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The Impact of Inrush Currents on the Mechanical Stress of High Voltage Power Transformer Coils
Michael Steurer, Member, IEEE, and Klaus Frhlich, Senior Member, IEEE

AbstractFrom failure experience on power transformers, it was very often suspected that inrush currents, occurring when energizing unloaded transformers, were reason for damage. In this paper, it was investigated how mechanical forces within the transformer coils build up under inrush compared to those occurring at short circuit. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional computer modeling for a real 268 MVA, 525/17.75 kV three-legged step up transformer was employed. The results show that inrush current peaks of 70% of the rated short circuit current cause local forces in the same order of magnitude as those at short circuit. The resulting force summed up over the high voltage coil is even three times higher. Although inrush currents normally are smaller, the forces can have similar amplitudes as those at short circuit however with longer exposure time. Therefore, care has to be taken to avoid such high inrush currents. Today controlled switching offers an elegant and practical solution. Index TermsControlled switching, electromagnetic forces, finite element method, inrush currents, power transformer, short circuit currents.

NOMENCLATURE SC IR LV HV TC1, TC2 FEM TOI MMF, Short circuit. Inrush. Low voltage (winding or coil). High voltage (winding or coil). Tap changer (winding or coil). Finite-element method. Theory of images (method). Magnetomotive force (in ampere turns). I. INTRODUCTION OWER transformers in electric systems are one of the most cost effective apparatuses. Breakdown causes high costs for repair or replacement and may often lead to very high costs due to temporary loss of the power delivery capability. Therefore, power transformers are highly protected against various causalities of failure. One major reason for internal faults is attrition of the winding and conductor insulation due to vibrations initiated by the electromechanical forces at service current and over currents. Accordingly, the coils of transformers are mechanically supported and prepressed by bandages, wedges, and
Manuscript received September 22, 1999. M. Steurer was with the High Voltage Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich CH-8092, Switzerland. He is now with the Center for Advanced Power Systems, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310 USA (e-mail: steurer@caps.fsu.edu). K. Frhlich is with the High Voltage Lab, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich CH-8092, Switzerland (e-mail: froehlich@eeh.ee.ethz.ch). Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8977(02)00589-7.

heavy bolts. The dimensioning criteria for these support structures are usually the forces caused by the highest possible current peak which normally occurs under short circuit (SC) conditions. Therefore, type testing of transformers ask for SC tests only, as it is assumed that this is the worst case with regard to the maximum forces. In the past, it was discussed very often in several panels to what extend IR currents are a jeopardy for the transformer windings. As it is well known, the value of these IR currents occurring when energizing unloaded transformers can be in the same order of magnitude as a fault current [1], thus producing significant electromagnetic forces. The difference to SC is that the IR may last for several tens of seconds, whereas a fault normally is cleared within tens of milliseconds. In addition, an IR situation is much more frequently as this can be considered as normal service operation. Recent cases of insulation failures in power transformers which were frequently energized under no load condition support the suspicion of many people that IR currents have a jeopardous effect. It is assumed that due to the unbalanced MMF and high saturation of the transformer core local (axial) forces under severe IR conditions, especially on the TC coils, could exceed the values taken as dimensioning basis. So, it seems likely possible that conductor and winding insulation is damaged due to mechanical overstress at IR. Although it is requested by many utilities that high IR currents shall indeed be avoided from a systems operation point of view, possible damaging effects to the transformer itself have rarely been investigated. To the authors knowledge, only one paper deals with forces on transformer windings at IR conditions where it is shown that the windings exhibit fairly large axial forces, exceeding those built up under short circuit conditions [2]. Out-of-phase synchronization may also cause unbalanced MMF conditions in step up transformers. Force calculations show that the axial forces in the windings can be two to ten times higher than under SC conditions [3]. However, the magnetic field pattern caused by such erroneous operations are different to the ones at IR conditions, because when energizing unloaded transformers the secondary (mostly the low voltage) side is not excited at all. A first rough estimation of the distribution of the radial magnetic field component along transformer coils was presented in [4]. The results show that the local radial magnetic field at the ends of tap changer coils to be up to 80% higher at IR compared to SC conditions, assuming the IR current to be as high as the SC current.

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coil. Although in reality, the coils are rather complex in their mechanical structure, they are treated as solid cylindrical conductors here, so pressure and tensile stress are both possible inside the coils. This is to be independent of any particular winding support structure when calculating the forces for the purpose of comparison. Following these approximations the specific field calculation method employed shall be explained along with the comparison of 2-D and 3-D calculations. In addition, details of the method used for calculating the axial and radial forces will be discussed in the following sections. A. Magnetic Field Calculation With FEM As stated above, force calculation can be reduced to field calculations when the current density is impressed. So manufactures of power transformers usually employ the method of theory of images (TOI) to calculate the mechanical stress of windings and coils for dimensioning purpose. This method is based on the assumption, that the non-saturated iron cores and yokes have infinite magnetic permeability and, therefore, field to be perpendicular at their boundaries. An force the appropriate 2-D mapping of the actual 3-D geometry and the exploitation of the SC conditions (balanced MMFs) leads to fairly fast and accurate calculation tools. However, it is not proven until now whether this method provide the electrodynamic forces correctly under IR conditions where unbalanced MMFs highly saturate the iron and, therefore, reduce its magnetic permeability significantly. Furthermore, the magnetic field of unbalanced MMFs decreases only linear with distance whereas fields from quasi-dipole (balanced) MMFs decrease with the square of the distance. All these considerations gave reason not to choose any transformer design tool employing the TOI but the commercially available program MAXWELL from ANSOFT Inc. based on the finite element method (FEM) [7]. B. Comparison of 2-D and 3-D Model To avoid unnecessary complexity of the model, the actual 3-D geometry of a three-legged power transformer as shown in Fig. 1(a) was simplified into a (1-phase) 2-D equivalent axial symmetric geometry [Fig. 1(b)]. The yokes in this 2-D model are shaped in a special way to ensure correct representation of the non-axial symmetric yokes (see the Appendix). To verify the results gained with this 2-D representation a 3-D FEM model has also been set up [geometry see Fig. 1(a)]. Both models (2-D and 3-D) include the non linear magnetizing curve of the iron. The 2-D model considers only excitation of the coils on the middle leg which is actually a condition not possible for a three phase transformer with the HV side star connected. Therefore, in the 3-D model, the coils on adjacent legs were excited in opposite direction as it occurs as a rule for IR [8]. The results show that field patterns at IR are similar, however with higher magnitude because of the higher MMF. With only the coils on the middle leg excited, comparison of field values in the coils of the 2-D model shows high conformity with the 3-D results in the cut plane under the yoke [Fig. 1(a)] for both IR and SC conditions. In the cut plane

Fig. 1. (a) Principal sketch of a transformers cross section with relevant force directions (only coils on the middle leg shown); (b) cross section of 2-D FEM model.

In order to learn more about how the IR current produces mechanical forces to the transformer windings, the situation of a three-legged step up transformer (data see the Appendix) was modeled by means of a suitable computer code. Two- and three dimensional (2-D, 3-D) calculations were carried out. The goal was to calculate the forces in qualitative comparison to those which occur at SC. The result should also give information on the technical benefit if the IR current is avoided by controlled switching, which seems to be the most effective approach for the time being [5], [6]. Starting with general statements on force calculations the following chapter will explain reasons for choosing 2-D FEM and how the mechanical stress on the coils was calculated from the local magnetic stray field density. II. SETUP FOR FORCE CALCULATIONS For better understanding of the following, Fig. 1(a) shows the 3-D model of the three-legged transformer with HV, LV, and TC coils on the middle leg. The relevant forces and their direction are indicated. Throughout this work, axial (index ) always means in the -direction (coils axis) and radial (index ) means perpendicular to the coil. Furthermore, in Fig. 1(a), the cut planes and used for comparing 2-D with 3-D models are shown. According to electrodynamics the local force density in the coils volume is equal to the outer vector product of the local current density in the coil and the local magnetic (stray) flux density as given by (1) Since only the maximum forces caused by the peak of the IR and SC current are of interest and the field is in phase with the exciting MMF (at the power frequency of 50/60 Hz), a dc solution of the problem is sufficient. That means is independent and must be impressed. Therefore, calculating the local of force density and the total force on coils can be reduced to the calculation of the flux density in each point of the respective

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1) Axial Forces: To derive the local force distribution, has to be integrated along the coil. This was performed numeriequidiscally by summing up the values calculated at tant points per line as shown in (6)
Fig. 2. HV coil with the lines 1, 2, 3 along which the and cross section dA for force calculation.

B field was calculated

where MMF in coil; coils height axial distance between points, correin Fig. 2 sponds to radial component of on line Note that although the employed software only allows equidistant points, this is not necessary for numerical integration. Fiwill give the total force distribunally, the sum of all three tion in axial direction to (7) The external axial force on the coil, which is the resulting value at the coils end (integration over the coils height), must be in the absorbed by axial suspensions. The maximum of coil itself is usually much higher than the latter and gives the dimensioning basis for the local stress, especially in regard to buckling of windings. 2) Radial Pressure: In contradiction to the axial forces the ones in radial direction shall not be summed up along the coils height. In fact, they are better described by radial pressure stress which must be supported either by the suspension or by the conductors themself in azimutal direction (tensile stress). distribution along one of the With the knowledge of the , 2, 3 in Fig. 2) the local pressure on an cylindrical lines ( stripe (with the radius and the height ) can be derived from (5) to (8)

perpendicular to the yoke values of differ not more than 20% to those in the plane at IR conditions. From this, it was concluded that a model that considers only the coils on the middle leg is adequate for the purpose of qualitative comparison of forces at IR and SC for a three-legged transformer. This aspect and the high conformity between 2-D and 3-D results were taken as legitimization, to use the 2-D model for the force and stress calculations presented here. In the following, the strategy used for analyzing the field to calculate the axial and radial mechanical stress is introduced. C. Field Density and Force Distribution in Coils It is plausible that the magnetic field can not be assumed to be constant over a coils radial thickness. Therefore, the field was calculated along three lines in discrete distance across the coils (see lines , 2, 3 in Fig. 2). width However, the program MAXWELL does not provide plotting of the local (axial) pressure and tensile stress distribution along a coils height. Therefore, the local force has been calculated as follows. It is assumed that (2) and, therefore (3) That means the current density is azimutal only and constant over the coils cross section (due to its subdivision into single turns all carrying the same current). According to (1), that means there are only axial and radial components of the forces. Equations (4) and (5) show the axial and radial component of the force along each of the three lines on an infinitesimal thick ) building winding ( ) of one third of the coils thickness ( in Fig. 2. the cross section (4) (5) where radial position of the line ( , 2, 3) current density (constant) in the coil coils thickness radial and axial field component. From (4) and (5) the axial and radial mechanical stress, local and on the entire coil can be derived as it is explained in the following two chapters.

The three radial pressures can be summed up as (9) the axial compowith good accuracy because of nent of is nearly linear dependent of . This allows the need for integration in radial direction to be reduced to summing up represents the radial mechanical the three values. Finally, stress distribution along a coils height. III. RESULTS As the highest possible IR current peak is usually smaller, but in the same order of magnitude as the highest possible SC , calculations varying the ratio from current peak 0.25 to 1 have been carried out. The following calculations presented in Figs. 37 show that equivalence in force occurs at a of about 0.7. For the individual excitations of the ratio coils see the Appendix. Fig. 3 shows the distribution of the radial component of the magnetic stray field along the transformers upper TC2 coil.

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Fig. 3.

2-D and 3-D values of B along line k

= 2 of (upper) TC2 coil.

Fig. 6.

Radial pressure on the (lower) TC1 coil (proportional to B ).

Fig. 4.

Resulting axial force distribution along upper TC2 coil.

Fig. 7. Ratio of axial forces and radial pressure at IR over SC against the ratio IR current over SC current.

Fig. 5. Axial force distribution along the HV coil.

Since the radial component is nearly constant over the coils (see Fig. 2) are thickness, only the values along line values at IR plotted. It can clearly be seen in Fig. 3 that conditions are higher than the SC values, especially at the coils ). Furthermore, Fig. 3 shows good upper end (for

agreement between the 2-D (solid and broken lines) and 3-D model (dotted lines; the discontinuities are due to a rather coarse FEM mesh in 3-D). Fig. 4 shows the axial force distribution at the coils end along the TC2 coil, with the resulting force to be approximately 20% higher at IR than at SC, although the values (Fig. 3) are locally more than twice as corresponding . As the value high. This is due to the assumption at the coils lower end has a positive value the coil is subject to an upward force. In the same manner, Fig. 5 shows the axial force distribution along the HV coil. In contrary to the TC coils, the force mainly is compensated within the coil with an inner peak of axial presapproximately 30% more at IR. However, the resure stress summed up over the coil is three times higher sulting force at IR than at SC and even in the opposite direction. , the radial pressure stress For the chosen ratio , which is proportional to , is smaller at IR compared to SC in the HV coil, but approximately the same in the TC coils as shown for TC1 in Fig. 6. According to [1] and unpublished information of transformer may vary from 0.15 to 0.6. manufacturer, the ratio Therefore, in Fig. 7, the ratio of peak ( ) and resulting ( )

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axial forces as well as the radial pressure peak ( ) at IR over . Note that for the HV coil SC are plotted against differ from , whereas for the TC coils (TC2) (see also Fig. 4). As the ratio for the investigated transformer , the maximum of the axial pressure stress in is the HV coil at IR is approximately 40% of that at SC (point A). do not apply for this parAlthough values of ticular transformer, the presented dependencies of and seem to be realistic estimations for other transformers even if values may vary with geometry. Following the line of the peak force ( ) in the HV coil, the indicated limit , where forces at IR are equal to the ones at SC, (point B). For the axial and radial is reached at stress of the TC coils (TC2), the relations are about the same. is higher at IR Only the resulting axial force on the HV coil range. nearly in the entire IV. DISCUSSION It stands to reason that many energization operations with even smaller IR currents which produce forces in the order of SC forces might cause damage on the windings because the mechanical stress appears more frequently and with a much longer duration (as stated in the Introduction). So windings and coils may be damaged seriously, although the results of this work show that forces in the coils of a typical power transformer are about the same or a little smaller at the highest possible IR current compared to those at the rated SC current. It seems likely possible that these damages are mostly in the form of reduction of insulation capability (attrition of winding and conductor insulation material) and, therefore, may cause insulation failures a certain time span after the occurrence of high IR currents. This work also encourages for further research work on calculation of mechanical forces in transformers at excitation conditions caused by switching transients. Although results will be similar for the comparison of the overall mechanical stress at IR and SC conditions, state-of-the-art high sophisticated 3-D modeling and transient analysis should be employed to investigate on the interaction between the phases and windings on different legs. Concerning the method of calculation of electrodynamic forces in transformer windings under unbalanced excitation conditions (such as IR), it seems advisable to pay extra caution when using programs based on the theory of images. It is likely possible that these programs lead to wrong results because of certain simplifications and assumptions made there for the field calculation which are not fulfilled at unbalanced MMF conditions with high saturation of the iron. V. CONCLUSION The results of this work, based on magnetic field calculations on a 2-D FEM model of a real 268 MVA three-legged step up transformer show clear evidence that the axial electrodynamic forces in the windings calculated with the maximum possible IR current are in the same order of magnitude as with the rated short circuit current. Magnetic field values in the coils region have been double checked with results from a 3-D FEM model with

good concordance. The calculated ratio of forces at IR over SC proofs that these forces are higher at IR than at SC for IR current peaks of more than 60% of the rated SC current. Concluding from the results the following statements are appropriate: IR currents of the maximum possible value cause axial forces on the (energizing) HV and TC windings of a typical power transformer that are approximately as high as under rated SC conditions. To avoid serious risk on damage of insulation within transformers who are subject to frequent unloaded energizations, countermeasures should be taken, e.g., controlled switching strategies [5] might be applied in the future. APPENDIX A. Transformer Data Three-phase three-legged step up transformer with MVA kV kV The HV and LV coils are shifted 0.5% of the coils height against each other (to represent the worst case of mechanical tolerance). Table I shows the partitioning of the magnetic excitations at the coils for the filed calculations at IR and SC. With A as the nominal exciting MMF of the HV coil and , the individual MMFs for SC and the SC ratio IR were calculated as follows: (10) (11)

B. Shape of the Yokes in 2-D Model For mapping the actual 3-D geometry of the yokes to an equivalent 2-D representation, several approaches are possible and will be discussed now. As shown in Fig. 8(a), which is a sketch of the lower part of core and yoke from Fig. 1(b), the first approach could simply be a cap of the initial height of the 3-D-yoke (A). This would obviously lead to a cross section , increasing linear with the radius, which can not be accepted. The next step would be to decrease the height with , so the cross section stays constant (B). Because the cross is much to high compared with the real cross section at ) one would rather reduce section of the 3-D yoke ( the initial height of the 2-D representation to (12) for constant cross section (C). But and shape it again with changes the geometry of the magnetic as the reduced height flux lines significant in the area close to the middle leg it seemed at and reduce it more adequate to start with the height

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TABLE I PARTITIONING OF MMFS USED FOR FIELD CALCULATIONS

REFERENCES
[1] W. Schmidt, Vergleich der groesstwerte des Kurzschluss-und Einschaltstromes von Einphasentransformatoren, ETZ-A, vol. 79, no. 21, pp. 801806, 1958. [2] A. I. Lure and A. B. Vasilev, Calculation of magnetic field and electrodynamic strength of transformers under magnetising current inrush, Elec. Technol., pp. 2335, 1992. [3] C. M. Arturi, Force calculation in transformer windings under unbalanced mmfs by a nonlinear finite-element code, IEEE Trans. Magn., vol. 28, pp. 13631366, Mar. 1992. [4] J. Brunke and M. Steurer, Contribution to question 1.4 on report 13.110 cigre 1998, in Proc. CIGRE Conf., Paris, France, Sept. 1998. [5] J. Brunke, Elimination of transient inrush currents when energizing unloaded power transformers, Ph.D. dissertation, ETH, Zurich, 1998. [6] V. S. Chuprikov, V. A. Kuzmenko, A. I. Lure, and A. N. Panibrates, Reducing the switching current of transformers, Russ. Elec. Eng., vol. 68, no. 2, pp. 3340, 1997. [7] MAXWELL Program Documentation, 1997. [8] R. Kuechler, Die Transformatoren. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag, 1956.

Fig. 8. (a) Four approaches for the 2-D representation of the yokes; (b) reduction of equivalent height by ratio of arc sections (top view on upper yoke with middle leg underneath).

stronger with than in (B). The shape (D) finally chosen for 2-D representation follows: (13) is proportional to the ratio of the cirwhere the height ) over the corresponding arc of radius cumference ( covered by the real yoke ( ) as shown in Fig. 8(b). This approach seemed the most reasonable because the comparison of significant field values showed good concordance between the 2-D and 3-D models. The outer leg is modeled as a cylinder with a wall thickness of (14) derived from the demand to have the same cross section for the magnetic flux as the middle leg. ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to SIEMENS AG/Nrnberg for providing the data of the transformer, Prof. H. Brechna from ETH Zurich, and Dr. E. Schmidt from TU-Vienna, for the numerous and stimulating discussions.

Michael Steurer (M02) received a Master of electrical engineering from the Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, and the Ph.D. degree in technical science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switerland, in 1995 and 2001, respectively. He is currently with the Center of Advanced Power Systems, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, where he is working in the field of power systems for all-electric ships.

Klaus Frhlich (SM88) was born in 1945 in Salzburg, Austria. He received a Master of electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in technical science from the Vienna University of Technology, Austria. After 11 years in Switchgear and High Voltage Technology with BBC (later ABB) in Switzerland, he became a Full Professor at the Vienna University of Technology, in 1990. Since 1997, he has been a Full Professor of high voltage technology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. Dr. Frhlich is a member of CIGRE Study Committee 13 and the convenor of CIGRE Working Group 13.07 (Controlled Switching).