Testing

Tap
Changers
By Michael Krger, OMICRON Electronics Austria

he gas in oil analysis is a proven and meaningful method of

power transformer analysis. If increased proportions of
hydrocarbon gases are found in the oil, the fault has to be
localised as soon as possible. This way important maintenance can
be performed in time in order to avoid a sudden total failure.
As the most frequent failure causes, the On load tap changers
(OLTC) have to be considered. Possible reasons for the OLTC
problems can be the existence of high contact resistances at the
voltage selector or a short interruption across the diverter switch
contacts.
One important test is to measure the winding resistances
including the resistances of all connections and contacts. Another
important test is the dynamic resistance measurement to enable an
analysis of the transient switching operation of the diverter switch.
STRUCTURE OF A TAP CHANGER
For a better understanding of the resistance measurements the
mode of operation of the tap changer is explained first. Figure 1
shows the functional principle.
In most cases the tap changer consists of two units. The first unit
is the voltage selector which is directly located inside the transformer
tank and is switching to the next higher or lower tap without
carrying current. The second unit is the on-load tap changer which
is switching without any interruption from one tap to the next while
carrying load current. The transition resistances R limit the shortcircuit current between the taps which could otherwise become very
high due to the interruption-free switching of the contact. The
switching process between two taps takes approx. 40 - 80 ms.

Figure 1: Equivalent circuit diagram of a tap changer

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February/March 2003

WINDING RESISTANCE MEASUREMENT FOR TRANSFORMERS

USING CPC 100
Since the winding resistances are very small, the test set is connected
in 4-wire technology. A high no-load voltage enables a quick
saturation of the core and a fast reaching of the stationary final
value. Therefore, in most cases the charging time per tap is distinctly
smaller than 30 seconds.

Figure 2: Resistance measurement in 4-wire connection

WINDING RESISTANCE MEASUREMENT FOR A 220 KV / 110

KV - 100 MVA TRANSFORMER MANUFACTURED IN 1955
This transformer had conspicuous gas in oil values. The analysis
allowed to conclude an inner overheating.

Figure 3: CPC 100 Resistance measurement

www.powertrans.com.au

One important test is to measure the winding resistances including the resistances of all
connections and contacts. Another important test is the dynamic resistance measurement
to enable an analysis of the transient switching operation of the diverter switch.

Figure 4: Resistance for U-Mp

The results are shown in Figure 4. The measurement results show a

very good matching with the values measured by the manufacturer
for the mid-position (= 10) with direct connection to the basic
winding. All other taps show a significant increase compared to the
originally measured values. The differences are up to more than
10 % or in absolute values up to 70 m. The deviations between
switching upwards and switching downwards are clearly visible. This
fact shows that the high contact resistances actually are caused by
the switching contacts of the voltage selector.
DYNAMIC RESISTANCE MEASUREMENT
Using the CPC 100 it is not only static resistance measurements
which can be performed. The switching process of the on-load tap
changer, including the contact bouncing, can be analysed. It is also
possible to diagnose if the switching process of the voltage selector
is not yet finished (due to faulty synchronisation) before the on-load
tap changer is switching to the new tap.

Figure 5: Switching process of an OLTC

Figure 5 shows the switching process of a proper working on-load

tap changer. The following switching phases can be observed:
1 = change-over of the on-load tap changer from the first tap to the
first transition resistance; 2 = parallel connection of the second
transition resistance; 3 = short-circuiting of the second transition
resistance and change-over of the on-load tap changer to the
second winding; 4 = charging period for the switched-on winding.
www.powertrans.com.au

If the switching process is interrupted (even if it is only a shorttime interruption), the ripple (= Imax - Imin) and the slope steepness
of the current change di/dt increase. Both quantities are measured
and displayed by the CPC. The values for all taps and particularly the
values for the three phases are compared. Major deviations from the
mean values indicate faulty switching. The measuring circuit used in
the CPC 100 is a glitch detector which is able to detect even shorttime failures as they occur during contact bouncing, for example.
The measuring current chosen should not be too high for this
measurement (< 1 A) since otherwise high magnetic energy
(= 1/2 LI2) is stored in the winding inductance. During an
interruption of the test current the magnetic energy is then
transformed into electric energy. In such cases an electric arc occurs
on the short-time opening contact. However, the interruption is
possibly too short for the electric arc to extinguish. Then the fault is
very difficult to detect from the outside.
TRANSFORMER RATIO MEASUREMENT
CPC 100 also enables the measurement of the transformer ratio
which can be recorded very simply per tap similar to the resistance
measurement. During the transformer ratio measurement the
amplitude and phase angle of the no-load current are also recorded.
This measurement enables a statement about the changes inside the
iron core of the particular leg. By comparing the excitation currents
of the individual phases, core burning and partial short-circuiting of
the core (e.g. caused by iron parts) which can also be a possible
reason for overheating, can be detected. Of course interturn short
circuits can also be detected this way.
LEAKAGE INDUCTANCE MEASUREMENT
The leakage inductance can also be measured. High fault currents
can cause a deformation of the windings possibly resulting in an
expansion of the leakage channel. A strong deformation of the coil
can increase the leakage inductance. Since CPC 100 also enables
impedance measurements using other frequencies than 50 Hz, this
measurement can also be carried out with relatively low currents in
the field. If required, the value for 50 Hz can be obtained by
interpolating the measurement results for adjacent frequencies. This
way the measurement result is not influenced by undesired
couplings from adjacent bus bars.
SUMMARY
With advancing age of transformers a regular check of the
operating condition becomes more and more important. The gas in
oil analysis is a proven and meaningful method of analysis. If
increased proportions of hydrocarbon gases are found in the oil, the
fault has to be localised as soon as possible. This way important
maintenance can be performed in time in order to avoid a sudden
total failure. The fault localisation can often be successfully
performed using relatively simple methods, such as resistance
measurements. Using the OMICRON CPC 100 the most important
transformer measurements can be performed quickly and efficiently.
Automatic test procedures enable simple operation and the test
report is created automatically.
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