compensation by bellow. The present invention concerns a liquid filled power bushing (1) comprising: - an insulator (11) comprising an insulator chamber (111) for receiving an insulating liquid (2); - an expansion chamber (14) communicating with the insulator chamber (111) for enabling an expansion or contraction of the insulating liquid (2); - an electrical conductor (13) located within the bushing (1) and extending through the expansion chamber (14) and the insulator chamber (111); characterized in that it further comprises a bellow (3) located inside the expansion chamber (14), the bellow (3) comprising an interior chamber (31) with variable volume, said interior chamber (31) communicating via a channel (32) with a space (4) filled with gas and located outside the expansion chamber (14) for enabling said gas to enter the interior chamber (31) in case of an expansion of the volume of the interior chamber (31) resulting from the contraction of the insulating liquid (2) and being released from said interior chamber (31) into said space in case of a contraction of the volume of the interior chamber (31) resulting from the expansion of the insulating liquid (2).