Transformer Oil Quality Assessment Using Random Forest with Feature Engineering

Machine learning is widely used as a panacea in many engineering applications including the condition assessment of power transformers. Most statistics attribute the main cause of transformer failure to insulation degradation. Thus, a new, simple, and effective machine-learning approach was proposed to monitor the condition of transformer oils based on some aging indicators. The proposed approach was used to compare the performance of two machine-learning classifiers: J48 decision tree and random forest. The service-aged transformer oils were classified into four groups: the oils that can be maintained in service, the oils that should be reconditioned or filtered, the oils that should be reclaimed, and the oils that must be discarded. From the two algorithms, random forest exhibited a better performance and high accuracy with only a small amount of data. Good performance was achieved through not only the application of the proposed algorithm but also the approach of data preprocessing. Before feeding the classification model, the available data were transformed using the simple k-means method. Subsequently, the obtained data were filtered through correlation-based feature selection (CFsSubset). The resulting features were again retransformed by conducting the principal component analysis and were passed through the CFsSubset filter. The transformation and filtration of the data improved the classification performance of the adopted algorithms, especially random forest. Another advantage of the proposed method is the decrease in the number of the datasets required for the condition assessment of transformer oils, which is valuable for transformer condition monitoring.