ONLINE TAP CHANGER OLTC

BY: Engr. Hafeez Ur Rehman Engr. Danyal Tayyab

Tap Changer: Transformer tap changer basically regulates or maintains the secondary output voltage when there are variations in the primary input voltage. This is done by either manually or automatically changing the primary winding tap connections to compensate for the variation in the primary input voltage. A tap changer is a device fitted to power transformers for regulation of the output voltage to required levels. This is normally achieved by changing the ratios of the transformers on the system by altering the number of turns in one winding of the appropriate transformer/s. Tap changers offer variable control to keep the supply voltage within these limits. Tap changers can be on load or off load. On load tap changers generally consist of a diverter switch and a selector switch operating as a unit to effect transfer current from one voltage tap to the next. Tap changers can be adjusted to fit the application needs. The taps are embedded in oil or vacuum thus there is no spark By vacuum it refers to vacuum bottles located in oils in the LTC. Compartment

during change of taps, last tap and new tap are shorted by a limiting resistor for a moment. so during tap changing, movable contact is connected to both tap connections for a moment and resistor reduce the short current and so reduce the arc. for example for change tap 11 to 12, at first condition movable contact is on tap 11. at second condition movable contact short two taps via limiting resistor and at third condition movable contact is on tap 12.

Sparking in OLTCs: There is sparking, no doubt about that which causes, Oil in the OLTC compartment to become black. Gasses are formed in the oil. Excessive overheating/hot metal gases, high contact wear or poor spring pressure is probable. Excessive arcing gases, there could be timing or other issues.

Important thing and our concern is about the energy of the Sparks? Not much of course; Minimization of Sparks: sparking is minimised by Jensen operating principle. Jensen operating principle: It divides the switching is two parts (selector and diverter) and in 4 stages with transient resistors and elektrical by-pass over the resistor to reduce the energy of the Sparks but it can not be eliminated At the time of transtion, the current generated by the load of the transformer is transferred to a Transition Resistance existing on the switch. This resistance prevents the existence of an arc, however, there is overheating in the system. This key can be isolated by oil or vacuum, separate from the transformer oil Parts of TAP CHANGER: There are 3 parts involved here: TAP Changer (Selector & Divertor) The tapchanger inside the transformer tank consiting of a selector and a divertor. The selector selects the taps and is operating in the transformer oil. The diverter is the actual switch with high current contacts that balances the load from one tap to the other. The divertor is inside a separate compartment inside the transformer tank. The diverter and selector are positionned above eachother and driven by the same axe. There are several different methods for managing the arc that occurs whan the online tapchanger (OLTC) changes taps. Many of them are described above, so you will have to look at the specific transformer Load Tap Change (LTC) design and identify the method the transformer manufacturer has employed. Some manufactures use vacuum switches, others use resistors or reactor schemes. Some install the LTC in the main tank with the rest of the transformer windings, many have a separate compartment for the LTC that prevents the oil from the LTC contaminating the main tank oil. Moreover, the contacts of the diverter are generally in the oil of the diverter compartment. This oil should be processed and regulary checked and replaced. Indeed, new techniques use contacts in vacuum tubes that prevent maintenance on the diverter oil compartment but this is a minority and probably only found on rather new transformers. Although the Jensen principle here described uses transition resistors, sparks cannot be avoided completely and thus the oil will degrade over time; therefore the separate compartment for the diverter oil. Automatic Voltage Regulating Relay (AVR Relay)

The motor drive mechanism receives the raise and lower signals from the Automatic Voltage Regulating Relay (AVR relay) and actually turns the drive-shaft from the tapchanger. The motor drive operates with spring relief that in case of interruption of the LV power supply the tap operation is continued and the diverter will never stick in an intermediate position. The AVR relay receives the secondary voltage from the busbar by a dedicated measurement Voltage Transformer. The step-voltage of the power transformer is programmed in the AVR so that only when the busbar voltage is outside the regulating band (about 60% of the step voltage) the AVR gives a raise or lower signal to the motor drive. The controls (AVR) keep the transformer output voltage within a fixed . There are 4 general settings: 1. Nominal Voltage setpoint 2. Bandwith (the amount of variation allowed before a tap change occurs) 3. Time delay (The amount of time the voltage must be outside the bandwidth before a tap change occurs) 4. Line drop compensation ( a way vary the set point voltage to compensate for heavy loads) LDC or Line-Drop Compensation: Function of line drop compensation CT and how its working for AVR Relay. The LDC or Line-Drop Compensation is a function of the AVR. This function allows us to regulate the voltage not at the secondary terminals of the transformers (of which the Voltage Transformer gives us the secondary voltage) but at a remote location oftenly referred to as "The First House". Imagine that all users are located at least 10km distant from the power transformer and the power line will have a voltage drop so that the voltage arriving at the first house is lower than the desired or regulated voltage. The voltage at the source differs from that at the distant load due to the line impedance (Z) and the magnitude of current (I) flowing through the line. This I*Z voltage drop can be simulated by the AVR. THe current (I) changes with load while the impedance (Z) is the electrical characteristic of the line and therefore constant. The line drop compensating CT provides a realtime value for I and Z is user entered parameter/setting for the AVR. Z is generally identifeid as a resistance value (R) and a reactive value (X). The net effect is the AVR now regulates (holds constant) the voltage at a point closer to the load rather than at the source end. It does this by using as a voltage input, the source voltage minus the I*Z drop. When connecting a CT to the AVR the AVR can calculate the voltge drop over the line and keep the voltage at the first house constant instead of the voltage at the Voltage Transformer measuring point. An extra advantage of the CT connection is that the AVR recognises fault conditions so it can block the raise/lower commands. Indeed, changing tap during a fault is not OK for the tap changer. NOTE: In setting up the the LDC, capacitor already installed in the line should be considered as the caps also help to raise the line voltages. You may not want to overcompensate the system Set-Point Voltage for LTC: The Load Tap Changer Controls have a setpoint voltage that the LTC holds the output of the transformer output to. If the transformer output goes below the setpoint, a tap change will occur

to raise the voltage so that it matches the setpoint voltage. If the output voltage goes higher than the setpoint voltage, the LTC will change taps to lower the voltage. In North America, each tap change will change the voltage 5/8%. Obviously the LTC can't hold the output to an exact voltage value so there is an allowable bandwidth of acceptable voltages as well as a time delay to not force tapchanges during momentary flxuations Switch Actuation of Tap Changer: Switch actuation of a power transformer tap changer can be done in two ways - From the spot "on site" by pressing the control box -The remote command control room; In both situiatii regime switching is a normal thing. Though during task switching are variations, it does not change the normal situation. Smooth bounce-less Tap Changing: The main part of an on load tap changer is a U-shape shorting between 1 turn, which equipped to a couple of graphite rolling tips. In circuit theorem, it s 2 resistors and 1 inductive impedance connected as a Y. This mechanism provides a smooth bounce-less changing taps one by one turn on the winding. The output is in the mid of this U through the inductive element. It has a little active drop and heat up when moving, that is damped in the oil, as whole system is immersed in oil. Load variation is not important when taps are changing, because this power component is under control of the AVR and it is designed to show enough stability for any condition of operation. Inside Oil or Separate Compartment for OLTCs(Oline Tap Changers): The general principles are applicable universally, although there will be some practical differences dependent on local conditions (eg local supplier might favour their OLTCs to be 'in tank' (eg MR 'm' type etc) or 'out of tank' (eg ATL's 'AT' etc) Whatever the circumstance, breaking a flowing current will inevitably result in an arc, but how long it lasts depends on the medium (vacuum, oil, air, SF6 etc etc), current, step voltage etc From a dim memory as an example, the ATL 'AT' diverter mechanism will usually extinguish an arc within about 2-3 half-cycles with about a 1.2kV step. Possible Alternative of OLTC: A commutating circuit breaker, in which power is commutated through a sequence of resistors to open the circuit "softly." can be used as an alternative of an on-state tap changer is remarkably simmilar to OLTC. However this end up with an arc, even tho' current might be limited via your resistor sequence. Ideally, we'd try to break an AC circuit at a current zero, but to do this reliably would take some pretty good engineering. So, assuming we got an arc, the question is how to extinguish it or let it go out by itself? Common practice is to immerse the arcing contacts in some insulating medium (oil, SF6, Vacuum etc) and hope for the best. Would appreciate a view from someone with Vacuum expertise, but trouble with vacuume bottles is that they tend to drop the current very suddenly, so creating some HF harmonics a la Fourier with unpredictable consequences on the T&D network (eg the 50Hz grid might behave oddly if exposed to, say, a 1kHz spike when your current was interrupted)

Testing an OLTC: If the OLTC is in a separate compartment from the main winding, DGA is good test to determine the condition of the OLTC. The key is to see if there are excessive arcing or overheating gases. If there are excessive overheating gases, high contact wear or poor spring pressure is probable. If there are excessive arcing gases, there could be timing or other issues. Understanding what gases are normal and which gases are excessive takes a little experience but pretty easy to figure out. There can be following types of identified gases. Hot metal gasses: These are an indicator of high contact wear or poor spring pressure. Arcing gases: These gases like acetylene are indicative of mechanical timing problems. Taking an Oil Sample: The process for taking an oil sample from the main tank for DGA analysis can also be employed on the OLTC if it is contained in a separate tank(s). If clearances and oil volume allow for a safe sample to be taken place while the transformer is energized, this is ideal. The insulating oil surrounding the OLTC should be at atmospheric pressure, even if there are vacuum interrupters If the OLTC design has vacuum bottles, the surrounding insulating oil should have little or no combustible gas under normal conditions. If the OLTC has a selector and diverter switch, oil samples can still be taken. Hot metal gases are not expected but arcing gases are. If the OLTC has minimum oil, then it might not be possible to take an oil sample. OLTCs are Not Voltage Stabilisers: If for AC loads we are getting unstabilised voltage i.e. 208-213V in average instead 220 Volts then changing the taps is not the solution when you experiance an exessive voltage drop from an overloaded grid; this will result in too high voltages at low consumption periods. It would be nice to have an automatic voltage regulator on the distribution transformer but that is way too expensive. The problems are probably - overloaded power transformer - high Uk at the distribution transformer - cable sections too small for the load It's the utility's responsability to provide a stable grid with a stable voltage but raising taps would be dangerous.