EME4363 Electrical Machines– Transformer

Chapter 2: Transformers

“A device that changes AC electrical power at one voltage level to another voltage level
through the action of a magnetic field.”

Transformer can also be used for:

 Voltage sampling
 Current sampling
 Impedance transformation

But we’ll concentrate on power transformers.

2.1 Construction and types

A transformer consists of two or more windings wrapped around a common

ferromagnetic core.

Primary winding: connected to the source of AC power.

Secondary winding: connected to the loads.

Transformers can be constructed on two types of cores:

Core-form transformer – Primary and Shell-form transformer – Both

secondary windings are located at each windings are placed at the central leg of
end of the transformer core. the transformer core.

Advantage of the shell type transformer:

 Less flux leakage problems (both windings are near to each other)
 Simplifies winding insulation

In both types, the core is made up of thin laminations to minimize eddy current.

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Type of transformer Description

Step Up or Unit  Connected to the output of a generator.
Transformer  Used to step up voltage for reduced-loss power
transmission.
Step Down or  Located at main distribution or secondary level
Substation transmission substations.
Transformer  Used to lower voltage levels for 1st level distribution
purposes.
Distribution  Located at small distribution substations.
Transformer  It lowers the voltage levels for 2nd level distribution
purposes.

There are also two special-purpose transformers, ie. Potential transformer and current
transformer.

2.2 The Ideal Transformer

What is an ideal transformer?

A lossless device with an input and an output winding.

Since the transformer is ideal, the assumptions are:

 Coils have no resistance
 No leakage flux
 Iron is infinitely permeable and has no losses.

When an AC voltage is supplied to the primary side, an alternating flux  in the core will
link both windings.

By Faraday’s Law, the back EMFs generated in the windings are:

𝑑∅𝑖
𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = − 𝑑𝑡
𝑑∅𝑖
𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = −𝑁 𝑑𝑡

Therefore,
𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑑 = (𝑣. 𝐵)𝑙

However, since the ideal transformer is lossless:

Back EMFs = Terminal Voltages

Where a = turns ratio of the transformer.

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To find the current relationship, apply Ampere’s Law around the core. Assuming the core
is infinitely permeable, H = 0, in the core:
𝑉𝑝 𝐼𝑝 = 𝑉𝑠 𝐼𝑠

𝑉𝑝 𝐼𝑠
= =𝑎
𝑉𝑠 𝐼𝑝

𝐼𝑝 1
=
𝐼𝑠 𝑎
In phasor form, the voltage and current relationships are:

𝑉𝑝 < 0 = (𝐼𝑝 < 0)𝑅

Note that the turns ratio of the ideal transformer only affects the magnitudes of
current and voltage. Phase angles are not affected.

Power in an Ideal Transformer

Input power at the primary:

Output power at the secondary:

But as mentioned, the phase angles are unaffected by the ideal transformer, hence:

,
Vp
And since, Vs  and I s  aI p ,
a

Output power of ideal transformer is equal to its input power.

The same idea can be applied for reactive power Q and apparent power S:

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Thus,
Output Power = Input Power

i.e. In the ideal transformer there are no power level changes.

Impedance Transformation through a Transformer

When a load is connected to the secondary terminals of the ideal transformer, it’s
impedance is given by:

Useful for calculations to replace the ideal transformer and the load with a single load.
This load must draw:
 The same current from the primary.
 The same power from the primary.

Where Z ' L is the apparent impedance.

where primary voltage expressed by

where primary current expressed by

Therefore apparent impedance at primary is 

Analysis of circuits containing ideal transformers:

The easiest way to analyze is by simplifying the transformer into an equivalent circuit.
How?

1. Replace the ideal transformer and the load connected to it by it’s apparent
impedance.
Z 'L  a 2 Z L

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If there is more than one transformer in the circuit start from the end farthest
from the source and replace each transformer by its apparent impedance one by
one. This is called “referring the transformer”.

2. After substituting the transformers, the equivalent circuit can be solved for its
voltages and currents. Do not forget to apply the transformer voltage and
current relationships when calculating for the replaced transformers!

Example: Analysing circuits with ideal transformers

A generator rated at 480V, 60Hz is connected to a transmission line with an impedance of

0.18+j0.24Ω. At the end of the transmission line there is a load of 4+j3Ω.

a. Calculate the voltage at the load and what are the transmission losses.

The line current is given by:

Therefore, the load voltage is:

The transmission losses are:

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b. Suppose a 1:10 step-up transformer is placed at the generator end of the

transmission line and a 10:1 step-down transformer is placed at the load end of the
line. Calculate the voltage at the load and the transmission losses.

To analyze this power system, we need to convert to a common voltage level.

i. Eliminate the transformer T2 by referring load to the transmission line’s

voltage level:

ii. Recalculate total equivalent impedance at the transmission side:

iii. Eliminate transformer T1 by referring the total equivalent impedance to

the generator side:

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Total impedance at the transmission line level (Zline + Zload) reflected across T1 is

Now we can calculate generated current,

Having known this, we can work back to find the transmission line and the load currents
(Iload and Icurrent):

Therefore, the load voltage is:

Finally, the transmission line losses are:

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2.3 Operation of Real Single Phase Transformers

In reality, an ideal transformer is non-existent due to the losses present. We will now
look into the characteristics of a real transformer.

Transformer operation is based on Faraday’s Law:

Where λ= flux passing through each turn in the N-turn coil.

It is possible to define an average flux per turn in a coil:

Hence, Faraday’s Law may be rewritten as:

Characteristic 1: Leakage Flux

When a voltage vp(t) is applied directly to the primary of a real transformer, flux will be
present and the average flux due to the primary is:

Based on this relationship,  p av   v p (t )dt , this generated flux will travel to the
secondary side and voltage is induced across the secondary terminal.

The remaining flux that links with the secondary is termed mutual flux  m. (flux
component linking both primary and secondary coils.

Primary:

Secondary:

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Hence, Faraday’s Law for the primary circuit can be expressed as:

The same can be written for the secondary voltage:

It is clear that a common term is present in the primary and secondary voltage
expressions due to the mutual flux, i.e.:

and

Therefore,

This equation means that in real transformers: the transformer turns ratio is related to
the induced voltage due to the mutual flux”.

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Characteristic 2: Magnetising and Core-loss current

In a real transformer, a current is required to produce flux in the core. It is called:

Magnetising Current, im.
This occurs even when the secondary is open-circuited.

Proof:
In the transformer, the flux produced is proportional to the current. Therefore, sinusoidal
flux means sinusoidal current.

However, due to the non-linear magnetization curve of the core, the transformer will
saturate, i.e. more current is required to increase the flux in the core.

Hence, im has the following characteristics:

1. Not sinusoidal – has higher frequency components due to saturation of core.

2. Lags the voltage at 90o.

3. At saturation, high frequency components can be large compared to the

fundamental component causing harmonic problems to occur.

Core-loss current ih+e is also present which is required to compensate for hysteresis and
eddy current losses (this also occurs even when the secondary is open-circuited).

The characteristics of ih+e are:

1. Non-linear – due to the non-linear effects hysteresis.

2. In phase with the voltage applied.

Therefore, the total no load current or excitation current is given by:

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Dot convention and current ratio of a real transformer

According to the dot convention: “A current flowing into the dotted end of a winding
produces a positive mmf and vice versa.”

Two currents flowing into the dotted ends of their respective windings produce
rnagnetomotive forces that add. If one current flows into a dotted end of a winding and
one flows out of a dotted end, then the magnetomotive forces will subtract from each
other.

Now, when we connect a load to the real transformer, the primary current will produce a
positive mmf:

Due to Lenz’s Law, the secondary current will flow out of the dotted end to produce a
negative mmf:

(current flow will be in a direction as such to oppose the core flux direction)

Therfore, the net mmf in the transformer required to produce flux in the core is given by

Where R = reluctance of the transformer core. However R  0 provided the core is

unsaturated, hence:

Hence, in order to convert a real transformer into an ideal transformer:

 The core must have no eddy current or hysteresis losses.
 The magnetization curve must be of a step function and the net mmf is zero.
 There must be no leakage fluxes (flux is contained in the core).
 The winding resistances must be zero.

2.4 Equivalent circuit of a transformer

To accurately model the transformer, the following losses will have to be included:

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Copper Losses – Resistive heating losses in primary and secondary windings.

(Proportional to the current square)
Eddy current losses – also resistive heating loss which occurs in the core.
(Proportional to voltage applied)

Hysteresis losses – related to magnetization of core and is non-linear.

(non-linear function of voltage applied)
Leakage flux - fluxes that escape and do not link both windings.
( ∅𝐿𝑃 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ∅𝐿𝑆 produce self-inductance)

Magnetization Current im – proportional to voltage applied to core and lagging the

voltage by 90o.
(flux produced in core )
Therefore, the complete transformer equivalent circuit:

In order to facilitate analysis, simplify circuit by referring impedances in the

secondary to the primary or vice versa:

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(a) The transformer model referred to its primary voltage level. (b) The transformer
model referred to its secondary voltage level.

Approximate equivalent circuits

In practical situations, Rc and Xm are much larger than Rp and Xp.

Therefore, voltage drop across Rp and Xp are negligible. This means that we can move
the excitation branch to the front and place Rp and Xp in series with Rs and Xp.

(a) Referred to the primary side; (b) referred to the secondary side; (c) with no excitation
branch referred to the primary side; (d) with no excitation branch referred to the
secondary side.
In some cases, the excitation branch is entirely neglected since it has small excitation
current.

Determining values of the transformer equivalent circuit components

These can be found through two tests in which the following configuration is used:

Connection for transformer open-circuit test. Connection for transformer short-circuit test

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Test 1: Open-circuit test

Secondary winding open-circuit, i.e. Z' L   . Full rated line voltage applied to the
primary terminals. Measure input voltage VOC, input current IOC and input power POC.

Equivalent circuit becomes:

Based on the equivalent circuit, input voltage is dropped across excitation branch.

Admittance of excitation branch:

Conductance of the core- loss resistor
1
GC =
RC
Susceptance of the magnetizing inductor
1
BM = X ,
M
1 1
YE = GC − jBM = −j
RC XM

Thus, we can determine the values of Rc and Xm by comparing

Where power factor, PF =

Note: -ve angle because PF is always lagging for a transformer, i.e. current lags voltage.
The power factor is always lagging for real transformer, so the angle of the current
always lags the angle of the voltage by θ degrees. So the admittance, YE is

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Test 2: Short-circuit Test

Short circuit secondary terminals, i.e. Z ' L  0 . Input voltage adjusted until rated
secondary current is produced. Measure input voltage, VSC, input current ISC and input
power PSC.

Because the voltage is so low, negligible current flows through excitation branch.
Equivalent circuit becomes:

Since the excitation branch is neglected, the series impedance is given by:

Where PF =

Note: current angle is –ve, hence ZSE angle is +ve.

The short circuit test only determines the total series impedance referred to the
primary side.

There is no easy way to split the series impedance into their primary and secondary
components. Fortunately, such separation is not required when solving transformer
problems.

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2.5 Per Unit Method

Solving transformer problems is tedious because we need to refer to different voltage

levels on different sides – which is the reason why the per-unit system is used to make
things easier. The per unit system is defined as:

The base value is the reference value that can be utilized as a reference point for per unit
conversion. It is also customary to select 2 base values at a specific point in the system:

 Voltage, Vbase
 Apparent power, Sbase

Therefore, for a single phase system:

For transformer analysis:

 Sbase is the same at both ends since transformer input power = output power.
 Vbase changes at every transformer in the system according to its turns ratio.

Hence, the P.U. system automatically referes quantities to a common voltage level.

When analyzing only one device, its own ratings are used as Sbase and Vbase. If more than
one machine and one transformer are present, Sbase and Vbase can be chosen arbitrarily but
the entire system must have the same base.

P.U. values given to another base can be converted to a new base using:

Example: Applying per-unit system

A 480V generator is connected to an ideal 1:10 step-up transformer, a transmission line,

an ideal 20:1 step-down transformer and a load. The impedance of the transmission line
is 20+j60Ω and the impedance of the load is 1030 0 Ω. The base values for this system
are chosen to be 480V and 10kVA at the generator.

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a. Find the base voltage, current, impedance and apparent power at every point
in the power system.
b. Convert this system to its per-unit equivalent circuit.
c. Find the power supplied to the load in this system.
d. Find the power lost in the transmission line.

Solution:
a. Find the base voltage, current, impedance and apparent power at every point
in the power system.

Value Generator Transmission Line Load

Vbase

Sbase

Ibase

Zbase

b. Convert this system to its per-unit equivalent circuit.

Each component must be divided by its base value in its region of the system.
The generator’s per unit voltage is:

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The transmission line’s per-unit impedance is:

Actual value divided by base value

The load’s per-unit impedance is:

Actual value divided by base value

Hence, the per-unit equivalent circuit for the power system is:

c. Find the power supplied to the load in this system.

Per unit power of load:

Actual power supplied to load:

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d. Find the power lost in the transmission line.

Per-unit power lost in the transmission line:

Actual power lost in transmission is

2.6 Transformer voltage regulation and efficiency

Transformer voltage regulation is a measure of how changes in load would vary the
output of the transformer.

By definition:

We know that at no-load,

VP V
 a , so VS  P
VS a
Hence,

Or in a per-unit system,

A low value of VR is often desirable – indicating that the load variations do not
significantly affect transformer output.

Transformer VR is different for different power factors.

Transformer Phasor Diagram

Definition: “Sketch of the phasor voltages and currents in the transformer”.

Consider the simplified transformer equivalent circuit below:

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Effects of the excitation branch ignored – only small current flows through.

So the VR observed via the phasor diagram is determined by:

 Magnitude of Req and Xeq.
 Phase angle of current I S

In the transformer phasor diagrams, reference phasor =

By applying Kirchoff’s voltage law on the equivalent circuit:

Lagging PF ( I S lags V S ) Unity PF ( I S in phase with V S )

VP VP
 VS , meaning VR > 0.  VS , meaning VR > 0.
a a

Leading PF ( I S leads V S )

VP
 VS , meaning VR < 0.
a

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Normally, transformers are connected to lagging loads.

Simplified Voltage Regulation Calculation

For lagging loads:

 Vertical components of Req I S and jXeq I S will partially cancel each other out.
VP
 The angle between and V S is very small.
a

VP
Therefore we can assume that is horizontal. By using this approximation:
a
“In all the following phasor diagrams, the phasor voltage V s is assumed to be at an
angle of 0°, and all other voltages and currents are compared to that reference.”

Considering the horizontal components, the primary voltage magnitude is given by:

This can be put into equation to obtain VR.

Transformer Efficiency

The efficiency of any system is calculated as:

Or

These equations also apply to motors and generators.

In a transformer, the losses present are:
 Copper losses, Pcu = These losses are accounted for by the series resistance in the
equivalent circuit.
 Hysteresis losses = These losses were explained in Chapter I and are accounted
for by resistor Rc.
 Eddy current losses = These losses were explained in Chapter I and are accounted
for by resistor Rc.

Hence, the efficiency of a transformer at a given load is:

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2.7 Review of Three Phase Circuits

Three-phase power systems consist of 3 generators. Each generator is connected to a load

through a transmission line.

Why 3-phase?
 Get more power per kg of metal from a machine.
 Constant power is delivered at all times.

The generators are supplied by voltages The voltage waveform in three phases
that are equal in magnitude but differing are:
in phase angle by 120o, i.e.,

In 3-phase circuits, the following quantities will be encountered:

Phase Quantities Line Quantities

Definition Voltages and currents in a Voltages and currents in the
given phase lines connected to
generators
Subscript

The three generators can be connected in 2 ways:

 Wye connection
 Delta connection

Wye Connection Delta Connection

For line to line voltage, VAB is given by

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Line voltages are shifted 30o with respect to Line currents are shifted 30o with respect to phase
phase voltages: currents.

The current flowing in the neutral conductor. No neutral conductor (since there is no common
point.)
Balanced system: Loads are the same. Balanced System: Loads are the same

Unbalanced System: Loads aren’t the same. Unbalanced System: Loads aren’t the same.
𝑍𝑎 ≠ 𝑍𝑏 ≠ 𝑍𝑐 ≠ 𝑍∆
𝑍1 ≠ 𝑍2 ≠ 𝑍3 ≠ 𝑍𝑌

Power relationships in 3-phase circuits

Power supplied by each generator:

The total power supplied by the 3 phase system is sum of each individual generator
power. Hence, under balanced conditions:

Similarly, the total reactive and apparent power is:

θ angle between phase voltage and phase current

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P, Q and S are related by the power triangle:

Power can also be derived in terms of line quantities:

Wye Connection & Delta Connection

2.8 3-Phase Transformers

2 types of construction:
 3 separate transformers, or
 3 sets of primary and secondary winding on one core.

The 3 primary and 3 secondary windings are independently connected in either a wye
or delta connection.

To analyze 3-phase transformer banks – employ per-phase basis, i.e. just look at a single
transformer. (Previous equations apply!)

All others will behave exactly the same except for the 120o phase shift between them.

Calculating 3-phase transformer turns ratio

Similar to the single-phase transformer, the turns ratio is given by:

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Since the transformer has 3 phases, the appropriate voltage conversion is required in
order to relate the turns ratio to the line voltages.

Per-Unit method for 3-phase transformers

The basic concept of calculating the per unit values for a single phase transformer applies
to 3-phase systems on a per-phase basis.

If, Sbase = total base voltampere of the 3-phase transformer, then for one transformer,

Hence, the base phase current and impedance are:


Line quantities can also be represented in per-unit system. However, suitable conversion
is needed:
 Wye Connection:

 Delta Connection:

Base line current (for both connections) is:

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