EE2004 Electrical Energy Systems Fundamentals

Chapter 3 Transformers
1. Magnetic Circuits (1/2)

• Ferromagnetic materials are used in the construction of transformers so that the

magnetic flux may be appropriately guided.
• Transformers are made up of interlinked electric and magnetic circuits. Electric
currents flow through electric circuits and magnetic fluxes flow through magnetic
circuits. By a magnetic circuit we mean a path for magnetic flux.
• In transformers, magnetic circuit consists of a laminated iron core and a winding.
The AC current in the winding generates an AC magnetic flux in the core.
• The magnetic flux produced by a current-
carrying conductor is evaluated in terms
of its magnetomotive force or mmf.
• For an N-turn coil, the mmf F is defined
by F = NI and is measured in
ampare-turns (At).

2
1. Magnetic Circuits (2/2)

• The magnetic field intensity H is defined as the mmf per unit length,
i.e. where l is the magnetic path length.
• The variation of the magnetic flux density
(Weber/ or Tesla ) with H is depicted
by the magnetization BH curve on the right.
• For the linear region b, the relation of B
and H can be written as B = µH
where µ is the permeability (H/m).
• The permeability can be expressed as
where is the free space (air) permeability (4π H/m)
and is the relative permeability (air: , iron: )
• Hence the magnetic flux (Weber) φ = BA = µHA
where A the cross section of the core.
3
2. Ideal Transformer (1/5)

• The transformer has laminated iron-core and a primary and secondary windings.

• Magnetic core permeability is infinite and the magnetizing inductance is large.

• Windings resistance and leakage flux are assumed zero.

• The primary winding is supplied by a sinusoidal voltage .

4
2. Ideal Transformer (2/5)

• The voltage drives a magnetizing current through the winding,

• Magnetizing current generates a flux φ in the iron core.
• The flux changes more or less sinusoidal.
• The sinusoidal AC flux induces voltage in the coil – Faraday’s Law.
• This voltage is equal with the supply voltage if the ohmic voltage drop is
neglected, i.e. .
• The induced voltage is:
• Let the flux equation be:

• For sinusoidal flux the induced voltage is:

where = peak magnetic flux

= f = supply frequency
=
5
2. Ideal Transformer (3/5)

• The rms value of the induced voltage is:

• The AC flux links with the secondary winding. The flux changes( ) and

induces a sinusoidal voltage in the secondary winding.

• The induced voltage is:

• The ratio of the primary and secondary voltages is the turns ratio:

• A load impedance is connected to the secondary as below.

• The secondary voltage drives a load current through .

6
2. Ideal Transformer (4/5)

• The load current is:

• The load current generates a flux that oppose the magnetization flux .
• The load flux induces a voltage in the primary winding that opposes the
supply voltage.
• As the supply voltage is constant, the reduction of the induced voltage causes
the primary current increased to
• The current generates a flux that balances and equalizes the flux
generated by the secondary current .

7
2. Ideal Transformer (5/5)

• The effect of the flux equalization is that:

– the core flux remains constant and independent from the load.
– The primary magnetomotive force mmf is equal with secondary mmf .
i.e.
• This equation assumes that the magnetizing current is negligible small.
• The losses are zero in an ideal transformer, therefore the input power (VA) is
equal with the output power (VA), i.e .
• The voltage and current relations are:

Or and

• If a transformer increases the voltage,

the current decreases and vice versa.
8
3. Example 1

A 50kVA, 2400V/120V ideal transformer is loaded by 40kVA, pf 0.8 lagging.

Drawing the circuit diagram and equivalent circuit diagram.
Calculate the primary and secondary voltages and currents.

• Turns ratio:
• Power factor angle:
°

• Secondary or load current:

• Primary current:

• Primary and secondary current vector are:

° and °

9
4. Non-Ideal Transformer (1/2)

• The actual transformer windings have resistances and , which are

removed from the windings and placed in series with them in the circuit below.

• Part of the primary current generated flux will not link with the secondary
winding. This flux is the primary leakage flux .

• Part of the secondary current generated flux will not link with the primary
winding. This flux is the secondary leakage flux .

• The flux linking the primary winding is:

• The flux linking the secondary winding is:

• and are the primary and secondary leakage inductances respectively.

They are connected in series with and .

10
4. Non-Ideal Transformer (2/2)

• In a real transformer the iron core permeability is not infinite and the
magnetizing current is not negligible. In the equivalent circuit below,
the iron core is represented by a magnetizing reactance .
• Hysterises and eddy currents cause iron losses. These losses are represented
by a resistance , which is connected in parallel with .

and are the primary and secondary induced voltages, respectively.

11
5. Equivalent Circuits for Practical Transformers (1/3)

• When the non-ideal effects of winding resistances, leakage reactances,

magnetizing reactance and core loss are included, the equivalent circuits
for a practical transformer becomes :

• Consider the equations for an ideal transformer with turns ratio a:

and
The division of the above two equation result in :

or

12
5. Equivalent Circuits for Practical Transformers (2/3)
• An impedance can be transferred from one side to the other by multiplying
the square of the turns ratio a. When the secondary impedance is referred to
the primary, the equivalent circuit becomes :

• The above equivalent circuit can be further simplified by approximating

the series impedances using a single equivalent and as follows :

13
5. Equivalent Circuits for Practical Transformers (3/3)
• A further simplification can be made by omitting and and combining all
the series resistors into one equivalent and all of the series inductive reactances
into one, as shown below:

+
+

• Conversely a primary impedance can be referred to the secondary, e.g.

14
6. Tests on Transformers (1/4)

Transformer performance characteristics can be obtained from the simplified

equivalent circuit given in last section. The circuit parameters are determined either
from design data or from test data. Two common tests are as follows.

1. Open-Circuit (or No-Load) Test

• The magnetizing impedance

( of a transformer is
calculated from an open-circuit test.
• The secondary (HV) is open and
the primary (LV) is supplied by the
rated voltage which drives magnetizing
current through the transformer.

• The voltage current and input power are measured.

15
6. Tests on Transformers (2/4)
• The open-circuit test gives the magnetizing current , the supply voltage
and the iron loss . The equivalent circuit is as below :

• If the series impedance ( is negligible, than the magnetizing

impedance can be calculated as :
Magnetizing current, =
Active power absorbed by core , =
Apparent power absorbed by core ,
Reactive power absorbed by core,
Hence, , and

16
6. Tests on Transformers (3/4)

2. Short-Circuit Test
• The series impedance (
of a transformer is calculated
from a short-circuit test.
• The secondary (LV) is short-circuited
and the primary (HV) is supplied by a
reduced voltage (usually less than 5% of rated voltage).

17
6. Tests on Transformers (4/4)

• The supply voltage ,current and input power are measured on the
primary side and the equivalent circuit is as below :

• The total transformer impedance ( referred to the primary

side is calculated from the measured data as follows :

, and

18
7. Example 2 – Calc of equivalent circuit parameters (1/3)

A 100kVA, 2400V/240V single phase transformer was tested. The short circuit test :
measurement at the low voltage (LV) side with high voltage (HV) shorted. The
open-circuit test : measurement on the HV side with LV open. The results are :
• Open-circuit test (LV open): =2400V , = 2A, = 300W
• Short-circuit test (HV shorted): =80V , = 400A, = 800W

1. Draw the simplified equivalent circuit.

2. Calculate the transformer parameters.

19
7. Example 2 – Calc of equivalent circuit parameters (2/3)
Calculation of the magnetizing impedance (on the high voltage side)
= (2400)(2) = 4800 VA

Calculation of the equivalent series impedance (on the low voltage side)

20
7. Example 2 – Calc of equivalent circuit parameters (3/3)
Equivalent circuit

= 0.005 Ω
= 0.2 Ω
= 19.2 kΩ
= 1.202 kΩ

Equivalent circuit with impedance referred to the low voltage side

= 0.005 Ω
= 0.2 Ω
= 192 Ω
= 12.02 Ω

21
8. Losses in Transformers

There are three sources of loss in a transformer: copper, hysteresis, and eddy
current. They use real power and reduce transformer efficiency. The losses appear
in the form of heat and produce an increase in temperature. For large power
transformers, the efficiency is may reach 99.5% under normal operating conditions.

22
8.1 Copper Losses – Winding Losses

• Copper losses are the power losses caused by current flowing through the
winding resistance, losses.
• Skin effect causes the ac resistance of the transformer windings to increase with
frequency, so copper losses increase with frequency if the winding current
remains constant.
• Proper sizing of the winding wire and proper cooling for the transformer
minimize copper losses and its impact.

23
8.2 Hysteresis Losses – Core Losses

• Hysteresis losses are the result of the energy needed to magnetize the core first
in one direction and then the other as the applied ac voltage reverses in polarity.
• The magnetic domains must form in one direction, and then in the other.
Hysteresis losses increase with frequency because the domains must be
reversed more frequently. This is why 50 Hz is used in most parts of the world.
• Hysteresis losses are minimized by the proper choice of magnetic material.
• A new magnetic material has been developed that is amorphous in structure
instead of having the small crystalline grain structure of most current magnetic
materials. This means the magnetic domains are almost atomic in size and
require very little energy to reverse.
• The amorphous magnetic materials have very low hysteresis losses, but
currently can be manufactured only in ribbon form. For this reason, and their
relatively high cost, they are not currently in wide use.

24
8.3 Eddy Current Losses – Core Losses

• Eddy current is current induced in metal near a magnetic field.

• If the field surrounds the metal object, the induced current will be a loop at a
right angle to the flux. The core of a transformer is ideally positioned with
respect to the windings for eddy current to be induced in it.
• Iron is not a good conductor, so the path resistance is relatively high.
Losses come from .
• The laminations break the core into many small thin pieces of metal, thereby
reducing the voltage that is induced to drive eddy currents in the core, and
increasing the resistance through which eddy currents must flow because the
cross-sectional area of each lamination is small.
• Any reduction in eddy current reduces the losses by the square of the reduction.
These losses can be less than 0.5% of the total power transferred by a
transformer.

25
9. Relative Effects Due to Size of Transformer (1/2)

Consider two transformers with corresponding dimensions in ratio L operating at

the same current and flux densities. Assume fixed number of turns.

•
•
•
•
•
•

26
9. Relative Effects Due to Size of Transformer (2/2)

• Core losses also quoted in Watt/unit volume

• Total losses
•Surface area
• The larger the losses, relatively less cooling area, as loss/surface area

• The large the KVA, relatively loss is smaller as loss/output

27