IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 51, NO.

1, JANUARY 2015

2800204

Magnetic Circuit of a High-Voltage Transformer up to 10 kHz

Radek Prochazka1, Jan Hlavacek1, and Karel Draxler2
1 Department

of Electrical Power Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering,

Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague 166 27, Czech Republic
2 Department of Measurement, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical
University in Prague, Prague 166 27, Czech Republic
Power and energy measurements in smart grids require a measurement system capable of performing signal processing at the
higher harmonic frequencies that are present in power grids. For the calibration process of instrument voltage transformers, or
high-voltage dividers, it is necessary to have a high-voltage source with an appropriate frequency range. The fundamental element
of such a source is the output high-voltage transformer operating at a nominal voltage of 10 kV and in the frequency range from
200 Hz up to 10 kHz. The output current is assumed to be lower than 20 mA. This paper focuses on the design and realization of the
magnetic circuit of the transformer described above. Trafoperm, ferrite or nanocrystalline materials can be used for the frequency
range considered here. Ferrite materials usually reach saturation at a magnetic flux density of 0.2 T with very low permeability
values, while trafoperm material usually suffers from unacceptable power losses in higher frequency areas. This is the main reason
why these materials are not suitable for use in a wide range of frequencies, and some combined magnetic cores must be used.
The proposed solution is based on magnetic cut C type cores made from nanocrystalline alloy (VITROPERM 500), which behaves
better in the frequency range under consideration. The magnetic parameters of this material were measured and compared with
trafoperm, and then, the 10 kV high-voltage transformer was designed and manufactured.
Index Terms High voltage transformers, magnetic cores, magnetics, nanocrystals.

I. I NTRODUCTION

ANOCRYSTALLINE alloys have become increasingly

popular in various areas of application, due to their good
magnetic properties, their low losses, high permeability, and
high magnetic induction of saturation. These good properties
are preserved even for higher frequencies [1] and for higher
temperatures, as was investigated in [2]. The applications
of nanocrystalline cores have until now been mainly in
pulsed power application systems [3], and some investigations
have also been in the field of current transformers [4], [5].
Nanocrystalline magnetic cores provide high potential for
designing high-voltage and high-frequency transformers.
However, these applications are not obvious and more investigations are needed.
For the calibration methods, e.g., calibration of instrument
voltage transformers and high-voltage dividers, it is necessary
to have a high-voltage source with an appropriate frequency
range. The main element of these high-voltage sources is
the high-voltage transformer, for our purposes operating at
nominal voltage of 10 kV and at a frequency from 200 Hz
up to 10 kHz. The magnetic core of these transformers is
usually C-shaped, for easier implementation of the highvoltage windings. A nanocrystalline alloy seems to be a
suitable material for the magnetic core of the transformer, due
to its good magnetic properties in a wide range of frequencies.
Unfortunately, these properties are slightly deteriorated by the
cutting process. An interesting study of nanocrystalline alloy
cut cores has been presented in [6]. This investigation shows
that there is a big dispersion in terms of amplitude permeability
and magnetic losses among manufacturers. For the correct

Manuscript received June 13, 2014; revised August 28, 2014 and
September 6, 2014; accepted September 7, 2014. Date of current
version January 26, 2015. Corresponding author: R. Prochazka (e-mail:
xprocha3@fel.cvut.cz).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2014.2357784

Fig. 1. Scheme of the transformer and its general equivalent circuit used for
a description of transformer behavior in a wider frequency range.

design process, it is recommended to determine the magnetic

characteristics.
A description of the transformer behavior in a wider
frequency range is based on the general equivalent circuit
(Fig. 1). The magnetic circuit is represented by inductances
L 1 and L 2 and mutual inductance M. These are complex
values corresponding to the complex conductivity of magnetic
circuits G mh . Resistors Rv1 and Rv2 represent the resistivity
of windings, C11 , C21 , and C22 are the parasitic capacitances
of the windings, Y11 , Y12 , Y21 , and Y22 are the parasitic
 and C  are the parasitic
conductivities of the windings, C11
21
 and Y  are
capacitances of windings to ground, and Y11
21
the parasitic conductivities to ground. Cm1 and Cm2 are the
parasitic capacitances between windings, and Ym1 and Ym2 are
the parasitic conductivities between windings. Each parasitic
element represents circuits with distributed parameters.
The influence of the parasitic conductance can be neglected
in most cases, and the influence of Cm can be minimized using
shields between the primary and the secondary windings. For
transformer design purposes, the general equivalent circuit,
according to Fig. 1, can be transformed to the simplified
equivalent circuit, as shown in Fig. 2, where C p represents

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2800204

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 51, NO. 1, JANUARY 2015

In the next step, the magnetic properties of the transformer

core are analyzed when the influence of capacitive current
component I C is neglected. From (4) and (5) we can get the
relation
1
1
Rmh
Im [Rmh ] Re [Rmh ]
+
=
=
+
(6)
2
Rz
j L h
j N1
N12
j N12
where
Rmh =
Fig. 2.

Simplified equivalent circuit of the transformer.

the equivalent parasitic capacitance of both windings,

Rz represents the loss power in the ferromagnetic core, L h is
 are the
the main inductance of the transformer, L r1 and L r2
leakage inductances of the primary and secondary side, and

Z 2 is the load of the transformer referred to the primary side.
This replacement is valid only for a transformer ratio 1:1.
For other ratios, the values of the secondary voltage U2 and
current I2 of the transformer must be recalculated according
to the well-known formulas:
N1
N2


U2 ; I 2 =
I2
(1)
U2 =
N2
N1
where U2 and I2 are the secondary voltage and current referred
to the primary side, and N1 and N2 are the number of turns on
the primary and secondary side of the transformer. The other
parameters are transformed with the square of the primary and
secondary number of winding turns:
 2
 2
 2
N1
N1
N1



Rv2 ; L r2 =
L r2 ; Z2 =
Z2
Rv2 =
N2
N2
N2
(2)
where Rv2 is the resistance of the secondary winding, L r2 is
the leakage inductance of the secondary winding, and Z 2 is the
transformer load. The total parasitic capacitance of a winding
C p can be expressed as
 2
N2
C p2
(3)
C p = C p1 + C p2 = C p1 +
N1
where C p1 and C p2 are the parasitic capacitances of the
primary and secondary windings.
Elements C and Y do not influence the value of equivalent
elements L h and Rz1 . The magnetomotive force creating the
magnetic flux h inside the transformer core is given only by
the current of the primary coil. Current I01 is given by


1
1
+
+ j C p Ui1
(4)
I01 =
Rz1
j L h
where Ui1 is the induced voltage at the primary coil for
magnetic flux h , Rz is the resistance representing the losses
of the ferromagnetic material and is the angular frequency.
The induced voltage Ui1 can be expressed as
Ui1 = j N1 h = j

N12 I01
Rmh

(5)

where N1 is the number of turns in the primary coil and Rmh

is the complex magnetic reluctance of the core.

ls
ls
ls
=
( + j  )
=
0 Sz
0 Sz ( j  )
0 Sz 2ap
(7)

and after substitution to (6), the final expressions for the

equivalent parameters L h and Rz1 can be defined as
N12 0 Sz 2ap
N12
=
Re [Rmh ]
l s 
2
2
N1 0 Sz 2ap
N1
=
=
Im [Rmh ]
ls 

Lh =

(8)

Rz1

(9)

where ls is the mean magnetic path length of magnetic flux h ,

Sz is the cross section of the ferromagnetic core, and 0 is
the magnetic constant 4107 H/m.
The apparent permeability is defined as

ap = 2 + 2
(10)
where  and  are the real and the imaginary components
of the complex permeability.
The design of the transformer, considering the higher frequencies, depends on the main inductance value L h and the
loss resistance Rz , according to (8) and (9). The values of
L h and Rz are given by the dependence of the apparent permeability and both components of the complex permeability
on the frequency and the magnetic induction.
II. M EASURING THE A PPARENT AND C OMPLEX
P ERMEABILITY OF M AGNETIC C ORES
For the realization of the transformer, two cut C cores of
magnetic materials were assumed.
A. Trafoperm With a Strip Thickness of 0.15 mm
This is a widely produced cut C magnetic core from oriented
SiFe alloys, which is used to produce transformer cores. The
cross section area is Sz = 9 104 m2 and the mean magnetic
path length ls = 0.35 m.
B. Nanocrystalline Alloy Based on Fe
This is a relatively new technology for a magnetic
circuit with cut C core production. The cross section area
is Sz = 7 104 m2 and the mean magnetic path length
ls = 0.46 m. It can be assumed that materials of this type
would be suitable for higher frequency applications.
For the design of the transformer, it is important to determine the dependence of Rz and L h , resp., and ap ,  , and 
on frequency, assuming that the material will be saturated
at its maximal magnetic induction value. The corresponding
voltage is kept constant during the measurement process in

PROCHAZKA et al.: MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF A HIGH-VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER UP TO 10 kHz

2800204

TABLE I
D EPENDENCY OF L H AND R Z ON F REQUENCY AT C ONSTANT V OLTAGE

Fig. 3. Measured ap ,  , and  permeability components as a function of

frequency for a nanocrystalline core (constant voltage on the sensing winding).

significantly smaller than the  component, which is almost

equal to the apparent permeability ap (Fig. 3).
The determined magnetic characteristics allow us to
calculate the equivalent elements Rh and L h for different
frequencies, according to (8) and (9). As the trafoperm and
nanocrystalline cores have the same dimensions, the results
can then be compared. Table I shows the determined values of
Rh and L h for nanocrystalline and trafoperm cores for various
frequencies.
It is evident that the nanocrystalline core has significantly
higher values of L h and Rz and is more suitable for the
proposed transformer structure.
Fig. 4. Measured ap ,  , and  permeability components as a function of
the frequency for a trafoperm core (constant voltage on the sensing winding).

the considered operating frequency range of the transformer.

This reduces the magnetic induction in the transformer core
with increasing frequency.
The frequency dependency of the apparent permeability and
the complex permeability components were measured using a
lock-in amplifier when the voltage across the sensing winding
was constant. The magnetic core of the transformer was
magnetized by a sinusoidal waveform of magnetic induction
by a power amplifier and a special transformer.
The magnetized windings were uniformly distributed in four
sections along the circumference of the core, and the sinusoidal voltage induced in the sensing winding corresponded to
the magnetic induction value. This voltage was also used as the
reference for the lock-in amplifier. The magnetic field intensity
was calculated from the magnetizing current measured by a
coaxial shunt. As in the case of the toroid sample, uniform
distribution of the magnetic field was assumed. The apparent permeability ap and both components of the complex
permeability were calculated from the magnitude of the first
harmonic component of the magnetizing current and its phase
shift relative to the induced voltage. A detailed description of
this method can be found in [4].
The resulting frequency dependencies of the apparent
permeability and complex permeability components for both
materials are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The nanocrystalline material has very low losses when is magnetized. The component is

III. R EALIZATION AND M EASUREMENT

OF THE T RANSFORMER
The transformer winding was realized as a two-framed
structure made from a textit material (cotton phenolic sheets),
2 mm in thickness. The frames are 110 mm in length. The
primary winding N1 consists of two separate sections with
40 turns and one section with 80 turns. The conductor is
multicored, placed on the inner frame as close as possible
to the magnetic core.
The frame of the secondary winding is slid onto the primary
winding. There is a gap between them to be filled with
insulating material. The secondary winding N2 is split into five
sections, separated by barriers (8 mm in thickness) to eliminate
parasitic capacitances of the winding. The conductor passes
from one section to the other in the middle of the barrier. The
secondary winding with 15 000 turns is wound using enameled
wire 0.1 mm in diameter.
After composition, both coils were placed into the form,
filled with polyurethane insulating material, and evacuated
and hardened as a compact piece. The cut C type core from
nanocrystalline material was fixed by a wound belt.
After completion, the parameters of the high voltage transformer were determined to verify the expected behavior.
The transformer parameters measured across the non-loaded
secondary winding at constant output voltage U20 = 10 kV
are presented in Table II. Two primary windings were used to
reach the optimal magnetic induction values: N1 = 160 turns
for a frequency of 2001000 Hz, and N1 = 40 turns for

2800204

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 51, NO. 1, JANUARY 2015

TABLE II
D EPENDENCY OF THE T RANSFORMER PARAMETERS ON
F REQUENCY AT C ONSTANT V OLTAGE U20 = 10 kV

effect component that increases with frequency. Another component is the leakage inductance of the secondary winding.
This is consistent with the results shown in Fig. 5, where the
internal impedance has a value 20 k at f < 1 kHz. The
increase in the internal impedance with increasing frequency is
due to the influence of the leakage inductance and the increase
in resistance due to the skin effect.
IV. C ONCLUSION
The nanocrystalline ferromagnetic material used in the cut
C type core enables a high-voltage supply transformer to be
realized for the frequency range up to 10 kHz. The measurements of the magnetic parameters show that this material
is more advantageous than trafoperm or ferrite materials for
frequencies above 3 kHz.
The results for the frequency dependency of the permeability are probably affected by an error in determining the
magnetic intensity from the primary current, due to the fact
that the magnetic circuit is not uniform. Some influence of
the leakage inductance of the secondary winding and the skin
effect is evident on the measured load curve for frequencies
above 1 kHz. This influence can be suppressed by splitting
the winding and placing them on both parts of the magnetic
circuit.
The results presented here show that nanocrystalline cut
cores can be advantageously used as the magnetic circuit of a
high-voltage transformer for the broad frequency range from
200 Hz to 10 kHz, while the use of an iron core is not suitable
because of the high power losses, and the use of a ferrite core
is not suitable because of the low maximal induction.
R EFERENCES

Fig. 5. Load curves of the high voltage winding of the transformer for
different frequencies.

a frequency of 1 kHz and above. The results show that

resonance in the secondary circuit of the transformer occurs at
approximately 7 kHz, when the primary voltage is minimal.
The increase in the primary current is caused by losses in
the magnetic circuit and by the parasitic capacitances of the
secondary winding.
The load curves of the high-voltage winding of the transformer for various frequencies are shown in Fig. 5. The internal impedance of the secondary circuit consists of the winding
resistance (dc value and skin effect influence) and the reactance of the leakage inductance. The value of the winding
resistance is composed of the dc component 10 k and a skin

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