Research Progress on Mechanical Fault Diagnosis of On-load Tap Changer Based on Vibration Analysis

On-Load Tap Changer (OLTC) is an important part of the transformer. The failure rate of the OLTC is much higher than other parts of the transformer, since it is the only movable part in the transformer. Generally, the mechanical fault is the main fault type of OLTC, which may cause a great damage to the OLTC and transformer, and affect safe operation of the power system. Therefore, the electronic monitoring of the mechanical performance for the OLTC in operation, predicting the possibility of failure and identifying the type of failure have important a practical significance and good application prospects for safe operation of the power system. This article briefly summarizes the existing fault monitoring methods and signal analysis methods for mechanical fault diagnosis of OLTC based on vibration signals.