The alternating current system of transmission and distribution has com e into universal use largely because the

transformer makes it possible to connect the different par ts of the system at their most suitable voltages. It would not be an exaggeration to say that without the simpl icity, reliability and high efficiency of the transformer, the enormous growth of electric transmission and distribution system in the country would have been possible. Moreover, the best of the generation techn ology, transmission technology, and the distribution technology have been linked together by the tra nsformers. In a transformer, inductive action is used whereby electromagnetic energy is tra nsferred from a primary to secondary conductive circuit. In order to link the two current carryi ng circuits, both circuits comprise coils mounted on a ferro-magnetic core. The quality of a transformer ca n only be assured if right kind of materials are used in right manner to ensure reliable performance. In Section II, we shall examine the features on which the reliability of transformer depends. Then we shall discuss the state of art of the available materials. Lastly we sha ll discuss the properties of the materials and how they influence the performance of a transformer.

Power sector has grown immensely from the time of independence. Against an insta lled capacity of 1713 MW at 1950, the installed capacity today (upto 2006) is more than 1,20,000 MW. The per capita consumption has increased from 15.6 kWh in 1950 to more than 600 kWh at present. However the level of satisfaction is more or less is same, if not worse. The number of outages per day is tremendously high, atleast 4 to 5 times. The sharply increasing cost of electrical energy are forcing electricity supply authority to recognize the critical importance of the cost of electrical losses. Electricity utilities are increasingly required to operate their network more efficiently and to reduce the total real running cost of the equipments and assets. The transformer, after the transmission lines, are the largest loss-making components in the electricity network. There are about 2526517 nos. of transformers with a total installed capacity of 759239 MVA (as on 31.3.2006) in the power system. It is estimated that about 35 billion kWh of energy is lost in transformation every year. The total losses due to transformer in the electricity network in our country exceed 6% of the total energy generated, equivalent to about 8 10% of the total loss from the system. Although power transformers are generally purchased after considering losses ove r life cycle of the transformer, distribution transformers are generally purchased on the least cost basis. Distribution transformers form 98.5% of the total installed transformers, however, this enorm ous stock of transformers is often overlooked as a source of cost savings. In fact avoidable losses from t he distribution transformers currently in service would mean release of about 650 MW of generating capacity, which could intend be used to serve customer needs. Furthermore, buying efficient transformers would s ave literally hundreds of thousands of rupees in operating losses over the installed life for transform ers in a typical facility.CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIALS 35 Losses in Distribution Transformers Only There are about 2.4 million distribution transformers with 206668 MVA installed capacity in the country and they account for about 17 billion kWh of distribution system loss es and even this may be an underestimation. Electronic equipments and other non-linear loads now make up mo st of the loads on transformers in many facilities. Even in the daily office use many individuals p lug in computers, printers, scanners and other electronic gazates to 240 V system. When feeding the increasi ngly electronic nature of connected equipments, distortion of the voltage wave form can reduce the oper ating reliability of both the electrical system and the connected equipments. The load profit of the electronic equipments from the computer in the office to the variable speed drive in the factory drives both additional losses and unwanted distortion. Loads such as variable speed drives, computers and uninterruptible power

supply draw non-linear currents from the supply, resulting in substantial curren t at harmonic frequencies. Harmonic currents have a significant effect on transformer losses. About 5% of t he total losses is due to eddy current in the windings and these losses are proportional to the square of the frequency. As a result the losses arising from a current at the 3rd harmonic is nine times that due to a fundamental of the same magnitude. Since transformer manufactures test only under ideal (linear) conditi ons, as called for in present construction standard, a substantial gap exists between published loss a nd actual loss incurred after installation.

The transformer was first developed on 16th September, 1884 in Budapest, Hungary in the form of a tiny unit of 1.4 kVA, with voltage ratio of 120/72 V. Undoubtedly operating prin ciple was based on Faraday s experiments and Maxwell s theory of electromagnetic fields. Today it has grown into an awesome size touching 2000 MVA and nearing 1500 kV voltage class. The dominating factors for the sharp rise in the improvement of transformer technology was due to the availabil ity of transformerfriendly raw materials, which are broadly classified as under: (i) Development of core material: As a matter of fact, this one aspect is mainly responsible for the development of high efficiency, low loss and compact sized super large ratin g transformers. Graduating from the hot rolled laminations used in the beginning, invension of CRGO Silicon Steel in the early fifties made all the differences. The process and R and D has been continuous. V arious steel gients, like Arm-Core, USA and Nippon Steel Corporation. Japan have been at it relentlessly. The result has been the availability of low loss, Hi-B core. Recent development of Laser irradiated (domain refined) Hi-B core is a dream come true for many designers. With this wonder material, the cor e loss and magnetizing currents have been reduced drastically. Further, the problems such as noise due to Magnetostriction , Harmonic components and phenomenon of Magnetic Inrush Currents etc. are also reduced to great extent. Amorphous metal core is even a step further in this particular area of transform er technology. No-load loss can be reduced by about 70 to 80% by using Amorphous m etal core with respect to conventional silicon steel of M4 grade. (ii) The winding conductor: Wile the basic conductor material used for winding h as remained the same, which is EC grade copper, aluminium was also added to this in the earl y 70 s for small size distribution transformers up to 250 kVA ratings. However, improvement in the qua lity of conductor insulation has made it possible to reduce the overall size of windings and achie ving higher temperature36 POWER TRANSFORMERS : QUALITY ASSURANCE class of operation. Foil-wound LV coil reduces the eddy current loss in the wind ing and hence minimize load loss. (iii) Solid insulating materials: The improvements in solid insulating materials, method of impregnation, design structures and shielding also resulted in the vast increase in the operating voltage of transformers with the availability of various grades of calender pr essboards, Type-C, Type-D, Precompressed boards etc., manufacturers have the scope to choose from a wide ra nge of variety. (iv) Transformer oil: Use of oil as an insulating and cooling medium has greatly helped in the rise of transformer rating and the voltage class. Improvement in the desired par ameters are continuously going on. Further, to meet specific requirements of very low ambient temperature

or to reduce fire hazards, other insulating liquids were also developed, such as Chlorinated biphenyl , Silicon liquid etc. Fundamental requirements in our effort to achieve excellency in transformer tech nology are: (i) Quality and Optimization of design with particular reference to energy effic ient transformer. (ii) Use of high quality raw materials. (iii) High quality manufacturing processes for producing reliable transformers. Pursuit for excellence in transformer technology is meaningful only with referen ce to quality. Quality of a transformer can be improved by taking effective steps in the origin stage itself which are use of high quality raw materials and improved manufacturing processes (apart from design which has been taken up in Section III of this book). It is needless to mention that the performance of a transformer largely depends on the excellence of design. However all good designs may not yield good end products unless they are well supported by good materials, good and healthy machines and skilled workmen (operators). In Se ction Two, we shall discuss the availability of various raw materials and components and how they in fluence the performance of a transformer. The effect of machines and manpower is discussed in Section II I. Major materials and components which constitute 90% of transformer manufacturing have been covered in Section II. They are: (i) CRGO steel and Amorphous metal core Chapter 4 (ii) Winding wires and strips Chapter 5 (iii) Insulating pressboards Chapter 6 (iv) Insulating oil Chapter 7 (v) Transformer tanks and radiators Chapter 8 (vi) Porcelain bushings and fittings, Off-circuit Chapter 9 ratio switch and sealing gaskets Though other miscellaneous materials like insulating tapes, sleevings, hardwares , paints etc. also influence the performance of transformers, we shall not cover the details of such items in this book. The reason of discussing raw materials is to impress the readers how the quality of raw materials influence the performance of a transformer. We have briefly discussed the proced ures of selection of materials, their processing and use.37 Cold Rolled Grain Oriented (CRGO) silicon steel is used as core material in tran sformers. In recent years, importance is being laid on conservation of energy and manufact urers of transformers are encouraged to minimise losses in transmission and distribution of power. During the period 1987 to 1998, the demand for electricity in India has increased and the generation of po wer has almost doubled. The demand is expected to grow and perhaps double in coming years, and hence min

imising the losses in transmission and distribution of power is important. Earlier, transformer manufacturers used grade M4 0.27 mm of CRGO steel, as the a vailability of other grades was restricted. Over time and with advanced technology, super fine grades of CRGO steel, commonly known as HI-B and lazer grade, are available and use of the se grades helps in reducing losses.

In India, distribution transformers are manufactured using 0.27 M4 CRGO steel. T he following changes in grades are suggested in order to minimise losses. (a) CRGO-0.27 M4 replaced by HI-B-0.27 MOH (effecting a reduction of losses by 1 6 per cent) (b) HI-B-0.27 MOH replaced by HI-B-0.23 MOH (effecting a reduction of losses by 8 per cent) (c) HI-B-0.23 MOH replaced by lazer grade-0.23 ZDMH (effecting a reduction of losses by 8 per cent) (d) Lazer grade-0.23 ZDMH replaced by amorphous metal core (effecting a reductio n of losses by 42 per cent etc.). From the above points it can be seen that by using better grades of steel, the losses can be reduced by (16 + 8 + 8 + 42 =)74 per cent from that of the conventional core tr ansformers designed with 0.27 M4 grade CRGO steel.

Section II C H A P T E R 438 POWER TRANSFORMERS : QUALITY ASSURANCE Reduction of losses not only minimises the running cost, but also helps to reduc e the core frame size (except amorphous metal core transformer), thereby reducing the cost of win dings as well as the cost of oil. Slitting operation is done to slit the mother coil into narrow hoops. In the case of ele ctrical steel, slitting operation causes deterioration of magnetic properties of the mother coil. In order to achieve good slitting without much deterioration of magnetic propert ies, the cutting tools of the slitter lines need to be properly adjusted. In case the cutting bla des are not sharpened or the blades are not properly aligned, considerable amount of burrs may result in the cut edges. Moreover, sometimes, the insulation coating along the cut edges may also get scratched bec ause of the mismatch of the cutting blades. The blades are to be refixed depending on lamination thic kness. The acceptable maximum burr on the cut edge is 40 microns. In case the burrs are more than 40 microns, the cause of such extra burrs should be identified and eliminatied befo re further processing of CRGO steel. After slitting, the next operation is CRGO processing. This operation involves mitring a nd notching. The two side limbs are cut at an angle of 45, The top and bottom laminations are cut as V at the centre thereby creating a notch to receive the centre leg laminations. A representative view is shown in Fig. 4.1. 45 45 90 Side limb Centre limb Top Yoke V-notch Fig. 4.1. Cutting angle of mitred-cut laminations Since it is a continuous operation of cutting steel sheet while processing CRGO laminations, the sharpeness of the cutting tools is very important. If the tool is not sharp it w ill produce lot of burrs on the cut edges. The acceptable limit of burr is 30 to 40 microns. More burrs will cause more air gaps in the core assembly which will result in high no-load loss and current, even though good quality of CRGO steel is used.CRGO SILICON STEEL 39 During slitting, mitring and notching operations, the laminations lose some of its magnetic properties. It is further annealed to achieve the following: (a) Reduce the mechanical stress in the lamination and yield optimum magnetic pr operties (b) Prevent contamination of steel with oxygen and/or carbon (c) Retain or enhance the insulation quality of lamination coating. Annealing is done at a temperature of 1400 to 1500F (760 to 845C), preferably in a protective

atmosphere. The protective atmosphere is pure nitrogen, which protects the steel from oxidation. Two types of furnaces are generally employed: (a) Batch furnace (b) Continuous roller hearth furnace The batch furnace is advantageous when core sizes vary considerably and when pro duction is intermittent. The continuous roller furnace is generally used for annealing CRGO lamination of reasonably uniform sizes. Various types of core stackings are adopted for three phase transformers during ma nufacture. Some of the core building schemes are shown in Fig. 4.2 which are only representative. Each scheme has its own advantages and disadvantages. T