Solid-state on-load transformer tap changer

F.Q.Yo usef-Zai
D.0’ Kelly

Indexing terms: Tap changing, Thyristors, Transformers

Abstract: Switching logic is defined for a single-
phase transformer tap changer using thyristor
switching. A laboratory model validates the
theory and shows that tap changing is possible in
less than one cycle over the whole power-factor
spectrum. Waveform sampling and the use of a
microprocessor based control system provides
improved control and additional features such as
data logging etc. Two schemes are considered for
the application of thyristor tap changing to three-
phase transformers. Economic viability is strongly
dependent on the associated power system and its
abnormal operating features, namely system fault
currents and especially the degree of exposure of
the transformer to lightning surges.
List of symbols
i = instantaneous current, A
1 Introduction
On-load tap changers usually insert resistance or reac-
tance during the switching operation to limit the circu-
lating current in the commutating taps. The mechanical
operation requires three or four stages and is relatively
slow, often many cycles. Solid-state devices are now
used extensively in the field of power engineering
including motor control, direct-current transmission
etc. Thyristors have been used as an aid to facilitate
switching in mechanical tap changers [l, 21. A novel
scheme has been recently described [3] which incorpo-
rates a GTO thyristor for the switching duty with a
fast-acting mechanical selector switch. However, thyris-
tor switching to eliminate the mechanical moving parts
appears to have only been considered or implemented
for specialised applications [4-71. In this paper, the
switching logic requirements together with other neces-
sary operational features are exa,mined for such a tap
changer.

Il r E r - - i
I = current, RMS A
f = peak current, A
L = inductance, H
n = tap section turns, p.u.
R = resistance, Q
t = time, s
v = instantaneous voltage, V
V = voltage, RMS V
X = reactance, p.u.
a = switching angle, rad
y = overlap angle, rad
6 = extinction angle, rad
$ = power factor angle, rad
CO = supply angular frequency, radls

Suffices
1 = primary winding Fig. 1 Conventional solid-state tap changer
2 = secondary winding
2 Solid-state tap changers
t = tap section
s = supply side The conventional tap changer technique of switching in
sc = short circuit a diverter impedance to limit the circulating current on
tap transition can be used with thyristors as the switch-
0IEE, 1996
ing elements. Fig. 1 shows a typical arrangement. To
ZEE Proceedings online no. 19960578
effect a tap change the thyristor pair X is turned on
Paper first received 20th October 1995 and in revised form 24th April
1996 and the firing circuit to A is turned off. A cycle later,
F.Q. Yousef-Zai is with the Deparhnent of Electrical Engineering, North-
thyristor pair B is turned on and the gate drive to X
West Frontier Province, University of Engineering & Technology, turned off. A tap change is effected in two cycles. The
Peshawa, Pakistan duty on the thyristors can be reduced by arranging the
D. OKelly is with the Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, firing circuits for thyristor pairs X and B to be ener-
University of Bradford, West Yorks. BD7 lDP, UK gised at voltage zeros.
IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 143, No. 6, November 1996 481
 The number of thyristor pairs may be halved by hav-
ing accurately defined switching strategies so that the
circulating currents in the tap section are limited to a
safe value without the use of a diverter resistance
(Fig. 2). The main objective of this paper is to examine
this type of circuit topology. The sections on opera-
tional requirements and the inclusion of measurement
features are equally applicable to both circuit configu-
rations. Both schemes probably require a bypass switch
as discussed in Section 6.5.
Fig.2 Solid-state tap changer without diverter resistance
'r
Fig.3 Equivalent circuit for tap changer
Three tapping points shown, winding resistance neglected
3 Principle of operation
The equivalent circuit corresponding to the tapped sec-
ondary side of the transformer is shown in Fig. 3. Only
three taps are shown to illustrate the switching proce-
dure. Consider current to be flowing in thyristor pair
A. The secondary voltage is either increased by switch-
ing up (thyristor pair B turned on) or switching down
(by turning on thyristor pair C). A tap change is
achieved by simply turning on the appropriate thyris-
tor-pair (viz.say B) while turning off thyristor pair A.
However, with a random instant of switching a trans-
former tap may be short circuited for nearly one cycle.
The value of this short-circuit current may exceed that
due to a short circuit on the whole secondary winding,
see the Appendix, and with repeated tap changes the
possible damage to the windings or devices by these
high short-circuit currents is clearly unacceptable. To
482
prevent an onerous tap short-circuit current the instant
of switching must be controlled and Figs. 4 and 5 illus-
trate the required switching instant assuming ideal
devices and negligible transformer leakage inductance.
One thyristor pair (namely, B) is turned on while the
gate drive for pair A is removed.
,(1+n)v
(1-n)v
Fig.4 Safe switching region with lagging~$ load
I oad Fig.5 Safe switching region with leadingp.$ load
Zero overlap, ideal devices
The switching device logic is straightforward:
switching up instant: v and i have values of like
polarity
switching down instant: v and i have values of
unlike polarity.
It is seen that as the power factor approaches unity the
available safe switching period tends to zero for either
switching down with forward power flow or switching
up with reverse power flow.
4 Switching logic
4. I Influence of overlap angle
In practice the secondary winding has leakage imped-
ance which delays commutation from one thyristor pair
to the next thyristor pair during a switching operation.
The commutation period or overlap angle is a function
of the leakage impedance, tap-winding voltage and
load current. The leakage impedance is approximately
n(R2 + jwL2), see the Appendix.
IEE Pvoc -Electr Power Appl , Vol 143, No 6, November 1996
 about the voltage zero since it 11s shown later that the
duty on the device is minimised using this switching

p
wt

switch
instanti n g # v

I I

-. -. . -. -.-. -.
I I
T2A +J--J -30 0 30
a, deg

v
7 Fig.7 Computed switching characteristics at rated current; switching up
at unity p.$
Fig.6 Typical switching-up sequence with$nite overlap
x,,,, = 0.2p.u.
x,,, = 0.1p.u.
~

____
Xrranff
= 0.05p.u.

Fig. 6 illustrates a typical switching-up sequence

with finite overlap. Neglecting thyristor volt drop the
relationship between overlap angle y, switching angle a
and load phase angle $I is given by eqn. 1. The load
current i is not affected by the tap-change voltage until
commutation is completed and the load voltage then
suddenly rises to (1 + n)v. The switching angle a is con-
strained as follows:
lagging power factor: Q s a < n - y, where Q is a posi-
tive quantity
leading power factor: 0 s a < (n + Q - y), where Q is a
negative quantity
isin(y+a-#) = (nQ/nzz)[sin(aty- K)-sin(a -I()expp]
(1)
where 2, = [R22+ (oL~)~]'" a, deg.
Fig.8 Computed switching chavucteristics at rated current; switching
B = -YR2/(WL2) down at unity p$
XI,,, = 0.2p.u.
K = tan-'(oL2/R2)
~

____ XI,,, = O.lp.u.

Xrram,= 0.05p.u.
With negligible resistance eqn. 1 becomes
+
i sin(y a! - 4) = ( n V / n w ~ a ) [ c a!o s- cos(a! y)] (2) + 30r
Defining I and V to be the RMS values of current and
voltage
+
sin(y cy - 4) = (V/wL2)[cosa - cos(a y)] +
(3)
For a switching-down sequence from, say, A to C the
current in T1A changes from I sin(a - $I) to zero and
with negligible resistance the relationship for y is now
given by eqn. 4. The switching angle a is constrained
as follows:
lagging power factor: 0 5 a < Q - y where Q is a posi-
tive quantity
leading power factor: (n + Q) s a < (n y) where 4 is a ~

negative quantity
I sin(a - 4) = (V/wL:!)[coscy - cos(a r)] (4) +
The load voltage changes from v to (1 - n)v at the initi-
ation of the tap change but this does not affect the cur-
L I I
rent change in thyristor T1A. -30 0 30
Figs. 7-9 show overlap angle characteristics for a a,deg.
range of a and X,, It is assumed that the secondary Fig.9 Computed switching characteristics at rated current; switching at
leakage reactance X2 is half XrrUnsf(in per unit) and the zeiGp$
x,,, = 0.2p.u.
tap section reactance is proportional to the number of
~

__-- x,,, = 0.1p.u.

turns. The firing angle a is limited to a value 2 30" x,,,, = 0.05p.u
IEE Proc-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 143, No. 6, November 1996 483
range. With a zero power factor lagging load (Fig. 9)
the value of a is positive for switching down and nega-
tive for switching up. The characteristics in Figs. 8 and
9 show that with a negative value of a there is a limit-
ing value of a above which commutation would be
incomplete at the voltage zero. For example in Fig. 8
with X,,,,, = 0.01 the values of la1 and y are identical
at 4.4". The safety margin between T l A ceasing to con-
duct and experiencing a positive forward voltage is
defined as angle 6 and in common with power electron-
ics terminology is called extinction angle.
4.2 Tap short circuit
Referring to Fig. 6 if 6 is too small and T1A reignites
there is a commutation failure. Since both T2A and
T2B have been turned on together, the tap is short
circuited. Short-circuit current flows through T1A and
T2B for nearly a whole cycle (owing to its DC compo-
nent) and gives a peak current of nearly twice the
steady-state value. The short circuit on the tap could be
prevented by turning on T2B some time after TlA.
However, this method was rejected since it introduces
an extra control parameter for each thyristor pair and
the possibility of maloperation (in particular if all the
devices are instantaneously in the nonconducting state
then load blocking occurs and the devices are subjected
to the full transformer secondary voltage).
4.3 Switching at near-unity power factor
current
It is seen from Figs. 4-6 that an onerous duty is switch-
ing down a near-unity power factor load current (or,
alternatively, switching up a near-unity power factor
reverse current). A solution is to define the instant of
tap changing or switching (i.e. removing the gate drive
from one thyristor pair, say A, and turning on an adja-
cent thyristor pair, say C) to be at an angle (n - a) or
the equivalent value (-a) prior to voltage zero. The tap
is short circuited for a small period but since the tap
voltage is relatively small during this period, the peak
value of circulating current is not large. Fig. 10 shows
the peak tap short-circuit current characteristics in
terms of a for transformer reactances of 0.05, 0.10 and
0.20 per unit. A short-circuit current of one per unit in
Fig. 10 corresponds to the peak value of rated current.
Figs. 11 and 12 illustrate the switching-down of a
unity power factor load. There is little danger of a pro-
longed short circuit on the tap due to thyristor T2A
starting to conduct. This device has not conducted for
nearly a halfcycle and the safety margin for the
removal of the firing signal is 6,. The duty is similar
on switching up a unity power factor load with reverse
power flow.
The most onerous duty is switching down a near-
unity leading power factor load current as shown in
Fig. 13. The transition occurs without a tap short cir-
cuit if both extinction angles 61, and are sufficient

?
Q
I
C
;
3
U

0
m
Q
c
0

wt

a ,deg.
Fig.10 Computed switching characteristics ut rated current; peak tap
short-circuit current (1,
= 0)
~ XI,, = 0.2p.u.
____ X*,,.= 0.lp.u.
_ XI,, = 0.05p.~.
Fig.12 Switching down ut unity power factor: switching waveforms

TlA
hf
I I

h( TIC
V I
I
i 1c
C
l0i
T2C

I
Fig.11 Switching down ut unity power factor: equivalent circuit
Fig.13 Switching down at near-unity leading power factor current
equivalent circuit

484 IEE Proc -Electr Power Appl, Vol 143, No 6, November 1996
to prevent reignition of their respective thyristors, see
Fig. 14. If angle aZAis too small, then thyristor T2A
reignites and a short-duration (safe) tap short circuit
occurs as illustrated in Fig. 15. This type of behaviour
increases aIA and reduces the risk of thyristor TIA
restriking. Angle al, must always be large enough to
prevent TIA being turned-on since this results in an
onerous tap short-circuit current. This switching duty
also applies to switching up a near-unity lagging power
factor current with power flow in the reverse direction.
4.4 Optimum switching angle
From the previous Sections it is seen that a wide range
of switching angle a is possible for a large part of the
power factor spectrum. However, only a limited range
of a is possible if
(i) discontinuities in its value (as @ changes) are to be
avoided and
Fig. 14 Switching down at near-unity leadingpowerfactor current: T2A
does not reignite
Fig.15 Switching down at near-unity leading power factor current: T2A
reignites, ,S is too small
IEE Proc-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 143, No. 6, November 1996
(ii) the value of a is restricted to1 30" which limits the
maximum voltage at turn-on to 50% of the peak tap-
section voltage.
I
Fig.16 Typical switching-up characteristicfor a
~ limits of safe operation
-.-. -.- suggested nominal value
Fig. 16 shows a typical optimised characteristic for a
with a transformer leakage reactance of 0.1 per unit
and load currents up to rated value. It has the follow-
ing features:
maximum tap-section circulating current X- 2p.u.
maximum device current 2- 2p.u.
minimum extinction angle = 4" == 22Op.s
maximum range of switching angle a = +30"
The switching-down characteristic is similar to Fig. 16
with 4 altered by 180".
5 Control and instrumentation
In the preceding Section the basic switching require-
ments for a solid-state tap changer are defined assum-
ing a steady-state load current. In practice, many other
aspects have to be considered. Typical operational
requirements are summarised here, with their imple-
mentation described in Section 6:
(i) The system must be capable of handling transients
on transformer energisation.
(ii) Measurement of current and phase angle to define
the switching angle a.
(iii) Voltage measurement and switching logic to give
the required voltage control features.
(iv) Tap changing must be inhibited if it is unsafe
owing to either a DC component in the load current
(following transformer energisation) or a sudden
change of load current.
(v) Rapid detection of a system fault and action initi-
ated to limit thyristor duty.
(vi) Instrumentation for voltage, current, power and
energy measurement.
(vii) The ability to withstand lightning surges and
switching overvoltages.
6 Implementation of switching and operational
features
The use of a microprocessor based control system is
invaluable in providing a range of flexible features.
Furthermore, sampling techniques facilitate the switch-
ing requirements and data evaluation.
485
 I II,
pq Fl
Fig. 17 Laboratory model of microprocessor-controlledtup changer
A DC offset, sudden current change, fault detector unit
B Microprocessor M68020, inputioutput board, coprocessor M68221
C Power factor measurement
D PLL, 64 samples per cycle
E PLL, 128 samples per cycle
F PLL, 360 samples per cycle
G Zero-crossing detector
6.1 Single-phase laboratory model [8/
A single-phase model of a five-tap thyristor tap
changer controlled by a Motorola 68008 microproces-
sor (Fig. 17) was used to test the implementation of
the instrumentation and control features. Three phase-
locked loops (PLL) were used, namely
voltage, current sampling, 64 pulseskycle
current switching region, 128 pulseskycle
switching angle, 360 pulses/cycle
a b
d The secondary voltage was measured and conven-
-,-- -----
--
e waveforms during a tap transition.
Fig. 1S Typical measured current switching waveforms on tup changing
a Switching down a = 0" lagging p.f.
b Switching up a = -15" lagging p.f.
c Switching down a = -10" unity p.f.
d Switching up a = -5" unity p.f.
e Switching down a = -10" leading p.f.
f Switching up a = 0" leading p.f.
486
readout
6. 1. 1 Snubber circuits; The switching angle was
selected to give the lowest possible turn-on voltage con-
sistent with an appropriate safety margin. Typically,
the maximum voltage across a device at turn on was
<50% of the peak tap-section power frequency voltage.
Each device has to be rated to withstand the total
range of the tap-change section power frequency volt-
age, hence, with five tap sections the peak voltage at
turn on is limited to 10% of the peak power-frequency
voltage experienced by the device. This enabled the
thyristors to be operated without snubber circuits. The
dildt in a device is limited by the transformer leakage
reactance and is well within its capability. It is sug-
gested on the basis of these results that a practical
scheme using distribution-size transformers would not
require snubber circuits for the thyristors or at worst a
relatively small snubber circuit with a low loss.
6.2 Switching logic
Voltage and current zero crossover points were used to
initiate and stop a counter defining angle @.The value
of $ and the current magnitude (Section 6.3) were then
applied to look-up tables to define the appropriate
value of a as discussed in Section 4.
tional tap-changer control used to maintain a near-con-
stant secondary voltage without hunting. An additional
feature (if required) was the switching of two or more
taps at the same time to handle large sudden changes
of primary voltage. However, this increases the switch-
ing duty on a thyristor. Fig. 18 shows typical current
If the load current is very small, say, less than 0.003
per unit, the measurement of (9 is not easy. Since the
overlap angle on tap changing is now very small, it is
quite safe to use a fixed angle of a which depends on
X,,,,, Typically a = -10" for X,,,,, = 0.1p.u.
IEE Proc -Elect? Power A p p l , Val 143 No 6, November 1996
 The switching logic could be readily arranged (if
required) to include specific secondary voltage/load
current characteristics, e.g. near-constant voltage at a
remote load.
6.3 Voltage and current measurements
Current and voltage sampling at 64 sampleslcycle was
used to determine the power and RMS values of V and
I. Stored values of power at 10s intervals enabled the
daily (or more) energy consumption to be monitored.
The DC component of a cycle was found and if greater
than a preset ratio then tap transition was inhibited.
The sampling frequency in the region of voltage zero
was doubled to 128 samples per cycle. Corresponding
samples of current in the previous cycle and the present
cycle were compared to indicate a change of slope
which would affect the angle at current zero and hence
change the effective power factor. Tap transition was
inhibited if these measurements showed that the change
of angle at which current zero would occur could lead
to a possible ‘unsafe’ switching condition i.e. a large
circulating current.
6.4 Overload condition
The metered value of current indicates any overload
condition. It is suggested that the energy history of the
transformer (Section 6.3), together with a knowledge of
the transformer thermal time constant could be used to
give a measure of the overload capability at any time.
6.5 Transformer energisation
One thyristor pair must be gated to ensure that on
transformer energisation the thyristor bank does not
experience full secondary voltage. However, even in
this state on energising the transformer onto a static
load the voltage duty on the thyristors may be very
onerous before current is established in the thyristor. It
is considered necessary to have a bypass device across
the thyristor pair connected to the midpoint of the
tapped section, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. After an
appropriate time following transformer energisation,
this thyristor pair would be turned on and the bypass
switch opened. The bypass switch could be, say, a vac-
uum switch and the additional advantages of this
scheme are: the control circuitry could be energised
from the transformer, and the thyristor duty could be
reduced on a system fault, see Section 6.6.
6.6 System faults
The short-time rating of thyristors usually prevents (in
terms of cost effectiveness) a thyristor pair from han-
dling a system short-circuit current for the total fault
duration or as required by relevant specifications. On
fault incidence the vacuum switch used for the starting
up procedure (Section 6.5) could be used to bypass the
thyristor bank, the gate drives of the conducting thyris-
tor pair being turned off on switch closure. If the
switch closure time is several cycles, continuous tap
changing could be arranged to limit the conducting
period to less than one cycle for each thyristor pair.
The switching logic is relatively simple, successive thyr-
istor pairs being switched at a quarter of a cycle after
each current zero. The low secondary voltage ensures a
relatively low value of any circulating current which
may be produced during this period. Even with the
fault current in a thyristor limited to less than one cycle
the thyristor rating may be dictated by the fault level.
The current sampling technique enables a fault to be
IEE Proc -Electr Power Appl, Vol 143, No 6, November 1996
detected in a fraction of a cycle. Typically, a fault was
indicated by four successive current samples (at 64
pulses/cycle) exceeding a specified value of 3 p.u.
Both the detection and the multiple tap transition of
fault currents were successfully irnplemented in the lab-
oratory model.
For transformers operating at relatively low system
voltages there is the possibility of using a thyristor with
an appropriate snubber circuit as the bypass switch.
6.7 Overvoltage considerations
Probably the most onerous duty on the thyristor bank
is the overvoltage owing to steep-fronted lightning
surges being propagated into the transformer. The ini-
tial voltage distribution across a transformer winding is
very dependent upon the inherent capacitance distribu-
tion. Usually the turns at the low potential or earthy
end of the winding are subject to the least onerous duty
and hence the tapped winding should be connected
here.
The design must ensure that the thyristor overvolt-
ages are limited to a safe value. 1 t may be necessary to
limit the magnitude by, say, zinc oxide nonlinear resist-
ances and the critical dvldt by swamping the inherent
capacitance of the tapped winding by a capacitor. The
difficulty of quantifying this duty and the expense of
the protective elements suggests that the only viable
application of a solid-state tap changer is when the
location of the transformer and its associated feeders
attenuate the magnitude and especially the wavefront
steepness of any incoming surges to a moderately safe
value.
Overvoltages due to switching operations in the sys-
tem are usually in the kilohertz frequency range and
the maximum value is usually defined as a multiple of
the peak phase voltage. Conselquently, the thyristor
dvldt rating is usually adequate when the voltage rating
is sufficient.
6.8 Thyristor failure and redundancy
With the solid-state tap changer schemes considered
above the failure of a thyristor is serious. Unless reme-
dial action is taken the failed thyristor will produce a
short circuit on the tapped winding sections which
could lead to further thyristor failures.
The statistical risk of such a failure is low since the
normal duty on a thyristor is well below its rating, par-
ticularly when the devices are rated to withstand system
overvoltage as discussed in Section 6.7. If this risk is
unacceptable, redundancy may be included by replac-
ing each thyristor with a pair of series thyristors of the
same rating. In the event of a thyristor failure the thyr-
istor in series continues to perform the required switch-
ing duty. Grading or damping resistors could be used
to share the duty on the two series thyristors. A frac-
tion of the voltages across these resistors could be used
to monitor the healthy (or otherwise) state of a thyris-
tor.
However, in addition to doubling the number of
devices, firing circuits etc., a further disadvantage is the
doubling of the on-state device losses. The extra cost of
such a scheme would be considerable.
7 Multitap considerations
The voltage rating of the thyristors in the schemes con-
sidered above (Figs. 1 and 2) is dependent on the
number of taps. Above, say, six taps it is appropriate
487
to consider ways of reducing the thyristor duty. Qne
method which halves the voltage rating is to split the
thyristors into two sections as shown in Fig. 19. Con-
trol of the extra thyristor pairs Z and Y is relatively
simple. Normally, either Z or Y are continuously con-
ducting. On tap-changing from T7 to T8 the gate
drives of thyristor-pairs T7 and Y are removed and
thyristor pairs T8 and Z are turned on consistent with
the appropriate firing logic described previously. The
main disadvantage of the scheme is that the thyristor
losses are doubled since two thyristors are always con-
ducting. Also the voltage ratings of thyristor pairs Y
and 2. are required to be nearly twice that for the tap-
ping-point thyristors depending on voltage grading.
However, this could be reduced by firing the gate of
thyristor T7 when Y has been turned off to define the
voltage across thyristor pair Y.
More than two sections could be used without
increasing the thyristor losses: the rating of the thyris-
tor pairs connected to the load would have to be
appropriately increased.
An alternative arrangement shown in Fig. 20
reverses the winding polarity. With thyristor pair X
energised the tap voltages reduce the output voltage.
When the thyristor pairs T7 and X are conducting (i.e.
midpoint voltage) the tap voltage may be reversed by
firing thyristor pair Y then turning off thyristor pairs
T7 and X. A halfcycle later thyristor pairs T1 and Y
Fi Sectionalised tupping points
0 Sectionulued tupping points with wmding polarity reversed
488
are turned on and Y is turned off. Again, a disadvan-
tage of the scheme is that two thyristors are always
conducting. Otherwise, the scheme is attractive as the
tapped winding now requires only half the tappings
points and the number of thyristor pairs is nearly
halved. However, in some tap positions there is an
additional winding resistance loss owing to the extra
secondary turns in circuit. Bypass switches are included
in Figs. 19 and 20.
er
Each phase of a three-phase tap changer may be con-
trolled independently as described with some reduction
of the electronic circuitry by multiplexing e.g. the wave-
form sampling circuit. With balanced loading at all
times the control is considerably simplified. One phase
is controlled, as described, with the firing angles for the
other two phases delayed 120" and 240", respectively.
8.1 Three-phase ring configuration tap
changer
An alternative arrangement is shown in Fig. 21, which
reduces the number of thyristors required by a half.
However, there are several disadvantages with this
arrangement :
Fig.21 Three-phase ring-configuration tap changer
leq X
.22 Three-phuse rmg-configuration tup changer schematic diugrum
IEE Proc -Electr Power Appi, Vol 143, No 6, November 1996
(i) The thyristor rating is increased: voltage by a factor
of d3 and current by 1.5.
(ii) Three-phase currents must be nearly balanced if
onerous tap short-circuit currents are to be avoided.
(iii) Secondary windings must be star connected and an
earthed star point is not possible.
Only a brief treatment of the control features and per-
formance are given since the scheme has obvious limi-
tations. Considering a three-tap scheme as shown in
Fig. 22 the corresponding steady-state device currents
and nonconducting device voltages are shown in Figs.
23 and 24 for a balanced resistive load.
An appropriate switching logic is to turn on a device
when it is forward biased and there is current flowing
in a device in the same leg. Typically, the device which
is to be turned off has its gate-firing pulse removed
some time, say, 2 0 0 before
~ the parallel device is fired.
Table 1 summarises the switching angles for the whole
power factor spectrum for one leg assuming negligible
overlap. The other two legs are switched consecutively
at intervals of one third of a cycle as the load is
assumed to be balanced. The switching angles are read-
As with the single-phase scheme described previously
it is advantageous to switch at the lowest value of the
instantaneous forward voltage (consistent with safety
margins) to give the lowest dvldt across the thyristors.
It may result in near-maximum peak values of current
being commutated but the winding leakage inductance
effectively limits the dildt value.
A computer program was written to plot switching
current and voltage waveshapes [8] and a three-ring
laboratory model was built and tlested. Satisfactory tap
changing was carried out over a wide power factor
spectrum and experimental results validated the theo-
retical waveforms. Representative results are given in
Figs. 25 and 26.
However, due to the limitations mentioned previ-
ously the use of a single-phase tap changer in each limb
is advocated.
ly3
0
I f-c\ vy3 l

ily modified to include the effect of finite values of 'Y2

0
L
I
A
0.020
,
1
0.020

overlap angle.

I 'TZ2

ix3 I

0 0
0.020
1x2
0 '
L I vx3 / ! 0.020
L

wt
Fig.23 Three-phase ring-configuration tap changer: steady-state cur- Fig.25 Switching-down voltage and current waveshapes or rmg config-
rents in ring 2 uration three-phase tap changer near-unity power-factor &ad:'co&uted
values

Fig.26 Switching-down voltage and current waveshapesfor ring-confg-

Fig.24 Three-phase ring-configuration tap changer: steady-state volt- uration three-phase tap changer near-unity power-factor load: measured
ages across nonconducting devices in leg X results

Leading up 30 to (210-x)" + +
down 0 t o 30" where 120" 240"
Lagging up ( 3 0 + ~ t)o 210" 0 <I$ < 30" X= 0
down 210 t o (240+I$)" 30 < I$ < 90"X = e30"

489
 Table 2:Case studies
Notes A B C
Transformer rating, MVA 100 5 1
Number of phases 3 3 1
Winding phase voltage, kV RMS 331d3 1 1ld3 3.3
Tapped winding secondary secondary primary
Rated current, kA RMS 1.75 0.26 0.3
with 100% overload, kA RMS 3.5 0.54 0.6
Transformer reactance, per unit 0.15 0.05 0.03
Number of tap sections 16 16 8
Tap voltage, per unit 0.0125 0.0125 0.02
Tap inductance, mH 0.032 0.024 0.01
Number of tap groups 2 2 1
Overvoltage factor 1 4 4 5
M a x i m u m device voltage, kV RMS 0.95 0.64 0.53
Peak voltage on turn on, Vp 84 57 47
Redundancy built in? Yes no no
Bypass switch 2 vacuum vacuum thyristor
switch switch HRC fuse
Transformer efficiency, per unit 0.994 0.99 0.985
Transformer loss on full load, kW 600 50 15
Solid-state loss on full load, kW 3 34 2.6 0.5
Fault MVA 600 70 20
Peak fault current, kAp 4 26.8 9.3 15.5
eq uiva Ie nt ha If cycle, kAp 5 32.8 11.4 19.0
Number of thyristors 252 126 18
Suggested thyristor rating:
current, kA average 6 2.0 0.4 0.4
peak voltage, kVp 7 5.4 4.0 4.0
max dildt, A l p 8 4.7 1.6 2.7
peak voltage on turn on, Vp 9 84 57 47
peak current, kAp 10 33" 12* 19t
max dvldt, vlus 11 ** ** **
1 Overvoltage factor is multiple of peak phase voltage
2 Case C requires HRC fuse co-ordination to limit peak current
3 Solid-state loss is based on (thyristor volt drop = 1.8V)(average full-load current)(number of series
thyristors)
4 Peak fault current = 2.55 (RMS short-circuit current)
5 Equivalent halfcycle = halfcycle of 50Hz sinusoidal current
6 Rounded-up values
7 Rounded-up values: case A assumes redundant thyristor shares any abnormal system overvoltage
8 Based on short-circuit current; thyristor current and voltage ratings are strongly dependent on associ-
ated power system characteristics
9 Rounded-up values; with multiple-tap transitions values are multiplied by number of taps changed
10 * Thyristors may require higher value of average current rating to satisfy peak current requirement;
t either prospective peak value of 19 kA is limited by HRC fuse co-ordination or thyristor average cur-
rent rating is increased
11 ** Safe values may necessitate higher value of peak voltage rating, Section 6.7

Case studies
Three schemes are considered (Table 2) ranging from a
single-phase distribution transformer (in which the risk
of failure of a thyristor operating well within its rating
is considered to be negligible) to a large three-phase
transformer with built-in redundancy to give maximum
reliability. It is assumed that both three-phase schemes
have to handle unbalanced loads and therefore the
three-phase scheme considered in Section 8.1 is not
suitable and each phase must be controlled independ-
ently.
Vacuum switches are used as bypass switches in the
two larger schemes. At the lowest rating an appropri-
490
ately rated thyristor pair could be used for the bypass
switch with a series high rupturing capacity (HRC) fuse
for fault clearance co-ordinated to reduce the actual
peak fault current below its prospective value.
The switching logic for a transformer solid-state tap
changer has been developed and applied to a labora-
tory model giving satisfactory operation over the com-
plete power-factor spectrum under normal operating
conditions. A sampling technique for the measurement
of voltage and current values dnd a microprocessor
based controller were used to implement the required
IEE Proc.-Electr. Power Appl., Vol. 143, No 6, November 1996
switching strategies. The combination of power elec- leakage inductance and resistance proportional to the
tronics and microelectronics with a conventional piece number of turns i.e. n(R2 + jX2). The magnetising cur-
of power equipment provides a flexible arrangement rent and the winding resistance R, are relatively small
including not only the main requirement of voltage and may be neglected giving the equivalent circuit of
control but also many additional features such as Fig. 27c. A short-circuit on the secondary winding,
instrumentation, data logging protective aspects, etc. Fig. 27d produces a steady-state current of magnitude
As with all power electronics equipment the power loss
in the semiconductor devices is not insignificant.
+ +
I,, = V,/(X, XI X , ) per unit (5)
Under abnormal system behaviour there may be high A short circuit on the tapped winding Fig. 27e gives a
fault currents or system overvoltages owing to switch- steady-state primary current of
ing operations or lightning surges etc. The viability of a
solid-state tap changer generally capable of handling
+ +
IlSc= V s / [ X s X I ( X a / n ) ]per unit (6)
and a steady-state current in the short-circuited tap of
any or all of these requirements is questionable unless
the very fast response time achieved is mandatory. +
It,, = nIlsc = V , / [ n ( X , X , ) ] per unit (7)
Only if the transformer situation considerably reduces Comparing eqns. 7 and 8 the ralio of the short-circuit
the degree of exposure to high fault currents and, more currents is
especially, steep-fronted surge voltages can the scheme
approach cost effectiveness.
short-circuited tap section - X , XI X ,
-
+ +
Any tap changer scheme must be reliable. The statis- short-circuited secondary + +
n ( X , X I ) X2
(8)
tical risk of a thyristor failure is extremely unlikely Since n is relatively small n(X, -t XI) << X2 and the
owing to the relatively low duty on a device under nor- ratio becomes ( X , + XI +X2)IX2 approximately. This
mal operation compared to its rating. However, if this gives a tap steady-state short-circuit current of approx-
degree of risk is unacceptable built-in redundancy may imately
be included at considerable extra cost. I, = t a p voltage __
-_ ~-nVs --
K
t a p leakage reactance nX2 X z (9)
11 Acknowledgment
It is seen that the steady-state talp short-circuit current
Dr Yousef-Zai is indebted to the Government of Paki- is at least twice the secondary short-circuit current
stan for granting a scholarship and North-West Fron- (assuming, typically, that XI = X2 and with finite sys-
tier Province University of Engineering and tem reactance X,). Additionally, there may be a DC
Technology for study leave to undertake research at component depending on the voltage phase angle at
Bradford University. switching.

12 References
ROBERTS, M.E., and ASHMAN, W.G.: ‘A thyristor-assisted
mechanical on-load tap changer’. IEE Conf. Pub. 53, 1969, pt. 1,
pp. 185-192
COOKE, G.H., and WILLIAMS, K.T.: ‘New thyristor assisted
diverter switch for on-load transformer tap-changer’, ZEE Proc.
B, 1992, 139, (6), pp. 507-511
SHUTTLEWORTH, R., TIAN, X., FAN, C., and POWER, A.:
‘New tap-changing scheme’, ZEE Proc., Electr. Power Appl., 1996,
143, (l), pp. 108-112
MUSGRAVE. G.. and O’KELLY. D.: ‘Imorovement of Dower
system transmission by solid-state ’ techniqces’. IEE Conf: Pub.
123, 1974, pp. 228-233
O’KELLY, D., and MUSGRAVE, G.: ‘Improvement of power
system transient stability limits’, Proc. IEE, 1973, 120, (2), pp.
247-253
GUTH, G., BAKER, R., and EGLIN, P.: ‘Static thyristor-con-
trolled regulating transformer for AC transmission’. IEE Conf.
Pub. 205, 1981, pp. 69-72
ARRILLAGA, J., and DUKE, J.M.: ‘A static alternative to the
transformer on-load tap-changer’, ZEEE Trans., 1980, PAS-99,
(l), pp. 86-91
YOUSEF-ZAI, F.Q.: ‘Fast-acting solid-state transformer tap-
changer’. PhD thesis, University of Bradford, 1990

13 Appendix. System and transformer tap short

circuits I
e
vs
e
Consider a transformer Fig. 27a with a leakage flux Fig.27 Short-circuit Considerations
a Transformer schematic
path as shown in Fig. 27b. It is reasonable to assume b Leakage flux path
that the leakage flux linkage is proportional to turns. c Equivalent circuit, p.u. values
d Secondary short circuit
Hence the tapped portion of the secondary winding has e Tap short circuit

ProcElectr. Power Appl., Vol. 143, No. 6, November 1996 49 1