Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Electrical Machines, ICEM 2004, Cracow, Poland,

September 5-8, 2004.

Fast Power Transformer Design Technique

Validated by Measurements
V. S. Lazaris, M. A. Tsili and A. G. Kladas
Faculty of Electrical & Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens,
GR-15780, Athens, Greece,
phone: (+30) 210-7723765, fax: (+30) 210-7723593
e-mail: kladasel@central.ntua.gr

II. DESCRIPTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

Abstract — The present paper illustrates the development of a DESIGN TECHNIQUE
very fast computer software for the design of three-phase,
stack core, power transformers. The program is based on a The active part configuration of the three-phase stack
particular algorithm for the design methodology. It is applied core power transformer considered is illustrated in Fig. 1.
in the design of a 1000 kVA, 20/0.4 kV distribution Ai
limbs
transformer and the accuracy of the results is validated
through comparison to the results of three and two-
dimensional finite element method and local field
measurements on a constructed wound core transformer of by
the same rating.
L
I. INTRODUCTION
Power transformer design involves a compromise
between cost and specified characteristics target. It is
within the transformer manufacturer responsibility to
implement a reliable design that maintains adequate bw
margins for performances during normal operation, short W yoke
circuit and other transient phenomena, while
simultaneously being cost effective. The transformer Figure 1. Active part configuration of the three-phase stack core
modelling and design is therefore a complex task, widely power transformer considered.
encountered in the technical literature, as in [1]-[4].
In the present paper, a very fast computer software for A. Design Algorithm
The transformer design algorithm is depicted in the
the design of three-phase, stack core, power transformers is
flowchart of Fig. 2. The required input data for the
developed. The design methodology [5], [6] is
implementation of the algorithm are listed in Table I.
implemented in computer code, enabling the development Data Input
of a flexible and user friendly design software, providing Calculation
material 2
of new Ai
fast and reliable calculation of the transformer performance Bm < 1.1 material 1
characteristics and construction cost. The method is modificati
on of bw
Core reduction of Bm
reduction of volts pur turn

applied in the design of a 1000 kVA, 20/0.4 kV if PFe>

increase of volts per turn

no load losses
if bw-2*(LVwidth+HVwidth)=5mm

1,15*PFeGuar
distribution transformer and the accuracy of its results is Low Voltage Winding

validated through comparison to the results of three- turn cross-section (copper sheet)

dimensional finite element method and local field number of turns

measurements on a constructed wound core transformer of LV winding mean diameter, length

the same rating. High Voltage Winding

The paper is organised as follows: Section II describes turn cross-section
reduction of J
NO YES
the proposed technique, presenting the steps followed DPFe>
1,15*PCuGuar

number of turns
during the design procedure along with its implementation DPCu
if PCu>

conductor dimensions
on the computer software. Section III presents the
HV winding mean diameter, length
technique validation by application to the design of a 1000
kVA stack core transformer and comparison of its results total copper losses

to the characteristics of a constructed wound core power total losses if PTotal>

transformer of the same rating and to the results obtained if Uk>1,1*UkGuar
1,1*(PCuGuar+PFeGuar)
Short circuit
by 2D and 3D FEM. Section IV includes the experimental if Uk<0,9*UkGuar impedance
verification of the method, by local field measurements on Tank
the constructed transformer. Finally, Section V concludes increase of lt,bt
windings
the paper. if dTubesTotal> temperature
dtank tubes rise
if Tcalc>T
END
if dTubesTotal<dtank

Figure 2. Flowchart of the transformer design program.

 Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Electrical Machines, ICEM 2004, Cracow, Poland,
September 5-8, 2004.

where Ki is a winding factor selected according to the

TABLE I transformer rated power and voltage.
REQUIRED INPUT DATA FOR THE TRANSFORMER DESIGN The program computes the core leg cross-section Ai, the
ALGORITHM diameter D1 of the circumscribed circle of the leg, the
Symbol Quantity window area Aw, the window length L, the window width
bw and the overall core length W, as follows:
S Nominal output power (kVA)
Et
Nominal voltage of primary (High Voltage-HV) Ai = (2)
VHV
winding (V) 4.44 ⋅ f ⋅ B m
Nominal voltage of secondary (Low Voltage-LV)
VLV
winding (V) Ai
f Nominal frequency (Hz) D1 = (3)
T Maximum winding temperature rise (oC) K
U guar Guaranteed short circuit impedance (%) S
k Aw = (4)
guar 3.33 ⋅ f ⋅ B m K w ⋅ J ⋅ A i
PFe Guaranteed iron (no load) losses (W)
L= 2A w (5)
P guar Guaranteed copper (load) losses (W)
Cu
Aw
bw = (6)
Table I includes the nominal power, voltage and 2
frequency of the designed transformer as well as the W = 2( b w + D1 ) + 0.9 D1 (7)
desired performance characteristics, which the considered
The factors K and Kw appearing in (3) and (4) are core leg
design must meet in order to comply with customer
and window factors respectively. The core leg factor
requirements and international technical specifications, [7].
derives from the transformer rated power and voltage
These characteristics involve the maximum permissible
while the window factor is given by:
winding temperature rise and the guaranteed values of
losses and short circuit impedance. The relation between ⎧ 80%, 5kVA < S ≤ 50kVA
10 ⎪
the guaranteed and specified performance can be described Kw = ⋅ ⎨100%, 50 kVA < S ≤ 250 kVA
as follows: the transformer users specify a desired level of 30 + ( VHV / 1000) ⎪
⎩120%, S > 250kVA
load losses, no-load losses and short-circuit impedance
(specified values) while the transformer manufacturer (8)
guarantees the values of losses and short-circuit impedance The iron losses are then calculated for the core limbs and
guar guar
yoke, based on their weight and the core material specific
(guaranteed values: U guar , PFe and P
Cu
in Table I). loss curve. Their sum, increased by a factor of 7%, gives
k
The objective of the algorithm is to provide a design within the total no load losses:
the permissible deviations of the guaranteed values from PFe = 1.07 ( Plim bs + Pyoke ) (9)
the calculated ones, listed in Table II, at the lowest
If the losses exceed the guaranteed value, with a margin
possible construction cost.
greater than the specified one in Table II, the core is
redesigned with the use of a new magnetic induction
TABLE II
PERMISSIBLE DEVIATIONS BETWEEN GUARANTEED AND value. As shown in Fig. 2, when the lowest possible value
CALCULATED TRANSFORMER PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS of Bm is reached, the procedure continues with the
ACCORDING TO IEC 60076-1 selection of a new core material.
Permissible Deviation
Quantity (% percentage of the 2) Design of LV and HV winding
respective guaranteed value) In a second step, the program proceeds to the design of
Short circuit Impedance ± 10 the Low Voltage and High Voltage winding: for the initial
No load losses +15 value of current density (J), the volts per turn value
Load losses +15 calculated above is used for the derivation of the number
Total Losses +10 of the LV and HV winding turns, NLV and NHV, their
cross-section, α LV and α HV , as well as the axial and
In order to achieve the above objective, the design radial space required by each winding. A minimum
algorithm of Fig. 2 proceeds to the following steps: distance of the HV windings of two adjacent phases is
also considered. Fig. 3 illustrates the radial arrangement
1) Design of the Magnetic Circuit (Core) of the HV and LV windings, along with their dimensional
In a first step, the magnetic circuit (core) design is details. The LV winding is divided into two layers, for the
realized: an initial value of magnetic induction (Bm) and achievement of more effective cooling by interpolating a
current density (J) is considered and the volts per turn (Et) duct between them. Besides the cooling ducts appearing
are calculated with the use of the following equation: in Fig. 3, insulating spacers are located between the LV
S and HV windings, the LV winding and the core, as well
Et = Ki (1) as between the HV windings of two adjacent phases.
3
 Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Electrical Machines, ICEM 2004, Cracow, Poland,
September 5-8, 2004.

design margin, the winding design process is repeated

with a new value of current density.
P = 3(I 2 ⋅ R + I2 ⋅R ) (14)

dHV

t
spacer

dHVIn
Cu LV LV HV HV

Ext
3mm

b2
3) Calculation of transformer total losses

nt
dL

VI
V Ext b2 b2 In the following step, the value of transformer total

dL
2 2
losses is calculated, increasing the sum of load and no
HVwidth LVwidth D1 b1
load losses by a factor of 5%. If their value exceeds the
guaranteed value more than 10%, the procedure must be
5mm repeated with the selection new design variables. In order
cooling
to select the variables to be modified, a comparison
insulating guar
duct
cylinder PFe − PFe
between the ratio DPFe = guar
and
core HV
winding
PFe
guar
insulating
cooling
duct
PCu − PCu
cylinder insulating DPCu =
guar
is performed, enabling the choice
cylinder PCu
cooling
insulating duct between the attempt to lower the load or the no load
1st layer of
LV winding
cylinder losses. Similarly to the design steps 1 and 2, for the
cooling
duct
decrease of no load losses, a new Bm value is selected,
cooling
duct 2nd layer of while the decrease of load losses is achieved through
LV winding modification of the current density value.

Figure 3. Radial arrangement of LV and HV winding around the 4) Calculation of transformer short-circuit impedance
core leg. The transformer short circuit impedance is calculated
with the use of (15).
The symbols appearing in Fig. 3 are explained in the 2 2
followings: U = IX + IR (15)
k
dLVInt : internal diameter of LV winding where,
dHVInt : internal diameter of HV winding
dLVExt : external diameter of LV winding ⎛ HVlmean + LVlmean ⎞
dHVExt : external diameter of HV winding 2 πfµ ο ⎜ ⎟
⎜ 2 ⎟
b2 : total width of LV conductors (i.e. LV
IX =
⎝ ⎠⋅
winding width without the spacers and L ⋅ Et
cooling ducts width) ,
b1 : total width of HV conductors (i.e. HV ⎛ b +b ⎞
winding width without the spacers and ⎜ dHV − dLV + 1 2 ⎟ (16)
⎜ Int Int 2 ⎟
cooling ducts width), ⎝ ⎠
LVwidth : total width of LV winding,
PCu
HVwidth : total width of HV winding. IR = (17)
S
The mean length of LV and HV winding (LVlmean, If the short-circuit impedance value deviates more
HVlmean) are then calculated and used for the derivation of than ± 10 % from the specified value, the design
the LV and HV winding resistance values RLV and RHV: algorithm returns to step 1, after reducing or increasing
dLVExt + dLVInt the volt per turn value Et (according to the negative or
LVlmean = π ⋅ (10) positive sign of the deviation) and modifying respectively
2 the bw value.
dHVExt + dHVInt
HVlmean = π ⋅ (11) 5) Calculation of transformer tank dimensions
2
After the transformer active part calculations, the
LVlmean ⋅ ρ ⋅ N transformer tank design is performed, with the calculation
Cu LV
R = (12) of its length lt, height ht and width bt (based on the active
LV α LV part dimensions). The distance of the active part from the
HVlmean ⋅ ρ ⋅N transformer tank walls dlt, dht and dbt is defined with the
Cu HV use of Table III.
R = (13)
HV α HV
where ρ is the copper density. l t = 2b w + D + dHVExt + dl t (18)
Cu 1
Next, the copper losses of the windings are calculated, b t = dHVExt + db t (19)
according to (14). If their value is not within the specified
 Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Electrical Machines, ICEM 2004, Cracow, Poland,
September 5-8, 2004.

h t = L + 2 b y + dh t (20) B. Interface of the Transformer Design Software

The interface of the developed transformer design
software is shown in Fig. 4. The user must enter the
TABLE III
DEFINITION OF ACTIVE PART DISTANCE FROM TRAMSFORMER technical specifications of the considered transformer
TANK WALLS (listed in Table I) in the respective fields of the upper part
High Voltage Transformer Rated dlt dbt dht
of the form. After the activation of the “Calculate” button,
Level (kV) Power (kVA) (cm) (cm) (cm) the proposed design procedure is implemented as described
<1000 8 10 45 in Section II.A.
<11 The results of the design calculations, listed in Table
1000 ≤ S < 5000 14 18 50
<1000 15 20 55 IV, appear in the fields of the lower part of the form of
11 ≤ VHV < 33 Fig. 3.
1000 ≤ S < 5000 17 25 60

6) Transformer cooling study

Following the definition of the transformer active part
dimensions, a thermal study is implemented, including the
temperature calculation and the number of cooling tubes
required to maintain the winding temperature rise under
the specified value.
The transformer cooling area (area where the losses
are dissipated) is equal to the lateral area of the
transformer tank, St. It is calculated with the use of the
following equation:
St = 2( bt + lt ) ht (21)
The rise in the windings temperature is given by:
PTotal
Tcalc = (22)
12.5 ⋅ S t
If Tcalc>T (maximum permissible rise in the windings
temperature), the insertion of cooling tubes is necessary in
order to keep the temperature below the maximum level.
The total required tube area is given by:
Figure 4. Interface of the transformer design program.
P − 12.5 ⋅ S ⋅ T
S = total t
(23)
tubes 8.775T TABLE IV
TRANSFORMER DESIGN SOFTWARE OUTPUT DATA
Afterwards, a check is performed in order to verify that
the calculated cooling tubes can fit around the transformer Symbol Quantity
tank, by comparing their total diameter
total calc Calculated iron (no load) losses (W)
d tubes = N tubes d tube to the tank circumference PFe
tubes calc
d tan k = 2(l t + b t ) . In case that d total > d tan k , the tank PCu Calculated copper (load) losses (W)
is redesigned by increasing lt and bt by 10 cm. This calc
PTotal Calculated total losses (W)
tubes
procedure is repeated until d total becomes less than
U calc
k
Calculated short-circuit impedance value (%)
d tan k . Deviation between calculated and guaranteed no
DPFe
load losses (%)
7) Calculation of total transformer cost Deviation between calculated and guaranteed load
DPCu
Finally, the total transformer cost derives with the use of losses (%)
the following equation: Deviation between total calculated and guaranteed
DPTotal
losses (%)
Deviation between calculated and guaranteed
C Total = Cost Fe + Cost Cu + Cost Oil DU k
short-circuit impedance (%)
+Cost tan k +Cost insulation + C (24) I calc Calculated no load current (A)
o
In the above equation, variable C represents the M Fe Iron mass (kg)
transformer constructional costs that do not depend on its
dimensions (related to Bucholz relay, thermostat, low and M Cu Copper mass (kg)
high voltage insulators). Their value is related to the C Total Total transformer cost (€)
power and voltage rating of the considered transformer.
 Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Electrical Machines, ICEM 2004, Cracow, Poland,
September 5-8, 2004.

III. APPLICATION OF THE METHOD TO A 1000 The main differences appearing in the characteristics of
KVA DISTRIBUTION TRANSFORMER Table V are explained in the followings:

The method has been applied to the design of a 1000 i) Although the magnetic induction of both transformers
kVA, 20/0.4 kV distribution transformer. The calculated is equal to 1.75 T and the core material is similar, the
characteristics have been compared to the ones of a Bm value is uniform in the wound core of the second
constructed wound core three-phase power transformer, transformer, while in the stack core transformer this
showing a good correlation of the results. Table V value is different in the core yoke, where it is equal to
juxtaposes the results of the design technique to the 1.68 T. This fact justifies the greater value of the stack
characteristics of the constructed wound core transformer. core iron mass and no load losses.
Both transformers are 1000 kVA, 20/0.4 kV distribution ii) The active part of the stack core transformer is higher
transformers. The active part configuration of the three- than the one of the wound core transformer (and the
phase wound core power transformer considered is tank dimensions, respectively), resulting to smaller
illustrated in Fig. 5. radial width of the HV and LV windings and smaller
TABLE V cross section of the core leg. The smaller width of the
COMPARISON BETWEEN THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A STACK windings leads to lower value of load losses for the
CORE TRANSFORMER DESIGNED WITH THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE designed stack core transformer.
AND A CONSTRUCTED WOUND CORE TRANSFORMER iii) The stack core transformer short circuit impedance
Stack Core Wound Core value is 1.96 % greater than the wound core
Quantity
Transformer Transformer transformer value. This difference is explained by the
No load losses 1766 W 1428 W greater leakage field of the stack core transformer, due
to the arrangement of the windings around the core (the
Load losses 8269 W 13122 W three-limb core does not provide return path for the
Total losses 10035 W 14550 W flux of the two extreme phases).

Short circuit impedance 6.25 % 6.13 % IV. VALIDATION BY 2D AND 3D FEM

Iron mass 1055 kgr 780.9 kgr
Copper mass 321 kgr 346.5 kgr A 2D and a 3D finite element simulation of the
constructed transformer under short circuit test has been
Volts per turn Εt 12.3 V/turn 16.5 V/turn
conducted for the analysis of its leakage field and the
Core leg cross-section 380.13 cm2 439.93 cm2 calculation of its short circuit impedance (Uk). Table VI
Window length 60 cm 36 cm compares the short circuit impedance values calculated by
FEM and the proposed design technique.
Core length 95 .7 cm 112 .48 cm
Core width 19.8 cm 8.66 cm
Core thickness 20 cm 25.4 cm
Window width 18.9 cm 14.4 cm
Distance between the
center of two adjacent 37.9 cm 31.72 cm
phases
Low Voltage Turns 18 14
High Voltage Turns 1559 1212
LV conductor cross-
820.8 mm2 311.2 mm2
section Figure 5. Active part configuration of the three-phase wound core
power transformer considered
HV conductor cross-
6.315 mm2 3.94 mm2
section . TABLE VI
HV winding width 3.128 cm 6.42 cm COMPARISON BETWEEN 2D FEM, 3D FEM AND PROPOSED DESIGN
METHODOLOGY
LV winding width 5.68 cm 7.18 cm
Tank length 1.4 m 1.2 m 2D 3D Proposed
FEM FEM methodology
Tank width 0.7 m 0.67 m Short circuit
6.28 6.19 6.25
Impedance
Tank height 1.6 m 0,965 m
Cost 4215 € 3612 € From the results of Table VI, the deviation of the impedance
calculated with the use of the proposed methodology to the ones
 Paper presented at the 16th International Conference on Electrical Machines, ICEM 2004, Cracow, Poland,
September 5-8, 2004.

given by 2D and 3D FEM is 0.5% and 1% respectively. Both V. EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION

methods validate the result given by the adopted design
technique. 2D FEM is based on similar geometry configuration
to the analysis proposed but it involves more important memory
space and execution time resources. The 3D FEM model provides
better representation of the real transformer geometry but its
complexity and execution time is considerably greater from the
proposed technique.
The field values computed by 3D FEM have also been
compared to those measured by a Hall effect probe during
short-circuit test. Fig. 8 gives the variation of the
perpendicular flux density component Bn along the line
AB, positioned as shown in Fig. 7. This figure illustrates
the good correlation of the simulated results with the local
leakage field measurements.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

In the present paper, a fast stack core power

transformer design technique was presented, based on a
particular design methodology. The method was
implemented in a transformer design program and it was
applied to a 1000 kVA distribution transformer. Its results
were compared to the characteristics of a constructed
wound core transformer, showing good agreement. The
leakage field calculated by the method was also compared
to the results of 2D and 3D FEM and local field
measurements, proving that the proposed design
methodology involves very reduced computational means
and provides sufficient accuracy, at least for the stack core
distribution transformer cases considered.

Figure 6. Variation of the magnetic induction magnitude under

short-circuit test for the 1000 kVA wound core
VII. REFERENCES
transformer (2D FEM). [1] W. M. Grady, R. Chan, M. J. Samotyj, R. J. Ferraro, J. L.
Bierschenk, “A PC-Based Computer Program for Teaching
the Design and Analysis of Dry-Type Transformers,”
IEEE Trans. Power Systems, Vol. 7, No 2, pp. 709-717,
May 1992.
[2] P.S. Georgilakis, N.D. Doulamis, A.D. Doulamis, N.D.
Hatziargyriou, S.D. Kollias, “A novel iron loss reduction
A
technique for distribution transformers based on a
combined genetic algorithm-neural network approach,”
IEEE Trans. Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part C:
B Applications and Reviews, vol. 31, no. 1, pp. 16-34, Feb.
2001.
[3] P. Georgilakis, N. Hatziargyriou, D. Paparigas, "AI Helps
Reduce Transformer Iron Losses," IEEE Computer
Applications in Power, Vol. 12, Nr. 4, pp. 41-46, 1999.
Figure 7. Variation of the magnetic induction magnitude under [4] L. H. Geromel, C. R. Souza, “The application of intelligent
short-circuit test for the 1000 kVA wound core systems in power transformer design,” Proceedings of the
transformer (3D FEM). 2002 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks,
IJCNN’02, Vol. 2, pp. 1504-1509, 12-17 May 2002.
[5] V. N. Mittle, A. Mittal, “Design of Electrical Machines,”
Bn along the line AB Standard Publishers Distributors, Delhi 1998.
short-circuit at 20 kV [6] A. Dymkov, “Transformer Design,” English Translation
from the Russian by A. Gavrilovets, Moscow 1975.
14
[7] IEC 60076-1, “Power Transformers – Part 1: General,”
12
2000.
10
Bn (mT)

phase a
8
core phase b
6
3D FEM
4 l.v
winding h.v
2 winding
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
r (mm)

Figure 8. Comparison of measured and computed field values

along the line AB.