Chapter 2: Transformers

Introduction
The transformer is one of the simpler devices comprising two or more electric circuits
coupled by a common magnetic circuit. Essentially, a transformer consists of two or more
windings coupled by magnetic flux. If one of these windings, the primary, is connected
to an alternating voltage source, an alternating flux will be produced whose amplitude
will depend on the primary voltage, the frequency of the applied voltage, and the number
of turns. The mutual flux will link the other winding, the secondary, and will induce a
voltage in it whose value will depend on the number of secondary turns as well as the
magnitude of the mutual flux and the frequency. By properly proportioning the
number of primary and secondary turns, almost any desired voltage ratio, or ratio of
transformation, can be obtained.
The essence of transformer action requires only the existence of time-varying mutual
flux linking two windings. Such action can occur for two windings coupled through
air, but coupling between the windings can be made much more effectively using a
core of iron or other ferromagnetic material, because most of the flux is then confined
to a definite, high-permeability path linking the windings. Such a transformer is
commonly called an iron-core transformer. Most transformers are of this type. The
following discussion is concerned almost wholly with iron-core transformers.
Magnetic Field and Mutual Inductance: Review of basic concepts
Magnetic fields are created due to movement of electrical charge, and are present
around permanent magnets and wires carrying current (electromagnet), as shown in
Fig.1.
In permanent magnets, spinning electrons produce a net external field.
If a current carrying wire is wound in the form of a coil of many turns, the net
magnetic field is stronger than that of a single wire. This field of the electromagnet
is further intensified if this coil is wound on an iron core.
In many applications, we need to vary the strength of magnetic fields. Electromagnets
are very commonly used in such applications.
The magnetic field is represented by "lines of flux ".
These lines of flux help us to visualize the magnetic field of any magnet even
though they only represent an invisible phenomena.
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 Magnetic field forms an essential link between transfer of energy from mechanical
to electrical form and vice-versa.
Magnetic fields form the basis for the operation of transformers, generators, and
motors.

The direction of this magnetic field can be determined using the right hand rule.

This rule states that if you point the thumb of your right hand in the direction of
the current, your fingers will point in the direction of the magnetic field.

Faradays Law
Michael Faraday discovered that whenever a conductor is moved through a magnetic
field, or whenever the magnetic field near a conductor is changed, currents flow in the
conductor. This effect is called electromagnetic induction.
Voltage induced in a single coil, due to sinusoidally varying flux is:
=

For a coil with N number of turns, the total induced voltage can be calculated by adding
the voltages induced in all the turns,
=

AC Circuit Analysis
Of all the various types of electric motors, alternating current (ac) motors are by far
most popular and most widely used. An ac motor is designed to operate as either a singlephase motor or a three-phase motor.
A general expression for a single phase current is as shown in Fig .2a is,
() = sin( + )
where, Im is the maximum value or the amplitude of the current, is the angular
frequency (in radians per second [rad/sec]) and is the initial phase shift. The angular
frequency can be expressed as
= 2
where f is the frequency of the current waveform in hertz(Hz). The time required to
complete one cycle of the waveform is called the time period and is given as
=

Figure 2: a) Current waveform b) Square of current waveform

3

The average value of the periodic current waveform (Fig. 2a) is

1
= () = 0

The average value of sinusoidal varying function of the form given in Fig.2a is always
zero.
The root-mean-square (rms) or effective value of the current waveform in Fig.2a is

= 2 ()) =
0.707

2
0

The function 2 () is sketched in Fig. 2b, which clearly shows that the squared wave lies
entirely above the zero axis.
We say that an alternating current has an effective value of 1 A when it produces heat
in certain resistance at the same rate that heat is produces in the same resistance by 1 A
of direct current. Note that the rms value of sinusoidal function is always 70.7% of its
maximum value.

where, = /2 and = /2 are the rms values of the voltage and the current,
and = is the angle between them, as shown in Fig. 3. Therefore average power is
equal to the product of rms value of the voltage and rms value of the current and the
cosine of the angle between them.

Figure 3: Voltage, current and instantaneous power waveforms.

The angle between the voltage and the current is called the power factor angle, and
cos()is called the power factor.
The power factor is said to be lagging when the current lags the voltage, as shown in
Fig.4. In this case, the circuit is inductive in nature. On the other hand, the current leads
the voltage for capacitive circuit and has a leading power factor.

given in Table 1. Note that jL and 1/jC are inductive impedance (ZL) and

Table 1: Ohms law for R,L and C

Figure 4: Complex power diagram

imaginary axis in complex plane, as indicated by Fig. 4, where is the power

factor angle.

CONSTRUCTION OF TRANSFORMERS

Fig.5. In core-type transformer, shown in Fig. 6 each winding may be evenly split and
wound on both legs of rectangular core. The nomenclature, shell type and core type, is
derived from the fact that in shell-type transformer the core encircles the windings,
whereas the windings envelop is the core in a core-type transformer.

Figure 5: Shell-type Transformer

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Figure 6: Core-Type transformer

Principle of Action
Consider a transformer with two windings, a primary windings of N1 turns
and the secondary winding of N2 turns, as shown schematically in Fig.7.

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Fig. 7: Ideal Transformer

The core flux also links the secondary winding and induces a voltage e2,
which is the same as the terminal voltage v2:

Therefore,

The above equation indicates that the voltage in the winding of ideal
transformer are directly proportional to the turns of the windings.
Let us now connect the load (by closing the switch in Fig.7) to the
secondary winding. A current i2 will flow in the secondary winding, and the
secondary winding will provide an mmf N2i2 for the core. This will
immediately make a primary winding i1 flow so that a counter mmf N1i1 can
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oppose N2i2. Otherwise N2i2 would make the core flux change drastically and
the balance between v1 and e1 would be disturbed. Note in in Fig.7 the current
direction are shown such that their mmfs oppose each other. Because the net
mmf required to establish a flux in ideal core is zero.

Therefore the currents in the windings are inversely proportional to the

turns of the windings. Also note that if more currents are drawn by the load,
more current will flow from the supply. It is this mmf balancing requirement
that makes primary know of the presence of current in the secondary.
Therefore from the above equations,

If the supply voltage is in sinusoid form, the all the above equations can be
expressed in the form of rms values:

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IMPEDANCE TRANSFER
Consider the case when the sinusoidal voltage applied in primary, and the
impedance Z2 as shown in Fig. 8a.

An impedance Z2 connected in the secondary will appear as an impedance

Z2 looking from primary. The circuit in Fig.8a is therefore equivalent to the
circuit in Fig.8b. Impedance can be transferred from secondary to primary if
its value is multiplied by the square of the turns ratio.

Figure 8: Impedance transfer across the ideal transformer

And also an impedance in primary can be also transferred to the secondary

side, in that case its value has to be divided by the square of the turns ratio.

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POLARITY
Windings on transformers or other electrical machines are marked to
indicate terminals of like polarity. Consider the two windings shown in
Fig.9a. Terminals 1 and 3 are identical, because currents entering these
terminals produce fluxes in the same direction in the core that forms the
common magnetic path. For the same reason, terminal 2 and 4 are identical.
If these two windings are linked by a common time varying flux, voltages
will be induced in these windings such that, if at a particular instant the
potential of terminal 1 is positive with respect to terminal 2, and at the same
instant the potential of terminal 3 will be positive with respect to terminal 4.

c)

Figure 9: Polarity Determination

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In other words, induced voltages e12 and e34 are in phase. Identical
terminals such as 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 are sometimes marked by dots (or
symbol) as shown in Fig.9b. These are called polarity marking of the
windings. They show how the windings are wound on the core material.
Polarities of windings must be known if transformers are connected in
parallel to share load. Fig.10a shows the parallel connection of two single
phase transformers. This is the correct connection because secondary voltage
e21 and e22 oppose each other internally. The connection shown in Fig. 11b is
wrong, because e21 and e22 aid each other internally and large circulating
current Icir will flow in the windings and may damage the transformers.
Therefore for three-phase connection the transformer polarities must be
known.

Figure 10: Parallel operation of transformers a) Correct connection b) Wrong connection

PARALLEL OPERATION OF TRANSFORMERS

By parallel operation we mean two or more transformers are connected to
the same supply bus bars on the primary side and to a common bus bar/load
on the secondary side. Such requirement is frequently encountered in
practice. The reasons that necessitate parallel operation are as follows.
1. Non-availability of a single large transformer to meet the total load
requirement.
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2. The power demand might have increased over a time necessitating

augmentation of the capacity. More transformers connected in parallel
will then be pressed into service.
3. To ensure improved reliability. Even if one of the transformers gets
into a fault or is taken out for maintenance/repair the load can
continued to be serviced.
4. To reduce the spare capacity. If many smaller size transformers are
used one machine can be used as spare. If only one large machine is
feeding the load, a spare of similar rating has to be available. The
problem of spares becomes more acute with fewer machines in service
at a location.
5. When transportation problems limit installation of large transformers
at site, it may be easier to transport smaller ones to site and work them
in parallel.
Fig. 11 shows the physical arrangement of two single phase
transformers working in parallel on the primary side. Transformer A and
Transformer B are connected to input voltage bus bars. After ascertaining
the polarities they are connected to output/load bus bars.

Figure 11: Parallel Operation of Two Single Phase Transformers Physical

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Certain conditions have to be met before two or more transformers are

connected in parallel and share a common load satisfactorily. They are,
1. The voltage ratio must be the same.
2. The per unit impedance of each machine on its own base must be the
same.
3. The polarity must be the same, so that there is no circulating current
between the transformers.

4. The phase sequence must be the same and no phase difference must
exist between the voltages of the two transformers.

PRACTICAL TRANSFORMERS
In ideal transformers, certain assumptions were made which are not valid
in practical transformers. For example, in practical transformer windings
have resistances, not all windings link the same flux, permeability of the core
material is not infinite, and core losses occur when core material is subjected
to time-varying flux. In analysis of a practical transformer, all the
imperfections must be considered.
A more complete model must take into account the effects of winding
resistances, leakage fluxes, and finite exciting current due to the finite (and
indeed nonlinear) permeability of the core. In some cases, the capacitances
of the windings also have important effects, notably in problems involving
transformer behavior at frequencies above the audio range or during rapidly
changing transient conditions such as those encountered in power system
transformers as a result of voltage surges caused by lightning or switching
transients. The analysis of these high-frequency problems is beyond the
scope of the present treatment however, and accordingly the capacitances of
the windings will be neglected.
Two methods of analysis by which departures from the ideal can be taken
into account are (1) an equivalent-circuit technique based on physical reasoning
and (2) a mathematical approach based on the classical theory of magnetically
coupled circuits. Because it offers an excellent example of the thought process
involved in translating physical concepts to a quantitative theory, the
equivalent circuit technique is presented here.
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The total flux linking the primary winding can be divided into two
components: the resultant mutual flux, confined essentially to the iron core
and produced by the combined effect of the primary and secondary currents,
and the primary leakage flux, which links only the primary. These components
are identified in the schematic transformer shown in Fig. 12, where for
simplicity the primary and secondary windings are shown on opposite legs
of the core. In an actual transformer with interleaved windings, the details
of the flux distribution are more complicated, but the essential features
remain the same.
The leakage path is primarily in air, and therefore the leakage flux varies
linearly with current. The effect of leakage flux can be accounted for by an
inductance, called leakage inductance.

Figure 12: Schematic view of mutual and leakage fluxes in a transformer.

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The leakage flux induces voltage in the primary winding which adds to that
produced by the mutual flux. Because the leakage path is largely in air, this
flux and the voltage induced by it vary linearly with primary current I1 It
can therefore be represented by a primary leakage inductance Lll (equal to the
leakage-flux linkages with the primary per unit of primary current). The
corresponding primary leakage reactance Xll is found as

In addition, there will be a voltage drop in the primary resistance R1.

We now see that the primary terminal voltage V1 consists of three
components: the ilR1 drop in the primary resistance, the ilXll drop arising
from primary leakage flux, and the emf E1 induced in the primary by the
resultant mutual flux. Fig. 13b shows an equivalent circuit for the primary
winding which includes each of these voltages.

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Figure 13) Steps in the development of the transformer equivalent circuit.

The resultant mutual flux links both the primary and secondary windings
and is created by their combined mmf's. It is convenient to treat these mmf's
by considering that the primary current must meet two requirements of the
magnetic circuit: It must not only produce the mmf required to produce the
resultant mutual flux, but it must also counteract the effect of the secondary
mmf which acts to demagnetize the core. An alternative viewpoint is that the
primary current must not only magnetize the core, it must also supply current to
the load connected to the secondary. According to this picture, it is convenient
to resolve the primary current into two components: an exciting component
and a load component.
The exciting component I is defined as the additional primary current
required to produce the resultant mutual flux. It is a nonsinusoidal current of
the nature. The load component I2 is defined as the component current in the
primary which would exactly counteract the mmf of secondary current I2.

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Figure 13: Continued.

Since it is the exciting component which produces the core flux, the net
mmf must equal N1I and thus we see that
1 = 1 1 2 2
= 1 ( + 2 ) 2 2
And therefore,
2 =

1 2

From above eqaution , we see that the load component of the primary
current equals the secondary current referred to the primary as in an ideal
transformer.
The exciting current can be treated as an equivalent sinusoidal current I
and can be resolved into a core-loss component Ic in phase with the emf E1 and
a magnetizing component Im lagging E1 by 90. In the equivalent circuit
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(Fig.13c) the equivalent sinusoidal exciting current is accounted for by means

of a shunt branch connected across E1, comprising a core-loss resistance Rc
in parallel with a magnetizing inductance Lm whose reactance, known as the
magnetizing reactance, is given by
= 2
The resultant mutual flux induces an emf E2 in the secondary, and
since this flux links both windings, the induced-emf ratio must equal the
winding turns ratio, i.e.,
1 1
=
=
2 2
just as in an ideal transformer.
Just as is the case for the primary winding, the emf E2 is not the secondary
terminal voltage, however, because of the secondary resistance R2 and
because the secondary current I2 creates secondary leakage flux (see Fig.12).
The secondary terminal voltage V2 differs from the induced voltage E2 by
the voltage drops due to secondary resistance R2 and secondary leakage
reactance Xl2: (corresponding to the secondary leakage inductance Ll2), as in
the portion of the complete transformer equivalent circuit (Fig. 13c) to the
right of E2.
From the equivalent circuit of Fig. 13, the actual transformer therefore
can be seen to be equivalent to an ideal transformer plus external
impedances. By referring all quantities to the primary or secondary, the ideal
transformer in Fig. 13c can be moved out to the right or left, respectively, of
the equivalent circuit. This is almost invariably done, and the equivalent
circuit is usually drawn as in Fig. 13e, with the ideal transformer not shown
and all voltages, currents, and impedances referred to either the primary or
secondary winding.

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Specifically, for Fig. 13e,

Example 1: A 50-kVA 2200:220-V 50-Hz distribution transformer has a

leakage impedance of 0.72+j0.92 in the high-voltage winding and
0.0070+j0.0090 in the low-voltage winding. At rated voltage and
frequency, the impedance Z of the shunt branch (equal to the impedance
of Rc and jXm in parallel) accounting for the exciting current is 6.32 + j43.7
when viewed from the low-voltage side. Draw the equivalent circuit referred
to (a) the high-voltage side and (b) the low-voltage side, and label the
impedances numerically.

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APPROXIMATE EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT

The voltage drop I1R1 and I1Xl1 (Fig. 13e) are normally small and |E1||V1|. If this is true
then the shun branch (composed of Rc1 and Xm1) can be moved to supply terminal, as
shown in Fig. 14a. This approximate equivalent circuit simplfies computation of currents,
because both the exciting branch impedance and the loadbranch impedance are directly
connected across the supply voltage. Besides, the winding resistances and leakage
reactances can belumbed together. This equivalent circuit( Fig. 14a) is frequently used to
determine the performance characterstric of practical transfomer.
In transformer, the exciting current I is small percentage of the rated current of the
transfomer (less than 5%). A further approximation of the equivalent circuit can be made
by removing the excitation branch, as shown in Fig. 14b. The equivalent circuit refered to
side 2 is also shown in Fig. 14c.

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Figure 14: Approximate equivalent circuit

DETERMINATION OF EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT

PARAMETERS
The equivalent circuit model (in Fig. 13e) for the actual transformer can be

following information on the name plate: 10kVA, 2200/220 Volts. What are
the meaning of these ratings. The voltage ratings indicate that the
traansfomer has two windings, one rated at 2200V volts and the other 220
volts. These voltages are proportional to their respective number of truns,
and therefore the voltage rati also represents the turn ratio(a=2200/220=10).
The 10kVA rating means that each winding is designed for 10kVA. Therefore
the current rating for the high-voltage winding is 10,000/2200=4.55 A and
for lower-volatge winding is 10,000/220=45.45A. It may be noted that when
rated current is 45.45 A will flows through the low-volatge winding, the
rated current 4.55 A will flow through the high-voltage winding. In actual
25

case, however, the winding that is connected to the supply (called the
primary winding) will carre an additional component of current (excitation
current), which is very samll copared to the rated current of the winding.

NO-LOAD TEST( OR OPEN-CIRCUIT TEST)

This test is performed by applying voltage to either the high-voltage side
or low-voltage side, whichever is convenient. Thus, if a 2200/220 volts
transformer were to be tested, the voltgae would be applied to low-volatge
winding, because a power supply of 220 volts is more readily available than
a supply of 2200 volts.
A wiring diagram for open-circuit test of transfomer is shown in Fig. 15a.
Note that the secondary winding is kept open. Therefore, from the
transformer equivalent circuit of Fig. 14a the equivalent circuit under opencircuit conditons is as shown in Fig. 15b. The primary current is the exciting
current and losses measured by wattmeter are essentially the core losses. The
equivalent circuit in Fig. 15b shows that the parameters Rc and Xm can be
determined from the voltmeter, ammeter, and wattmeter readings.
Note that the core losses will be the same whether 220 volts are applied
to the low-voltage winding having the smaller number of turns or 2200 volts
are applied to the high-voltage winding having the larger number of turns.
The core losses depend on the maximum value of flux in the core, which is same
in either case.

Figure 15: No-load (or open-circuit) test. (a) Wiring diagram for open-circuit test
(b) Equivalent circuit under open circuit condition
26

The magnitude of the excitation admittance (referred to the primary

circuit) can be found from the open- circuit test voltage and current:

The angle of the admittance can be found from a knowledge of the circuit
power factor. The open- circuit power factor (PF) is given by

and the power-factor angle is given by

The power factor is always lagging for a real transformer, so the angle
of the current always lags the angle of the voltage by degrees. Therefore,
the admittance is

SHORT-CIRCUIT TEST
In the short-circuit test, the secondary tenninals of the transformer are
short-circuited , and the primary terminals are connected to a fairly lowvoltage source, as shown in Fig. 16a . The input voltage is adjusted until
the current in the short-circuited windings is equal to its rated value. (Be
sure to keep the primary voltage at a safe level. It would not be a good
idea to burn out the transformer 's windings while trying to test it. )
The input voltage, current, and power are again measured.
27

The short-circuit test can be used to find the equivalent series impedance
Req + jXeq. This test is performed by short-circuiting one winding and
applying rated current to other winding as shown in Fig. 16a. In the
equivalent circuit of Fig.14a for the transformer , the impedance of excitation
branch ( shunt branch composed of Rc and Xm) is much larger than that of
the series branch (composed of Req and Xeq). If the secondary terminals are
shorted, the high impedance of shunt branch can be neglected. The
equivalent circuit
with the secondary short-circuited can thus be
represented by the circuit shown Fig.16b. Note that since Zeq (=Req+Xeq) is
small, only the small supply voltage is required to pass rated current
through the windings. For convenience, the high-voltage side is usually
taken as the primary in this test. Because the equivalent series impedance in
a typical transformer is relatively small, typically an applied primary voltage
on the order of 10 to 15 percent or less of the rated value will result in rated
current.

Figure 16: Short-circuit test. (a) Wiring diagram for short-circuit test. (b)
Equivalent circuit at short-circuit condition
As can be seen from Fig 16b, the parameters Req and Xeq can be determined
from the readings of voltmeter, ammeter and wattmeter. In a well-designed
transformer, R1 =a2R2 =R2 and Xl1=a2Xl2=Xl2. Note that because the voltage
applied under short-circuit condition is small, the core losses are neglected
and the wattmeter reading can be taken entirely to represent the copper losses
in the windings, represented by Req.
Since the input voltage is so low during the short- circuit test, negligible
current flows through the excitation branch. If the excitation current is
28

ignored, then all the voltage drop in the transformer can be attributed to
the series elements in the circuit. The magnitude of the series impedances
referred to the primary side of the transformer is

and is lagging. The current angle is thus negative, and the overall impedance
angle is positive:

Example 2: The equivalent circuit impedances of a 20-kVA, 8000/240-V,

60-Hz transformer are to be determined. The open-circuit test and the
short-circuit test were performed on the primary side of the transformer,
and the following data were taken:

Find the impedances of the approximate equivalent circuit referred to

the primary side, and sketch that circuit.

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VOTAGE REGUALTION

age drop in the internal impedance of the transformer. Consider Fig. 17a,

Figure 17: Voltage regulation

30

The absolute signs are used to indicate that it is the change in magnitudes
that is important for the performance of the load. The voltages in equation
above can be calculated by using equivalent circuit referred to primary, or
secondary. Let us consider the equivalent circuit which is referred to
primary shown in Fig 14. Equation above can also be written as

From Fig. 14b,

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From the above equations,

The volatge regualtion depends on the power factor of the load. This can
be appreciated from phasor diagram of voltages. Based on voltage equation
and Fig. 14b, the phasor diagram is drawn in Fig. 17b. the locus of V1

From Equation above,

TRANSFORMER EFFICIENCY

32

shown in Example 2. Therefore, if the parameters of the equivalent circuit

33

Therefore, the condition for maximum power efficiency is

From the above three equations,

If this condition is applied for power equation, the condition for maximum
efficiency is

factor is shown in Fig. 18.

34

Figure 18: Efficiency of the transformer

Example 3: A 15-kVA, 2300/230-V transformer is to be tested to determine
its excitation branch components, its series impedances, and its voltage
regulation. The following test data have been taken from the primary side
of the transformer:

a) Find the equivalent circuit of this transformer referred to the

high-voltage side.
b) Find the equivalent circuit of this transformer referred to the
low-voltage side.

35

c) Calculate the full-load voltage regulation at 0.8 lagging power

factor , 1.0 power factor, and at 0.8 leading power factor.
d) What is the efficiency of the transformer at full load with a
power factor of 0.8 lagging?

AUTOTRANSFORMER

Fig.19 is mounted on a core and the secondary is taken from a tap on-

Figure 19: Autotransformer

36

For ampere turn balance, from the above two equations,

From the analysis, the voltages and currents are related by same turns
ratio as in a two-winding transformer.

example 4, and variable output voltage when the sliding contact is used for
secondary. The disadvantage is the direct connection between the primary
and secondary sides.
Example 4: A 1, 100kVA, 2000/200V two winding transfomer is connected
as an auto trasnformer as shown in Figure 20, such that more than
2000 V is obtaind at the secondary. The portion ab is 200V winding ,
and the portion bc is the 2000V winding. Compute the KVA rating as
an autotransfomer.

Figure 20: Autotransformer for Example 4

37

THREE-PHASE TRANSFORMERS
Three-phase transformers, considering as consisting of three identical onephase transformers. This method is accurate as far as equivalent circuits and
two-port models are our interest, but it does not give us insight into the
magnetic circuit of the three-phase transformer. The primaries and the
secondaries of the one-phase transformers can be connected either in or Y.
In either case, the rated power of the three-phase transformer is three times
that of the one-phase transformers.
For connection,

For Y connection,

Figure 21: Three phase transformer a) Y-Y Connection b) Y - connection

38

Figure 22: Three phase transformer a) -Y Connection b) - connection

Transformer Equivalent circuit in Per-Unit Form

The equivalent circuit of a transformer referred to the primary side is shown
in Fig. 23. The equations in actual form is

39

The equation in per-unit form can be obtained by dividing the above

equation throughout by the base value of the primary voltage.

Based on the above equation, the equivalent circuit in per-unit form is shown
in Fig. 23. It has been shown that the voltages, currents, and impedances in

form for either side is one shown in Fig. 23c. Note that the values of

Figure 23: Transformer equivalent circuit in per-unit form

40

Example 5:

41