Floating feeder resonances are one of the new challenges being put forward by the renewable energy based distributed generation (DG) installations. Generally, the harmonic injection from DGs are within IEEE standard 519-1992 limits. Although the harmonics are within the IEEE limits, they are a potential threat to power equipment’s insulation system integrity due to floating feeder resonances. There is a reasonable probability that at some point in time the feeder resonant frequency may coincide with one of the injected harmonics. Such phenomenon amplifies the specific harmonic causing additional stress on the equipment’s insulation system. In this thesis a feeder resonance study is done on the IEEE 34 bus distribution feeder to show the resonance shift problem in a DG loaded distribution feeder. Electric field study is then carried out on transformer winding to assess the dependence of electric field on harmonic distortion. At first the acoustic emission (AE) technique is employed to identify the change in the electric field distribution inside the winding at higher frequency. The AE technique together with the acoustic waveguide is utilized to locate the partial discharges under power frequency and high frequency operation. The results show a change in partial discharge (PD) location, which implies that the electric field redistributes in the transformer winding at higher frequency In order to further understand the electric field distribution, a high voltage air core coil is modeled by R, L and C ladder network. The R, L and C parameters are solved by finite element method and finally the electric field is calculated by computing the node potentials in the ladder network at various frequencies. The electric field results show that at high frequency distortion the electric stress enhances between fourth and fifth layer of the winding which may give rise to a PD activity; hence degrading the insulation. An aging experiment is also performed to understand the impact of high frequency distortion on transformer paper insulation. Paper samples are taken from a field aged transformer. They are aged for 72 hours under power frequency and various distorted waveforms. Dissipation factor is used as a comparison tool for paper samples before and after aging. Results show that paper samples aged under distorted waveforms showed a double increase in dissipation factor compared to the samples aged under power frequency.

Floating feeder resonances are one of the new challenges being put forward by the renewable energy based distributed generation (DG) installations. Generally, the harmonic injection from DGs are within IEEE standard 519-1992 limits. Although the harmonics are within the IEEE limits, they are a potential threat to power equipment’s insulation system integrity due to floating feeder resonances. There is a reasonable probability that at some point in time the feeder resonant frequency may coincide with one of the injected harmonics. Such phenomenon amplifies the specific harmonic causing additional stress on the equipment’s insulation system. In this thesis a feeder resonance study is done on the IEEE 34 bus distribution feeder to show the resonance shift problem in a DG loaded distribution feeder. Electric field study is then carried out on transformer winding to assess the dependence of electric field on harmonic distortion. At first the acoustic emission (AE) technique is employed to identify the change in the electric field distribution inside the winding at higher frequency. The AE technique together with the acoustic waveguide is utilized to locate the partial discharges under power frequency and high frequency operation. The results show a change in partial discharge (PD) location, which implies that the electric field redistributes in the transformer winding at higher frequency In order to further understand the electric field distribution, a high voltage air core coil is modeled by R, L and C ladder network. The R, L and C parameters are solved by finite element method and finally the electric field is calculated by computing the node potentials in the ladder network at various frequencies. The electric field results show that at high frequency distortion the electric stress enhances between fourth and fifth layer of the winding which may give rise to a PD activity; hence degrading the insulation. An aging experiment is also performed to understand the impact of high frequency distortion on transformer paper insulation. Paper samples are taken from a field aged transformer. They are aged for 72 hours under power frequency and various distorted waveforms. Dissipation factor is used as a comparison tool for paper samples before and after aging. Results show that paper samples aged under distorted waveforms showed a double increase in dissipation factor compared to the samples aged under power frequency.

La présente étude traite l’application des rubans amorphes dans les transformateurs de distribution dans l’objectif de réduire les pertes dans le réseau d’électricité. Les matériaux utilisés sont un alliage à base de fer, silicium et bore. Les premières études sur ce matériau amorphe révèlent une très bonne compatibilité chimique de ces derniers avec les huiles de transformateur. Ces rubans possèdent des durées de vie entièrement conforme aux exigences d’ERDF. Les pertes à vide représentent un élément non négligeable dans l’efficacité énergétique des matériels. Un transformateur amorphe génère 2 fois moins de pertes pendant toute sa vie qu’un transformateur conventionnel C0Ck. D'un point de vue général, la technologie amorphe appliquée aux transformateurs de distribution publique présente un intérêt majeur pour la réduction des pertes à vide. L'investissement réalisé dans un matériel certes plus onéreux à l'origine se trouve rentabilisé grâce aux économies réalisées sur les pertes à vide. Le retour sur investissement est possible en 10 à 12 années environ mais reste très variable en fonction du prix d'achat négocié. La qualification des transformateurs amorphes nécessite que les matériels répondent aux exigences de la spécification d’ERDF comme le critère "Tenue aux courants de court-circuit" qui constitue une composante essentielle dans l'acceptation des transformateurs amorphes. La tenue aux efforts de court-circuit a historiquement été problématique sur les transformateurs triphasés à noyaux amorphes. Le noyau se cisaille pendant le court-circuit, libérant des particules métalliques préjudiciables à la tenue diélectrique de l'appareil. Depuis, les constructeurs ont fait des progrès dans la conception mais les matériels ne sont pas encore pleinement satisfaisants. La tenue aux courts-circuits est l’enjeu et le défi que doit franchir cette technologie pour s’implanter et être crédible en Europe. / This PhD deals with the application of amorphous ribbons in distribution transformer cores in order to reduce network losses. The material is an alloy from iron, boron and silicon compounds. The first results on the material reveal a good physicochemical compatibility with tested transformer dielectric fluids. It should be noted these materials possess a far longer life than the transformer itself. The potential for reducing losses from distribution transformers is considered as one element of EU and national strategies on energy efficiency. Losses generated through amorphous transformers are twice less than conventional ones. Amorphous ribbon units represent a significant new advance in transformer technology and losses reduction. The investment, put to purchase the product, can be easily gained by the capitalisation of losses. The return can be achieved in 10 to 12 years, depending on the purchase price. It is expected that a transformer will be subjected to a number of short-circuits during its service life, but sooner or later one such event will cause some slight winding movement, and the ability of the transformer to resist further short-circuits will then be severely reduced. Amorphous metal distribution transformers (AMDT) is no exception and they should be able to resist electrodynamic forces during short-circuit test and match ERDF specifications. In fact, during SC, extreme electrodynamic forces cause the windings to deform and this shape deformity creates a lot of shear stress on amorphous cores which lead to break-up of some ribbons. The active part of an amorphous transformer should be strong enough to resist these stresses. In fact, the behaviour of the core materials under short circuit currents depends especially on the know-how of manufacturers who can outline electrodynamic stress inside transformers. Concept design and processes have been improved in order to provide reliable devices but the task is not completely done yet. Short-circuit withstand is one of the most important aspects which will approve this technology.

abstract: Dynamic loading is the term used for one way of optimally loading a transformer. Dynamic loading means the utility takes into account the thermal time constant of the transformer along with the cooling mode transitions, loading profile and ambient temperature when determining the time-varying loading capability of a transformer. Knowing the maximum dynamic loading rating can increase utilization of the transformer while not reducing life-expectancy, delaying the replacement of the transformer. This document presents the progress on the transformer dynamic loading project sponsored by Salt River Project (SRP). A software application which performs dynamic loading for substation distribution transformers with appropriate transformer thermal models is developed in this project. Two kinds of thermal hottest-spot temperature (HST) and top-oil temperature (TOT) models that will be used in the application--the ASU HST/TOT models and the ANSI models--are presented. Brief validations of the ASU models are presented, showing that the ASU models are accurate in simulating the thermal processes of the transformers. For this production grade application, both the ANSI and the ASU models are built and tested to select the most appropriate models to be used in the dynamic loading calculations. An existing application to build and select the TOT model was used as a starting point for the enhancements developed in this work. These enhancements include:  Adding the ability to develop HST models to the existing application,  Adding metrics to evaluate the models accuracy and selecting which model will be used in dynamic loading calculation  Adding the capability to perform dynamic loading calculations,  Production of a maximum dynamic load profile that the transformer can tolerate without acceleration of the insulation aging,  Provide suitable output (plots and text) for the results of the dynamic loading calculation. Other challenges discussed include: modification to the input data format, data-quality control, cooling mode estimation. Efforts to overcome these challenges are discussed in this work. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Electrical Engineering 2011

For the purpose of this study, data for low voltage distribution transformer loading in small communities in Maryland was collected from a local electric utility company. Specifically, analysis was done on three distribution transformers on their system. Each of these transformers serves at least one electric vehicle (EV) owner. Of the three transformers analyzed, Transformer 2 serves eight residential homes and has the highest risk of experiencing an overload if all customers purchase at least one EV. Transformer 2 has a nameplate rating of 25kVA (22.5kW assuming a 0.9 power factor). With one EV owner, Transformer 2 has a peak load of 46.82kW during the study period between August 4 and August 17, 2013. When seven additional EVs of different types were added in a simulated scenario, the peak load for Transformer 2 increased from 46.82kW to 89.76kW, which is outside the transformer thermal limit. With the implementation of TOU pricing, the peak load was reduced to 56.71kW from 89.76kW. By implementing a combination of TOU pricing and appliance cycling through demand side management (DSM), the peak load was further reduced to 52.27kW. / Master of Science

No description available.

There is a growing interest in electric transportation, and the number of electric vehicles (EVs) is increasing. The resulting increase in EV charging power demand has an adverse impact on the existing power grids, especially the distribution transformers. The repeated and continued overloading caused by EV charging can significantly reduce their operational life. This dissertation aims to comprehensively study the adverse impacts of EV charging on distribution transformers and provide robust and practical solutions to mitigate it. A typical North American secondary distribution system with different EV penetration levels and four realistic residential EV charging scenarios are used for the analyses. The IEEE Standard C57.91-2011 is used to quantify transformer life under different scenarios and to validate the efficacy of the proposed overloading mitigation strategies. It is observed that EV charging can have a significant impact on the life of distribution transformers. To mitigate the impact of EV charging on the distribution transformer, first, a practical solution based on reactive power compensation is proposed. The method is based on reducing the over- all transformer losses by providing a component of the residential reactive power demand through non-unity power factor operation of the EV charger. A centralized recursive control structure is proposed to compute and communicate the required reactive power values to the individual EVs. It is shown that the proposed technique increases the distribution transformer’s life by an average of nearly 47% in all four scenarios considered. Moreover, the proposed controller’s structure makes it effective even on low-bandwidth, high-latency communication networks. To verify this, the proposed controller’s stability under communication delays and its robustness against potential communication failures is also validated. This research also studies potential concerns about the charger’s reliability by non-unity power factor operation. Accordingly, an alternative overloading mitigation strategy is also proposed based on fixed charging current magnitude. This second method is shown to be more effective in reducing transformer overloading at the cost of a marginal decrease in the charging rate. Lastly, a high-level overview of the existing vehicle-to-grid communication standards is presented to provide a better context for practical implementation and identify potential challenges.

Two studies are presented quantifying the impact of plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) on power systems. The first study quantifies this impact in terms of (a) primary fuel utilization shifts, (b) pollution shifts, and (c) total cost for consumers. The second study quantifies this impact on distribution transformers. In the first study vehicle and power system simulations are used to compute the expected power system fuels utilized to meet a projected level of power demand. The projected electric power demand includes business as usual electric load and random PHEV charging electric load. In the second study the impact on distribution transformers is quantified through a loss of life calculation. The loss of life calculation is based on distribution transformer hot-spot temperature. The hot-spot temperature is estimated using an electro-thermal distribution transformer model and is a function of the transformer currents. The transformer currents are computed using a center-tapped single phase transformer model. Random business as usual and PHEV charging electric loading is assumed.

This master thesis deals with the manufacturing process of oil distribution transformers. Firstly, the thesis devotes to the design arrangement of the magnetic circuit and its manufacturing technology. The procedure of cutting laminations for core and their building into the core. Subsequently, the thesis describes technologies used for manufacturing primary and secondary windings including procedures on winding machines. Then it deals with the production of the tank and the final assembly of the transformer into one unit. The next part of the thesis discusses the design procedure of the assigned distribution oil transformer with a numerical calculation while respecting the requirements of the standards. Finally, the costs of the material of the designed transformer are determined.

This paper presents a methodology for optimizing the distribution transformers project, considering the capitalized cost, employing concurrently in your project amorphous core and insulating vegetable oil. The use of amorphous core technology provides a significant reduction of the load losses as the use of the insulating vegetable oil which is a non-toxic fluid and rapidly biodegradable when in contact with the environment, it allows increasing the machine's operating temperature . The use of these two materials have provided considerable percentage improvements in efficiency and cost / power compared to conventional distribution transformers manufactured. The methodology is aimed to create and select designs that have a lower total cost, namely the sum of the transformer manufacturing cost capitalized cost of losses during the useful life envisaged for the equipment. In addition, it presents the case study of a 75 kVA designed distribution transformer and manufactured with amorphous core and insulating vegetable oil, routine employed optimization (developed in VBA Excel), the theoretical results obtained from the optimized design and the experimental results. / Este trabalho apresenta uma metodologia de otimização do projeto de transformadores de distribuição, considerando o custo capitalizado, que empregam concomitantemente em seu projeto núcleo amorfos e óleo vegetal isolante. O emprego da tecnologia de núcleo amorfo proporciona significativa redução das perdas em vazio, enquanto a utilização do óleo vegetal isolante, que é um fluído não tóxico e de rápida biodegradação quando em contato com o meio ambiente, possibilita o aumento da temperatura de operação do equipamento. A utilização desses dois materiais propiciaram melhoras percentuais consideráveis na eficiência e na relação custo/potência em comparação aos transformadores de distribuição convencionalmente fabricados. A metodologia visa criar e selecionar projetos que tenham um menor custo total, ou seja, a soma do custo de fabricação do transformador com o custo capitalizado das perdas durante a vida útil considerada para o equipamento.Além disso, é apresentado o estudo de caso de um transformador de distribuição de 75 kVA projetado e fabricado com o núcleo amorfo e óleo vegetal isolante, a rotina de otimização empregada (desenvolvida em VBA Excel), os resultados teóricos obtidos a partir do projeto otimizado e os resultados experimentais.