The GE Hydran M2-X is designed to monitor the gas and moisture levels in a transformer continuously. When the insulation system of a transformer is overstressed, chemical degradation occurs in the oil and paper, producing hydro-carbon gases and moisture that dissolve into the insulating oil. This increased ageing shortens the transformer’s life, impacts its reliability, and can even lead to catastrophic failures. The Hydran M2-X aims to address these issues by alerting users of developing faults and minimizing the risk of unplanned outages.
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Key benefits of the Hydran M2-X include a small form factor, no moving parts, low maintenance, and support for APM software analytics, enabling fleet level deployments. It can monitor the condition of a wide range of transformers with mineral insulating oils or ester based fluids (natural and synthetic). By connecting sensors, it can extend beyond DGA monitoring to monitor other parameters such as top oil temperature and load current. Using IEEE based mathematical models, it can provide further insight into changing transformer conditions. It also provides critical transformer gas behavior data for Asset Performance Management (APM) strategies, facilitating the planning of site intervention and maintenance activities. Additionally, it supports a wide range of communication methods and protocols, enabling easy and secure integration with GE’s digital platforms, including Perception™ transformer fleet management software, DS Agile substation HMI, PREDIX™, and other APM software tools, historians, and SCADA systems.
The Hydran M2-X is an advanced, flexible, and expandable DGA monitoring solution tailored for utility and industrial transformers. It can easily integrate with Kelman multi-gas DGA devices and the Multilin 845 protection & control relay to provide continuous synchronization of chemical and electrical measurements for enhanced transformer monitoring. It is a field-proven solution, with over 40 years of delivering online DGA solutions and over 50,000 Hydran units sold worldwide. The estimated sensor life is in excess of 10 years, and it comes with a 7-year product warranty.
The Hydran M2-X is expandable and compatible with various transformer oil types, including standard mineral insulating oils and newer natural and synthetic ester based fluids. It is available with either the traditional Hydran composite gas (H2, CO, C₂H₂, C₂H₄) sensor or a discrete Hydrogen only (H2) sensor. It can be easily upgraded in the field to accept analogue signals to monitor other key transformer parameters. It also computes the winding hot spot and other IEEE transformer models for enhanced diagnostics of the transformer’s condition, depending on the sensors installed. Furthermore, it integrates with Kelman multi-gas DGA devices.
The Hydran M2-X is intuitive to use. It can be easily installed on a single existing transformer valve, often without requiring an outage. It has an integrated display and keypad for simplified local user interaction and data visualization. The built-in moisture sensor provides water in oil measurement, which is critical for identifying paper degradation and leaking gaskets. It is also compatible with GE’s acclaimed Perception™ software for downloading, trending, and analyzing transformer health data.
The technical specifications of the Hydran M2-X include measurements such as a fuel cell type sensor with a certain accuracy and response time for gas detection, and a thin film capacitive type sensor for moisture detection. It has a backlit LCD display and keypad, and supports various communication protocols such as RS-232, RS-485, Ethernet, or Fiber Optic over TCP/IP. It also has alarms for gas and moisture alerts, and can be configured based on gas level, hourly or daily trend, or moisture level. The environmental conditions for its operation include an operating ambient temperature range of -40°C to +55°C, operating ambient humidity of 0–95% RH (non-condensing), and an oil temperature and pressure range at the valve.
There are several product options and sensors available for the Hydran M2-X, such as a finned heat sink adapter for use in high ambient or oil temperatures, valve adapters, transformer models calculations (for mineral oil only), analogue input cards, dual digital input cards, analogue output cards, communication modems (PSTN analogue, GSM/GPRS wireless), network Ethernet communication options, oil temperature sensor, split core load CT, and ambient temperature sensor.
