Budapest (Hungary), 26-27 November 2015. The record participation in the 10 technical committee IEC plenary meeting on insulating fluid is a very interesting sign of what’s going on in this field. For the first time, the number of delegates from the technical committees of the respective countries reached 50.

The plenary meeting reviewed the regulatory activity for insulating fluids as well as ongoing projects and those about to start.
Vander Tumiatti (Sea Marconi general partner) participated as Assistant secretary and offered a contribution on the various issues addressed, such as the theme of recycled oils or that of natural esters, currently lacking reference regulations.
Furthermore, the revision of SF6 regulations (which has a great environmental impact) was discussed, as well as new analysis methods of degradation markers of solid insulation materials such as methanol and ethanol and, in general, an attempt was made to solve some controversial points relating to regulation requests lacking enough consent to start dedicated activity (electrical properties such as dielectric strength, dielectric dissipation factor etc.).

The German National Committee hosted the Plenary Meeting of TC10 ( IEC Fluids for electrotechnical applications) held on the 19^th and 20^th September, Burghausen, a nice town in Bavaria.

The Meeting was hosted by WACHER SILICONES, a German Company World Leader in the production of liquid insulations with silicon base.

CEI (Italian Electrotechnical Committee) holds since 1998 the Secretariat of this Committee with Prof. Massimo POMPILI (Secretary) of the University “La Sapienza” of Rome and Mr Vander TUMIATTI SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES of Collegno (Turin).

50 delegates participated at the 2011 TC10 Plenary Meeting representing 20 P-Members (over a total of 26 P-Members, i.e. Nations having the right to vote in TC10). Chief of the Italian delegation was (as already in Paris in 2007 and Milan in 2009) Dr. Claudio Puliti of ACEA SpA.

TC10 of IEC is one of the most important groups of IEC, also at historical level, since it has been created in 1924 under the designation “ Oils for transformers”, reflecting the only applications of those years. In 1926, the name of TC10 was changed into “Insulating oils” to cover other liquids of synthetic origin that stated to have a use in the electrical sector, as an alternative to mineral oils (i.e. deriving from petroleum oils).

A further widening of the scope of TC10 occurred in 1961, when to the same committee was allocated the task of arranging the Norms relative to gaseous insulations, such as sulphur hexafluoride (SF6). Finally, in 1980, the current designation “Fluids for electrotechnical applications” has bee assigned, since TC10 had also been charged with the task of developing Norms in the field of lubricants for turbines.

Currently, the TC10 of IEC has a portfolio of about 50IS (International Standards) and TR (Technical Report) falling within the 3 following categories:

– Test methods;

– Product specifications;

– Guides for the correct management of fluids for electrotechnical applications.

One of the most important results decided in the Burghausen Meeting, relates to the proposal by the Italian Secretariat for anticipating the revision of Standards 60376 and 60480 (relative to l’SF6) to include information about the methods for the determination of leakages of SF6, notoriously a greenhouse gas, in accordance with the Kyoto protocol. The modalities for the determination of these leakages shall be particularly useful for Electric Companies in arranging their Reports on Environmental Sustainability. To carry out this activity, Prof. Massimo Pompili (IT) has been nominated Project Leader and Convenor.

The revision of the TC10 Norms on sulphur hexafluoride shall be done also considering what has been stated both in the Technical Report IEC 62271-303 (High-voltage switchgear and control gear: Use and handling of sulphur hexafluoride) issued in July 2008 by SC17A and the CIGRE Brochure 276 (2005). Also, the report of October 2010, prepared within the European Commission “Preparatory study for the Review of Regulation (EC) No 842/2006 on certain fluorinated greenhouse gases – Appendix A and B) shall be considered.

Moreover, the proposal by the Italian Secretariat (Prof. Massimo Pompili e Mr. Vander Tumiatti) to maintain the IEC Norms on PCBs, has been confirmed, since this problem doesn’t result being solved yet at global level and these Norms can provide a considerable help to the PEN (PCBs Elimination Network) of UNEP (United Nations for Environment Programme), recently started to guide the applicative phase that prescribes the elimination of PCBs at global level within 2028.

Instead, the Italian proposal about including in the current revision of IEC Standard 60422 Ed. 4 “Mineral insulating oils in electrical equipment – Supervision and maintenance guidance” a maximum limit of DBDS possibly present, in accordance with Brochure CIGRE 378. We remind that it is due, most of all, to Italy (SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES and TERNA SpA), the unexpected discovery of this antioxidant additive that, unfortunately, caused, and still causes, several catastrophic failures in the world of transformers and compensation reactors in generation, transportation, distribution and use of power. The theme has been the topic of two Days of Studies held by CEI in 2007 – thanks to the support by TERNA SpA and SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES – involving a large participation by technicians and engineers of the electrical sector. This Italian discovery, attributable mainly to Mr Vander Tumiatti of SEA MARCONI TECHNOLOGIES and Dr. Fabio Scatiggio of TERNA SpA, has been subsequently shared at worldwide level, both within IEC and ASTM and IEEE and DOBLE.

During the next meeting of the CT10 of CEI (October 2011) the possible solutions shall be examined for introducing, at least at Italian level, limits for the content of DBDS in the insulating oils of electrical equipment in operation, in accordance with internatuional standard and publications.

On 10^th June 2010, in Vienna at the premises of Wien Energie Wienstrom a Viennese multi-utility serving 2 million people the meeting of IEC TC 10 MT 22 was held. The objective of the working group, coordinated by doct. Bruce Pahlavanpuor, is revising the important technical standard 60422 (Mineral insulating oils in electrical equipment – Supervision and maintenance guidance). In particular, the various editorial and technical comments received from the different national technical committees were discussed.

Vander Tumiatti participated to this working group in his position as Assistant Secretary IEC TC 10, and he, thanks to his great background of experience on this subject, was able to stimulate and deepen the discussion on this normative scenario. 15 international experts participated to the meeting contributing actively in the discussions (please find the list of the participants here below).

In more details, during the meeting the revisions to technical standard IEC 60422 Ed. 3 were formalised in accordance with the decisions of the Plenary Meeting IEC TC 10 held in October 2005 in Cape Town (South Africa).

The revision work of the standard has currently completed the CD (committee draft) phase, and shall move within this year into the CDV (committee draft for voting) phase, during which the revisions shall be voted by the national committees. It is foreseeable that during the first half of 2011, there shall be the FDIS (final draft international standard) preceding the printing, that shall be subject again to voting before becoming a definitive standard (IEC 60422 ed. 4) presumably during the second half of 2011.

This norm represents the synthesis of the best Available Techniques (MTD – BAT) for the management of the Life Cycle (LCM) of mineral insulating oils and the equipment containing them, related to the type of equipment and the functional category (type, voltage, capacity etc.).

The main points being subject to the revision have been:

1. corrosive sulfur and DBDS – definition of the threshold of DBDS at 10mg/kg with monitoring of the additives (type and concentration) and the passivator (I.E. Irgamet 39). The standard shall not miss the techniques for the reduction and/or mitigation of the concentrations of DBDS and other sulfur corrosive compounds.
2. moisture in insulating oil and solid insulations – monitoring and treatment in relation with the thermal profile of the equipment.
3. polar acid compounds – minimising the effects through the monitoring and treatment with different techniques.
4. PCBs – validation of the methods of analysis and decontamination and dehalogenation techniques.

Dr. Behrooz (Bruce) PAHLAVANPOUR, Convenor, Nynas Naphtenics UK
M. Yves BERTRAND, EDF R&D Department LME, FRANCE
Mr. Hans Peter, GASSER, WEIDMANN Electrical Technology AG, SWITZERLAND
Mr. Marius GRISARU, The Israel Electric Corporation Ltd, ISRAEL
Dr. Ivanka HOHLEIN-ATANASOVA, Siemens AG Katzwangerstr. GERMANY
Mr Volker KARIUS, Trench Switzerland AG, SWITZERLAND
Dr. Herbert KRATKY, WIENSTROM – Chemical laboratory, AUSTRIA
Mr. Bernd LOHMEYER, Shell Global Solutions GmbH, GERMANY
Ms. Marielle MARUGAN, (Representing Mr. C Perrier), AREVA T&P Power Transformers, FRANCE
Mr. Gerfrid NEWESLEY, Nynas-Techno! Hauoiels-GmbH, AUSTRIA
Mr. Stanislaw SLOWIKOWSKI, POLAND
Mr. Randy D. STEBBINS, S D Myers, Inc., USA
Dr. Maria SZEBENI, Tisza Pharrna VET Kft – HUNGARY
Mr. Vander TUMIATTI, Assistant Secretary IEC TC10, SEA Marconi Technologies, ITALY
Ms Julie VAN PETEGHEM, Laborelec, BELGIUM
Dr. Gordon WILSON, National Grid, UK

The headquarters of Sea Marconi in Collegno (Turin) has just hosted (on 18^th May) the 6^th international meeting of IEC TC 10 PT 5 (International Electrotechnical Commission) on the topic: “Specific Standard for Unused Natural Esters liquids for transformers and similar Electrical equipment”..

The meeting had the objective of formalising a pioneering technical norm for the use of biogenic based insulating liquids, i.e. derived from vegetable oils, stabilised by a transesterification process and subsequently additivated to improve the properties in terms of oxidation stability, pour point and other chemical-physical, besides dielectric properties.

This meeting was very important since on one side the dielectric properties of the liquids subject to the analyses were examined and on the other side the characteristics of the specific method for the oxidation stability have been deepened. The study has already scheduled an additional inter laboratory Round Robin Test on samples of natural esters on which several oil producers and six internationally qualified laboratories, including Sea Marconi, shall participate. One of the most innovative sides of the technical norm being studied by the working group is the normalisation of the biodegradability characteristics of the insulating liquids and the toxicity tests defining the minimum environmental requisites so that a biogenic liquid can be used in electric transformers and other equipment installed in particularly critical contests under an environmental point of view.

The IEC working group is composed of international experts nominated by the national committees. Prof. Shubhender Kapila (Missouri University of Science and Technology – USA) as conveyor, brilliantly coordinated the meeting to which participated: Russel Martin, M+I Material (UK); Pierre Boss, ABB Secheron (CH), Klaus Cichocki, Nynas (AT); Franz Schatzl, SGB (AT); Simon Rost, Elantas; Roberto Asano, ABB Bilbao (ES); Jose Antonio Rojas, Cotradis (ES); Yury Torshin (RU); Maria Augusta Martins, Labelec-EDP (PT); Yves Bertrand, EDF, (FR); Kevin Rapp, Cooper Power Systems, (USA); Giorgio Barbui, Fratelli Parodi, (IT); Vander Tumiatti, Sea Marconi, (IT); Roberto Campi, Fratelli Parodi, (IT); Marini Leandro, Fratelli Parodi, (IT).

Vander Tumiatti, as Assistant Secretary IEC TC10, actively participated to the discussion providing his proven experience and unique technical background.