On the Design and Deployment of TransAlert-A Low-Cost Embedded System for Estimating the Life Expectancy of Transformers
Academic Article
Overview
Additional Document Info
View All
Overview
abstract
This paper describes the design, implementation, and deployment of a low-cost system that remotely monitors, records, and analyzes substation-level transformers. This system is called TransAlert. Performance data on the transformer, such as temperature, vibration, and load are collected and analyzed in real-time in order to predict the remaining life of the transfonner. Undergraduate engineering students developed and deployed TransAlert in a small utility company in Texas. This paper also describes the challenges that students and faculty members faced during the deployment phase, and the limitations of the collected data for testing the life expectancy algorithm.