3/9/2012

1
Single-phase
Transformer Design
EE 181 Maintainability Engineering
1
Outline
Common criteria for design
Heating issues
Current density and heat transfer
Electrical aspect of design: E-I transformer
example
2
Real transformer criteria
Core and winding losses
Economy
Performance
Reliability
Environmental impact
Location of use: (V/Hz ratio)
3
Examples of Insulations
Organic: up to 105
o
C

Cotton
Wax paper
Polyester film
Varnish
Inorganic
Mica
Asbestos
Fiberglass
Silicon Varnish (most used) 4
Insulation Classes
Class Maximum allowable
temperature (C)
Maximum allowable
temperature (F)
A 105 221
B 130 266
F 155 311
H 180 356
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Source: Standard NEMA Classifications (retrieved from engineeringtoolbox.com)
Heating effect on windings
Increase in heat = reduction of flux (because of
thermal motion interfering with alignment of
magnetic moments)

Reduction of flux = loss in magnetism

Loss of magnetism = loss of torque (rotation)
and of course, electrical production
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Curie temperature
Also known as curie point

The temperature at which a ferromagnetic
material becomes paramagnetic; that is, loses
ALL magnetic ability (important for ferrite
core use)



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Material Curie Temperature (C)
Iron 770
Cobalt 1130
Nickel 358
Oxidation
If metals insulation is insufficient, excessive
increase in temperature may cause oxidation

Oxidation = chemical reaction, breaking up of
molecular chains

End result: Rust
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Managing heating effects
Electrically, most of the temperature drop is in
the form of i
2
R losses in the iron core and
conductors
Dissipated heat must be transferred to the
cooling medium
Commonly used transformer cooling
mechanisms: air (natural cooling)
For larger units: Transformer oil (askarel)
H
+
cooling (gaseous hydrogen), water
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Heat transfer coefficient
The amount of heat that can be removed from a
surface of area A with a temperature difference T

Denoted by the symbol h , unit W/m
2
C

Typical range: 20 < h < 80 (air cooling)

For oil or water cooled (i.e. forced cooling), maximum
level of h is around 250 W/m
2
C.

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Current density (J
C
) and heat
transfer







Define current
density as
ampere/square meter
d << y; that is,
Height = y
Coil thickness = d
Circumference = l
Define space factor
K
S
fraction of area
that will contain
copper conductors
(usually 0.4 to 0.7)
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Conductor Volume:


Power loss in winding



Substituting conductor area considered:




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S C
K l d y V =
A
l
I R I P

2 2
= =
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

= =
S
K d y
l
I R I P

2 2
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By definition of current density (A/m
2
)


Substituting conductor area considered:



Therefore, power loss equation becomes:




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A J I
C
=
( )
S C
K d y J I =
( )
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
S
S C
K d y
l
K d y J P

2
Cancelling common terms leaves us with:


Or, using conductor volume:


Design considerations:
we want low resistivity/high conductivity
wires
l,y,d dependent on wirings/number of turns


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S C
K d y l J P =
2
C C
V J P
2
=
Current density and surface area
Surface area, in m
2
:

Taking the power dissipated per surface area:



Simplifying:

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yl A
S
2 =
l y
K d y l J
A
P
S C
S
L


=
2
2

2 2
watts/m ,
2
S C
S
L
K d J
A
P
=

Equate this to heat transfer coefficient by



Heat Balance Equation:



LHS: heat as dissipated from copper wiring
RHS: heat that the cooling medium can
transfer


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match) (units
2 2
m
W
xC
C m
W
T h =

= A
T h K d J
S C
A =
2
2

Wire ampacity
Wire ampacity can be chosen by rearranging
the heat balance equation and isolating J
C
:

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S
C
K d
T h
J

A
=

2
Example:
Consider the following section of transformer where
the ambient temperature is 40 degrees C and the coil
temperature is currently 135 degrees C. The coils are
insulated by a material which provides a 15 C drop.
The resistivity of the coil material is 2.5 x 10
-8
-m.
The heat transfer coefficient is 25 W/m
2
C. If the coil
parameters are given to be 10 mm with a spacing
factor of 0.5, solve for the required ampacity of the
wire.
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Solution

Using the formula:

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S
C
K d
T h
J

A
=

2
) 5 . 0 )( 01 . 0 )( 10 5 . 2 (
) 80 )( / 25 )( 2 (
8
2
m m x
C C m W
J
C
O
=

80 ) 15 40 ( 135 = + = AT
2
A/m 249 . 854 , 656 , 5 =
C
J
2
A/mm 656 . 5 =
C
J
Circular Mil and current
density
1 CM = area of a circular cross section with diameter =
1 mil.

1000 mil = 1inch

1 CM = (0.001)
2
/4 inches
2

1 CM = (/4) x 10
-6
in
2


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Converting Jc unit
Example: J
C
= 2.52 A/mm
2








A higher value means greater area for the same
current, and thus less power loss.
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A mm
J
C
/ 3952 . 0
1
2
=
2 6 2 2
2 2
10 ) 4 / (
1
*
) 4 . 25 (
in 1
* 3952 . 0
in x
CM
mm A
mm

t
Amp CM / 783 =
Design of 1 Transformer:
Electrical Aspect

Faradays law:



Amperes law:


Also,

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B
A
B
A
V
V
N
N
=
B B A A
I N I N =
BA = |
By Faradays law of EM induction:





Assuming the flux density, B, to be sinusoidal
(since we assume the source is sinusoidal),



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dt
d
N V
A A
|
=
dt
dB
A N V
i A A
=
) sin( ) (
max
t B t B e =
Therefore,


The above expression for V
A
is in terms of peak
values, we take RMS equivalent as



We can now derive an expression for the core
area, A
i
:



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( ) t B
dt
t dB
e ecos
) (
max
=
( ) ( ) t B A N V
i A A
e e cos
max
=
( )
2
max
e B A N
V
i A
A
RMS

=
e
max
2
B N
V
A
A
A
i
RMS

=
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Laminates
E-I transformer
utilizes laminations;
thin sheets of E-I
sections are stacked,
with each sheet
insulated.
Introduce stacking
factor K
i
(usually
0.9 or higher)
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Estimate of core area, A
i

Taking into account the stacking factor,



Parameter observations
A
i
estimated core area, for a certain voltage V
Arms
,
B
max
how much flux can be produced at a certain
frequency ; also, hysteresis loss is dependent on
N
A
number of turns => resistance
For same core area, B
max
decreases as N
A
increases;
hysteresis and core losses are minimized at the cost of
increasing resistance

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i A
A
i
K B N
V
A
RMS


=
e
max
2
Window Area

Total MMF:


Also,









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Aw, Jc
A A B B A A
I N I N I N 2 = +
Ai
S w C enclosed
K A J I =
Combining the two equations yields the
estimate of window area:





Current density J
C
is calculated depending on
coil thickness; resulting estimate may be
recalculated (i.e. iteration) depending on
result of design


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A A S w C
I N K A J 2 =
S C
A A
w
K J
I N
A
2
=
Area-window product
Product of A
i
and A
w
estimates:






Area-window product a function of magnetic
capability of material, stack and space factors,
frequency, and power (VI product)

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|
|
.
|

\
|
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
i A
A
S C
A A
w i
K B N
V
K J
I N
A A
rms
e
max
2
2
s i C
Arms A
w i
K K B J
V I
A A
e
max
2 2
=
Design Criteria
Energy conservation: requires high quality core for
peak flux density
Thickness: chosen for lower core loss
Less conductor current density = less winding losses
If transformer is operated at rated load: max efficiency
equates winding (Cu) and core loss
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P
Cu
increases with turns
P
Core
core loss goes down with dB/dt
(where
dB/dt decreases with N
A
)
N
A
P
losses
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Example: Transformer Design
Design a single-phase transformer with the following given
requirements:
Voltage: 115 V pri / 24 V sec; Ks = 0.4, Ki = 0.9
60 Hz, 50 W; J
C
= 4 A/mm
2
= 493 CM/Ampere
Total core loss (eddy + hysteresis) : 4.2 W/kg @ B
max
= 1.5 T
Core density = 7600 kg/m
3
, wire resistivity 2 x 10
-8
-m
EI dimensions:

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a 3a
3a
3a
a/2
a/2
a/2
a/2
a/2
a/2
Solution
Calculate area-window product (core property):

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s i C
Arms A
w i
K K B J
V I
A A
e
max
2 2
=
( )
( )( )( ) ) 4 . 0 ( 9 . 0 ) 60 ( 2 5 . 1 10 4
50 2 2
2
6
t T
m
A
x
W
A A
w i
|
.
|

\
|
=
4 6
m 10 1736 . 0

= x A A
w i
From the E-I lamination figure:


Estimating using a square core area assumption,





Solving for the value of a,

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2
5 . 1 ) 2 / )( 3 ( a a a A
w
= =
( )
6 2
10 1736 . 0 5 . 1

= = x a A A A
i w i
( )
2
2
6
5 . 1
10 1736 . 0
a
a
x
A
i
= =

mm mm m a 19 44 . 18 or 01844 . 0 ~ =
Window area is calculated as:


Core area estimate:




Stacking depth (adjusting for the rounded a)

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2 2 2
5 . 541 ) 19 ( 5 . 1 5 . 1 mm mm a A
w
= = =
2
2
6
5 . 320
5 . 541
10 1736 . 0
mm
mm
x
A
i
= =

mm mm
mm
mm
a
Ai
17 86 . 16
19
5 . 320
2
~ = =
Assuming a standard laminate (individual sheet)
thickness, L
t
, of 0.35 mm







35
thickness laminate
depth stack
pieces of # =
pieces I - E 49 7 . 48
0.35mm
17mm
pieces of # ~ = =
Number of primary turns, N
A
(or N
P
)







Number of secondary turns:

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i i
A
A
K B A
V
N
RMS


=
e
max
2
) 9 . 0 ( ) / 377 ( ) 5 . 1 ( ) 10 320 (
2 ) 115 (

2 6


=

s rad T m x
V
997 turns 03 . 997 ~ =
A
N
24
115
997
x V
V
N
N
S
P
P
S
=
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
turns 209 208.6 ~ =
S
N
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Core loss: consider core material density and volume


We need to calculate volume using E-I dimensions and
calculated value of a. First we take total area of each
laminate








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Cu
Volume mass core =
Cu

3a
3a
3a
a/2
a/2
a
a/2
a/2
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Area calculations:
A1 = (3a)(a/2)=1.5a
2
A2 = (3a)(a/2)=1.5a
2

A3 = (3a)(a/2)=1.5a
2
A4 = (3a)(a) = 3a
2

A5 = (3a)(a/2) = 1.5a
2

A
TOTAL
= A1+A2+A3+A4+A5 = 9a
2

Total Volume = A
T
x (stack depth) x (stacking factor)


Multiply this by volume density to obtain mass:








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) 9 . 0 ( ) 017 . 0 ( ) 019 . 0 ( 9
2
= m m V
T
( ) ) 9 . 0 ( ) 017 . 0 ( ) 019 . 0 ( 9
7600
2
3
= m m
m
kg
Mass
kg 0.377 mass total =
Core loss computation:


For copper loss, consider the amount of winding
involved:





l = 4 quarter arcs (1 circle) + straight wire segments
= (2*19/4) + 2(19+17)
l = 101.84 mm (mean length per turn) 39
( )( ) W kg kg W P
Core
586 . 1 377 . 0 / 2 . 4 = =
windings
r
19mm
17mm
r
a/2
Define copper loss as a function of volume, current
density, and resistivity: (conductor volume is the
window area multiplied by the mean length)


( ) l K a J V J P
S C C C Cu
= =
O O
2 2
) (
2
) (
5 . 1
( )( ) ( )( ) ( )( ) m m m A x m x P
Cu
10184 . 0 4 . 0 019 . 0 5 . 1 / 10 4 10 2
2
2
2 6 8
O =

W P
Cu
05 . 7 =
% 25 . 85
05 . 7 586 . 1 50
50
=
+ +
=
W W W
W
q
Wire sizing
Different for primary and secondary windings
Calculated using the following formula:



In the example:

41
sec /
*
1
(CM) size wire
pri
out
V
P
J
=
|
.
|

\
|
=
115V
W 50
* )
Amp
CM
(493.38 CM
pri
CM/Amp 38 . 493
4
1 1
2
= =
A
mm
J
|
.
|

\
|
=
24V
W 50
* )
Amp
CM
(493.38 CM
sec
#27 AWG CM 5 . 214 CM
pri
~ =
#20 AWG CM 027.87 1 CM
sec
~ =
Adjustments/Approximations
Maximum efficiency happens when core = copper loss
(or at least as close as possible; i.e. around 5% diff)
Current density was done on a coil dimension
estimate (may vary with the actual temperatures
involved)
Core loss factor (Watts/kg)
Note that core loss is composed of eddy+hysteresis;
hysteresis loss is frequency dependent
Copper loss is calculated on mean length per turn l,
may also vary depending on operating temperature
(i.e. resistance variation with T)

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