Dielectric properties enhancement of vegetal transformer oil with TiO2,CuO and ZnO nanoparticles

Nanofluids based on vegetal oils remain almost unexplored, especially when prepared with non-ferric oxide nanoparticles. This work has analysed the effect of three different nanoparticles on properties of a commercial vegetal oil. The first aim was to evaluate if there is an optimal concentration for dielectric improvement, and if the effect of different nanoparticles is similar. Secondly, other key properties were considered. The evaluated dielectric properties have been AC breakdown voltage, relative permittivity, volumetric resistivity and dissipation factor. The results are quite promising because dielectric properties have shown a considerable improvement. On the other hand, thermal conductivity or acidity test results, although adverse, were not definitive to refuse to continue this research.The authors of this research wish to thank the Ministry of Economy for financial support to the National Research Project: Improvement of Insulation Systems of Transformers through Dielectric Nanofluids (DPI2015-71219-C2 1-R). Also Mr. Olmo would like to acknowledge to the University of Cantabria and the Government of Cantabria for the financial support for the Ph. D. scholarship (CVE-2016-6626)