Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication

(ICCMC)

Health Condition Monitoring System For

Distribution Transformer Using
Internet of Things (IoT)
Rohit R. Pawar, Dr. S.B.Deosarkar IEEE Member
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering,
Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University,
Lonere , Raigad, Maharashtra, India.
rohitspawar007@gmail.com, sbdeosarkar@yahoo.com

Abstract - Electrical transformers are the important elements in monitored manually for maintenance and recording of
the process of transmission and distribution of electricity. parameters [4]. Manual monitoring cannot give information of
Transformer is one of the important and costliest components of causes of oil and winding such as overloads and overheating
electrical industry. As we know, Distribution Transformer is a of transformer. All these factors can significantly reduce
major component of power system and it’s correct functioning is
transformer life. A number of techniques are currently being
vital to system operations. This paper presents the development
of a mobile embedded system, to monitor and record parameters used for offline as well as online monitoring of distribution
of a distribution transformer like Current, Temperature, Rise or transformer. This paper will help us to finding problems
Fall of Oil level, Vibration and Humidity. Remote terminal unit is before any abnormal condition, thus resulting in a long life
installed at the distribution transformer site and above service for transformers.
parameters are processed and recorded using-in-8-channel
analog to digital converter (ADC) of the embedded system in the II. GPRS TECHNOLOGY
system memory. If any abnormality occurs, the system sends Especially in rural area, GPRS provides an ideal
alert messages to the mobile phones as well as monitoring units communication channel by using the network of mobile
which containing information about abnormality to some communication corporation. Data transmission of GPRS has
predefined instructions programmed in the microcontroller. Also
high efficiency, convenience and low cost and provides a good
it is important to keep an eye on transformer health when
operator is not present at transformer site, so we are introducing solution to meet the need of distribution transformer
embedded system named as two way communication systems monitoring systems. GPRS combines mobile communication
between transformer and operator. This system is designed to technology and data communication technology [3]. GPRS
send alert messages, whenever related parameters value exceeds makes full use of wireless resource and realizes broadband
the predefined limits. This system proposes a compact design and data transmission. The GSM and GPRS parameters of the
development of remote monitoring system, for a distribution system operate separately. The GSM & GPRS technology is
transformer. The main objective of this project is to develop used for voice calls, while GPRS data. Results voice and data
mobile embedded system will help the utilities to optimally utilize can be sent and received simultaneously. This GSM/GPRS
the protection of power line of transformer and identify problems
system refers to some people. As a packet-switched
before any catastrophic failure.
technology, GPRS supports the internet protocol (IP) for
Keywords:- Distribution Transformer; PIC Microcontroller; communications. Services provided by GPRS & internet are
GSM/GPRS Module ; Sensors; Remote terminal Unit (RTU); same means GPRS and internet are analogues to each other
Monitoring Unit; LCD display. because GPRS uses the same protocols as the internet.

I. INTRODUCTION III. LITERATURE REVIEW

“MONITORING” is here defined as online collection of data Enormous work has been done on protection of Distribution
and consist of sensor development, measurement techniques Transformer such as: Overload voltages, Over Current etc.
for online applications [1]. A transformer may be used as a Some of those researches which had been conducted as
powerful voltage converter to change the AC voltage at its discussed in the paragraphs.
input to a higher or lower voltage at its output. Distribution In 2010 V. Thiyagarajan and T. G. Palanivel proposed a
transformers have a long service life, if they are operated design to protect from rise in current due to overloading.
under rated conditions. However their life is significantly System is based on microcontroller that was used for
reduced if they are overloaded, resulting in unexpected monitoring the current of a distribution transformer at a
failures and loss of supply to large number of customers thus substation [5].
effecting system reliability [2]. Now days, where a person In 2014 Satya Kumar Behera have discussed about a
visits into a transformer site distribution transformers are implementation of automatic control circuits for PLC system

978-1-5090-4890-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 117

 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

to monitor conditions of transformer like transformer

temperatures ,load current and voltage. This PLC monitoring
system will help to detect the internal faults as well as external
faults of transformer. This PLC system is useful for
monitoring and controlling the voltage, current and
temperature of a distribution transformer. The PLC system is
designed to monitor the transformer parameters continuously
throughout its operation [6].
In 2015 Vishwanath R have proposed design uses a
temperature sensor, PIC microcontroller, LCD display GSM
board and Xbee which is used to send the message at
electricity board. By using this system we can detect multiple
faults of three phase transmission lines which one can monitor
the temperature, voltage, current by GSM modem. In this
paper a system is develop to monitor the transmission line
faults using GSM network [7].
In 2016 Sachin Kumar B S have discuss about a compact Fig.1. Architecture of distribution transformer monitoring system
design and development of remote monitoring system for a
three phase transformer. Arduino microcontroller and zigbee
V. IMPLEMENT OF HARDWARE CIRCUIT
based wireless device are used for monitoring the operating
This paper is divided into two parts. First of all, the remote
point of three phase transformer remotely. The arduino
terminal unit (RTU) is designed using PIC18F4550
microcontroller helps in monitoring the three phase current,
microcontroller to collect data from sensors nearby the
voltage, temperature, and power of the transformer. The
transformer and sending data to monitoring node via GSM-
processed parameters are displayed on LCD which makes the
GPRS module. Secondly, at the monitoring node there is one
system user friendly. All sensors required to monitor three
software built to receive data from the RTU and display it for
phase parameters by single microcontroller, which makes the
the use of operating engineers.
system compact [8].
From the above review, it is finally concluded that there are
A. Remote Terminal Unit (RTU)
some faults in above systems but by using proposed
All operations of data acquisition and transmission are usually
microcontroller based approach we can enhance it to better
performed by a single unit called the Remote Terminal Unit
extend.
(RTU). RTU is built around PIC18F4550 and it is designed in
such way that to send the data of distribution transformer to
IV. SYSTEM DESIGN AND ANALYSES
the monitoring node via SMS and also gives response to the
The monitoring system is mainly consists of the Remote
monitoring node requests. Therefore, The RTU acquires
Terminal Unit (RTU), the transmission network (GPRS
temperature, vibrations, Humidity, Oil level and current from
network and public data network), monitoring node stations.
sensors every fifteen seconds. After gathering this all
Remote terminal unit is mainly composed of MCU (microchip
information sends to monitoring node along with date and
unit) and peripheral circuit (liquid crystal display, RS232
time of measurements [11]. Also there is LCD at RTU side to
communications, A / D conversion), and GSM-GPRS wireless
show date, time, temperature, Oil level, Humidity, Vibrations
communication module. Monitoring node station is mainly
and current. The RTU design is consist of two parts; these are
composed of database server etc. [16]. The connection
the hardware design and software design.
between remote terminal unit and the monitoring nodes makes
GSM-GPRS wireless telecommunications network, the
1) Hardware design
architecture of distribution transformer monitoring system is
It consist of Current sensor, Temperature sensor, Oil level
as shown in Figure 1.
sensor, Vibration sensor, Humidity sensor, PIC18F4550, LCD
display, buzzer, GSM/GPRS module. These entire sensors are
connected to the transformer and digital output is given to the
microcontroller, also LCD, Buzzer and GSM/GPRS module
are connected to microcontroller. When fault occurs due to
any reason then there changes will be shown on LCD and
quick SMS will go to the control room via GSM/GPRS
module. Also we can see online status of this system on
computer. The proposed system is discussed below:

978-1-5090-4890-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 118

 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

d) Humidity Sensor:
POWER A humidity sensor used to sense relative humidity such as air
CURRENT SUPPLY GSM/
SENSOR GPRS temperature and moisture. It works by detecting changes that
T MODULE electrical currents or temperature in the air. It is good of 20-
R 80% humidity readings with 5% accuracy. Determine the
TEMP
A . SENSOR amount of moisture in the air most humidity sensors use
PIC18F4550
N ADC MICRO capacitive measurement.
S
CONTROLLER e) Vibration Sensor:
VIBRATION
SENSOR Vibration switch SW-420 is based on vibration sensor and
F Email comparator LM393 to detect, if there is any vibration beyond
O LCD SMS the threshold. The threshold can be adjusted for using on
R DISPLAY INTERNET
OIL
LEVEL
board potentiometer [10]. Vibration sensor is used originally
M SENSOR as vibration switch because of its high sensitivity.
E f) Microcontroller:
R BUZZER In this project a low power, high performance PIC 18F4550
HUMIDITY Microcontroller is used [13]. Connectivity applications of
SENOSR PC controller that benefit from the availability of three serial ports
and it is ideal for low power (Nano Watt). Periodic
connections with personal computer via USB for data
Monitoring Node upload/download and/or firmware updates are used for
embedded control and program memory. It has monitoring
Fig.2. Block diagram of Health condition monitoring system for distribution
applications with enhanced Flash program memory.
transformer
a) Temperature Sensor : It has following Features:
The LM35 integrated circuit sensor is used to measure x Full Speed USB 2.0 (12Mbit/s) interface
ambient temperature with an electrical output proportional to x Full Speed Transceiver
the temperature (in 0c). LM35 is directly connected to the x 16 Endpoints (IN/OUT)
analog port of microcontroller which directly gives values of x Internal Pull Up resistors (D+/D-)
temperature of the winding [12]. x 48 MHz performance (12 MIPS)
b) Oil Level Sensor : x A Full Speed USB2.0 capable,
Oil level sensor is a float which connected to the angular x 32 Kbytes of Enhanced FLASH program memory,
potentiometer. Float is immersed in the oil and its mechanical x 2 Kbytes of RAM (1 Kbyte dual port),
output is given to the angular potentiometer [9]. When there is x 256 bytes of data EEPROM
any mechanical movement of the float, there is a voltage
generation corresponding to the mechanical movements of g) GSM/GPRS Module:
float.
c) Current Measuring Circuit :
Current transformer (CT) is typically described by its current
ratio from primary to secondary. A 1000:5 CT would provide
an output current of 5 amperes when 1000 amperes are passing
through its primary winding. Most common secondary current
ratings are 5 amperes or 1 ampere. In this project the CT with Fig.4.GSM/GPRSModule
output 5 Ampere has been preferred. There are numbers of SIM808 has GSM/GPRS and GPS both functions therefore it
dedicated current IC’s exist which translate the current sensed becomes very easy for use. For navigation GSM/GPS/GPRS
into a voltage directly appropriate for the analog input of the Quad-band network and combines GPS technology is used.
PIC18f4550. The one is used here is ACS712, 5 Ampere. Features: Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz. GPRS multi-
According to datasheet of ACS712, 5 A the sensitivity is slot class12 connectivity with maximum 85.6kbps speed
185mV/A. The ACS712 produces an output of 2.5V for 0A (down-load/up-load). GPRS mobile station class B. GPRS is
current through the current sensor [11]. controlled by AT Command (3GPP TS 27.007, 27.005 and
SIMCOM enhanced AT Commands). It supports Real Time
Clock, supply voltage range 5V ~ 12V and 3.0 V to 5.0 V
logic level.

2) Software Design
The software is responsible for managing the PIC
microcontroller & devices are connected to it. Firstly at the
Fig.3. ACS712 IC with basic connections. remote terminal unit analog signals are manipulating for
further processing and secondly the values of current,

978-1-5090-4890-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 119

 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

temperature, oil level, vibrations, humidity are calculated from When any abnormality condition occurs, then system sends
real samples and send these values along with time and date to SMS or alert messages to engineers, who listed on this table
monitoring node. Prototype Model Development (Flowchart)
VI. TESTS & RESULTS
is shown in figure 5.
The tests and results are divided into two parts
B. Monitoring Node A. RTU Tests
This part presents the design of monitoring node system In this part, GSM/GPRS module and RTU circuit which is
including wireless GSM/GPRS module and software that
organize all the data coming from RTU’s ,save this data into
database and display it into LCD, as well as PC, for the use of
operator.
Main Program Design
At the monitoring node, the operator engineer to communicate
with a system easily and efficiently through GPRS this is the
main objective of system [15]. The software is responsible for
anytime to acquiring data, receiving data from RTU’s,
showing data on the system and also saving it into database.
There are three tables inside this database:
i. Login Table
ii. Data Acquisition Table
iii. Engineers Table
Fig.6. Simulation result when abnormality condition occurred.
START built with Proteus ISIS software are connected together using
monitoring software. Then by using mobile phone few SMS
DIGITAL messages were sent from/to the RTU to test validity of the
READ DISPLAY ON RTU system [14]. All components of the RTU are tested one
TEMP LCD by one and work well. As shown in fig 6 & fig7.

ANALOG READ
VALUES
CURRENT,
TEMPERATURE,
OIL LEVEL,
VIBRATIONS,
HUMIDITY
TRANSMIT
No THROUGH
CALCULATE GSM/GPRS
POWER MODULE

IS CURRENT Yes
GRATER ACTVATE
THAN ALERT
GENERATOR
CAPACITY ?

Fig.5. Prototype Model Development (Flowchart) Fig.7. Simulation result for normal condition

i. Login Table Figure 6 shows simulation result when abnormality condition

It contains all the usernames and passwords. When operator occurred. And figure 7 shows simulation result for transformer
LOGIN to system then system check whether password and is working in normal condition.
username is correct or not from its database. Also
Administrator adds new users and allocates to password. B. Monitoring Node Test
ii. Data Acquisition Table: Firstly GSM/GPRS module was connected to microcontroller
It contains the imported signals like Temperature, Oil, and to check the ability of GSM/GPRS module to send and
Humidity, Vibration, and Current from the RTU’S receive SMS messages using AT commands. Secondly the
iii. Engineer’s Table: GSM/GPRS module and the monitoring node software were

978-1-5090-4890-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 120

 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

connected together and few SMS messages were sent from 5. Humidity > 25% = Humidity Fault
system to mobile phone. Therefore any abnormality condition occurred in above rated
condition, this changes shown in the LCD at RTU side, Also
1) GSM/GPRS module Test same data monitored at monitoring node via GSM/GPRS
GPRS module communication based on TCP/IP protocol, system.
when the main microcontroller communicates with the VII. CONCLUSION
network the data packet is sent according to TCP/IP protocol. This paper has implemented a method to the GSM/GPRS
GSM/GPRS communication module including establishment based monitoring of transformer health is quite useful as
communication links of monitoring center, data transmission compared to manual monitoring and also it is reliable as it is
and command word analysis. During the whole system is built not possible to monitor always the current, temperature, oil
up, it is difficult to connect the GSM/GPRS module to level, vibrations and Humidity manually. System is designed
network, first we should configure the module and initialize based on a PIC 18F4550 microcontroller which acts as a data
it[8]. The AT Command sequence for carrying out the above acquisition & transmission system. At monitoring node, after
is as follow: receiving message of any abnormality we can take action
(1) AT+CGATT=1 immediately to prevent any catastrophic failures of
(2) AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","CMNET" transformer.
(3) AT*E2IPA=1, “1” VIII. FUTURE WORK
(4) ATD*99***1# return CONNECT In future work we can place server modules at all the
It shows that it is connected network successfully. Using this distribution transformers for receiving and storing transformer
command we can login to internet through the GPRS gateway parameters information periodically in a database application.
[3]. This database can be a useful source of information for
So we can conclude that, remote monitoring control system engineers. An analysis of these stored data helps the utility in
based on GSM/GPRS is more efficient as compared with monitoring the operational behaviour of their distribution
wired remote monitoring control system. transformers and identifies faults.

2) Graphical User Interface(GUI) REFERENCES

In this part, the GUI software is connected to GSM/GPRS [1] Ravishankar Tularam Zanzad, Prof. Nikita Umare and Prof Gajanan Patle ,
module via microcontroller. Then few SMS messages were “ZIGBEE Wireless Transformer Monitoring, Protection and Control System”,
International Journal of Innovative Research in Computer and Communication
send and receive to check the response of the system. The
Engineering (An ISO 3297: 2007 Certified Organization), Vol. 4, Issue 2,
format of the messages came from RTU’S are following this
February 2016.
format “Current”, “Temperature”, “Oil Level”, “Vibration”, [2] Monika Agarwal and Akshaypandya, “GSM Based Condition Monitoring
“Humidity”, “Hours”, “Minutes”, “Seconds”, “Month”, of Transformer”, IJSRD - International Journal for Scientific Research &
“Day”, “Year”, “Username”, & “Password”. Fig shows the Development| Vol. 1, Issue 12, 2014 | ISSN (online): 2321-0613
GUI software at monitoring node. [3] Hongyan Mao, “Research of Wireless Monitoring System in Power
Distribution Transformer Station Based on GPRS”, Volume 5, C 2010 IEEE,
978-1-4244-5586-7/10/$26.00
[4] Drasko Furundzic, Zeljko Djurovic, Vladimir Celebic, and Iva Salom,
“Neural Network Ensemble for Power Transformers Fault Detection”,11th
symposium on Neural Network Applications in electrical Engineering
NEUREL-2012
[5] Kalyani More, Ashwini Khaire, Sudhir Khalkar and P.G Salunke, “XBEE
Based Transformer Protection and Oil Testing”, International Journal of
Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET), ISSN 2278 – 0882
Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2015.
[6] Satya Kumar Behera,Ravi Masand and Dr. S. P. Shukla, “A Review of
Transformer Protection by Using PLC System”, International Journal of
Digital Application & Contemporary research, (Volume 3, Issue 2, September
2014)
[7] Pathak A.K, Kolhe A.N, Gagare J.T and Khemnar SM, “GSM Based
Distribution Transformer Monitoring And Controlling System” , Vol-2 Issue-
Fig.8. GUI at monitoring node 2 2016, IJARIIE-ISSN (O)-2395-4396.
[8] Xiao-hui Cheng and Yang Wang, “The remote monitoring system of
3) Results transformer fault based on The internet of Things”, 2011 International
After testing of proposed system, it provides following results: Conference on Computer Science and Network Technology
1. Current > 10A = Current Fault [9] D S Suresh, Prathibha T and Kouser Taj, “Oil Based Transformer Health
2. Temperature > 400c = Temperature fault Monitoring System”, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR)
3. Oil Level < 30 ML = Oil Level fault ISSN (Online): 2319-7064 Impact Factor (2012): 3.358 Volume.
4. Vibration > Normal Transformer Vibrations = [10] Vishwanath R, Akshatha V Shetty, Poonam, Shamilli and M Thanuja ,
Vibration Fault “A New Approach to monitor Condition of Transformers incipient fault

978-1-5090-4890-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 121

 Proceedings of the IEEE 2017 International Conference on Computing Methodologies and Communication
(ICCMC)

diagnosis based on GSM & XBEE”, International Journal of Science,

Engineering and Technology Research (IJSETR), Vol. 4(11),pp. 3826-
3829,2015.
[11] Mohamed Ahmed Eltayeb Ahmed Elmustafa Hayati and Sherief F.
Babiker, “Design and Implementation of Low-Cost SMS Based Monitoring
System of Distribution Transformers”, 2016 Conference of Basic Sciences
and Engineering Studies (SGCAC).
[12] Abdul-Rahman AI-Ali, Abdul Khaliq and Muhammad Arshad, “GSM-
Based Distribution Transformer Monitoring System”, IEEE MELECON 2004,
May 12-15, 2004, Dubrovnik, Croatia
[13] U.V.Patil, Kathe Mohan, Harkal Saurabh and Warhade Nilesh
“Transformer Health Condition Monitoring Using GSM Technology”, Vol-2
Issue-2 2016, IJARIIE- ISSN(O)-2395-4396.
[14] Sachin Kumar B S and Dr.Nagesh Prabhu, “Simulation And Analysis Of
Compact Remote Monitoring System”, International Journal of Innovative
Research in Electrical, Electronics, Instrumentation and Control Engineering
Nitte Conference on Advances in Electrical Engineering NCAEE-2016 , Nitte
Vol. 4, Special Issue 2, April 2016
[15] Avinash Nelson A, Gajanan C Jaiswal, Makarand S Ballal, and D. R
Tutakne, “Remote Condition Monitoring System for Distribution
Transformer”, 978-1-4799-5141-3/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE.
[16] N Maheswara Rao, Narayanan R, B R Vasudevamurthy and Swaraj
Kumar Das, “Performance Requirements of Present-Day Distribution
Transformers for Smart Grid”, IEEE ISGT Asia 2013 1569815481

978-1-5090-4890-8/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 122