White Paper WP009001EN Effective January 2015
Transformer nameplate impedance:
Per unit or absolute?
David G. Loucks Abstract
Eaton
Transformers used in commercial and industrial
applications typically show impedances marked in
percentages.
While the technical definition of this percentage
or per unit impedance is that this value is a
percentage of the base impedance of the trans-
former, there is a more descriptive way of thinking
of it.
The per-unit impedance describes that percentage
of the rated voltage required to produce full load
current while the transformer output is shorted.
The lower the impedance, the lower the voltage
required to produce full load current. Lower imped-
ance transformers allow higher fault currents to
flow at a particular voltage.
Measuring impedance in units of percentage
greatly simplifies the calculation of currents and
voltages in a power system. While absolute
impedance (measured in ohms) could certainly
also be used, doing so greatly complicates the
calculations.
Per unit impedances
Consider a transformer with a 5% impedance.
A voltage is applied to the primary with the
secondary winding shorted (faulted).
At 5% input voltage 100% FLA produced
How much current flows at higher voltages?
Ignoring non-linear effects such as core saturation,
if 5% voltage produces 100% FLA, then:
At 10% input voltage 200% FLA is
produced
At 50% input voltage 1000% FLA is
produced
At 100% input voltage 2000% FLA is
produced
Note that at nominal full voltage on the primary
winding, the fault currents, both primary and
secondary, increase to 20 times FLA.
Knowing this, one advantage of publishing per unit
impedances becomes evident. Virtually by inspec-
tion, a first approximation of this transformers
available fault current is to multiply the FLA x
1/%Z.
Equation 1: ISC = IFL . 1
%Z
Absolute impedances
While that seems like a useful rule of thumb,
wouldnt the solution be just as easy if the manu-
facturers published absolute ohms? While labeled
percent impedance is independent of the trans-
former voltage (or tap), absolute impedance is not.
In other words, separate absolute impedances
would need to be calculated not only for every
voltage winding, but also for every tap setting
of every winding! Having to deal with only one
percent value simplifies things.
Using Transformer Impedance
Consider an ideal transformer (lossless, zero
impedance) connected to a source V1 and provid-
ing current to a load ZL.
I1 I2
V1 V1 V2 V2 ZL = 1
4160 : 480
Figure 1
White Paper WP009001EN Transformer Nameplate Impedance
Effective January 2015

Figure 1 shows input and output voltages along with the imped- squared calculation on every transformer and for every tap setting.
ance of the load. This provides enough information to calculate the Since upstream settings would affect downstream settings, the
secondary current. problem scales geometrically. Every one of those voltage ratios
V would need to be calculated before determining fault currents!
480V
Equation 2: I2 = 2 = = 480 amps Because of this complexity, it is clear why power systems engi-
ZL 1
neers began to favor per unit calculations instead of using absolute
Looking first at our lossless (to simplify the math) transformer, measurements.
consider that the product of primary voltage and current equals the
product of the secondary voltage and the secondary current: Example calculations: Absolute vs per unit
Equation 3: V1 I1 = V2 I2 Consider a 1000 kVA, 5.75%Z, 12.47 kV to 480Y/277 transformer.
For the example values given in Figure 1: The constant of proportionality used to convert per unit impedance
to absolute impedance is the base impedance.
Equation 4: 4160I1 = 480480
Equation 8: Zohms = Zpu *Zbase
or rewriting to solve for I1:
480.480
Equation 5: I1 = = 55.4 amps Beginning with the 480V secondary, the base impedance is calcu-
4160
lated as:
Since impedance is defined as the ratio of voltage divided by V 2
= 480
2
current, using the known voltage and the derived current, the Equation 9: Zbase = baseLL = 0.23
impedance looking through the transformer to the load can be Sbase_3 1000000
found.
With base impedance calculated, solve for actual impedance.
55.4 A Equation 10: Zohms = Zpu *Zbase = 0.0575*0.23
I1 I2 = 0.0132
V1 Zeq V2 V2 ZL = 1
Looking into the 480V transformer from the secondary side, that
4160V transformer would appear to place 0.0132 impedance in series
with the source.
To show how this value is not const ant, we recall the statement
Figure 2
that absolute impedance changes with voltage. Solving Eq 9 again
Performing the math to solve for this effective impedance Zeq: but replacing 480V with 12.47 kV:
V
Equation 6: Zeq = 1 = 4160 = 75.1
Equation 11: Zbase =
VbaseLL2
= 12470 = 156
2
I1 55.4
Sbase_3 1000000
Notice that this lossless transformer was assumed to have no
impedance. The impedance looking through the transformer actu- With the new primary base impedance, the absolute impedance is
ally is the impedance of the 1 ohm secondary, but somehow modi- calculated:
fied by the transformer to appear as 75 ohms. Equation 12: Zohms = Zpu *Zbase = 0.0575*156 = 8.9
When performing a power systems analysis 75 ohms is the actual
circuit impedance that limits the 4160V to only 55.4 amperes. This means that measured on the 12.47 kV circuit, the transformer
However, It is clear that this value could not be published on the appears to place 8.9 impedance in series with the load, not 0.0132
transformer since its value is dependent on the load and one other .
factor. Which is correct?
That other factor is turns ratio. They both are. The difference just depends on which voltage
Note that this multiplier, 75.1 is equal to the turns ratio squared: reference you are calculating the impedance.
2

(
Equation 7: 4160 1=75.1 Conclusion
(
480
It is evident, then, that the secondary load impedance observed While transformers could be marked with either per unit or absolute
at the primary terminals of the transformer changes with the ratio impedances, the per unit calculations are preferred by power
of the primary to secondary voltage. That means, changing taps systems engineers.
settings will change the apparent impedance looking through the Per unit values do not change with voltage. This simplifies
transformer! calculations.
Consider how this complexity multiplies when looking at a system
with transformers feeding transformers. With absolute values
of impedance, it would be necessary to perform this turns ratio

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