Mu 4

EUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER
Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:196211

Published online 15 April 2010 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/etep.431
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Online monitoring of power transformers for detection

of internal winding short circuit faults using negative
sequence analysis
Abolfazl Vahedi1,2 and Vahid Behjat1,2*
1
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran
Center of Excellence for Power System Automation and Operation, Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT
As a recent trend, online monitoring techniques for electrical machines, mainly including power transformers, has been
considered very important. This paper presents a new online method for detection of interturn faults in the power
transformers using the ratio of negative sequence components of the primary and secondary line currents. The ratio is equal
to the turn ratio during external faults as well as in the supply or load imbalance conditions, while it differs from the turn
ratio when interturn winding faults occur. The main feature of the proposed method is its capability to detect low level
interturn faults which typically cannot be detected by the traditional transformer protection devices before they developed
into high level faults with more severe damage to the power transformer. In this work, a major improvement has been
suggested to overcome this problem to a great extent. The proposed method can unambiguously detect interturn faults even
down to two shorted turns along the winding. The method is not influenced by the supply and load harmonics even under
heavily distorted conditions. The performance of the proposed technique was studied for a variety of operating conditions
using data generated by simulations on a finite element model. Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
KEYWORDS
power transformer; interturn fault; negative sequence current; finite element model
* Correspondence
Vahid Behjat, Department of Electrical Engineering, Iran University of Science & Technology, Narmak 16846, Tehran, Iran.
E-mail: Vahid_Behjat@ee.iust.ac.ir
1. INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, there is an increasing interest in online monitoring
of power transformers because of its potential to provide
early warning of electrical failures, enhance the reliability of
operation, and improve power supply and service to customers. Among several of transformer faults, the transformer
winding faults takes a great participation. From a number
of surveys [1,2], it can be deduced that interturn faults
account for approximately 70% of all the failures in power
transformers. Furthermore, from these reviews, it can also
be understood that protection of the power transformers
against winding interturn faults is still a challenge. One
major problem in protecting large power transformers from
interturn winding faults is that the current equipment being
used to protect the transformers from interturn faults often
fails until minor faults developed into high level faults with
more severe damage to the power transformer.
The problem of the traditional differential protection
which recognized as the basis protection of the power
196
transformers has been that just these low level interturn

faults could not be detected with the overall sensitivity
represented by the percentage restraint differential
protection. A short circuit of a few turns, in spite of very
high fault currents within the short circuited part of the
winding, accompanied by a relatively low value of current
in the remainder of the winding. On the other hand, if for
some reason, for example, because of uncompensated
movements of an on-load tap changer, the minimum
pickup current of the restraint differential protection be set
relatively high, then minor interturn faults cannot be
detected until it evolves into a more severe fault with
higher differential currents. This work focuses mainly on
the low level interturn faults on the windings of power
transformer. Fast and early detection of this type of faults is
critical in preventing a major damage to the power system
and the transformer itself.
In literature, using the negative sequence as an indicator
for fault detection and diagnosis of the electric machines is
primarily focused on induction motors. The occurrence of a
Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A. Vahedi and V. Behjat
negative sequence component in the motor supply currents

is identified when shorted stator windings are present [3].
In Refs. [4,5], online techniques were presented for
detection of stator winding faults in three-phase induction
motors from observation and measurement of negative
sequence supply current. Refs. [6,7] presented an induction
machine model for simulation of stator interturn faults and
to test fault diagnostic techniques. A major breakthrough in
the detection of stator interturn faults has been achieved by
utilizing the effective negative sequence impedance as an
indicator of these faults [8,9]. In Ref. [10], a comparative
analysis is provided for online detection of stator winding
interturn short fault in induction motors. The authors
compared several detection methods in terms of diagnostic
efficiency and requirements for practical implementation.
Among all the analyzed techniques, those based on the
sequence components are considered the most promising.
It is claimed in Ref. [10] that the negative sequence
components present a high diagnostic efficiency based on
the compensation of non-idealities, good experimental
results, and medium simplicity for practical implementation. While the negative sequence current is able to detect
and diagnose a stator winding short, the method is unable
to discriminate between an interturn short fault and the
imbalance in the power supply, which is common in the
operation of power systems.
In the case of power transformers, one of the earliest
works was introduced by Sidhu et al. [11,12]. The technique
uses the arguments of the positive and negative sequence
impedances of the power system in a fault detection
algorithm. Since then, some other authors have taken
advantage of symmetrical component capabilities to develop
protection schemes for power transformers [13,14].
An attempt has been made in this paper to obtain a new
and modified fault detection method using negative sequence
quantities. Such a modification could bring significant
improvement in the detection of transformer interturn
faults and especially overcome the drawbacks of the
existing fault detection schemes to detect minor interturn
faults. To this end, a numerical simulation of power
transformer is completed firstly by the use of finite element
model. Using transformer FEM model, it would be possible
to obtain a comprehensive view of the overall transformer
magnetic and electrical behavior under normal and
disturbance conditions. In addition, it provides a significant
degree of accuracy, which is very useful to explore the
terminal behavior of the transformer. Based on that, this
paper points out that negative sequence components of the
transformer line currents can be viewed as the feature
criterion and utilized to detect interturn faults.
Online monitoring of power transformers

Table I. Ratings of the transformer.
Rated power
Rated frequency
Primary rated voltage
Secondary rated voltage
Turns ratio
Connection
8 MVA
50 Hz
20 kV
11 kV
510/162
D/Y
winding three-phase power transformer has been considered for the present study. The transformer was
employed in simulations with all parameters and configuration provided by the manufacturer. Ratings of the
transformer are presented in Table I. A transversal section
representation of the power transformer structure is shown
in Figure 1.
The magnetic field inside the transformer is governed by
the well-known Maxwell equations. FEM is applied here in
order to solve electromagnetic field problems described by
the Maxwell equations. When a fault occurs, the magnetic
flux distribution is fundamentally altered as well as the
current in the circuit domain. But, the transformer terminal
behavior still satisfies the governing equations. Thus,
obtaining the faulty transformer behavior is achieved by
solving these equations. We used direct coupling between
the field and circuit equations in order to define and
simulate the transformer behavior under normal and
interturn fault conditions.
Figure 2 represents finite element model of the studied
power transformer. It is composed of 17 598 surface and
7406 line elements and includes 38 827 nodes. We decided
to use first-order elements, since there was no significant
difference in results compared with second-order elements.
The regions in the finite element model are coupled to the
circuit model. Both the primary and secondary windings
are modeled as stranded coil conductors in the circuit
model. In order to verify the models reliability and
precision, the model was validated in the steady-state
magnetic formulation by comparison with values of
2. NUMERICAL SIMULATION
The fault simulations were carried out by means of solving
a finite element model of a power transformer. Such model
was defined through data sheet obtained from the
transformer manufacturer. An 8 MVA, core type, two
Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:196211 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/etep
Figure 1. Geometry of the transformer model (all units are in mm).
197
represents the resistive component of the dielectric

material in the dielectric equivalent parallel circuit model.
3. DETECTION METHOD
Figure 2. 2D Finite element model of the transformer.
terminal current and voltages, short circuit impedance, etc.,

provided by the manufacturer for the steady state of the
considered transformer. For the transformer model, the rms
values of the terminal voltages and currents and also the
other parameters obtained from the simulation and the
manufacturer data were almost equal. Table II presents the
results of this comparison and demonstrates the exceptional ability of the model to reproduce the real behavior of
the machine. Figure 3a and b shows the flux plot (equiflux
lines) of the transformer and color shaded plots of the flux
density on the transformer regions generated by the FEM
model under normal operating conditions and at the rated
load. A detailed description about the finite element model
is given in Appendix.
Figure 4a and b shows the corresponding circuit domain
and FE domain representation of the transformer coil for an
interturn fault on the transformer phase B secondary
winding. When an interturn fault is on the primary or
secondary winding, the fault winding is divided in three
parts a, b, and c in the FE domain as well as in the
circuit domain as shown in Figure 4. A time controlled
switch plus a limiting fault resistance was utilized to
initiate an internal fault. Therefore, by means of the
coupled electrical circuit, faults can be introduced at
different locations along the windings. The severity of the
fault can be controlled by different values of fault
resistance between turns. Indeed, the fault resistance
Table II. Comparison of the values of the transformer.

Magnitude
Primary voltage
Primary current
Secondary voltage
Secondary current
Short circuit impedance
Total power loss
198
Specified manufacturer
Simulation
20 000 V(D)
230.9 A(Y)
11 000 V(Y)
419.9 A(Y)
2.33%
54.92 kW
20 000
228.97
10925.939
415.989
2.2%
52.9 kW
The theoretical foundation of the new detection method is

based on the theory of symmetrical components, or more
exact, on the negative sequence currents. Existence of
relatively high negative sequence currents is in itself an
indication of a disturbance, and quantitatively represents
asymmetries coupled to a specific condition of an electrical
system, in our case, the transformer. The proposed method
for interturn fault detection is based on the principle that
for a healthy (unfaulted) transformer supplied by
symmetrical multiphase voltage sources without turn
faults in its windings, no negative sequence component
of the line and phase current occurs. An interturn fault will
break that symmetry and give rise to a negative sequence
current which may then be used as a measure of fault
severity or to initiate a warning alarm for the monitoring or
protection devices to make proper decision. However,
asymmetries in the three-phase quantities of the transformer may arise due to some other reasons such as
instrumentation asymmetries and operation with imbalanced load or supply voltages. Such asymmetries can be
reflected in negative sequence components and yield a
significant increase in the negative sequence components
of line and phase currents. The proposed method in this
paper can not only detect and diagnose a winding interturn
short circuit fault, but also is able to discriminate between
an interturn fault and other disturbances such as imbalance
in the power supply and load and external fault conditions.
In general, the negative sequence current is obtained
from the measurement of the three-line currents of the
transformer using:
1
Ian Iaf a2 Ibf aI cf
3
(1)
In the above equation, the negative sequence component

is denoted by the index an (a stands for the line current and
n for the negative sequence), Iaf, Ibf, and Icf are the phasors
of fundamental components of three-line current signals,
and a is a phase rotation operator equivalent to ej2p=3 .
The underlying principle for interturn fault detection is
based on the measurement of negative sequence component of the line currents from both sides of the
transformer. The ratio of the negative sequence components (RNSC)is compared with the turn ratio for the
purpose of fault detection. Defining the RNSC gives:
Ipn
RNSC p
3Isn
(2)
In the above equation, the negative sequence components of line currents from primary and secondary sides
are denoted by the indices pn and sn, respectively (p stands
for primary, s for secondary, and n for negative sequence).
The two negative sequence currents are expressed as
DOI: 10.1002/etep
Figure 3. (a) Equiflux lines under normal operating conditions. (b) Color shaded plots of the flux density on the transformer regions.
phasors. The H3 coefficient on the right hand side of the

equation allows the compensation of turn ratio due to delta
winding in the primary.
Theoretically, in case of external fault and imbalanced
load or supply voltage, the RNSC is equal to the turn ratio
(N1/N2) while for an interturn fault it is not. In order to
explain this phenomenon in greater detail, reconsideration
of the symmetrical components theory will be useful.
DOI: 10.1002/etep
According to symmetrical components theory [15,16],

the negative sequence currents are transferred through at a
power transformer. Further, for any external disturbance,
such as external fault and imbalanced load or supply, the
negative sequence source will be located outside the
transformer at the fault point, load or supply side,
respectively. Thus the negative sequence currents will
enter the healthy power transformer on the fault side, and
199
interturn faults. While a short circuit of a few turns of the

winding will give rise to very small changes in the terminal
currents, it results in an increased negative sequence
components in the line currents. Thus, the proposed
algorithm is a good complement to the traditional power
transformer protections for detecting minor faults, with a
high sensitivity and speed.
Some test results verifying the performance of the
technique for different faults and operating conditions have
been presented in the next section.
4. RESULTS AND CASE STUDIES

Figure 4. Circuit coupled FEM model of the power transformer
for modeling interturn faults: (a) circuit domain and (b) FEM
domain.
leave it on the other side, properly transformed. Hence, the

RNSC is the same as turn ratio. On the contrary, for an
interturn fault with the negative sequence source within the
transformer, the negative sequence currents will flow out of
the faulty power transformer on both sides and consequently, the RNSC is different from N1/N2.
From this point, the RNSC of (2) can be used for
detecting interturn faults in a simple and accurate manner.
However, in reality, for an external disturbance, the RNSC
can be a little different from N1/N2 because there might be
some small difference between two negative sequence
currents due to possible different negative sequence
impedance values on the respective sides. The Detector
described by (3) is used to detect a fault. The Detector
measures the percentage difference between the two
estimated negative sequence currents:

p
3Isn RNSC NN21
Detector
100%
(3)
Ipn
If (3) is less than a threshold, the transformer is not
faulted; if greater, it is. Further, even for normal operating
conditions, small values of the negative sequence currents
can be measured in line currents. Thus, for a trustworthy
decision regarding the interturn fault occurrence, the two
negative sequence currents must be above a certain
minimum value otherwise no comparison is allowed. If
both negative sequence currents exceed the threshold,
which in itself is as a sign that a disturbance must have
happened, as the negative sequence currents are superimposed, pure-fault quantities, the directional comparison
is carried out.
For the system studied in this paper, the recommended
value for the detector threshold is 1% and minimum
allowable negative sequence current is 0.1% of the
transformer rated current.
It should be pointed out that the main feature of the
proposed algorithm is its capability to detect low level
200
The performance of the proposed detection method was

verified on various disturbance conditions such as winding
interturn faults, external fault, as well as load or source
asymmetries. To demonstrate the algorithms ability on
detecting even minor interturn fault, a series of case studies
was designated aimed at covering a wide variety of
interturn fault conditions of different fault severities and
locations. Also, the performance of the faulted transformer
was examined under varying conditions of load level and
power factor. In all of the case studies, the disturbance
occurs at t 0.1 second. Although a much larger number of
simulations were carried out, only some selected cases are
included here.
4.1. Case 1: Interturn fault on HV winding

4.1.1. Fault size 5%, Rf equal to 0.5 V, rated
resistive load.
Figure 5a and b shows three primary and secondary line
currents of the transformer working at rated load and for an
interturn fault involving 5% of the turns on the top end of
HV3 (primary) winding, respectively. The studied case has
a fault resistance, Rf, equal to 0.5 V. Such a fault will give
rise to a large increase of primary current and severe
distortion of it; while the secondary current does not
change very much. Figure 5c and d shows the value of
negative sequence currents obtained from this study and
the operating response of the fault detector, respectively.
As expected, the RNSC from primary and secondary
sides is not the same as the turn ratio and thus the operating
response of the detector is above the threshold, consequently a fault alarm is activated.
resistive load.
Figure 6ad represents the results for the Case B. The
difference between cases A and B lies in the fault size and
severity. In this case, an interturn fault involving 1% of the
turns on the top end of HV3 (primary) winding is studied
which representing a relatively decreased fault size and
severity. Significant decreasing in the values of terminal
DOI: 10.1002/etep
currents and negative sequence component is particularly

visible when the size of the interturn fault decreases, as can
be seen by comparing Figure 6a with Figure 5a. Figure 6d
shows the operating response of the detector which meets
the 1% operating threshold.
It is worth pointing out that the proposed detection
method can easily detect a low level interturn fault which is
a very complicated problem for traditional power
transformer protection devices. It can be distinctly seen
from Figure 6a that short circuiting of a few turns (1% of
turns on the winding) will give rise to a very small variation
in the terminal currents; so absolutely the differential and
over current protection will be stable in this case. While,
using the negative sequence current as a fault indicator, a
proper alarm can be generated in the fault detection system.
Thus, this study also demonstrates both the proposed
method dependability and sensitivity for detecting minor
interturn faults. The results of much more simulations
demonstrate that the proposed method is capable of
detecting an interturn fault involving even two shorted
turns in an unambiguous manner.
load, 0.66 lagging power factor.
Figure 7ad shows the results obtained for the Case C; this
is identical to Case A except for the load index and power
factor. The case study is carried out with a load index equal
to 50% of the rated load and 0.8 lagging power factor. The
comparison of thee two cases demonstrates that the
modulus and phase angle of the negative sequence current
are independent of the angle and level of the impedance
load. Similar to Case A, the response of the detector has a
value greater than the operating threshold.
resistive load, harmonic condition.
The proposed detection method was simulated for an
interturn fault involving 5% of the turns on the top end of
HV3 (primary) winding and harmonic conditions.
Figure 8ad shows the results for Case D where the
primary and secondary currents are heavily distorted and
contain harmonic components. In practice, such harmonics
may be caused by CT saturation or nonlinear BH characteristic of the transformer core. The results clearly indicate
that the two calculated negative sequence components of
the fundamental frequency phasor are not the same in
interturn fault conditions even if the primary and secondary
currents contain harmonic components. Thus the method is
completely independent of time harmonics and fault alarm
is issued as shown in Figure 8d.
4.2. Case 2: Interturn fault on LV winding

Figure 9a and b shows three primary and secondary line
currents of the transformer working at rated load and for an
interturn fault between 1% of the turns on the top end of
LV3 (secondary) winding, respectively. The studied case
DOI: 10.1002/etep
has a fault resistance equal to 0.01 V. It can be easily found

out from the simulations (Figures 5 and 9) that for an
interturn fault on the transformer windings, either on the
primary or secondary winding, the primary current will
rise. However, the secondary current does not change;
remain fairly constant, for the fault on the primary winding
and decreases a little when the fault is on the secondary
winding. Anyhow, asymmetries in the primary side caused
by the interturn faults, regardless of the fault location, will
produce significant values of negative sequence components. So when the short circuit arises in the LV winding
the condition is similar to that which occurs when the
transformer is damaged in the HV winding. Figure 9c and d
shows the value of negative sequence currents obtained
from this study and the operating response of the fault
detector, respectively.
4.3. Case 3: External fault

This study is used to prove the proposed fault detection
method stability under external faults. A symmetrical threephase fault was simulated on the HV side of the transformer
outside the transformer protection zone. As expected, the
respective negative sequence components from the HV and
LV power transformer sides will be nearly equal in
magnitude, after the compensation of the transformer turns
ratio, as shown in Figure 10c. Figure 10d shows the
operating response of the detector; remains its value below
1% threshold. This led to the decision that the fault is
outside the protection zone of the transformer and
consequently no interturn fault alarm is activated.
4.4. Case 4: Load imbalance

The proposed algorithm was simulated in the case of an
imbalanced load. Figure 11ad shows the results obtained
for this case when the transformer has rated load at phases
a and b and no load at phase c. As can be seen
from the results, the primary and secondary line currents
are heavily distorted. However, the detector remains below
1% threshold, consequently the fault detection system
would be stable in this condition and no interturn fault
alarm will be issued.
4.5. Case 5: Supply imbalance

Another case is studied when the transformer is loaded
with the rated load, but supplied with asymmetrical threephase voltage source. Supply imbalance conditions produce
almost fully asymmetrical current signals as shown in
Figure 12a and b. The negative sequence currents caused
by these asymmetric currents have been shown in
Figure 12c. The stability of the proposed detection method
against supply imbalance can be observed in Figure 12d.
201
(a)
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Figure 5. (a) Primary line currents, (b) secondary line currents, (c) negative sequence components, and (d) operating response of the
detector for Case 1A.
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40000
ias
ibs
30000
ics
20000
10000
0
-10000
-20000
-30000
-40000
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
(c)
200

150
100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
Time(s)
(d)
0.018
0.016
0.014
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
DOI: 10.1002/etep
207
(a)
400
iap
ibp
300
icp
200
100
0
-100
-200
-300
-400
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
Time(s)
(b)
800
ias
ibs
600
ics
400
200
0
-200
-400
-600
-800
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
(c)
250
200
150
100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
-250
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
(d)
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
208
DOI: 10.1002/etep
400
(a)
iap
ibp
300
icp
200
100
0
-100
-200
-300
-400
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
0.12
0.14
0.16
0.18
0.2
Time(s)
800
(b)
ias
ibs
600
ics
400
200
0
-200
-400
-600
-800
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
(c)
200
150
100
50
0
-50
-100
-150
-200
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
(d)
0.012
0.01
0.008
0.006
0.004
0.002
0
0
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.1
Time(s)
DOI: 10.1002/etep
209
5. CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
A negative sequence current-based sensitive detection

method for detecting interturn faults of power transformers
has been presented in this paper. The effective negative
sequence components of the transformer line currents are
found to be sensitive to interturn fault occurrence which
caused serious imbalance in the line currents. The proposed
fault detection method can not only detect winding
interturn faults, but also differentiate, with a high degree
of dependability, between an asymmetry caused by an
interturn fault and an imbalance due to load and supply
variations and external fault conditions. Thus the method is
completely independent of time harmonics even under
heavily distorted conditions. Further, the proposed method
conquers the limitations of the traditional power transformer protection schemes in detecting low level interturn
faults. Hence, it is found to be a very good complement to
the existing power transformer fault detection methods.
Some case studies verifying the performance of the
technique for different faults and operating conditions have
been presented. The proposed method is a non-invasive
method and no additional measurements are required to
implement the technique since it only needs the terminal
current data. Also, no information concerning the
transformer and power system parameters is needed for
the application of the technique.
1. Bartley W. Analysis of transformer failures. International Association of Engineering Insurers 36th

Annual Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, 2003.
2. Stigant SA, Franlin AC. The J&P Transformer Book:
A Practical Technology of the Power Transformer;
10th edn, Wiley: New York, 1973.
3. Cruz SMA, Cardoso AJM. Multiple reference frame
theory: a new method for the diagnosis of stator faults
in three-phase induction motors. IEEE Transactions
on Energy Conversion 2005; 20: 611619. 10.1109/
TEC.2005.847975.
4. Arkan M, Unsworth PJ. Stator fault diagnosis in
induction motors using power decomposition. Proceedings of the IEEE Industry Applications Conference 34th Annual Meeting, Vol. 3, Phoenix, USA,
1999; 19081912.
5. Arkan M, Kostic-Perovic D, Unsworth PJ. Online
stator fault diagnosis in induction motors. IEE Proceedings of the Electric Power Applications 2001;
148(6): 537547.
6. Shuo C, Rastko Z. Modelling and simulation of stator
and rotor fault conditions in induction machines for
testing fault diagnostic techniques. European Transactions on Electrical Power 2009; Published online in
Wiley InterScience. 10.1002/etep.342.
7. Arkan M, Kostic-Perovic D, Unsworth PJ. Modeling
and simulation of induction motors with inter-turn
faults for diagnostics. Electric Power System Research
2005; 75: 5766. 10.1016/j.epsr.2004.08.015.
8. Kohler JL, Sottile J, Trutt FC. Alternatives for assessing the electrical integrity of induction motors. IEEE
Transactions on Industry Applications 1992; 28(5):
11091117. 10.1109/28.158836.
9. Kohler JL, Sottile J, Trutt FC. Condition monitoring of
stator windings in induction motors. I. Experimental
investigation of the effective negative-sequence impedance detector. IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications 2002; 38(5): 14471453. 10.1109/TIA.2002.
802935.
10. Albizu I, Zamora I, Mazon AJ, Tapia A. Techniques
for online diagnosis of stator shorted turns in induction
motors. Electric Power Components and Systems
2006; 34(1): 97114. 10.1080/15325000691001359.
11. Sidhu TS, Gill HS, Sachdev MS. A transformer protection technique with immunity to CT saturation and
ratio-mismatch conditions. IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, Vol. 1,
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 1998; 2428.
12. Sidhu TS, Gill HS, Sachdev MS. A numerical technique based on symmetrical components for protecting three-winding transformers. Electric Power
System Research 2000; 54: 1928. 10.1016/S03787796(99)00069-3.
13. Guzman D, Ignacio D, Pablo A, Javier G-A. Zerosequence-based relaying technique for protecting
6. LIST OF SYMBOLS AND

ABBREVIATIONS
6.1. Symbols
HV
Iaf
Ibf
Icf
Ian
Ipn
Isn
LV
N1
N2
Rf
a
high voltage side of the transformer

phasor of the fundamental component of the phase
a line current signal
b line current signal
c line current signal
negative sequence component of the line currents
from primary side
from secondary side
low voltage side of the transformer
turns number of the primary winding
turns number of the secondary winding
fault resistance between shorted turns
phase rotation operator equivalent to ej2p=3 .
6.2. Abbreviation
RNSC
210
Ratio of negative sequence components
DOI: 10.1002/etep
power transformers and its performance assessment

using unsupervised learning ANN. European Transactions on Electric Power 2006; 16: 147160.
10.1002/etep.72.
14. Guzman D, Javier G-A, Pablo A. Diagnosis of a turnto-turn short circuit in power transformers by means of
zero sequence current analysis. Electric Power Systems Research 2004; 69: 321329. 10.1016/
j.epsr.2003.07.014.
15. Wagner CF, Evans RD. Symmetrical Components,
McGraw-Hill: New York & London, 1933.
16. Blackburn JL. Symmetrical Components for Power
System Engineering, Marcel Dekker: New York,
Basel, Hong Kong, 1993.
Appendix
The 2D transient magnetic solver in the FLUX software
package was used to implement the transformer finite
element model. It is possible to carry out a 2D plane study
if the magnetic flux of the device is supposed to concentrate
on the cross-section plane and there may be no extremity
effect or magnetic flux leakage in the third direction. A 2D
study is recommended in modeling of the transformers,
because the magnetic fluxes, created by the primary and
secondary conductors, is strongly confined in the magnetic
circuit and therefore in the cross-section plane.
In general, the magnetic field model of the transformer
can be distinguished into three parts: the core, the
windings, and the oil surrounding the core and the
windings. Neglecting the stray losses in the transformer
tank walls, the transformer tank has excluded in the
computation domain. The core and surrounding oil has
been entirely included in the model. Representation of the
winding is related to the modeling of skin effect.
Ordinarily, the conductors concerned by the field-circuit
coupling are of two types: stranded conductors and solid
DOI: 10.1002/etep
conductors. From the physical point of view, stranded

conductors are characterized by a value of the skin depth
much greater than the dimensions of the conductor crosssection and, as a consequence, by an almost uniform
distribution of the current density over all the conductor
cross-section. Solid conductors are characterized by a
value of the skin depth comparable to or smaller than the
dimensions of the conductor cross-section. The density of
supplied or induced currents is non-uniform in the crosssection of such conductors. In this study, both of the
primary and secondary windings, which have a small
cross-section and high number of turns and consequently
negligible eddy current losses in the windings, are modeled
as stranded coil conductors.
To analyze the transient dynamic behavior of the
transformer, the equations of electromagnetic and electric
circuit fields are directly coupled and solved simultaneously at each time step. The method of weighted
residuals has been applied to the coupled field-circuit
equations to yield the finite element matrix equations.
Also, the finite element time stepping scheme has been
used to discretize the equations in the time domain. To
obtain a unique solution for the governing equation based
on AVA formulation, the zero Dirichlet boundary
condition is applied on the external border of the
computation domain.
The mesh of the regions of the transformer should be
created depending on the physics of the problem, since the
quality of the results depends on the quality of the mesh.
The mesh is much more refined in zones of strong variation
and high intensity of the magnetic field than in the zone
close to the computation domain boundary. A mesh
generator that creates first-order rectangular elements has
been used for meshing of the windings. The core,
surrounding oil, and the boundary domain were fully
discretized by triangular first-order elements. The finite
element model of the studied power transformer is
composed of 17 598 surface and 7406 line elements and
includes 38 827 nodes as illustrated in Figure 2.
211

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EUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER

Euro. Trans. Electr. Power 2011; 21:196211

Online monitoring of power transformers for detection

transformers has been that just these low level interturn

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

negative sequence component in the motor supply currents

Online monitoring of power transformers

Figure 1. Geometry of the transformer model (all units are in mm).

Online monitoring of power transformers

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

represents the resistive component of the dielectric

Figure 2. 2D Finite element model of the transformer.

terminal current and voltages, short circuit impedance, etc.,

Table II. Comparison of the values of the transformer.

The theoretical foundation of the new detection method is

In the above equation, the negative sequence component

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

Online monitoring of power transformers

phasors. The H3 coefficient on the right hand side of the

According to symmetrical components theory [15,16],

Online monitoring of power transformers

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

interturn faults. While a short circuit of a few turns of the

4. RESULTS AND CASE STUDIES

leave it on the other side, properly transformed. Hence, the

The performance of the proposed detection method was

4.1. Case 1: Interturn fault on HV winding

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

currents and negative sequence component is particularly

4.2. Case 2: Interturn fault on LV winding

Online monitoring of power transformers

has a fault resistance equal to 0.01 V. It can be easily found

4.3. Case 3: External fault

4.4. Case 4: Load imbalance

4.5. Case 5: Supply imbalance

Online monitoring of power transformers

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

b) Secondary Line Currents(A)

Primary Negative Sequence Current

c) Negative Sequence Components(A)

Secondary Negative Sequence Current

d) Operating Response of the Detector

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

Online monitoring of power transformers

a) Primary Line Currents(A)

b) Secondary Line Currents(A)

Primary Negative Sequence Current

c) Negative Sequence Components(A)

Secondary Negative Sequence Current

d) Operating Response of the Detector

Online monitoring of power transformers

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

a) Primary Line Currents(A)

b) Secondary Line Currents(A)

Primary Negative Sequence Current

c) Negative Sequence Components(A)

Secondary Negative Sequence Current

d) Operating Response of the Detector

A. Vahedi and V. Behjat

Online monitoring of power transformers

a) Primary Line Currents(A)

b) Secondary Line Currents(A)

c) Negative Sequence Components(A)