Chapter 4

Transformers

 Introduction
 Single-phase Transformers
 Construction of Transformers
 Working Principle of a Transformer
 Ideal and Practical Transformer Equatiobs
 Theory of Operation of Real Single-Phase Transformers
 Transformer Voltage Regulation and Efficiency
 Three-Phase Transformer Connections
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Learning Objectives

 Understand the purpose of a transformer in a power system.

 Know the voltage, current, and impedance relationships across the
windings of an ideal transformer.
 Understand how real transformers approximate the operation of an ideal
transformer.
 Be able to calculate the losses and efficiency of a transformer.
Be able to calculate the voltage regulation of a transformer.
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
 Introduction
 A transformer is a static device that changes ac electric power at one
voltage level (primary) to ac electric power at another voltage level
(secondary) through the action of a magnetic field without the
change in frequency.
 Transformer consists of
 a core assemble of laminated ferromagnetic core

 two or more coils of wire wrapped around a core(windings).

 The transformer has not rotating part; hence it is often called a static
device.

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 Cont.…
 It consists of one or more coils of wire wrapped around a common
ferromagnetic core.
 The transformer winding connected to the power source is called the
primary winding or input winding.
 The transformer winding connected to the loads is called the secondary
winding or output winding.
 The primary and secondary windings are not connected electrically, but
coupled magnetically.
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 Cont.…

Schematic diagram of a two winding transformer

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 4.1) Single-phase Transformers

 Construction of Transformers
 All transformers have the following essential parts.
 Electrical windings or coils
 Laminated magnetic Core
 The two basic type of transformer construction are the shell type
and core type transformer construction.
 The two types of construction differ in their relative arrangement of
copper conductor and the iron cores.

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 Core type transformer
 Consists of a simple rectangular or L shaped laminated piece of steel
 To reduce the leakage flux problem -half of the low voltage winding
over one leg and other half over the second limb.
 The copper conductor surrounds the core.
 It has a longer mean length of core and a shorter mean length of coil
turns.
 Therefore, it requires more iron core and fewer conductors for coils.
 Has more rooms for ventilation –is better adopt for low voltage
transformers
 concentric coils types are used for core type transformers
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 Cont.…

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Figure 2.2 core type transformer
 Shell type transformer:
 Consists of a three-legged laminated core with the windings wrapped
around the center leg.
 Core surrounds a major part of the windings.
 It has better provision for mechanically supporting and bracing the coil.
 The core is either E or F shaped and stacked to give a rectangular
figure eight.
 To reduce the amount of the high voltage insulation required, the
low voltage coils place adjacent to the iron core.
 Interleaved (or sand witched) coils types are used for shell type
transformers.
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Cont.…

10
Cont.…

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 Working Principle of a Transformer
 The basic principle on which the
transformer works is Faraday’s Law of
Electromagnetic Induction or mutual
induction between the two coils.
 Faraday's law of electromagnetic
induction states that, when a change
takes place in the magnetic flux which
is linked with a circuit, an
electromotive force current will induce
in the circuit.
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 Cont.…
 Faraday's laws of electromagnetic induction are:
First Law - It states that an emf is induced in the conductor placed in the varying
magnetic field.
Second law - It states that the value of that induced emf is equal to the rate of
change of magnetic flux linked to the conductor.
Induced emf =−dϕ/dt , where ϕ is the magnetic flux
 The transformer consists of two separate winding placed over the laminated silicon
steel core.
 The winding to which AC supply is connected is called primary winding and to
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which load is connected is called secondary winding.

 Cont.…
 It works on the alternating current only because an alternating flux is
required for mutual induction between the two winding.
 When the AC supply is given to the primary winding with a certain voltage, an
alternating flux sets up in the core of the transformer, which links with the
secondary winding and as a result of it, an emf is induced in it
called Mutually Induced emf.
 The direction of this induced emf is opposite to the applied voltage.
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 Cont.…
 A transformer that increases voltage between the primary to secondary
windings is defined as a step-up transformer.
 Similarly, a transformer that decreases voltage between the primary to
secondary windings is defined as a step-down transformer.
 Whether the transformer increases or decreases the voltage level depends on
the relative number of turns between the primary and secondary side of the
transformer.
 If there are more turns on the primary coil than the secondary coil than the
voltage will decrease (step down).
 If there are less turns on the primary coil than the secondary coil than the
voltage will increase (step up).
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 Ideal Transformer
 An ideal transformer is a lossless device with an input winding
and an output winding. The idealizing assumptions made are:
i) The primary and secondary windings have zero resistance
ii) There is no leakage flux so that all the flux is confide to the core and
links both windings.
iii) The core has infinite permeability so that zero magnetizing current
is needed to establish the requisite amount of flux in the core.
iv) The core loss (hysteresis and eddy current loss) is considered zero

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 Cont.…
 We consider a lossless transformer
with an input (primary) winding
having turns and a secondary
winding of turns.
 The relationship between the
voltage applied to the primary
winding and the voltage produced
on the secondary winding is

Where a is the turns ration of the transformer.

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 Cont.…
 The relationship between the  The phase angles of primary and
primary and secondary currents secondary voltages are the same.
is  The phase angles of primary and
secondary currents are the same
also.
 In the phasor notation  The turns ratio of the ideal
transformer affects the magnitudes
of the voltages and currents, but
not their angles.

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 The current ratio on a transformer
 The last approximation is valid for well-
designed unsaturated cores. Therefore:

 An ideal transformer (unlike the real one)

can be characterized as follows:
1.The core has no hysteresis or eddy
currents. Magnetization
curve of an ideal
2.The magnetization curve is transformer

3.The leakage flux in the core is zero.

4.The resistance of the windings is zero. 19
 Power in an ideal transformer
 Assuming that and are the angles between voltages and currents on the
primary and secondary windings respectively, the power supplied to the
transformer by the primary circuit is:

 The power supplied to the output circuits is

 Since ideal transformers do not affect angles between voltages and

currents:

 The primary and secondary windings of an ideal transformer have the

same power factor.
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 Cont.…
 Since for an ideal transformer the following holds:

 Therefore:

 The output power of an ideal transformer equals to its input power – to

be expected since assumed no loss. Similarly, for reactive and apparent
powers:

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 Equivalent Circuit …. Practical Transformer
 Equivalent circuit of a practical transformer should have to model all the losses, leakage
reactances and magnetizing reactance.
I r1 x I 2' r2 x2 I2
1 1

Ie

Ic Im N1 N2
V1 rc xm E1
V2
E2

ideal transf.

Fig. Exact Equivalent Circuit of a Transformer

• V1, I1,…. - primary side quantities (V1≡Vp) • r2, V2,…. - secondary side quantities
• Ie , rc , xm , …. – excitation, core loss, magnetizing quantities
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 I1 req jxeq
I 2'

+ +

V1 V2'

– –

Fig. Approximate Equivalent referred to the Primary Side (shunt component ignored)

req  r1  r2, xeq  x1  x2, r2,  a 2 r2

x2,  a 2 x2 V2'  aV2 I 2'  I1  I 2 / a

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 Voltage Regulation and Efficiency of Practical Transformers
 Since a real transformer contains series impedances, the transformer’s
output voltage varies with the load even if the input voltage is constant.
To compare transformers in this respect, the quantity called a full-load
voltage regulation (VR) is defined as follows:

 In a per-unit system:

Where and are the secondary no load and full load voltages.
 Note, the VR of an ideal transformer is zero.

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 The Transformer Efficiency
 The efficiency of a transformer is defined as:

 Note: the same equation describes the efficiency of motors and

generators.
 Considering the transformer equivalent circuit, we notice three types of
losses:
 Copper () losses – are accounted for by the series resistance
 Hysteresis losses – are accounted for by the resistor .
 Eddy current losses – are accounted for by the resistor

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 Cont.…
 Since the output power is

 The efficiency of the transformer can be expressed by:

Example?
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 4.2) Three-phase Transformers

Three Phase Transformer Connections

 Four possible connections for a 3-phase transformer bank are:

1. Wye-Wye(Y-Y)
2. Wye-Delta(Y-)
3. Delta-Delta(- )

4. Delta-Wye(-Y)

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 1. Y-Y Connection
 The primary voltage on each phase
of the transformer is

 The secondary phase voltage is

 The overall voltage ratio is

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 Cont.…
The Y-Y connection has two very serious problems:
1). If loads on one of the transformer circuits are unbalanced, the
voltages on the phases of the transformer can become severely
unbalanced.
2). The third harmonic issue.
The voltages in any phase of an Y-Y transformer are apart from the
voltages in any other phase. However, the third-harmonic components of
each phase will be in phase with each other. Nonlinearities in the
transformer core always lead to generation of third harmonic! These
components will add up resulting in large (can be even larger than the
fundamental component) third harmonic component. 29
 Cont.…
Both problems can be solved by one of two techniques:
1). Solidly ground the neutral of the transformers (especially, the
primary side). The third harmonic will flow in the neutral and a return
path will be established for the unbalanced loads.
2). Add a third -connected winding. A circulating current at the third
harmonic will flow through it suppressing the third harmonic in other
windings.

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 2. Y- Connection
 The primary voltage on each
phase of the transformer is

 The secondary phase voltage is

 The overall voltage ratio is

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 Cont.…
 The Y- connection has no problem with third harmonic components due
to circulating currents in . It is also more stable to unbalanced loads since
the partially redistributes any imbalance that occurs.
 One problem associated with this connection is that the secondary
voltage is shifted by with respect to the primary voltage. This can cause
problems when paralleling 3-phase transformers since transformers
secondary voltages must be in-phase to be paralleled. Therefore, we must
pay attention to these shifts.

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 3.  -Y Connection
 The primary voltage on each
phase of the transformer is

 The secondary phase voltage is

 The overall voltage ratio is

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 4.  -  Connection
 The primary voltage on each
phase of the transformer is

 The secondary phase voltage is

 The overall voltage ratio is

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 Transformer ratings
 Transformers have the following major ratings:
Apparent power;
Voltage;
Current;
Frequency.

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 Transformer ratings: Information Plate
 Rated voltage, currents, and (or)
power is typically shown on the
transformer’s information plate.

 Additional information, such as per-

unit series impedance, type of cooling,
etc. can also be specified on the plate.
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