Impact and sources of reverse current on neutral and windings of

Utility transformer:
Reverse current flows in a system when the output voltages in that are higher than the input voltages.
This alters the direction of current too and current starts flowing backwards i.e. from load towards the
source.

One source of reverse current is when the system input is suddenly disconnected, so that a higher
voltage is left at the output which produces reverse current for a short interval. The other source of reverse
current is when the body diode of an FET becomes forward biased. If there is an FET present in the system
and the FET output voltage becomes greater than the input voltage then the reverse current flows backward
through the body diode. A linear rise in power dissipation is observed due to this phenomena. Another
reason of reverse current flow is the power multiplexing or the power muxing process. In this process the
circuit is switched to select one of the multiple power supplies available. It the voltage of one power supply
is greater than the other then the reverse current can flow even if the other power supply has an “open”
switch.
It is to be noted that the reverse voltage and reverse current are two different phenomenon. Negative
voltage is when the polarity of the system is altered i.e. the positive and negative terminals of the power
source are switched. So as a result the terminal connected to the ground then have the positive output from
the system and the current that flows in this case is not same as the reverse current.
If the power dissipated in a particular device is more than its thermal rating then that device may
be burned. Therefore for the protection purposes reverse current or reverse voltage should be taken care of.
Reverse current can damage the internal circuitry of any system and also of the power supplies. It can also
damage cables and connectors based upon the path that the reverse current follows from the input to the
output.
The impacts of reverse current on a transformer could and could not be severe in nature. In the case
of utility transformers that is distribution transformers if the reverse current that flows in neutral is high, it
would shift the Wye junction point of the transformer from ground potential. If the voltage is reduced
considerably then the voltage of the heavily loaded phase will also be reduced and the voltage of low loaded
phase will be increased, this may lead to the damage of the appliances. The other possibility is that if the
reverse current that flows through the neutral is too high then there is a risk that the connection may also
get burned and cause the open circuit. It will cause the high voltage difference than the normal voltage and
eventually it will cause blackout and appliances could be damaged. The voltages increased on the low
loaded phase due to the high reverse current flow would be the reason to increase the voltage than the
permissible voltage per turn rating and it will lead towards the damage of transformer winding due to the
failure of insulation. The phase that is heavily loaded would have to bear the over load temperature rise and
the windings would be damaged.