PF5-1
Optimal Placement of a Wall-Tank Magnetic Shunt in a Transformer Using
FE Models and a Stochastic-Deterministic Approach
C. Hernández1 , IEEE Student Member, M.A. Arjona1 IEEE Member and J.P. Sturgess2
1
Instituto Tecnológico de la Laguna. Blvd. Revolución y Calz. Cuauhtemoc. 27000 Torreón, Coah. México.
2
Areva T&D, Technology Centre. St Leonards Avenue, Stafford ST17 4LX, England.
marjona@ieee.org
Abstract— This paper presents the optimal location and
geometry of a magnetic shunt in a distribution power
transformer. To speed up the problem solution, it is divided into
two cases; firstly, an axisymmetric FE model is used to find its
vertical placement and secondly, a 3D magnedynamic FE model
is employed to find remaining dimensions. A genetic algorithm
and the Powell method are used to find a global minimum.
I. INTRODUCTION
Stray losses occur due to leakage magnetic flux, occurring
in the windings and the conductive regions of transformers.
Stray losses in metallic transformer parts cause hot spots,
which may be avoided using an optimal placement of
magnetic shunts [1]. This paper presents the optimal
placement of magnetic shunts in a transformer. Two Finite
Element (FE) linear models are used in combination to carry
out the optimization, an axi-symmetric magnetodynamic and a
3D magnetodynamic, with a surface impedance model for the
tank wall [2]. The optimization problem is solved using
Genetic Algorithms (GA) and the Powell method.
II. DESIGN PROBLEM DESCRIPTION
The objective function is defined such that the wall-tank
power intensity (W/m2) must not exceed a maximum local
value and the shunt volume should be kept to a minimum
permissible, therefore it is a minimization problem. The
design variables are: upper vertical length, x1, lower vertical
length, x2, thickness, x3, upper horizontal length, x4, and lower
horizontal length, x5. Optimal values for x1-x3 are found by
using an axi-symmetric model and x4-x5 with the 3D model
(where vertical dimensions are kept fixed). The design
variables are illustrated in Fig. 1 (a) and (b).
Fig. 1. Design variables in (a) 2D model and (b) 3D model.
III. OPTIMAL SOLUTION
To define properly the GA machinery, the size m of the
initial population Ω´(m) of individuals Gi, i=1,…m, the
coding method, the fitness index F(Gi) of each individual, and
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the formulation of genetic operators must be provided. Then,
four data processing steps: representation, selection, crossover
and mutation are invoked. GAs are able to locate promising
regions for global optima in a search space, but sometimes
have difficult in finding the exact minimum of these optima
[3]. On the other hand, deterministic methods are known for
their fast convergence speed but they are very sensitive to the
initial guess of the solution. Therefore, the benefit of
combining the Powell method and the GA were exploited in
the current problem [4]. Fig. 2 shows the results when the
optimal placement and geometry of the magnetic shunt has
been achieved.
The fitness value is calculated by the objective function:
F = Pi wt (x ) − kPi max + V (x ) (1)
subject to: xmin ≤ x ≤ xmax
where x is the design variable vector, Piwt represents the wall-
tank loss intensity, Pmaxi is the maximum power loss density, k
is the desired percentage loss reduction and V represents the
magnetic shunt volume.
1
with shunt
without shunt
0.8
Power intensity (pu)
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5
Length (m)
Fig. 2. Power-loss density along the wall tank with and without shunt.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
The optimal placement of a magnetic shunt in a wall tank of
a transformer has been presented. The approach of using an
axi-symmetric and a 3D scalar magnetodynamic model in the
optimization problem will clearly reduce the optimization time
when compared with a completely 3D model.
V. REFERENCES
[1] M. Horii, N. Takahashi, and J. Takehara, “3-D Optimization of Design
Variables in x-, y- and z- Directions of Transformer Tank Shield
Model”. IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, Vol. 37, No. 5, pp 3631-
3634, September 2001.
[2] SLIM Electromagnetic Engineering User Manual, ver. 3.7.1. Areva
T&D Technology Centre. England. 2005.
[3] D. Goldberg, Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization and Machine
Learning, Addison-Wesley, 1989, pp. 27-54.
[4] S. S. Rao, Engineering Optimization, John Wiley & Sons, 1996, pp.
357-368.
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