19/7/2017 Easyunderstandingof3phasetransformerconnections(DeltaDelta,WyeWye,DeltaWyeandWyeDelta)|EEP

Easyunderstandingof3phasetransformer
connections(DeltaDelta,WyeWye,Delta
WyeandWyeDelta)
Threephasevoltagetransformationscanbeaccomplishedbyusingthree
phasetransformers,whicharesingledeviceswithallwindingsconstructed
onasingleironcore.

Threephasevoltagetransformationsalsocanbeaccomplishedbyusing
threesinglephasetransformersthatareconnectedexternallytoforma
threephasebank.

Easyunderstandingof3phasetransformerconnectionsDeltaDelta,WyeWye,DeltaWyeand
WyeDelta(onphoto:JeffersonElectrictransformer)

Threephasevoltagetransformations

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Whilethreephasedevicesareusuallythemorecosteffectiveoption,the
singlephaseoptionprovidesmoreversatilityandcanbeattractivefroma
reliabilityandmaintenancestandpoint.Ifseveralidenticaltransformers
areneededatonelocation,thesinglephaseoptioncanincludethepurchase
ofaspareunittoreduceoutagetimeintheeventofafailure.

Thispracticeoftenisseenwithcriticalautotransformerbanksandgenerator
stepuptransformersbecauselossofthetransformerforanextendedperiod
hasverysignificantimpacts.

Theconnectionsdiscussedinthisarticlewillbeimplementedusingsingle
phaseunits.

Whenconnectingsinglephasetransformerstoformathreephase
bank,thewindingpolaritiesmustbecarefullyobserved.Polarity
isindicatedusingadotconvention.Currentowingintoadotonthe
primarywindingwillinduceacurrentowingoutofthedotonthe
correspondingsecondarywinding.

Dependingonhowthewindingsareconnectedtothe
bushings,thepolaritiescanbeadditiveorsubtractive.

Thetwomostcommonlyusedthreephasewindingconfigurationsare
deltaandwye,namedaftertheGreekandEnglishletterthateach
resembles.Inadeltaconfiguration,thethreewindingsareconnectedendto
endtoformaclosedpath.Aphaseisconnectedtoeachcornerofthedelta.

Althoughdeltawindingsareoftenoperatedungrounded,alegofthedelta
canbecentertappedandgrounded,oracornerofthedeltacanbe
grounded.Inawyeconfiguration,oneendofeachofthethreewindingsis
connectedtoformaneutral.Aphaseisconnectedtotheotherendofthe
threewindings.Theneutralisusuallygrounded.

Thefollowingparagraphsdescribethreephasetransformerswhich
utilizethedeltaandwyeconnections.

1. DeltaDelta
2. WyeWye
3. DeltaWye

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4. WyeDelta

Nextpartofthisarticlewilldiscussthreephasetransformersusingtheopen
deltaandopenwyeconnections,whereoneofthesinglephasetransformers
makingupthethreephasebankisomitted.Thelegofthetransformerwith
themissingtransformerisreferredtoasthephantomleg.

1.DeltaDelta

Deltadeltatransformers,asshowninFigure1,oftenareusedtosupply
loadsthatareprimarilythreephasebutmayhaveasmallsinglephase
component.

Figure1DeltaDeltaTransformer

Thethreephaseloadistypicallymotorloadwhilethesinglephase
componentisoftenlightingandlowvoltagepower.Thesinglephaseload
canbefedbygroundingacentertapononeofthelegsofthedelta
secondary,thenconnectingthesinglephaseloadbetweenoneofthephases
onthegroundedlegandthisgroundedneutral.

Figure2showsadeltadeltatransformerconnection.

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Figure2DeltaDeltaTransformerConnections(clicktoexpanddiagram)

Theconnectiondiagramontheleftshowshowadeltadeltaconnectioncan
bemade,eitherwiththreesinglephasetransformersorwithonethree
phasetransformer.

Thedashedlinesindicatethetransformeroutlines.Thethreesinglephase
transformerimplementationcanbeseenbydisregardingtheouterdashed
outlineandthebushinglabelsshownatthatoutline,andconcentratingon
thethreesmaller(singlephasetransformer)outlines.

Thebushingsofthesinglephasetransformersareconnectedby
externaljumpersasshowntoaccomplishthedeltadelta
connection.Inthecaseoftheonethreephasetransformer
implementation,thethreeinneroutlinesaredisregarded,andthe
jumpersbetweenthewindingsaremadeinsidethetransformer
tank.Thesixbushingsonthethreephasetransformeroutlineare
availableforconnection.

Theschematicdiagramattheupperrightisperhapseasiertoanalyze,as
thedeltaconnectionscanclearlybeseen.

Thephasordiagramatthelowerrightshowsthegeometricrelationships
betweenthehighvoltagecircuitandlowvoltagecircuitcurrents,and
theequationsatthebottomcentershowthoserelationshipsmathematically.

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Astheloadingonadeltadeltatransformer
becomesunbalanced,highcurrentscancirculate
inthedeltawindingsleadingtoavoltage
imbalance.Balancedloadingrequiresthe
selectionofthreetransformerswithequal
voltageratiosandidenticalimpedances.

Also,theamountofsinglephaseloadshouldbekeptlowbecausethe
centertappedtransformermustsupplymostofthesinglephaseload.Asthe
singlephaseloadisincreased,thecentertappedtransformerwillincreaseits
loadingmorethantheothertwotransformersandwilleventuallyoverload.

Ifoneofthesinglephasetransformersinthedeltadeltabankfails,thebank
canbeoperatedwithonlytwotransformersforminganopendelta
configuration.ThekVAratingofthebankisreduced,butthreephasepower
isstillsuppliedtotheload.

Gobacktocontents

2.WyeWye

Wyewyetransformers,asshowninFigure3,canserveboththreephase
andsinglephaseloads.Thesinglephaseloadshouldbedistributedas
evenlyaspossiblebetweeneachofthethreephasesandneutral.

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Figure3WyeWyeTransformer

Figure4illustratesthewyewyeconnection,eitherasthreesinglephase
transformersorasasinglethreephaseunit.Bothbushinglabelsandpolarity
dotsareshown.

Figure4WyeWyeTransformerConnectionsDiagram(clicktoexpanddiagram)

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Oneprobleminherenttowyewyetransformersisthepropagationofthird
harmoniccurrentsandvoltages.Theseharmonicscancauseinterference
innearbycommunicationcircuitsaswellasotherassortedpowerquality
problems.

Anotherproblemisthatthepossibilityexistsforresonanceto
occurbetweentheshuntcapacitanceofthecircuitsconnectedto
thetransformerandthemagnetizingsusceptanceofthetransformer,
especiallyifthecircuitsincludeinsulatedcable.Becauseofthese
problems,wyewyetransformersmustbespecifiedand
implementedcarefully.

Addingathird(tertiary)windingconnectedindeltaalleviatesmanyofthe
concernsmentioned.

Gobacktocontents

3.DeltaWye

Thedeltawyeconnectionisthemostcommonlyusedthreephase
transformerconnection.Thewyeconnectedsecondaryallowssinglephase
loadtobedistributedamongthethreephasestoneutralinsteadofbeing
placedallononewindingaswithafourwiredeltasecondary.

Thishelpskeepthephaseloadingonthetransformerbalancedand
isespeciallyimportantwhentheamountofsinglephaseload
becomeslarge.Thestableneutralpointalsoprovidesagood
groundlocationtoallowcriticaldampingofthesystemtoprevent
voltageoscillations.

Ifoneofthesinglephasetransformersinthedeltawyebankfails,theentire
bankbecomesinoperative.

Also,sincethedeltawyetransformerintroducesa30phaseshiftfrom
primarytosecondaryascanbeseenbythephasingsymbolsinFigure5,it
cannotbeparalleledwithdeltadeltaandwyewyetransformersthat
producenophaseshift.

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Figure5DeltaWyeTransformer

Figure6illustratesthedeltawyeconnection,eitherasthreesinglephase
transformersorasasinglethreephaseunit.Bothbushinglabelsandpolarity
dotsareshown.

Figure6DeltaWyeTransformerConnections

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Analyzingthedeltawyetransformerillustratesmanyimportantconcepts
regardingtheoperationofpolyphasetransformers.Theanalysiscanbedone
oneitheravoltageoracurrentbasis.Sincevoltage(potentialdifferenceor
thesubtractionoftwophasorquantities)isratherabstractanddifficultto
visualize,current(ortheflowofcharge)willbeusedasthebasisfor
analysis,sincecurrentiseasytoconceptualize.

Thecurrentsowinginthewindingsofadeltawyetransformerareshownin
Figure7.NotethatthearrowsindicateinstantaneousdirectionsoftheAC
currentandareconsistentwiththedotconvention.

Figure7DeltaandWyeWindings

Theanalysismustbegininoneofthetwoelectriccircuits,eitherthedelta
connectedhighvoltagecircuitorthewyeconnectedlowvoltagecircuit.

Sincecurrentisbeingusedasthebasisforanalysis,thewyeconnected
circuitisselectedasthestartingpoint,sinceinawyeconnectedcircuit,the
linecurrents(leavingthetransformer)andthephasecurrents(owinginthe
transformerwindings)areequal.Thisrelationshipbetweenlineandphase
currentssimplifiestheanalysis.

Theanalysisstartsbylabelingalllineandphasecurrents.Thisis
showninFigure8.

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Figure8DeltaWyeTransformerwithCurrentsLabeled

Notethatlowercasesubscriptsindicatelinecurrentsinthelowvoltage
circuit,anduppercasesubscriptsindicatelinecurrentsinthehighvoltage
circuit.Inthelowvoltagecircuit,thephasecurrentsareidenticaltothe
correspondinglinecurrents,sotheyalsoarelabeledIa,Ib,andIc.Whenthe
transformerwindingsaredrawn,aparticularhighvoltagewinding
correspondstothelowvoltagewindingdrawnparalleltoit.

Inotherwords,ahighvoltagewindingandalowvoltagewinding
thataredrawnparalleltoeachotherconstituteasinglephase
transformerortwowindingsonthesamelegofthemagnetic
coreofathreephasetransformer.

ThehighvoltagephasecurrentcorrespondingtoIa islabeledIa .The

directionofIa relativetothatofIa musthonorthedotconvention.The
magnitudeofIa relativetoIa istheinverseofthetransformerturnsratio
n,or

Whenanalyzingatransformerusingperunit,n=1soitbecomes:

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Ia =Ia

So,

Ia =Ia (perunit)
Ib =Ib (perunit)
Ic =Ic (perunit)
(Eqs.1)

Next,Kirchhoffscurrentlawcanbeappliedtoeachnodeofthedelta:

IA =IaIb =Ia Ib
IB =IbIc =Ib Ic
IC =IcIa =Ic Ia
(Eqs.2)

Equationsaboveexpressthehighvoltagecircuitlinecurrentsintermsof
thelowvoltagecircuitlinecurrents.Atthispoint,numericalvaluescanbe
substitutedforIa,Ib,andIc.KeepinginmindthatIa,Ib,andIc representa
balancedsetofphasors,arbitraryperunitvaluesareselectedtorepresent
abcphasesequencing:

Eqs.3

Apositivephasesequencing(abc)mustbeused,sincethe
IEEEstandardsforpowertransformers(theIEEEC57series)are
basedonpositivephasesequencing.

SubstitutingEqs.3intoEqs.2:

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Eqs.4

ComparingIa totoIA,a3magnitudedifference
anda30angulardifferenceareapparent.

IEEEStd.C57.12.00definesthedirectioninwhichthephasoranglesshall
changefromoneelectricalcircuittotheother.Inastandarddeltawye(or
wyedelta)transformer,thepositivesequencecurrentsandvoltagesonthe
highvoltagesideleadthepositivesequencecurrentsandvoltagesonthe
lowvoltagesideby30.

Whenthehighvoltagephasorslagthelowvoltagephasors,the
connectionisconsideredtobenonstandard.Sometimes
nonstandardconnectionsarenecessarytomatchthephasingson
twodifferentsystemsthatmustbeelectricallytied,butnormally,
standardconnectionsarespecified.

Notethattheconventiontodetermineastandardconnectionrequiresthat
thehighvoltagephasorsleadthelowvoltagephasorsby30.Noreference
ismadetoprimaryorsecondary.Theprimarywindingsofatransformerare
thosewindingstowhichvoltageisapplied.Thesecondarywindingshavean
inducedvoltageimpressedacrossthem.

Usually,theprimarywindingsarethehighvoltagewindings,butthisisnot
alwaysthecase.Agoodexampleofanexceptionisageneratorstepup
transformer.

Gobacktocontents

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4.WyeDelta

ThewyedeltatransformershowninFigure9issometimesusedtoprovide
aneutralonathreewiresystembutalsocanserveloadfromits
secondary.

Figure9WyeDeltaTransformer

Theprimarywyewindingsaretypicallygrounded.Ifthesecondaryisafour
wiredelta,thefourthwireoriginatingatacentertapononeofthelegsofthe
deltaisgrounded.

Figure10illustratesthewyedeltaconnection,
eitherasthreesinglephasetransformersor
asasinglethreephaseunit.Bothbushing
labelsandpolaritydotsareshown.

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Figure10WyeDeltaTransformerConnections(clicktoexpanddiagram)

Gobacktocontents

Willbecontinued

Reference//IndustrialpowerdistributionbyRalphE.Fehr

AboutAuthor//

Edvard Csanyi

EdvardElectricalengineer,programmerandfounderofEEP.Highly
specializedfordesignofLV/MVswitchgearsandLVhighpowerbusbar
trunking(<6300A)inpowersubstations,commercialbuildingsandindustry
fascilities.ProfessionalinAutoCADprogramming.PresentonGoogle+

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