Power Transformers

Principles and Applications (John J. Winders, Jr.)

TRANSFORMER CORE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION-------Remembering that the inductance of a coil and the magnetic reluctance are inversely proportional, air gaps reduce the inductance of the coil and increase the magnitude of magnetizing currents. In practical transformers, we want to reduce magnetizing currents to almost negligible levels; it is therefore important to eliminate all air gaps if possible. Staggering of the butt joints avoids continuous air gap and therefore the reluctance of the magnetic circuits is not increased.At the same time,a continuous air gap would reduce the mechanical strength of the core and therefore the staggering of the butt joints is essential. Metallic core materials conduct electric current as well as magnetic flux, the induced voltages would produce large circulating currents in a solid core. The circulating currents would oppose the changing flux and effectively short out the transformer.These currets are known as Eddy currents. A practical solution is to fabricate the core from thin laminated steel sheets that are stacked together and to coat the surfaces of the laminations with a thin film that electrically insulates the sheets from each other. Steel not only has excellent magnetic properties but is also relatively inexpensive and easy to fabricate into thin sheets. core laminations operating at 60 Hz are between 0.010 and 0.020 in. thick, with 0.012 in. being the most common thickness in use today. One of the greatest contributions to transformer efficiency and low cost was the introduction of grainoriented steel in the 1940s. Grain-oriented steel is a silicon-iron alloy that is rolled or worked during fabrication in such a way that the permeability is higher and the hysteresis losses are lower when the flux is in the direction of the grain. Unfortunately, the properties of this steel for a flux that goes against the grain are much worse than the non-grain-oriented steel. Therefore, the design of the core has to take this into account. When using grain-oriented steel, the lamination sections are mitered at a 45angle so that when the flux changes direction by 90, it more or less FIGURE 1.11 Stacking a laminated core using butt lap construction. still follows the grain of each of the segments. Figure 1.12 depicts a corner overlap using core sections with 45mitered edges. The grain of the steel is oriented along the length of the laminations in the horizontal and vertical directions. The flux is at a 45angle to the grain at the mitered edges. Alternate layers are cut into slightly different lengths and their corners have slightly different shapes. The modern multistep layer method uses up to five layers of differently shaped sections. This method is illustrated in Figure 1.13 with the first three layers exploded to show the stacking sequence.

FIGURE 1.13 Successive layers of a laminated core using mitered construction

FIGURE 1.12 Flux transition at the corner of a mitered core.

HARMONICS IN TRANSFORMERs----------Using Fourier analysis, distorted load currents can be resolved into components that are integer multiples of the power frequency and thus are referred to as harmonics. Distorted load currents are expected to be high in the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and sometimes the 11th and 13th harmonics, depending on the character of the load. axis. The current therefore has a zeroth harmonic or dc-offset component. The cause of a dc offset is usually found to be half-wave rectification due to a defective rectifier or other component. The effect of a significant dc current offset is to drive the transformer core into saturation on alternate half-cycles. When the core saturates, exciting current can be extremely high, which can then burn out the primary winding in a very short time. Transformers that are experiencing dc-offset problems are usually noticed because of objectionably loud noise coming from the core structure.

If the neutrals are not connected to an external circuit, then third harmonic voltages would be impressed across the windings because third harmonic magnetizing currents cannot flow. Transformer magnetizing currents are not purely sinusoidal, even if the exciting voltages are sinusoidal. The magnetizing currents have significant quantities of odd-harmonic components. If three identical transformers are connected to each phase and are excited by 60 Hz voltages of equal magnitude, the 60 Hz fundamental components of the exciting currents cancel out each other at the neutral. This is because the 60 Hz fundamental currents of A, B, and C phase are 120 out of phase with one another and the vector sum of these currents is zero. The third, ninth, fifteenth and other so-called zero sequence harmonic currents are in phase with each other; therefore, these components do not cancel out each other at the neutral but add in phase with one another to produce a zero-sequence neutral current, provided there is a path for the neutral current to flow. Due to the nonlinear shape of the B-H curve, odd-harmonic magnetizing currents are required to support sinusoidal induced voltages. If some of the magnetizing current harmonics are not present, then the induced voltages cannot be sinusoidal. If the neutrals of both the primary and the secondary are open-circuited and there is no path for the zero-sequence harmonic currents to flow, the induced voltages will not be sinusoidal. the harmonic content of the magnetizing current increases as the level of excitation increases, especially as the core goes into saturation .The predominant harmonic is the third (180 Hz), although the higher order harmonics are strong enough to cause telephone interference problems in circuits in proximity to power lines. The presence of third harmonics in an electric power system can also cause equipment to overheat and produce voltage distortion. The isolation of third harmonics is an important design consideration in transformers if a Y-Y transformer does not have a neutral path for zero-sequence exciting currents, there will be harmonic voltages induced in the secondary even if the exciting voltage is purely sinusoidal. problem with a Y-Y connection is that if an unbalanced phase to-neutral load is connected to the secondary, the phase voltages at the load will be unbalanced also unless the neutral of the load is connected to the secondary neutral of the transformer. Therefore, it is generally a good practice to bring out and ground both the primary and the secondary neutrals in a Y-Y transformer connection.\

ZIGZAG TRANSFORMERs------------If three currents, equal in magnitude and phase, are applied to the three terminals, the ampere-turns of the a-N winding cancel the ampere-turns of the c- c winding, the ampere-turns of the b-N winding cancel the ampere turns of the a-a winding, and the ampere-turns of the c-N winding cancel the ampere turns of the b-b winding. Therefore, the transformer allows the three in-phase currents to easily flow to neutral. If three currents, equal in magnitude but 120 out of phase with each other, are applied to the three terminals, the ampere-turns in the windings cannot cancel and the transformer restricts the current flow to the negligible level of magnetizing current. Therefore, the zigzag winding provides an easy path for in-phase currents but does not allow the flow of currents that are 120 out of phase with each other. The ability to provide a path for in-phase currents enables us to use the zigzag connection as a grounding bank, which is one of the main applications for this connection. The -zigzag connection provides the same advantages as the -Y connection, like third harmonic suppression and ground current isolation. One added advantage is that there is no phase angle displacement between the primary and the secondary circuits with this connection; therefore, the -zigzag connection can be used in the same manner as Y-Y and - transformers without introducing any phase shifts in the circuits. Therefore, the quantity of copper required in a zigzag winding is about 33% greater than the quantity of copper used in an equivalent Y winding having the same KVA rating. The added cost of copper in a zigzag winding and the increased complexity of its design limit the use of zigzag windings to very special applications where the unique advantages of the electrical characteristics outweigh the disadvantages.

THREE-PHASE TRANSFORMER DESIGNS-----------

The first basic design for three-phase transformers to be discussed is the core form design. This design includes the three-legged core form design and the five-legged core form design. In the three-legged core form design, three sets of windings are placed over three vertical core legs. Each core leg and its set of windings is corresponds to one phase. Each core leg is joined to a top yoke and a bottom yoke, which complete the magnetic circuit. A round shape is used in most large transformers of the so-called core form design, where the coils have a round cross section. The one feature that makes the three-legged core form design unique is the fact that there is apparently no return path for the magnetic flux converging in the top and bottom yokes from the three core legs. This would imply that the 3 fluxes arriving at the top core yoke would have to jump across a huge air gap to return to the bottom core yoke. Further examination reveals the secret: The flux through each core leg is sinusoidal since the voltages applied across the windings are sinusoidal. As long as fluxes have the same magnitude and their phase angles are electrically 120apart, the fluxes will cancel out each other in the top and bottom yokes. Therefore, for three-phase balanced applied voltages, no flux return path is required.

In a three-legged core design, the third harmonic flux from the three core legs add in phase at the top and bottom yokes and encounter a high-reluctance path. Restricting the third harmonic flux greatly reduces the third harmonic voltages that would otherwise exist in Y-Y transformers.(As there is no return path for magnetic flux, we use five legged core 3 phase transformer. It provides return path for flux. ) The nomenclature shell type and core type, is derived from the fact that in a shell-type transformer

the core encircles the windings, whereas the windings envelop the core in a core type transformer.

Core-type transformer.

A core type three-phase transformer

Shell-type transformer.

Shell type transformer with LO-HI-LO configuration

A shell-type three-phase transformer.

In a shell form transformer, the windings are constructed from flat coiled spirals that are stacked together like pancakes. For this reason, the windings in a shell form design are often referred to as pancake windings. pancake coils are square-shaped with rounded corners. The right part of the figure is an exploded end view of the pancake windings divided into three sections: The low-voltage winding is split into two halves, which sandwich the high-voltage winding in the middle.

The major advantages of the shell form design are that it is more compact than core form transformers and it has great mechanical strength. The main disadvantages of the shell form design are that it is much more difficult to assemble than the core form design.

Example----In a shell form transformer, There are three components of flux that are electrically 120apart. Label these flux components 1, 2, and 3. Sketch the flux throughout the core, indicating the directions of the flux in each core section.

Inrush Current--------When a transformer is taken off-line, there will be a certain amount of residual flux that can remain in the core due to the properties of the magnetic core material. The residual flux can be as much as 50 to 90% of the maximum operating flux, depending on the type of core steel. When voltage is reapplied to the transformer, the flux introduced by this source voltage will build upon that which already exists in the core. In order to maintain this level of flux in the core, which can be well into the saturation range of the core steel, the transformer can draw current well in excess of the transformers rated full load current. Depending on the transformer design, the magnitude of this current inrush can be anywhere from 3.5 to 40 times the rated full load current. The waveform of the inrush current will be similar to a sine wave, but largely skewed towards the positive or negative direction. This inrush current will experience a decay, partially due to losses, which will provide a dampening effect; however, the current can remain well above rated current for many cycles. This inrush current can have an effect on the operation of relays and fuses located in the system near the transformer. Decent approximations of the inrush current require detailed information regarding the transformer design which may be available from the manufacturer but is not typically available to the user. Actual inrush currents will also depend upon where in the source voltage wave the switching operations occur, the moment of opening effecting the residual flux magnitude, and the moment of closing effecting the new flux. general studies\inrush current.pdf (ctrl+click on this link)

Conductor Insulation--------For copper cunductorsThe most common insulation today for high-voltage windings is an enamel coating on the wire, with kraft paper used between layers. Low-voltage strip can be bare with paper insulation between layers. The use of paper wrapping on strap conductor is slowly being replaced by synthetic polymer coatings or wrapping with synthetic cloth. For special applications, synthetic paper such as DuPonts Nomex can be used in place of kraft paper to permit higher continuous operating temperatures within the transformer coils. For Aluminum conductorsAluminum spontaneously forms an insulating oxide coating when exposed to air. This oxide coating must be removed or avoided whenever an electrical connection is desired.

Coolants--------Mineral Oil Mineral oil surrounding a transformer core-coil assembly enhances the dielectric strength of the winding and prevents oxidation of the core. Dielectric improvement occurs because oil has a greater electrical withstand than air and because the dielectric constant of oil (2.2) is closer to that of the insulation. As a result, the stress on the insulation is lessened when oil replaces air in a dielectric system. Oil also picks up heat while it is in contact with the conductors and carries the heat out to the tank surface by selfconvection. Thus a transformer immersed in oil can have smaller electrical clearances and smaller conductors for the same voltage and kVA ratings. Askarels

Beginning about 1932, a class of liquids called askarels or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) was used as a substitute for mineral oil where flammability was a major concern. Askarel-filled transformers could be placed inside or next to a building where only dry types were used previously. Although these coolants were considered nonflammable, as used in electrical equipment they could decompose when exposed to electric arcs or fires to form hydrochloric acid and toxic furans and dioxins. The compounds were further undesirable because of their persistence in the environment and their ability to accumulate in higher animals, including humans. Testing by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has shown that PCBs can cause cancer in animals and cause other noncancer health effects. Studies in humans provide supportive evidence for potential carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic effects of PCBs . The use of askarels in new transformers was outlawed in 1977 (Claiborne,1999). Work still continues to retire and properly dispose of transformers containing askarels or askarel-contaminated mineral oil. Current standards require transformer manufacturers to state on the nameplate that new equipment left the factory with less than 2 ppm PCBs in the oil. High-Temperature Hydrocarbons Among the coolants used to take the place of askarels in distribution transformers are high-temperature hydrocarbons (HTHC), also called high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons. These coolants are classified by the National Electric Code as less flammable if they have a fire point above 300C. The disadvantages of HTHCs include increased cost and a diminished cooling capacity from the higher viscosity that accompanies the higher molecular weight. Silicones Another coolant that meets the National Electric Code requirements for a less-flammable liquid is a silicone, chemically known as polydimethylsiloxane. Silicones are only occasionally used because they exhibit biological persistence if spilled and are more expensive than mineral oil or HTHCs. Halogenated Fluids Mixtures of tetrachloroethane and mineral oil were tried as an oil substitute for a few years. This and other chlorine-based compounds are no longer used because of a lack of biodegradability, the tendency to produce toxic by-products, and possible effects on the Earths ozone layer. Esters Synthetic esters are being used in Europe, where high-temperature capability and biodegradability are most important and their high cost can be justified, for example, in traction (railroad) transformers. Transformer manufacturers in the U.S. are now investigating the use of natural esters obtained from vegetable seed oils. It is possible that agricultural esters will provide the best combination of hightemperature properties, stability, biodegradability, and cost as an alternative to mineral oil in distribution transformers. NOTE-----transformers are held at a high vacuum while oil flows into the tank. The combination of heat and vacuum assures that all moisture and all air bubbles have been removed from the coil, providing electrical integrity and a long service life.

Stray Losses in X-Mers---When alternating current is used to measure the losses in a winding, the result is always greater than the

I2R measured with dc current. The difference between dc and ac losses in a winding is called stray loss. One portion of stray loss is called eddy loss and is created by eddy currents circulating in the winding conductors. The other portion is generated outside of the windings, in frame members, tank walls, bushing flanges, etc. Although these are due to eddy currents also, they are often referred to as other strays. The generation of stray losses is sometimes called skin effect because induced eddy currents tend to flow close to the surfaces of the conductors. Stray losses are proportionally greater in larger transformers because their higher currents require larger conductors. Stray losses tend to be proportional to current frequency, so they can increase dramatically when loads with high-harmonic currents are served. The effects can be reduced by subdividing large conductors and by using stainless steel or other nonferrous materials for frame parts and bushing plates.

Lenzs law understanding--------- use Flemings Left Hand Rule

Bushings---A transformer designed for outdoor use has its core and coils completely enclosed by a steel enclosure. In order to connect the windings to the electrical system, the leads are brought out of the tank through bushings. Since the leads are energized at line voltages, the bushings must insulate and isolate the leads from each other and from the tank.

Oil Preservation System-------Oil contamination is a serious problem because it robs the oil of its dielectric properties and renders it useless as an insulating medium.

sealed tank design.