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these again at 1.5 T. In the case of POWERCORE@ strip this has risen to 1.3 VA/kg while for conventional silicon steel it is typically only 0.94 VA/kg. While the sizes of strip available as POWERCORE@ are still unsuitable for the manufacture of large-power transformer cores, in the USA in particular, many hundreds of thousands of distribution transformer cores with an average rating of around 50 kVA have been built using amorphous material. In Europe use of the material has been a far more limited scale, the main impetus being in Holland, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany and Hungary. One possible reason for the slower progress in Europe is that the thin strip material does not lend itself to the European preferred form of core construction, whereas the wound cores, which are the norm for distribution transformers in the USA, are far more suitable for this material. In the UK its use has been almost exclusively by one manufacturer who has built several hundred small distribution transfonners. All were manufactured from plain un laminated ribbon material. This manufacturer has also built a small number of experimental units using the POWERCORE@ material, see Figure 3.8, but report that the difficulties of cutting and building this into a conventional core can tend to outweigh any benefits gained. Another of the practical problems associated with amorphous steel is its poor stacking factor which results from a combination of the very large number of layers of ribbon needed to build up the total required iron section and

Figure 3.8 Core and windings of 200 kVA, 20/0.4 kV transformer using amorphous steel. Unfortunately very little of the core is visible, but it should be just apparent that this is of the wound construction. It will also be apparent that fairly elaborate clamping was considered necessary and that the physical size, for a 200 kVA transformer, is quite large. (GEC Alsthom)

Design fundamentals

There are two basic types of transformers categorised by their winding/core configuration: (a) shell type and (b) core type. The difference is best understood by reference to Figure 2.1.

In a shell-type transformer the flux-return paths of the core are external to and enclose the windings. Figure 2.1 (oj shows an example of a three-phase shell-type transformer. While one large power transformer manufacturer in North America was noted for his use of shell-type designs, core-type designs predominate in the UK and throughout most of the world, so that this book will be restricted to the description of core-type transformers except where specifically identified otherwise.

three-limb arrangement. With this configuration, having top and bottom yokes equal in cross-section to the wound limbs, no separate flux-return path is necessary, since for a balanced three-phase system of flux.es, these will summate to zero at all times. In the case of a very large transformer which may be subject to height limitations, usually due to transport restrictions, it may be

Figure 2.3 Single-phase rural-type transformer with C-type core, rated at 16 kVA 11000/200-250 V (Allenwest Brentford)

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The LV winding leads are taken out at the top and bottom of the leg, which means that they must of necessity pass close to the core framework. Since they are at relatively low voltage, it is probable that the necessary clearance can be obtained by .bending these away from the core as close to the winding as possible and by suitably shaping the core frame (Figure 4.26(c)). The HV winding leads also emerge from the top and bottom of the leg but these are taken on the opposite side of the coils from the LV leads. Being at a greater distance from the core frame than those of the LV winding, as well as having the relatively modest test voltage of 70 kV, these require a little more insulation than those of the LV winding. It is usually convenient to group the tapping sections in the centre of the HV windings. This means that when all the taps are not in circuit, any effective 'gap' in the winding is at the centre, so that the winding remains electromagnetically balanced. More will be said about this aspect below. The tapping leads are thus taken from the face of the HV winding, usually on the same side of the transformer as the LV leads. Figure 4.27 shows the arrangement of a transformer in which the LV winding is fully insulated and the HV winding has non-unifonn (graded) insulation. This could be a bulk supply point transformer, say, 132/33 kV, star/delta connected, possibly 60 MVA, belonging to a Regional Electricity Company (REe). Some RECs take some of their bulk supplies at 11 kV, in which case the transformer could be 132/11 kV, star/star connected, and might well have a tertiary winding. This too could be 11 kV although it is possible that it might be 415 V in order to fulfi I the dual purpose of acting as

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The LV winding leads are taken out at the top and bottom of the leg, which means that they must of necessity pass close to the core framework. Since they are at relatively low voltage, it is probable that the necessary clearance can be obtained by .bending these away from the core as close to the winding as possible and by suitably shaping the core frame (Figure 4.26(c)). The HV winding leads also emerge from the top and bottom of the leg but these are taken on the opposite side of the coils from the LV leads. Being at a greater distance from the core frame than those of the LV winding, as well as having the relatively modest test voltage of 70 kV, these require a little more insulation than those of the LV winding. It is usually convenient to group the tapping sections in the centre of the HV windings. This means that when all the taps are not in circuit, any effective 'gap' in the winding is at the centre, so that the winding remains electromagnetically balanced. More will be said about this aspect below. The tapping leads are thus taken from the face of the HV winding, usually on the same side of the transformer as the LV leads. Figure 4.27 shows the arrangement of a transformer in which the LV winding is fully insulated and the HV winding has non-unifonn (graded) insulation. This could be a bulk supply point transformer, say, 132/33 kV, star/delta connected, possibly 60 MVA, belonging to a Regional Electricity Company (REC). Some RECs take some of their bulk supplies at II kV, in which case the transformer could be 132/11 kV, star/star connected, and might well have a tertiary winding. This too could be 11 kV although it is possible that it might be 415 V in order to fulfi I the dual purpose of acting as
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are that more lengths of plate must be cut, which will increase costs, and the replacing of the top yoke after installation of the windings becomes a more complex process requiring greater care and thus further increased labour costs. On a distribution transformer core the smaller, stiffer laminations are probably easier to replace than would be the case on a larger core, which is possibly the reason why this form of construction has found wider application in distribution transformers. It is also the case that the comer joints represent a larger proportion of the total core in the case of a small distribution transformer than they do in a larger power transformer core, making such an improvement more worthwhile. (Of course, the other side of the coin is that it must be easier to cut and build a small core, having a yoke length of, say, I metre, to a degree of tolerance which results in joint gaps of, say, 0.5 mm, than it is for a large core having a yoke length of, say, 4 metres.) An additional factor is that the very competitive state of the world distribution transfonner market probably means than any savings which can be made, however small, will be keenly sought after.

Figure 4.20 Winding in progress - vertical lathe (Peebles Transformers)

built up by winding outwards exactly as the first. When this second complete disc has been formed, the tension is taken off the winding conductor, the taper former removed and the turns laid loosely over the surface of the mandrel. These turns are then reassetnbled in the reverse order so that the 'start' is the crossover from the adjacent disc and the 'finish' is in the centre at the mandrel surface. The next disc can then be built upwards in the normal way. A section of continuous disc winding is shown in Figure 4.18.

Figure 4.18 Arrangement of continuous disc winding

stacKIng ractor wnIcn results rrom a COITIOlnanOn r tne very large numoer o of layers of ribbon needed to build up the total required iron section and

Figure 3.8 Core and windings of ?OO kVA, 20/0.4 kV transformer using amorphous steel. Unfortunately very little of the core is visible, but it should be just apparent that this is of the wound construction. It will also be apparent that fairly elaborate clamping