CHENNAI: The Indian Patent Office, under the union government, has granted a patent to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) for their Flexible External Bellow for Insulation Protection of Transformers on March 30, 2024. This patent is valid for 20 years, commencing from April 16, 2015.
As per an announcement from Tangedco on Friday, the external bellow was crafted by the power utility’s research and development wing. Highlighting the importance of this invention, the release stated, “Moisture poses a significant threat to transformers. The conventional methods to mitigate moisture prove to be insufficient, expensive and intricate. With this invention, a sealed expandable bellow is connected after the silica gel breather of the transformer.”
The system would make a transformer sealed, providing complete immunity from external moisture and oxygen. Consequently, the innovation promises to curtail maintenance costs, minimise downtime and mitigate operational failures, the release added.
A senior official said, “The power utility has so far installed this innovation at 70 substations in various parts of the state. We plan to install this on all transformers gradually.”