Megger or Insulation Resistance tester

Megger is an acronym for mega-ohm meter. Mega is for a million and

ohm stand for resistance in ohms. In other words megger test is to meter
the millions of ohms of insulation resistance offered for the electricity or
electrons to escape from its metal route to ground. It is normally used to
measure high resistances (in terms of Mega ohms) that are encountered in
insulations systems and not for metallic systems where the resistances are in
terms of a few ohms (not mega)
It is the first & foremost test of an electrical engineer to ascertain the
healthiness of an electrical gadget. The strength or breakdown of the
insulation provided is shown up here.
It is the ability to prevent the electrons from leaking out. The strength of a
chain lies in its weakest link. This proverb holds good here. The insulation
provided at the weakest point decides the strength of the whole insulation &
hence the mega ohms
Megger is a portable dc generator with a pointer moving over a scale
marked in mega ohms. It forcibly injects electric charge \ electrons into a
very high resistance electrical system and offers a closed path for their
retrieval. The resistance is noted in terms of mega-ohms. As the name (mega
ohms) indicates it is for measuring very high resistances only. It can measure
low or small resistances but without accuracy. The scale (along with a
pointer enclosed in glass or transparent PVC sheet) has zero at the beginning
and infinity at the end. The generator rotation is actuated by a handle
operation, either manually or by a motor. Its manufacture is guided by IS
2992 of 1987The accuracy is as per clause 9.1 of the IS.Meggers are
classified depending upon their maximum out put voltage.
The range normally is from 100 volts to 10 KV. In electrical utilities we use
either a 500-1000 volts or 5 KV megger. The 5 \ 10 KV megger either
manual or motorized should always be used for all power and EHV
transformers where we handle items of 11 KV insulation class and above.
For the other low voltage items we use a 100 \ 500Volts megger A 5 KV
megger is capable of developing up to 5 KV voltages. There are instances of
certain low voltage items failing at the meggering stage itself. Hence
meggering should always be at slow speeds in the beginning and speed
increased after a careful watch of the readings. There are instances of
actually increasing the insulation resistances of cables after continuously
meggering for long durations, thus making un healthy cables into good ones.
As regards reading of a megger take the example of a 1000 volts megger.the
scale has zero at one end & infinity at the other. but before infinity it is
200. during the course of meggering any reading beyond 200 should be
read as more than 200 m and not as infinity. Every megger is also provided
with zero error adjuster.
The measurement is simple and is known to every one if the electrical item
consists of one conducting and one insulation item. The two megger
terminals should be connected to each of them.
When we say megger value of an item it means insulation resistance of the
item not only with reference to the ground but with reference to all the
other metallic items present in its surroundings. Many a time the megger
will also be provided with earthing arrangement and the same should be
followed.
For a healthy insulation system the needle should be forward moving as
meggering is continued. The megger values of a winding are actually much
more at its dried condition in an oven for the purpose of drying or driving
out the moisture. After adequate ovening, the winding is put into transil oil
which occupies the vacuum points created while drying out the moisture. At
this stage the megger values actually decreases but the values remains
sustained at constant vaues for a long period. The values of course get
affected due to age & other factors like over & impulse voltages. The
process of meggering say HV winding of an EHV transformer consists of
interconnecting all the HV bushings and connecting to one terminal of the
megger. To the other terminal of the megger all the rest of the transformer
aspects should be connected ie. LV and tertiary windings bushings,
transformer tank and earth electrode etc..
The megger values vary inversely with the temperature. Hence either transil
oil temperature should be noted and quoted while mentioning the megger
values. If the transformer has been kept idle for long periods room
temperature should be quoted.
Only comparative values should decide the healthy-ness of equipment That
is whenever the performance of a transformer is in doubt the first action is
to megger the same. Then one should compare the megger values with that
of those that are taken during a previous occasion. This will give a clear
picture as to what extent a deterioration of the transformer has taken place.
Based upon the same one can decide to put the transformer into service or
not. For example suppose the megger values of HV to ground is 5000 mega
ohms
When the transformer was serviced and say proves faulty in say after one
year. After removing the fault the transformer is meggered. suppose the
megger value is say 4000 mega ohms. The reduction by 1000 mega ohms is
OK for a period of 1 year.
If the megger values is say 2000 mega ohms, a fall of 3000 mega ohms is a
serious issue and further investigation is required before charging the
transformer.
In practice it has been found that the megger values doubles the previous
reading for every fall of 10 degrees in temperature. For example 50 mega
ohms at 30 C is equal to 100 mega ohms at 20 C is equal to 200 mega
ohms at 10 C
(Please note that this phenomenon is correct only up to a certain limit)
Often in the case of some old transformers a rule of 2 Mega ohms \ KV of
operating voltage is applied to decide the insulation resistance to be adequate
for charging a transformer. For example in the case of a 66\11 kv
transformer, HV winding to earth Mega ohms should be more than 66 X 2 =
132 mega ohms. Indian standards also gives out some figures But all this is
empirical and they is no fixed relation between insulation provided and
insulation resistances.
Polarization index. (PI)
Another sure method of assessing the insulation resistance is to find out the
polarization index which as per Indian standards. is the ratio of megger
values after 10 minutes and megger values after 1 minute PI should always
be more than 1 for a healthy insulation system. Now a day there are meters
available to give a direct reading of PI..



Note All the acsr conductors are named after animas except
KUNDA
G. A. Narayana Swamy.B. E.