Determination of the air-core reactance of transformers by analytical formulae for different topological configurations and its comparison with

an electromagnetic 3D approach.
Michel Rioual, IEEE Senior M.,
Electricit De France R & D Division 1, avenue du Gnral de Gaulle 92141 Clamart (France)

Electricit De France R & D Division 1, avenue du Gnral de Gaulle 92141 Clamart (France)

Yves Guillot

Suplec 3, rue Joliot Curie 91192 Gif-Sur-Yvette

Cyrille Crepy

Abstract This document describes the determination of the saturated inductance of a transformer, which is the slope of the saturation curve (I) under highly saturated conditions. This parameter, which has a strong impact on the overvoltages when energizing a transformer, has been determined from analytic formulae for different transformer technologies. A comparison with the values derived from an electromagnetic 3D calculation is also given in this paper. Keywords Energization, power transformer, inrush currents, saturated inductance, air-core reactance, air-core inductance, core-type, shelltype. Nomenclature Lsat : saturated inductance of a transformer under highly saturated conditions (H) air-core inductance of a transformer (H) leakage inductance of a transformer winding (H) reference impedance () rated power (VA) rated voltage (V) saturation curve of a transformer (Wb) number of turns of the winding self-inductance of the turn i (H) mutual inductance between the two turns i and j (H)

T Ni Nl ri h

: : : : :

radial thickness of the HV-MV windings (m) number of turns of the layer i number of layers of the winding radius of the layer i (m) average longitudinal height of a layer (m)

Laircore : Lleakage : Zr Sr Ur (I) N Lt,i Mt,ij : : : : : : :

For a shell-type transformer with pancake-type winding: Ms,km : mutual inductance between the two sides k and m (H) Ms,km(L,d): mutual inductance between the two equal sides k and m, which length is L and separated by the distance d (H) a : width of a turn (m) b : length of a turn (m) , : dimensions of the section of a conductor (m) : orthogonal distance between the dij pancakes i and j (m) : radial thickness of the pancake i (m) hi : longitudinal thickness of the pancake i ti (m) : number of turns of the pancake i Ni

1.

INTRODUCTION

For a core-type transformer with layer-type winding: : self-inductance of the layer i (H) Ll,i Ml,ij : mutual inductance between the two layers i and j (H) C : diameter of a limb of the magnetic core (m) E : width of a window of the magnetic core (m) F : length of a window of the magnetic core (m) D : average diameter of the HV-MV windings (m) H : average longitudinal height of the HVMV windings (m) 1

The energization of power transformers may create the saturation of the magnetic core and lead to high overvoltages and inrush currents. The magnitude of those stresses depends on the following different parameters: - closing times of the circuit-breaker poles, - residual fluxes in the core, - transformer parameters as the winding connections, the hysteretic curve of the magnetic core and the value of its air-core inductance. This last parameter, which characterizes the slope of the saturation curve (I) under highly saturated conditions, has been determined in this paper for different transformers (rated power, technology). Firstly, this paper describes the guiding principles of the analytical formulae giving the air-core reactances values, based on the determination of the sum of self and mutual inductances. Secondly, analytical formulae have been determined, for two usual technologies: a core-type

978-1-4244-4241-6/09/$25.00 2009 IEEE

transformer with layer-type windings and a shelltype transformer with pancake-type windings. Thirdly, the saturated inductance has been determined and applied to a 600 MVA, then a 96 MVA transformer, and compared to simulations made with a 3D electromagnetic field program.

This approach describes the determination of the air-core inductance based on the simplified geometry of the winding, as shown in fig. 2 below, in order to be able to have a quick estimation of the air-core inductance; it is applied for transformers having circular turns, and is used by several manufacturers.

2.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF THE ANALYTICAL CALCULATION OF THE AIRCORE REACTANCE

The calculation of the air-core reactance of a transformer is mainly based on the calculation of sums of self and mutual inductances, derived from assumptions enabling those calculations. From a theoretical point of view, it can be said that the self-inductance of a winding, constituted by two elements A and B in serie may be determined by making the addition of the self inductances of A and B, and also the double of the mutual inductance between A and B; extending those assumptions to a winding made of N turns, the air-core inductance may be derived as follows:
Laircore =

Fig. 2: Geometry considered for the Kalantarovs and Tseitlins formula This approach is based on the fact that the winding is formed by a uniform disposition of the turns in the longitudinal and radial axes; it is especially applicable for thin and long windings, where the dimensions may satisfy: H T (2) 0 . 65 et 0 .8
D D

i =1

Lt , i +

M
i =1 j =1 j 1

t , ij

(1)

This is also described by the fig. 1 below:

The air-core inductance is then given by the Kalantarovs and Tseitlins formula: (3) L aircore = N 2 D K 10 7 In that case, the parameter K can be read on abacuses, and takes into account the ratios H/D and T/D. In must be noted that, if we consider a real transformer, as for instance the 600 MVA autotransformer (from Manufacturer 1) described in 3.1.2, the windings are divided into layers which characteristics (thickness, height, space between two layers) may vary from one layer to another one. The insulation between conductors has not been taken into account in this paper. 3.1.2 Application to a 600 MVA core-type transformer

Fig. 1: Interaction between the two turns i and j, for a core-type transformer. The exact theoretical calculation of the mutual between two circular turns has been described by Maxwell [1], [2], and is based on elliptical integrals derived from the Neumanns formula. Those approaches are at the origin of those generally used by manufacturers for the calculation of air-core inductances.

3.

DETERMINATION OF THE AIR-CORE INDUCTANCE FROM ANALYTICAL FORMULAE FOR A CORE-TYPE TRANSFORMER
3.1 Approach by the Tseitlins formula Kalantarovs and

The transformer described in the fig. 3 is a 5 limbs core-type transformer; the coupling between phases is wye for the HVand MV windings and delta for the LV winding. The winding consists of a concentric arrangement of layers made of joined circular turns rolled around an insulating cylinder. The iron core and the disposal of the HV (400 kV), MV (225 kV) and LV (21 kV) windings are given by fig. 3 below:

3.1.1 Principle and formula

without any assumptions on the value of Llosses, this last value being derived either from the on-site short-circuit tests, or from a 3D electromagnetic field program. 3.2 Description of the multi-layer approach

3.2.1 Principle In paragraph 3.1, a simplified geometry has only been considered; in order to take into account the real geometry of a transformer with layer-type windings, a more precise analytical approach has to be defined, which is given in the following paragraphs. Fig. 3: Description of the 600 MVA autotransformer: 5 limbs magnetic core (a), zoom on the disposal of the layers in a window of the magnetic core (b). For the determination of the air-core inductance, the HV winding is usually the only one to be taken into account, as in the case of a no-load energization made from the HV side, others windings being left open. However it must be noticed that in the specific case of an autotransformer, the serial connection of the HV and MV windings implies that both have to be considered. The LV winding is neglected, as the induced current circulating because of the delta coupling has an insignificant impact on the flux distribution. The reference impedance Zr is required to express the Laircore parameter in p.u. (per unit), and given by:
Zr = Ur 2 Sr

This approach consists of dividing the winding in appropriate elements, the layers in this case, for which the self and mutual inductances can be calculated by precise formulae, being validated experimentally for simple geometries. The self and mutual inductances are then summed-up in order to obtain the total air-core inductance value. 3.2.2 Choice of the formulation In that case, the self and mutual inductances are determined from analytical formulae from two reference books of GROVER, the first one having been written in 1911 [3], and the second one being a revised version written in 1973 [4]. The calculations described in those books are originated from the publication of the National Bureau of Standards, and give hundreds of formulae of self and mutual inductances established by different authors for very different simple geometries. Specific formulae have been chosen: - The Nagaokas formulation, which is the most efficient in order to determine the selfinductance of a layer having circular turns. - The Havelocks formulation, which can be applied for the calculation of mutual inductances between layers, when the layers are not joined and have the same axis and close longitudinal heights. - An alternative method for the calculation of mutual inductances is the Cohens formula, which is more complex than the Havelocks one, and provides almost identical results, except in the case of joined layers, or layers of very different longitudinal heights, for which the accuracy is slightly better. The self-inductance of the layer i in the case of the Nagaokas formula is given by:
Ll,i = K (Ni ri )2 4 107 h

(4)
Laircore
Zr

Laircore ( p.u.) =

(5)

The geometrical parameters have been determined from the plans given by the manufacturer. The assumption made is that the thickness T, as seen globally, is thus given by (Dext+Dint)/2 (see Fig. 3). In that case the Kalantarovs and Tseitlins formula (3) takes the following parameters as data inputs and leads to the following value of Laircore : N = 1336 , H = 1.526 , T = 0.287

Laircore = 1.07H = 1.23p.u.

In fact, the parameter which is important for transient programs is Lsat, given by: (6) Lsat = Laircore Lleakage where the Lleakage inductance represents the magnetic losses in the considered winding. In this paper, only the determination of Laircore is adressed, 3

(7)

where the coefficient K is developed in Appendix 1; Appendix 1 gives also the calculation of the mutual inductance Ml,ij in the Havelocks formula; at a final stage, the aircore reactance is given by:
Laircore =

Magnetic circuit

L + M
l ,i i =1 i =1 j =1 j 1

Nl

Nl

Nl

l , ij

(8)
Pancake

3.2.3 Application in the case of a 600 MVA autotransformer; comparison with the value given by manufacturers. The Table 1 gives the air-core reactance value, derived from two approaches, with respectively a simplified representation of the winding or a detailed representation of the layers: Envelope of the winding Kalantarov & Tseitlin Real geometry (multi-layers) Nagoaka & Havelock Laircore = 0.97 H (1.114 p.u.) Nagaoka & Cohen Laircore = 0.967 H (1.110 p.u.)

Fig. 5: View of a shell-type transformer with windings in pancakes The proposed analytical approach consists in subdivising the HV winding in well chosen parts so that the self and mutual inductances could be calculated with accurate formulae: - The self-inductances of a pancake is obtained by calculating, for each turn, the self-inductance and the mutual inductances with the other turns, and then by summing all those values. The mutual inductance between two turns is calculated from the sum of the different sides of both rectangles. - The mutual inductance between two pancakes is obtained by summing all the mutual inductances corresponding to each pair of turns belonging to two different pancakes. - The global self-induction is the sum of self and mutual inductances of every pair of pancakes. The insulation and the rounded edges of the pancakes are not taken into account in this approach. The self-inductance Lt,i of a single turn i is given by the following formula [4]:
L t , i = 10 9 4 (a + b ) log 2

Laircore = 1.07 H (1.23p.u.) Table 1: Comparison between both approaches, by a simplified representation of the winding or a detailed representation of the layers. The Nagaoka+Cohen and Nagaoka+Havelock formulae lead to almost identical values (variation lower than 0.5%), which are 10% lower than the value given by the Kalantarovs and Tseitlins formula. A comparison with the results obtained with an electromagnetic 3D field program is also adressed in chapter 5, confirming the assumptions and calculations performed.

a b

a log (a + d ) (9 )

b log (b + d )

4. DETERMINATION OF THE AIR-CORE

REACTANCE FROM ANALYTICAL FORMULAE FOR A SHELL-TYPE TRANSFORMER

a+b + 2 d + 0 .447 ( + ) 2

with

d = a 2 + b2

4.1

Description of the approach

The shell-type technology makes the calculation of air-core inductance from analytical formulae more complex, because of the rectangular form of the turns, as described on fig. 4 below.

Fig. 6: Geometrical dimensions of a turn The mutual inductance between two orthogonal sides is equal to zero. The mutual inductance Ms,nq between two parallel sides separated by a distance d (see parameters on fig. 7) is deduced from mutual inductances, noted Ms,nq(L,d), between two parallel equal sides of appropriate length L and separated by 4

Fig. 4: Magnetic transformer

circuit

for

shell-type

the distance d. The relationship is given by the formulae (10) and (11), [4].

In that case, the calculated value of the air-core inductance is 0.22 p.u., 17% under the value of 0.26 p.u. given by the manufacturer (see Table 2). A comparison with an electromagnetic 3D software is given in chapter 5. Analytical approach for shell-type transformers

Manufacturer value Laircore = 1.4 H (0.26 p.u.)

Fig. 7: Parameters of the mutual inductance in the following cases: two parallel equal sides (a), two parallel unequal sides (b). The mutual inductance between two parallel equal sides (case (a) in the fig. 7) n and q of length L is given by the following formula:
M s , nq ( L, d ) = 10 9 2 L ln

Laircore = 1.157 H (0.22 p.u.)

Table 2: Comparison between the analytical approach developed and the value given by the manufacturer, for the 96 MVA transformer. The mutual inductances between pancakes represent around 85% of the global air-core inductance.

L L2 + 1+ d d2

1+

d2 L2

d L

(10) The mutual inductance between two parallel unequal sides (case (b) in the fig. 7) n and q can be deduced from the previous formula as follows: (11) M s, nq = M s, n ' q ' (m + p, d ) M s , n ' ' q ' ' ( p, d ) Considering geometrical symmetries, the mutual inductance between two turns can be calculated from the mutual inductances between the parallel sides of the two rectangles [4], as follows: (12) M t , km = 2(M s ,15 M s ,17 + M s ,26 M s ,28 )

5.

VALIDATION OF THE ANALYTICAL APPROACHES BY A FLUX3D CALCULATION (SINGLE-PHASE AND THREE-PHASE SIMULATIONS)
5.1 Description of the 3D approach

The results of the analytical approaches have been compared to the simulations performed with the electromagnetic 3D software FLUX3D [5]. It enables, in particular, the calculation of the 3D magnetic field developed in a transformer and requires a 3D geometrical meshed model of the transformer. The FLUX3D approach was applied to the coretype transformer and the shell-type transformer previously mentionned. The relative permeability r is set to 1 in order to meet very high saturation requirements faced during the energization. The simulations were performed in steady state conditions, first in a single-phase mode, secondly in a three-phase mode, in order to evaluate the mutual inductances between phases. The transformers were supposed to be no-loaded, which is the case during their energization. Considering the results given by FLUX3D, the aircore inductance can thus be determined from three equivalent ways: the calculation of the energy, the determination of the impedance or the calculation of the magnetic fluxes. 5.2 Case of a single-phase simulation

Fig. 8: Parameters of inductive coupling between: two turns (a), two pancakes (b). 4.2 Application to a 96 MVA auxiliary transformer

The previous formulae have been put together in an algorithm which data are the geometrical characteristics of each pancake. This analytical approach was applied to a 96 MVA auxiliary transformer (from Manufacturer 2) for a thermal power plant. It consists of a 400 kV/6.8 kV shell-type transformer, with pancakes winding made of 960 turns.

The FLUX3D single-phase approach was applied to the determination of the air-core reactance for the core-type 600 MVA autotransformer. Its high

voltage and middle voltage windings are connected in serie. The three-phase coupling is a wye one for MV-HV windings, a delta connection for the LV winding. In the simulation, a single MV-HV phase was energized, no matter which phase it was because of the symmetry, and other windings were all left open. Fig. 11: Magnetic field lines for a saturated coretype 600 MVA transformer calculated by FLUX3D. To take into account the mutual-induction between phases and to estimate its influence on Laircore, three-phase simulations have been performed on the core-type 600 MVA autotransformer and on the shell-type 96 MVA transformer, in steady state conditions, with no-load conditions at the secondary side and in the following conditions: - three-phase power conditions, - presence of the low voltage required, as its delta coupling enables induced currents. In the case of the 600 MVA transformer, the method of the impedance has led to the results displayed on table 3. The slight increase of Lsat, 1 to 2% compared to the single-phase case, is caused by the mutual inductances between phases. The LV windings have almost no influence, with induced currents which are 50 times lower than the MV-HV currents. Analytical approach Fig. 10: Description of the FLUX3D circuit involving the 600 MVA autotransformer From the results given by FLUX3D, the three methods (either energy, impedance, or flux) give 1.11 p.u. as value of the air-core inductance for the 600 MVA transformer (Manufacturer 1). 5.3 Influence of the mutual inductances: results of three-phase simulations for two technologies Laircore
= 0.967 H (1.11 p.u.)
Singlephase

Fig. 9: 3D model of the core-type 600 MVA transformer

HV_1

MV_1

LV_1

HV_2

MV_2

LV_2

HV_3

MV_3

LV_3

FLUX3D
Three-phase
Phases 1 & 3 Phase 2

Laircore
= 0.965 H (1.11 p.u.)

Laircore
= 0.976 H (1.12 p.u.)

Laircore
= 0.988 H (1.135 p.u.)

Table 3: Comparison between the values of the aircore inductance calculated by FLUX3D and by the analytical approach, for the 600 MVA tranformer. The air-core inductance for the middle phase is the highest one, due to the geometrical proximity with both windings for phases 1 and 3, which leads to higher mutual induction coefficients. In the case of the shell-type 96 MVA transformer, the FLUX3D approach has led to a value of 1.219 H (0.23 p.u.) for phase 1. This value is 5% higher than the value of 1.157 H (0.22 p.u.) calculated by the analytical approach for shell-type transformers presented in chapter 4. The value provided by the manufacturer is equal to 0.26 p.u. It must be noticed that the determination of the aircore reactance by the FLUX3D approach requires 6

As the energization of a transformer is a threephase operation, the inductive coupling between phases slightly modifies the slope of the saturation curve (i), compared to the single-phase case. The coupling phenomena can be represented by mutual inductances between phases.

several hours for the modeling of the transformer and simulations to be performed. With the analytical approaches developed, the calculation time essentially depends on the number of turns and the transformer technology. It remains less than: - 1 s for a 1340 turns (per HV-MV phase) layertype winding of a core-type autotransformer; - 5 mn for a 960 turns (per HV phase) pancaketype winding of a shell-type transformer (simulations being performed with a ~2 GHz processor).

Ll , i =

K (N i ri )2 4 10 7 h

(13)

The coefficicent K can be calculated with an excellent accuracy from the following formula:
K =1 4k + 2q + 12 q 2 + 44 q 3 + 116 q 4 + 260 q 5 3k ' 3760 7 q 3
5 9

+ 576 q 6 +

(14)
1 k' ; L= ; 1 + k'

with:
k =

q =

L L L + 2 + 15 2 2 2

4 ri
2

2 2

6.

DISCUSSION

4 ri + h

k'=

h2 4 ri + h 2
2

(15)

The air-core inductance is not, in most cases, a key parameter for manufacturers, which are more focused on short-circuit issues from the specifications required by utilities. Yet they often provide a value for the air-core reactance, generally calculated by approximate formulae using a global geometry of the transformer (envelope of the winding), with a 10 to 20% accuracy. For utilities, the Lsat value is highly critical for certain studies, because a 10% surestimation of the Lsat can lead to underestimate stresses during the transformer energization by a factor of 30% [6]. The analytical approaches developed in this paper enable an improvement in the Lsat determination, with a better accurary than those given by more simple approaches.

Most of the time, considering that the selfinductances of the different layers only weight around 10% in the global air-core inductance, the expression of K can be simplified by the following formula, with no difference on the final result: (16) 100
K =

2 8

r + 11 h

7.

CONCLUSION

Fig. 12: Parameters of Nagaokas and Havelocks formulae For the calculation of the mutual inductance between layers, the Havelocks formula is given by the following expression: (17) M l ,ij = 0 ri 2 ni n j (h 2r j ) with the coefficient approximated by the following formula:
=
1 1 ri 2 1 ri 4 5 ri 6 35 ri 8 1 r j 2 4 6 2 16 r j 128 r j 2048 r j 32768 r j 8 4 h + r 2 r j 1 1 + i h 16 rj2

This document describes the determination of the saturated inductance of a transformer, which is the slope of the saturation curve (I) under highly saturated conditions. This parameter, which has a strong impact on the overvoltages when energizing a transformer, has been determined from analytic formulae for different transformers technologies. More powerful algorithms have been proposed, adapted to the geometry of the windings (layers, pancakes, form of the turns). A comparison with the values derived from an electromagnetic 3D calculation is also given in this paper. Applied to a core-type 600 MVA transformer and a shell-type 96 MVA transformer, a good agreement between both approaches has been obtained.

r 2 r 4 r j 1 1 + 3 i + i h 32 rj2 rj4
7

r2 r 4 r 6 r j 5 1 + 6 i + 6 i + i h 256 rj 2 rj4 rj6

(18)

APPENDIX 1: CALCULATION OF THE AIR-CORE INDUCTANCE FOR A CORE-TYPE TRANSFORMER WITH A LAYER-TYPE WINDING The self-inductance of the cylindric layer i can be expressed by the Nagaokas formula, as follows: 7

Despite its complexity, the Cohens formula gives a slightly more accurate value for windings either being very compact or having layers of very different longitudinal heights. The Cohens formula consists in complex combinations of the elliptic integrals defined in Maxwells theory:

F (k , ) =

1 1 k 2 sin 2 (x )

dx

(19) (20)

frequency modeling, diagnosis electromagnetic field calculation.

methods

and

E (k , ) =

1 k 2 sin 2 ( x ) dx

(for further details about Cohens formula, see Grovers book [3]).

REFERENCES [1] J. C. Maxwell Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism, Editions Jacques Gabay, 1887, Paris. [2] P. L. Kalantarov, L. A. Tseitlin, Calculation of Inductance, Handbook, 3rd ed., Leningrad, Energoatomisdat, 1986, 488 p. [in Russian]. [3] E. B. Rosa, F. W. Grover, Formulations and tables for the calculation of mutual and selfinduction [Revised], Washington Government Printing Office, 1911, from Bulletin of the Bureau of Standards Vol. 8 N1. [4] F. W. Grover, Inductance Calculations: Working Formulas and Tables, 1946 & 1973, Dover Phoenix Edition, 2004. [5] J. Coulomb, Y. Du Terrail, G. Meunier, Flux3D, a finite element package for magnetic computation, IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 21, issue 6, pp. 2499-2502, Nov. 1985. [6] M. Rioual, C. Sicre, Energization of a noload transformer for power restoration purposes: sensitivity to parameters PES Summer Meeting, 2000, IEEE Volume 2, July 16-20, pages 892-895. Michel Rioual was born in Toulon (France) on May 25th, 1959. He received the Engineering Diploma of the Ecole Suprieure d'Electricit (Gif sur Yvette, France) in 1983. He joined the EDF company (R&D Division) in 1984, working on electromagnetic transients in networks until 1991. In 1992, he joined the Wound Equipment Group as Project Manager on rotating machines. In 1997, he joined the Transformer Group, as Project Manager on the transformers for nuclear plants. He is a Senior of IEEE, belongs to CIGRE and to the SEE (Society of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in France). Yves Guillot was born in Paris, France, on April 1st, 1967. He received his Electrical Engineering diploma of the Ecole Suprieure d'Electricit (Suplec) in 1990. Then he joined the research center of EDF as a research engineer mainly involved in modeling power transformers : high 8

Cyrille Crpy was born in Paris on June 30th, 1986. He received the Engineering Diploma of the Ecole Suprieure d'Electricit (Gif sur Yvette, France) in 2008. He gathered his first work experience during interships at the nuclear power plant of St-Laurentdes-Eaux, and MBDA. He completed his studies by a 6 months internship at EDF R&D where he worked on stresses during transformers energization.