3786 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. MAG-23, NO.

5 , SEPTEMBER1987
FEM ANALYSIS OF 3D EDDY CURRENT FIELD I N POWER TRANSFORMER

Xie Dexin Tang Yunqiu Xu Zihong

Shenyang Polytechnic Harbin I n s t i touft e Shenyang Transformer
University E l e c t r i c a l Technology
Research Institute
Dept. of Elect. Eng. Dept. Elect.
of P.R.
Fng. China
P. R. China P.R. China

Abstract: The t h r e e d i m e n s i o n a l f i n i t e e l e m e n t non-conductor a r e r a t h e r s m a l l e r t h a n t h e t a n g e n t i a l

a n a l y s i s o f eddy current problems using the complex components, t h e e f f e c t o f t h e c h a r g e on theconductor
magnetic vector potential i s applied to a p r a c t i c a l s u r f a c e can be neglected, so i t i s w i t h t h e e l e c t r i c a l
t h r e e p h a s e power transformer. The eddy current densi- scalarpotential. Thus t h e number o f t h e v a r i a b l e s a r e
ties in the oil tank and o t h e r s t e e l s t r u c t u r e p a r t s reduced. B u t i n what case the equation ( 1 ) i s approxi-
and t h e m a g n e t i c f l u x d e n s i t i e s i n t h e whole t r a n s f o r - mately valid? And i f t h e e l e c t r i c a l s c a l a r p o t e n t i a l
mer a r e computed. Severalmethods t o reduce the amount i s neglected in this case, how i s t h e computing p r e c i -
ofcomputation are presented. The eddy c u r r e n t l o s s e s sion? These questions has to be researched further.
in steel materials are computed by combiningnumerical However, there have been some i n s t a n c e s f o r r e f e r e n c e .
method w i t h a n a l y t i c a l . The computed r e s u l t s a r e i n Demerdash e t al. * used only the magnetic vector
p o t e n t i a l t o s o l v e a 3 D eddy c u r r e n t f i e l d i n an alu-
substantial agreement with the corresponding experi-
m e n t a l values. minum t e s t b a r w i t h i t s e x c i t a t i o n c o i l on it, and ob-
tained the numerical results which agrees with the
Introduction testresultssatisfactorily.Inthispaper,alsoonly
t h e magnetic vector potential i s taken t o s o l v e t h e 3D
There has been a g r e a t d e a l done with f i n i t e e l e - eddy c u r r e n t f i e l d i n a power transformer. Thecompu-
ment method a n a l y s i s o f three dimensional. eddy c u r r e n t t e d results show t h a t t h e e l e c t r i c a l f i e l d i n t e n s i t i e s
f i e l d . I n most o f t h e s e i n v e s t i g a t i o n s o n l y model x on t h e i n t e r i o r s u r f a c e of t h e o i l t a n k wall almost
problems were t a k e n t o v e r i f y t h e methodspresented. parallel the surface, and the normal components of f
Buta more complicatedandtroublesomeproblem is are approximately equal to zero, whereas on t h e f a s -
u s i n g t h e method f o r p r a c t i c a l power devices. Our sub- tening parts there are some small surface normal com-
ponents o f f somewhere.

al. ’
j e c t h a s t r i e d it. Ve apply the 3D-FE complex magnetic
v e c t r o t e n t i a l a n a l y s i s proposed by Demerdash e t
t: t h e power devices,andhavedevelopeda
thodofimplementation which i s s u i t a b l e t o s o l v e t h e
me- The Region t o beSolved

In the strict sense, the upper

i s Reduced
and lower parts of
3 D eddy current problems in practical engineering. As
an example, t h e 3 D sinusoidaltime-varyingelectromag- t h e power transformer are not symmetrical. However,
n e t i c f i e l d i n a three phase transformer i s c a l c u l a t e d , the experimental results prove that the direction of
which i s s u b j e c t t o t h e s h o r t c i r c u i t c o n d i t i o n . mean- m a g n e t i c f i e l d on t h e c o i l c e n t r e symmetricalplane i s
while, the eddy c u r r e n t i n t h e o i l t a n k and other almostperpendiculartotheplane, so t h i s p l a n e can
s t r u c t u r e p a r t s i s considered.Neglectthe eddy cur- be regarded as t h e symmetrical plane of the transfor-
rent in the laminated core and the skin effect in the mer, and the upper and lower parts can be computed
coil conductors. Take t h e d i f f e r e n c e o f t h e r e l u c t i v i - r e s p e c t i v e l y . The verticalsymmetricalplaneconsi-
tiesinthelaminatedcorein x,y, z directions into dered, the quater of the whole regioncan be t a k e n t o
account. The r e l u c t i v i t i e s may depend on t h e f i e l d . solve,seeFig. 1.
F i r s t o r d e r t e t r a h e d r a l f i n i t e e l e m e n t s are u s e d f o r
s p a c e d i s c r e t i z a t i o n . The n u m e r i c a l r e s u l t s u s i n g t h e The Boundary Conditions are Treated Properlz
proposed method have good agreement with the experi-
mental values. There a r e t h r e e s o r t s o f d i f f e r e n t b o u n d a r i e s .
First, at the infinitive boundary, a l l t h e components
The Method t o Reduce t h e V a r i a b l e s ofmagneticvectorpotentialaretaken as zero, so
t h a t t h e c o r r e s p o n d i n g node equations are not estab-
The complicated structure of the three phase power l i s h e d , and these nodes are numbered f i n a l l y i n nume-
transformer included oil tank and some f a s t e n i n g p a r t s r i c a l procedure. Second and t h i r d , a t the boundaries
makes t h e number of elements and nodes and so of t h e i n which t h e normal or t a n g e n t i a l components of the
variables involved in the problem t o be solved rather magnetic field vanish, the magnetic vector potential
l a r g e . In o r d e r t o r e d u c e t h e number o f t h e v a r i a b l e s has only one or two non-zero components r e s p e c t i v e l y .
while the accuracy of the solutions remains, the prob- So that only one or two node equations in these two
lem canbe d e a l t w i t h i n t h e f o l l o w i n g ways. sorts of boundarial nodes are needed separately. To
r e d u c e t h e band width of the coefficient matrix, the
The E l e c t r i c a l S c a l a r P o t e n t i a l i s Neglected nodes on t h e secondand third boundaries are numbered
mixedly with the interior nodes. I n view o f t h e r e l a -
I n 3D eddy current problems, i f t h e c o n d u c t i v i t i e s tively dense discretization in the outside surface of
u are c o n s t a n t s i n d i v i d u l l y in subregions and the mag- t h e r e g i o n t o be solved, the number o f t h e v a r i a b l e s
n e t i c v e c t o r p o t e n t i a l A i s s e l e c t e d as t h e unknown canbereduced g r e a t l y by t h i s way w h i l e t h e t o t a l
f u n c t i o n ,i ng e n e r a l , an electrical scalar p o t e n t i a l ‘P number of the nodes remains. For example, if t h e t o t a l
has to be used too. The reason i s t h a t t h e r e i s a number of the nodes equals 2000, t h e number of t h e va-
r i a b l e s i s reduced t o 3800 i n s t e a d of t h r e e t i m e s t h e
the conductivity changes abruptly ’.
c h a r g e d i s t r i b u t i o n on t h e s u r f a c e of conductors where
The e f f e c t o f t h e number o f t h e nodes. The matrix of the eleutent
i s on t h e second or t h i r d boundary i s d i f f e r e n t from
which

c e p t f o r A , f o r example, P
But i n c e r t a i n c a s e s ,
.
charge h a s t o beconsidered by another function, ex-

i f the condition
the matrix of the interior elements,
dure i s needed t o f i n d o u t t h e s e
SO t h a t a proce-
two s o r t s of elements

vu.
-
E = 0
respectively.
(1)
Calculation of the Losses
i s validapproximately, i. e. t h e normal Components of
the electrical field in the interface Of conductor and In the oil tank and other steel structure Parts,

0018-9464/87/0900-3786$01.0001987 IEEE

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 3787

a d e q u a t e d i s c r e t i z a t i o n becomes a problembecause of
thin skin depth. It can besolved by combiningnumeri-
cal method w i t h a n a l y t i c a l . The eddy c u r r e n t l o s s e s p e r
s t e e l s u r f a c e a r e a P are determined by
p = (f/4)* (Joz//a).A
(2)
where3 i s the amplitude of the local surface eddy cur-
r e n t d e n s i t y , D. i s skindepth.Innumericalprocedure
J. i s c a l c u l a t e d as

Thesumming operation in equation ( 4 ) i s accomplished

a t the vertexes of the triangle which belongs t o t h e
element placed i n t h e steel s u r f a c e l a y e r and i s super-
posed on t h e s t e e l s u r f a c e . In t h i s way, certainac-
curacy can be obtained under relatively sparse discre-
tization.

Results
Fig.
The abovementioned method i s a p p l i e d t o a 17000
KVA three phase power transformer. The d i s c r e t i z a t i o n
process i s implemented by a special technique automati-
cally. Fig. 3 shows t h e t e t r a h e d r a l g r i d a t several ho-
rizontalsections.Fig. 2 shows t h e d i s c r e t i z a t i o n la-
y e r s a t a vertical. section. Shown i n Fig. 4 i s t h e d i s -
tribution of the magnetic flux densities in the verti-
cally symmetrical plane of the transformer a t t h e mo-
ment t h a t t h e A-phase c o i l c u r r e n t r e a c h e s maximum. t h e
d i s t r i b u t i o n o f t h e eddy c u r r e n t d e n s i t i e s on t h e i n -
terior surface of the oil tank w a l l a t t h e same moment
as Fig. 4 i s shown i n Fig. 5. Fig. 6 r e p r e s e n t s t h e
normal components o f t h e m a g n e t i c f l u x d e n s i t i e s n e a r
the interior surface of the o i l tank w a l l a l o n g v e r t i -
c a l i n some measure positions. Table 1 shows t h e t o t a l
eddy c u r r e n t l o s s e s i n t h e s t e e l s t r u c t u r e p a r t s .

Conclusion

A method o f i m p l e m e n t a t i o n s u i t a b l e t o t h e 3U eddy
current problems in p r a c t i c a l e n g i n e e r i n g was develo-
ped. Severalmethods t o s i m p l i f y t h e computation was -
proposed, which reduced the computertimegreatly. The
methods were a p p l i e d t o a 17000 KVA t h r e e p h a s e power
transformer. It was s e e n t h a t t h e c a l c u l a t e d r e s u l t s
were i n s u b s t a n t i a l agreement with the experimental va- Fig.3 The TetrahedralGrid a t SeveralHorizontal
lues. Sections

1. Iron Core, 2. H. V. C o i l , 3 . L. V. Coil

4., 5. FasteningParts, 6. O i l Tank
Fig. 4 The D i s t r i b u t i o n o f t h e F l u x D e n s i t i e s
Fig. 1 The Region t o beSolved i n t h e V e r t i c a l l y SymmetricalPlane

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 3788

1
The Total Eddy Current Losses
i n the Steel Structure Parts
(KW)

Computed Measured
Value Value

14.63 13.75

Table 1

Reference

1. Chari, M.V.K.: Three-DimensionalVectorPotential

Analysis for Machine FieldProblems, IEEE. Trans. on
Magnetics, No.2, 1982
2. Demerdash, N.A., Mohammed, O.A., N e h l , T.W.,
Fouad, F. A., Miller, R.H. : Solution of Eddy Current
Problems Using Three Dimensional Finite Element Com-
plexMagneticVectorPotential, IEEE. Trans. on P.A.S.
No. 11,1982
3. Bamnond,P.: Use o f P o t e n t i a l s i n Calculation of
ElectromagneticFields, IEE PROC., Vol. 129, P t . A,
No. 2, 1982
4. Agarwal, P.D.:Eddy CurrentLosses i n S o l i d and
LaminatedIron,Trans. Am . I n s t ,E l e c t . Engrs. 78,
P a r t I, 1959

0 LO 10 0 20 44
gs gs
Position
(b) 2 P (ocs)i t i o n 3

Fig.6 The Norm@l, Components Of t h e Fl.uX

Densities Near the Interior Surface of the
O i l Tank Wa
l

Measured Values ---Computed Values

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