Electrical Machines I Prof. Krishna Vasudevan, Prof. G. Sridhara Rao, Prof. P.

Sasidhara Rao Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Transformers
1 Introduction
Michael Faraday propounded the principle of electro-magnetic induction in 1831. It states that a voltage appears across the terminals of an electric coil when the flux linked with the same changes. The magnitude of the induced voltage is proportional to the rate of change of the flux linkages. This finding forms the basis for many magneto electric machines. The earliest use of this phenomenon was in the development of induction coils. These coils were used to generate high voltage pulses to ignite the explosive charges in the mines. As the d.c. power system was in use at that time, very little of transformer principle was made use of. In the d.c. supply system the generating station and the load center have to be necessarily close to each other due to the requirement of economic transmission of power. Also the d.c. generators cannot be scaled up due to the limitations of the commutator. This made the world look for other efficient methods for bulk power generation and transmission. During the second half of the 19th century the alternators, transformers and induction motors were invented. These machines work on alternating power supply. The role of the transformers became obvious. The transformer which consisted of two electric circuits linked by a common magnetic circuit helped the voltage and current levels to be changed keeping the power invariant. The efficiency of such conversion was extremely high. Thus one could choose a moderate voltage for the generation of a.c. power, a high voltage for the transmission of this power over long distances and finally use a small and safe operating voltage at the user end. All these are made possible by transformers. The a.c. power systems thus got well established. 1
Electrical Machines I Prof. Krishna Vasudevan, Prof. G. Sridhara Rao, Prof. P. Sasidhara Rao Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Transformers can link two or more electric circuits. In its simple form two electric

circuits can be linked by a magnetic circuit, one of the electric coils is used for the creation of a time varying magnetic filed. The second coil which is made to link this field has an induced voltage in the same. The magnitude of the induced emf is decided by the number of turns used in each coil. Thus the voltage level can be increased or decreased by changing the number of turns. This excitation winding is called a primary and the output winding is called a secondary. As a magnetic medium forms the link between the primary and the secondary windings there is no conductive connection between the two electric circuits. The transformer thus provides an electric isolation between the two circuits. The frequency on the two sides will be the same. As there is no change in the nature of the power, the resulting machine is called a transformer and not a converter. The electric power at one voltage/current level is only transformed into electric power, at the same frequency, to another voltage/current level. Even though most of the large-power transformers can be found in the power systems, the use of the transformers is not limited to the power systems. The use of the principle of transformers is universal. Transformers can be found operating in the frequency range starting from a few hertz going up to several mega hertz. Power ratings vary from a few milliwatts to several hundreds of megawatts. The use of the transformers is so wide spread that it is virtually impossible to think of a large power system without transformers. Demand on electric power generation doubles every decade in a developing country. For every MVA of generation the installed capacity of transformers grows by about 7MVA. These figures show the indispensable nature of power transformers. 2

Electrical Machines I Prof. Krishna Vasudevan, Prof. G. Sridhara Rao, Prof. P. Sasidhara Rao Indian Institute of Technology Madras

2 Basic Principles
As mentioned earlier the transformer is a static device working on the principle of Faradays law of induction. Faradays law states that a voltage appears across the terminals of an electric coil when the flux linkages associated with the same changes. This emf is proportional to the rate of change of flux linkages. Putting mathematically, e= d dt (1) Where, e is the induced emf in volt and is the flux linkages in Weber turn. Fig. 1 shows a Figure 1: Flux linkages of a coil coil of N turns. All these N turns link flux lines of _ Weber resulting in the N_ flux linkages. In such a case, = N_ (2) and e=N d_ dt volt (3) The change in the flux linkage can be brought about in a variety of ways coil may be static and unmoving but the flux linking the same may change with time. 3
Electrical Machines I Prof. Krishna Vasudevan, Prof. G. Sridhara Rao, Prof. P. Sasidhara Rao Indian Institute of Technology Madras

flux lines may be constant and not changing in time but the coil may move in space linking different value of flux with time. both 1 and 2 above may take place. The flux lines may change in time with coil moving in space. These three cases are now elaborated in sequence below, with the help of a coil with a simple geometry.

L B X

-+
Figure 2: Static coil Fig. 2 shows a region of length L m, of uniform flux density B Tesla, the flux lines being normal to the plane of the paper. A loop of one turn links part of this flux. The flux _ linked by the turn is L _ B _X Weber. Here X is the length of overlap in meters

as shown in the figure. If now B does not change with time and the loop is unmoving then no emf is induced in the coil as the flux linkages do not change. Such a condition does not yield any useful machine. On the other hand if the value of B varies with time a voltage is induced in the coil linking the same coil even if the coil does not move. The magnitude of B 4
Electrical Machines I Prof. Krishna Vasudevan, Prof. G. Sridhara Rao, Prof. P. Sasidhara Rao Indian Institute of Technology Madras

is assumed to be varying sinusoidally, and can be expressed as, B = Bm sin !t (4) where Bm is the peak amplitude of the flux density. ! is the angular rate of change with time. Then, the instantaneous value of the flux linkage is given by, = N_ = NLXBm sin !t (5) The instantaneous value of the induced emf is given by, e= d dt = N_m.! cos !t = N_m.!. sin(!t + _ 2 ) (6) Here _m = Bm.L.X. The peak value of the induced emf is em = N_m.! (7) and the rms value is given by E= N_m.! p2 volt. Further, this induced emf has a phase difference of _/2 radian with respect to the flux linked by the turn. This emf is termed as transformer emf and this principle is used in a transformer. Polarity of the emf is obtained by the applica tion of Lenzs law. Lenzs law states that the reaction to the change in the flux linkages would be such as to oppose the cause. The emf if permitted to drive a current would produce a counter mmf to oppose this changing flux linkage. In the present case, presented in Fig. 2 the flux linkages are assumed to be increasing. The polarity of the emf is as indicated. The loop also experiences a compressive force. Fig. 2(b) shows the same example as above but with a small difference. The flux density is held constant at B Tesla. The flux linked by the coil at the current position is 5
Electrical Machines I Prof. Krishna Vasudevan, Prof. G. Sridhara Rao, Prof. P. Sasidhara Rao Indian Institute of Technology Madras

_ = B.L.X Weber. The conductor is moved with a velocity v = dx/dt normal to the flux, cutting the flux lines and changing the flux linkages. The induced emf as per the application of Faradays law of induction is e = N.B.L.dx/dt = B.L.v volt.(Here N=1) Please note,the actual flux linked by the coil is immaterial. Only the change in the flux linkages is needed to be known for the calculation of the voltage. The induced emf is in step with the change in and there is no phase shift. If the flux density B is distributed sinusoidally over the region in the horizontal direction, the emf induced also becomes sinusoidal. This type of induced emf is termed as speed emf or rotational emf, as it arises out of the motion of the conductor. The polarity of the induced emf is obtained by the application of the Lenzs law as before. Here the changes in flux linkages is produced by motion of the conductor. The current in the conductor, when the coil ends are closed, makes the conductor experience a force urging the same to the left. This is how the polarity of the emf shown in fig.2b is arrived at. Also the mmf of the loop aids the field mmf to oppose change in flux linkages. This principle is used in d.c machines and alternators. The third case under the application of the Faradays law arises when the flux changes and also the conductor moves. This is shown in Fig. 2(c). The uniform flux density in space is assumed to be varying in magnitude in time as B = Bm sin !t. The conductor is moved with a uniform velocity of dx dt = v m/sec. The change in the flux linkages and hence induced emf is given by e = N. d(Bm. sin !t.L.X) dt = N.L.X.Bm.!. cos !t. + N.Bm. sin !t.L. dx dt V olt. (8) 6
Electrical Machines I Prof. Krishna Vasudevan, Prof. G. Sridhara Rao, Prof. P. Sasidhara Rao Indian Institute of Technology Madras

The first term is due to the changing flux and hence is a transformer emf. The second term is due to moving conductor or is a speed emf. When the terminals are closed such as to permit a current the conductor experiences a force and also the mmf of the coil opposes the change in flux linkages. This principle is used in a.c. machines where the field is time varying and conductors are moving under the same. The first case where there is a time varying field and a stationary coil resulting in

a transformer emf is the subject matter in the present section. The case two will be revisited under the study of the d.c machines and synchronous machines. Case three will be extensively used under the study of a.c machines such as induction machines and also in a.c. commutator machines. Next in the study of the transformers comes the question of creating a time varying filed. This is easily achieved by passing a time varying current through a coil. The winding which establishes the field is called the primary. The other winding, which is kept in that field and has a voltage induced in it, is called a secondary. It should not be forgotten that the primary also sees the same time varying field set up by it linking its turns and has an induced emf in the same. These aspects will be examined in the later sections. At first the common constructional features of a transformer used in electric power supply system operating at 50 Hz are examined. 7