TRANSFORMER SHORT CIRCUIT TESTING AND ITS IMPACT

ON TAP CHANGER
The continuous increase in demand of electrical power has resulted in the addition of more
generating capacity and interconnections in power systems. Both these factors have
contributed to an increase in short circuit capacity of networks, making the short circuit duty
of transformers more severe. Failure of transformers due to short circuits is a major concern
of transformer users.
The short circuit strength of a transformer enables it to survive through fault currents due to
external short circuits in a power system network; an inadequate strength may lead to a
mechanical collapse of windings, deformation / damage to clamping structures, and may
eventually lead to an electrical fault in the transformer itself. The internal faults initiated by
the external short circuits are dangerous as they may involve blow-out of bushings, bursting
of tank, fire hazard, etc.
There are different types of faults which result into high over currents, viz. single line- toground fault, line-to-line fault with or without simultaneous ground fault and three-phase fault
with or without simultaneous ground fault.
The effect of short-circuit currents on transformers, as on most other items of electrical plant,
fall into two categories:
1. Thermal effects.
2. Mechanical effects.
Thermal Effects
It is a fairly simple matter to deal with the thermal effects of a short circuit. This is deemed to
persist for a known period of time, IEC/IS/BS standards specifies 2 seconds, allowing for
clearance of the fault by back-up protection. During this brief time, it is a safe assumption
that all the heat generated remains in the copper. Therefore knowing the mass of the copper,
its initial temperature and the heat input, the temperature which it can reach can be fairly
easily calculated. It simply remains to ensure that this is below a permitted maximum which
for oil immersed paper-insulated windings is taken to be 250 deg. C, in accordance with
values specified in the IEC/IS/BS standards. Strictly speaking, the resistivity of the copper
will change significantly between its initial temperature, which might be in the region of 115
deg. C, and this permitted final temperature, and there is also some change in its specific
heat over this temperature range; hence, a rigorous calculation would involve an integration
with respect to time of the I2R loss, which is increasing, plus the eddy-current loss, which is
decreasing, divided by the copper weight times the specific heat, which is also increasing
with temperature. In reality the likely temperature rise occurring within the permitted two
seconds will fall so far short of the specified figure that an approximate calculation based on
average resistivity and specific heat will be quite adequate.
So the large current flowing in transformer windings at the time of a short circuit results in
temperature rise in them. Because of the fact that the duration of short circuit is usually very
short, the temperature rise is not appreciable to cause any damage to the transformer.

As per clause 3.2.7 Tap-changing equipment of IEC 60076-5 states that Where fitted, tap
changing equipment shall be capable of carrying the same over currents due to short-circuits
as the windings. However, the on-load tap-changer is not required to be capable of switching
the short-circuit current
Mechanical Effects
Mechanical short-circuit forces are more complex. Firstly, there is a radial force which is a
mutual repulsion between LV and HV windings. This tends to crush the LV winding inwards
and burst the HV winding outwards. Resisting the crushing of the LV winding is relatively
easy since the core lies immediately beneath and it is only necessary to ensure that there is
ample support, in the form of the number and width of axial strips, to transmit the force to the
core. The outwards bursting force in the HV winding is resisted by the tension in the copper,
coupled with the friction force produced by the large number of HV turns which resists their
slackening off. This is usually referred to as the capstan effect. Since the tensile strength of
the copper is quite adequate in these circumstances, the outward bursting force in the HV
winding does not normally represent too serious a problem either. An exception is any outer
winding having a small number of turns, particularly if these are wound in a simple helix. This
can be the case with an outer tapping winding or sometimes the HV winding of a large
system transformer where the voltage is low in relation to the rating. Such a transformer will
probably have a large frame size, high volts per turn and hence relatively few turns on both
LV and HV.

Fig. 1. Mechanical forces acting on transformer windings during short circuit

In these situations it is important to ensure that adequate measures are taken to resist the
bursting forces under short-circuit. These might involve fitting a tube of insulation material
over the winding or simply securing the ends by means of taping, not forgetting the ends of

any tapping sections if included. Another alternative is to provide keeper sticks over the
outer surface of the coil which are threaded through the inter turn spacers.
Secondly, there may also be a very substantial axial force under short circuit. This has two
components. The first results from the fact that two conductors running in parallel and
carrying current in the same direction are drawn together, producing a compressive force.
This force arises as a result of the flux produced by the conductors themselves. However,
the conductors of each winding are also acted upon by the leakage flux arising from the
conductors of the other winding. The radial component of this leakage flux, which gives rise
to the axial force, will in one direction at the top of the leg and the other direction at the
bottom. Since the current is in the same direction at both top and bottom this produces axial
forces in opposite directions which, if the primary and secondary windings are balanced so
that the leakage flux pattern is symmetrical, will cancel out as far as the resultant force on
the winding as a whole is concerned. Any initial magnetic unbalance between primary and
secondary windings, i.e. axial displacement between their magnetic centres will result in the
forces in each half of the winding being unequal, with the result that there is a net axial force
tending to increase the displacement even further.
The failure modes due to Radial forces & Axial forces are mentioned below
1. Failure Modes Due to Radial Forces
a. Winding subjected to tensile stresses
b. Windings subjected to compressive stresses
2. Failure Modes Due to Axial Forces
a. Bending of winding conductor between radial spacers
b. Tilting of winding conductors under an axial load

There are a number of influencing factors which determine the short circuit stresses and
withstand. These factors along with the general guidelines and precautions that can be taken
at the specification, design and production stages of transformers for improving the short
circuit strength are described below.
1. System configuration and transformer specification
1. Limited extension of sub-transmission networks thereby reducing short circuit levels in the
system.
2. High impedance grounding of the neutral of distribution and sub transmission networks.
3. Specification of higher values of percentage impedances for critical transformers.
4. Use of transformers instead of autotransformers, if possible, even if it results in higher
cost.
5. Neutral end tapping arrangement for transformers with on-load tap changer.

6. Specification of taps on more than one winding should be avoided.

7. Lower tapping range.
8. Removal of tertiary winding used for stabilizing purposes, from the specification for threephase three-limb transformers up to a certain rating.
9. Specification and use of the split-winding configuration should be avoided, if possible.
The above recommendations have an impact on the power system protection and
performance; hence they should be adopted after a thorough study.

2. Design
1. If the stabilizing tertiary winding is a must, its current density should be as low as possible
(massive and stiff winding).
2. For withstanding radial forces, the conductor dimensions can be chosen such that the
conductor can resist the compressive forces on its own without relying on the supporting
structures.
3. Whenever the CTC conductor is required to be used to achieve lower winding stray losses
and for the ease of winding, it preferably should be epoxy bonded. The epoxy-bonded CTC
conductor greatly enhances the resistance of the winding against buckling and tilting
because of the bonding effect between strands due to the epoxy coating. The use of one
CTC conductor, instead of a number of parallel strip conductors, has the advantage that the
transpositions between parallel strands within the CTC conductor are made at regular
intervals along the conductor length by automatic machines, and no manual transpositions
are required to be done at the winding stage. Even for very large rating transformers, in
which there are a number of CTC conductors in parallel (usually a maximum of three in the
radial direction), the number of transpositions required are quite less (n-1, n being the
number of parallel CTC conductors in the radial direction).
4. Windings can be made of high grade proof stress conductor material.
5. Use of lower current densities in windings for critical transformers.
6. Use of thicker insulating cylinders for supporting inner windings.
7. Adoption of higher slenderness ratio for the inner windings to increase the compressive
strength against the radial forces.
8. Estimation of natural frequencies of windings and ensuring that there is no excited
resonance.
9. Correct selection of winding arrangements to minimize short circuit forces.
10. It is usually preferable to have taps in a separate winding and not in the body of main
winding from the short circuit strength consideration. Further, the turns should be so
arranged in the separate tap winding that when one tap-step is cut out of the circuit, the

turns get uniformly removed all along the height of the winding (e.g., interleaved tap
winding), minimizing ampere-turn unbalance between windings along the height.
11. If the taps need to be provided in the body of main winding, their placement at the
winding end should be avoided. The short circuit forces are reduced when the taps are put in
the centre instead of one end. The forces are further reduced if they are put in two groups in
the body and placed symmetrically around the centre line of the winding. The ampere-turns
of the untapped winding should be reduced in the zone corresponding to the tapping zone of
the tapped winding. The balancing of ampere-turns between the two windings in this zone
should be done at the average tap position.
12. Understanding the service condition and installation environment from the point of short
circuit duty.

3. Manufacturing processes
1. Proper alignment of axially placed spacers to give adequate support to the inner windings.
2. Accurate positioning of axial and radial support structures.
3. Winding should be wound tightly on the axial spacers placed on the cylinder; in which
case a sufficiently thick cylinder can provide a significant support to the winding for
withstanding the forces that tend to buckle it.
4. Placement of tight-fitting wooden dowels on the core in close contact with the insulating
cylinders, and radially in line with the axial supports.
5. Before use, special storage conditions are required for the epoxy-bonded CTC conductors
as per the suppliers instructions. Also, it is a good practice to cut a sample of the CTC
conductor used for the winding, process it along with the winding, and then check its
mechanical properties through a suitable testing procedure.
6. Strictly controlled manufacturing processes for the windings.
7. When a double-layer winding is used to have an advantage of field cancellation due to go
and return conductors (which reduces the stray losses), the forces under a short circuit is
high both at the winding terminations and also in the leads. Hence, in the case of a doublelayer winding, adequate precautions need to be taken for improving the short circuit
withstand at the lead take-off points in the windings and also at the terminations. For a single
layer winding, one connection is made at the top and other at the bottom of the winding
resulting in the manageable value of short circuit forces. But in this single-layer design, the
route of high current leads from the bottom of winding should be carefully designed to
minimize the stray losses as they run parallel to the tank and other structural components,
and get terminated on the tank cover at the top.
8. Purchase of materials from qualified suppliers with clear material specifications and
quality assurance procedures.
9. Use of high density pressboard for insulation components within windings, and between
windings and yokes.

10. Judicious selection of pre-stress value and achieve required winding heights with no
magnetic asymmetry between windings.
11. Use of clamping structures of adequate stiffness with appropriate fastening.
12. Adequate support and securing of leads at the winding ends.
13. Adequate fastening of connections to the tap-changer and bushings.
14. Use of fibreglass reinforced clamping rings, if required.
15. Use of winding cylinder made of fibreglass for inner windings.
16. Use of pre-shrunk and oil-impregnated spacers/special insulation components (like angle
rings within the winding).
17. Vapour phase drying of windings before the final assembly in specific cases for a better
dimensional control.
18. Burr-free edge rounding of spacers for eliminating the biting of the paper insulation on
the winding conductor.
19. Ensuring tightness of the conductors in the radial direction.
20. For better sizing, windings are individually processed (heating and vacuum cycles)
followed by an axial compression before the final assembly, which minimizes the possibility
of any looseness in the windings. The designed winding height should be obtained at the
final assembly stage before applying the final clamping pressure. This is achieved by
inserting/removing insulation spacers (blocks) so that the pre-determined pressure will get
uniformly applied to all the assembled windings. Some manufacturers use the isostatic
clamping process for each individual winding for better sizing, in which a constant pressure
is applied on the winding uniformly and continuously throughout the drying process.

From the above technical details discussed about short circuit tests on transformer, it
clearly proves that the short circuit testing on transformer will have a impact on tap
changer only on its thermal property i.e. the tap changer shall be capable of carrying
the same over currents due to short-circuits as the windings irrespective of its
mounting type (In-tank or External mounted).