NAFEMS Americas and Digital Engineering (DE) teamed up (once again) to present CAASE, the (now Virtual) Conference on Advancing Analysis & Simulation in Engineering, on June 16-18, 2020!

CAASE20 brought together the leading visionaries, developers, and practitioners of CAE-related technologies in an open forum, unlike any other, to share experiences, discuss relevant trends, discover common themes, and explore future issues, including:
-What is the future for engineering analysis and simulation?
-Where will it lead us in the next decade?
-How can designers and engineers realize its full potential?
What are the business, technological, and human enablers that will take past successful developments to new levels in the next ten years?

Resource Abstract

The global power transformer market is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.1% to reach $ 37.3 billion dollars by 2022. This is largely driven by new opportunities in emerging markets, and retrofits in mature markets.

However, there is continued increase in volatility in the grid, like the integration of renewable sources, and new types of loads such as EV charging and data centers, with a decline in traditional high-inertia generation.

These changes in the generation and demand patterns, result in more dynamic loading of the transformer, affecting its service life.

These devices are expected to last for decades, e.g., 30 to 40 years for power transformers, irrespective of the volatility in the grid.

In addition, there is budget reduction for maintenance and replacement, that is, operators are asking more of their existing assets.

How can we address some of these challenges?

By exploiting digital technologies and connectivity.

That is, digitalization of transformers.

For example, according to the ABB special report on transformers;

Transformer monitoring can reduce the risk of catastrophic failure by 50%, the repair costs by 75%, and the associated loss of revenue by 60%. The annual cost savings can amount to 2% that of a new transformer.

This presentation will show how simulations enable transformer digitalization. It will covers 3 main topics:

1. Operators can mitigate the risks associated with losses by reducing the simulation time needed to explore designs without foregoing accuracy, in the generation of an EM digital twin.

2. Transformer failure due to insulation and transformer oil dielectric breakdown can be assessed, for predictive maintenance.

3. The mapping of thermal fields helps in the positioning of the hotspot temperature sensors, which are then used in the regulation of the hotspot temperature, to optimize remaining life, and in the scheduling of condition-based predictive maintenance.

So, by simulating and replicating virtual tests, manufacturers and operators can not only reduce the number of physical prototypes, but also be able to optimize the remaining life in an equipment, and scheduling of condition based maintenance.