A

SEMINAR REPORT
ON

MODELLING OF TRANSFORMER
Submitted To
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
B.I.E.T.JHANSI

Seminar Guide:

Head of Department

Er. Kamini Prajapati

Dept.Of Electrical Engg

Dr. Deepak Nagaria

Dept.Of Electrical Engg.

Submitted By:
Prakash Chandra Sharma
EE- 3rd year

BUNDELKHAND INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING &

TECHNOLOGY
JHANSI
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Prakash Chandra sharma, student of B.I.E.T. Jhansi is candidate for Degree of
Bachelor of Technology, Electrical Engineering Department. He has worked under my guidance & supervision &
prepared his seminar on topic MODELLING OF TRANSFORMER.

Date:

Er. Kamini Prajapati

(Seminar Guide )
Department of Electrical Engineering
B.I.E.T. Jhansi.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
I feel pleasure in expressing my deep sense of gratitude and heartiest respect to my seminar
supervisor Er. Kamini Prajapati mam, Lecturer of department of Electrical Engg. For their preserving
guidance and inspiration throughout the preparation of this seminar report.
I gratefully acknowledge the blessings, useful guidance and help that I have received from my
respected teachers of the departmenant, Dr. Deepak Nagaria sir, Er. Sarad Chandra, Er. Shailendra
Gautam sir, Er. Sharad Chandra sir, Er. Dhruv Phurohit sir, and Er.Parnita Agrawal mam.
I take this opportunity to express my thanks and respect parents whose never ending affection and
encouragement have brought me to this level.

Prakash Chandra sharma

B.Tech, 3rd year
Roll No.:-0804320030

ABSTRACT
Modelling of transformer with Incipient fault detection in transformers can provide early warning of
electrical failure and could prevent catastrophic losses. To develop transformer fault detection technique,
a transformer model to simulate internal incipient faults is required. This paper presents a methodology
to model internal incipient winding fault in distribution transformers. These models were implemented by
combining deteriorating insulation models with an internal short circuit fault model. The internal short circuit
fault model was developed using finite element analysis. The deteriorating insulation model, including an
aging model and an arcing model connected in parallel, was developed based on the physical behaviour of
aging insulation and the arcing phenomena occurring when the insulation was severely damaged. The
characteristics of the incipient faults from the simulation were compared with those from some potential
experimental incipient fault cases. The comparison showed the experimentally obtained characteristics of
terminal behaviours of the faulted transformer were similar to the simulation results from the incipient faults
models.

INDEX

Chapter No.

Title

Page no

1- Introduction

2- Internal short circuit fault model

3- TLM modelling of transformer with internal short circuit fault model

4- Deteriorating insulation model

5- Transformer internal incipient fault model

5.1- Transformer non-linear model

5.2- Aging model

5-6

5.3- Arcing model

6-7

5.4- Comprehensive incipient fault model

6- Incipient fault model implementation

8
8-10

7- Simulation results

11

8- Conclusions

12

9- References

13

LIST OF FIGURE
Figure No. & name

Page No.

Fig. 1 transformer model to simulate an internal fault

Fig. 2 diagram of insulation sample

Fig.3 typical arcing voltage and current

Fig.4 arcing model for transformer internal incipient faults

Fig.5 series combination computer model for transformer incipient

Fault simulation

Fig.6 schematic diagram of simulate circuit

10

1. INTRODUCTION
Internal winding faults resulting from the degradation of transformer winding insulation can be catastrophic and hence
expensive. In the new environment of deregulation, utilities therefore need inexpensive methods employed to detect such

faults in the incipient stage. However, the implementations of the existing monitoring methods tend to cost too much to be
applied to distribution transformers. Therefore, an ongoing project in the power systems automation laboratory (PSAL) of
Texas A&M University is to develop on-line incipient fault detection methods for single-phase distribution transformers that
utilize the terminals parameters of voltages and currents. The development of an accurate internal fault diagnostic technique
for transformers must be based on the analysis of quantities from fault scenarios. Considering the safety of personnel, the
damage that will occur in the transformer, the consumed time, and related cost, simulation involving the modelling of
transformers at various incipient fault stages is the best way to generate these fault cases. This paper presents new
methodology developed to model internal incipient winding faults in distribution.
Transformers based on the authors earlier work involving the development of a two-dimensional
(2-D) nonlinear finite
element analysis internal short circuit model. Since deteriorating insulation involves two stages aging and arcing model and
an arcing, the degrading insulation model is composed of an aging model and an arcing model was combined with the
internal short circuit model, developed in our earlier work, to simulate internal winding incipient faults. The transformer
internal incipient fault model was implemented using commercially available finite element analysis software. Various
incipient fault scenarios at different degrading levels of the transformer were analyzed in both time domain and frequency
domain. The characteristics obtained from the simulation were compared with the characteristics obtained from some
experimental fault cases that conveyed incipient like behaviour.
In this paper, the transformer model to simulate internal short circuit winding faults s briefly introduced in section
second. Then the method to simulate an incipient internal winding faults s discussed in more details in section third. In
section forth, some simulation results are discussed and compared with experimental results. The conclusions are given in
last section.

2. INTERNAL SHORT CIRCUIT FAULT MODEL

A method was developed to apply finite element analysis to calculate the parameters for an equivalent circuit
of the transformer with an internal short circuit fault using ANSOFTs Maxwell software. To model an internal
fault on the primary or secondary winding, the faulted winding is divided into two subsoil a and b (turn-toearth fault) or three subsoil a, b, and c (turn-to-earth fault).

(a)

(b)
Fig. 1. Transformer model to simulate an internal fault.

The primary winding and the secondary windings are represented by polygons of corresponding materials. For
instance, to simulate a turn-to-earth fault on the primary winding. The transformer is modelled as shown in the
fig. 1(a). The primary winding s divided into subsoil a and b. The transformer model to simulate a turn-to-turn
fault between two turns on the primary winding is represents as shown in fig. 1(b). The primary winding is
divided into three coils a, b and c.
Second, the model has to be excited to set up the initial conditions. Since the sub coil with the maximum
number of turns contributes more in the magnetic field, the current source is input into that sub coil with the
maximum number of turns contributes more in the magnetic field, the current source is input into that sub coil and
all the other coils are open-circuit. In the above example, since sub coil c in fig. 1(b) represents more turns,
respectively, they are energized by the current source.
Finally, the boundary conditions for the problems have to be specified. Balloon boundary is a doped in the
simulation. Balloon boundaries model the region outside the drawing space as being nearly infinitely large;
thus, it can effectively isolate the model from other voltage sources.
To simulate an incipient internal winding fault, a model of degraded insulation before break down replaced the
switch between two turns to model an incipient winding fault.

3. TLM MDELLING OF TRANSFORMER WITH INTERNAL

SHORT CIRCUIT FAULTS

Large power transformers are a class of very expensive and vital components of electric power systems.
Since, it is very important to minimize the frequency and duration of unwanted outages, there is a high demand
imposed on power transformer protective relays; this includes the requirements of dependability associated with
normal-operations, security associated with no false tripping, and operating speed associated with short-fault
clearing time. Protection of large power transformers is a very challenging problem in power system relaying
(Goshen et al., 2004; Mao and Agawam, 2001).
The development and the validation of algorithms for transformer protection require the preliminary
determination of power transformer model. This model must simulate all the situations that will be chosen to
chosen to study the behaviour of the protection algorithm. In particular, it must allow for the simulation of
internal and external faults. Most of the electromagnetic transient programs available are able to accurately
simulate other phenomenon occurring in the transformer like inrush magnetizing current, exciting current and
external faults of a power transformer, and applying it to test a transformer protection algorithm, would provide a
trust validation ( Lei fried and Fusser, 1999; 1997; Meagher, 2001).

4. DETERIORATING INSULATION MODEL

The deteriorating insulation between the turns is a major cause of incipient internal winding faults in
transformers. During the operation of the transformer, a strong electric field is applied to the dielectric material. It
can result in the aging and deterioration of the insulation. The relevant factors generally recognized as causing the
aging and deterioration of an insulation include thermal stresses, electrical stresses, mechanical stresses, moisture,
and so on [13]. Thermal stresses are caused by the internal heating due to current overloads plus ambient
temperatures. Electrical stresses are cause by the voltage gradient in the insulation. Under normal operating
conditions, high voltage gradients below the breakdown voltage do not cause detectable aging. However at
elevated temperatures, the structure of a dielectric may be altered significantly during the aging process, and these
changes will affect the electrical properties of the dielectric even before insulation failure occurs [13], [14]. The
relaxation processes a dielectric undergoes, and hence the characteristics of dielectric loss, depend on the
structure. As the structure of the dielectric molecules alters during aging, the dielectric characteristics and
electrical properties change. Normal aging of the insulation may be manifested by the gradual reduction in its
with stand capability over a long period of time. In addition, discharges would like to take place on the surface of
the solid insulation or within enclosed voids. The gas ions driven by the electric field would hit on the wall of the
insulation and react chemically with some of its surface layer molecules. Thus chemical and thermal degradation
of the insulating material occurs at these microscopic sites. When a persistent discharge continues, it is called an
arc discharge. This can result in the failure of the electric and a sudden breakdown under operating voltage.
To simulate the incipient internal winding faults completely, both the aging phase and the arcing phase have
to be taken into account. Therefore, a combination of an insulation aging model and an arcing model was
developed to model an incipient internal winding fault

5. TRANSFORMER INTERNAL INCIPIENT FAULT MODEL

The transformer internal incipient fault computer model is a combination of a two-dimensional nonlinear
finite element analysis internal short circuit fault model and deteriorating insulation model consisting of an aging
and an arcing component. These models are briefly reviewed in this following section. More details about these
models can be found in [2, 4].

5.1 Transformer Non-Linear Model

The transformer two-dimensional nonlinear finite element model presented in [5] applies finite element
analysis to calculate the parameters for an equivalent circuit of a transformer with an internal short circuit fault. A
soft Maxwell software package was used to perform calculations. The transformer model can be exported as a
SPICE sub-circuit and imported to the SIMPLORER simulation environment as a black box with a set of
interface terminals. These terminals are appropriately connected to the voltage source, load, and incipient fault
model to simulate an incipient fault scenario.
4

5.2 Aging Model

The aging model is traditionally represented by an equivalent parallel RC network as shown in Fig. 1. In the
circuit, Rp represents the loss part of the dielectric, which results from electronic and ionic conductivity, dipole
orientation and space charge polarization, etc.; and Cp is the capacitance in the presence of the dielectric [6]. In

Fig. 1(b) the corresponding phasor diagram of the equivalent circuit is shown. Angle is defined as the loss angle,
which represents the dielectric energy losses in the insulation. Tan is commonly known as the loss tangent or
dissipation factor. The loss angle is usually very small for perfect insulation. It differentiates the losses in one
dielectric material from those in the other one. Cos is the power factor of the dielectric. Equation (1) expresses
the relationship between circuit elements and the dissipation factor. When an AC voltage is applied, the capacitive
component of the current is IC while the resistive component of the current is IR.

Under operating conditions of voltage and temperature, an insulating material may deteriorate in electric strength
because of the absorption of moisture, physical changes of its surface, chemical changes in its composition, and
the effects of ionization both on its surface and on the surface of internal voids. In general, the dissipation factor
will be increased. With a proper understanding of the effects of aging factors, the changes in any electrical
property, particularly dissipation factor, can be a measure of deterioration [7]. While the initial value of
dissipation factor is important, the change in dissipation factor with aging may be much more significant.

Vw is the maximum voltage across the winding and Nw is the number of turns of the winding. Then the voltage VT
was applied to the insulation sample as shown in Fig. 2. Using finite element analysis, the energy U, stored in the
insulation, was calculated. Then the capacitance was calculated based on the geometry information and the
material properties of the insulation using (3).
5
After calculating Cp, a reasonable dissipation factor representing a particular degradation level of the insulation
was chosen. Since the equivalent capacitance does not change much, the resistance in the equivalent circuit can be
calculated by manipulating (1) for different dissipation factors. For instance, Table I shows the calculation results
for perfect insulation between adjacent turns.

Rpm = Rp* m, Cpm = Cp/m

(4)

According to the manufacturer specification for the type of the insulation assumed in this work, the dissipation
factor for the perfect insulation is 0.006. When m turns are involved in the primary or secondary incipient fault,
the equivalent circuit parameters - Rpm and Cpm- were calculated by (4) using the equivalent circuit parameters for
adjacent turns.

5.3 Arcing Model

A persistent fault in a transformer would eventually involve an arc which is defined as a continuous
luminous discharge of electricity across an insulating medium, usually accompanied by the partial volatilization
of the electrodes the arcing characteristics can be illustrated as in Fig. 3. This is a simple case where arcing
happens in a resistive load circuit. The arc ignites only after sufficient voltage is across the gap. This period is
called the burning period. Arcing voltage is almost a square wave, except for the transient near current zero. In
addition, arcing is a random and stochastic phenomenon. The arc extinguishes when voltage drops below that
6
needed to sustain the arc. This period (t in the figure) of effectively zero current around the virtual zero point of
the sinusoid is called the extinction period. The characteristics of an arcing current have to be considered in the
simulation model to obtain a representative circuit that can take the place of the arc thereby obtaining accurate
analysis results. But, of course, it is known that the arc is by no means a simple circuit element For the purpose of
modelling arcing phenomena between adjacent turns of the transformer, where the arc gap is very small, the

circuit shown in Fig. 4 can be used. The voltage E is a random square wave representing the equivalent arcing
voltage in the burning period. It has been shown that the arc voltage is usually flap-topped and that the magnitude
of arcing fault currents ranged from 57% to 100% of the available short-circuits current. During periods of
effective current zero, however, arc can be represented by a high nonlinear resistance, R (t), which increases with
time. Switches S1 and S2 control the burning and extinction period of an arc, respectively. When arcing is in the
burning period, S1 is closed and S2 is open. In the extinction period, S2 is closed and S1 is open. Otherwise, both
switches are open.

5.4 Comprehensive incipient fault model

A complete internal incipient fault model for the transformer can be obtained by connecting the aging and the
arcing model in parallel or in series [4]. The appropriate series combination is shown in Fig. 5. Each of these
circuit combinations conveys incipient fault characteristics from different points of view. Therefore, depending
upon the simulation scenario, the series or parallel combination may be used to obtain data. Various features
related to these combinations will be thoroughly discussed in section 6.

6. INCIPIENT FAULT MODEL IMPLEMENTATION

Simulations were carried out on a single-phase, 7200V/240V/120V, 25kVA, and 60 Hz distribution

transformer. Table II shows the transformer terminal peak values based on given specifications at rated power.
The primary winding had 780 turns and the secondary winding had a total of 26 turns, 13 turns per winding. This
specification is the same as that of the custombuilt transformer used for internal short circuit field experiments
[10]. The custom-built transformer was equipped with various taps placed on both windings so that internal faults
could be staged. The insulation between the layers was made of NOMEX paper.

The simulation circuit diagram developed with ANSOFT SIMPLORER is shown in Fig.6. It represents an
8
Incipient fault on the secondary winding of the transformer and comprises four layers as numbered on the
figure.6. The simulation circuit diagram developed with ANSOFT SIMPLORER is shown in Fig.6. It represents
an incipient fault on the secondary winding of the transformer and comprises four layers as numbered on the

figure.6. Layer one is the power circuit including the transformer finite element model imported from ANSOFT
MAXWELL, upstream network Thevenin equivalent circuit represented by V e and Re, and a constant impedance
load model. Ve was assumed to be 7200 volts (rms) and Re was chosen as 10 m. The transformer load was
chosen as a resistive load of 2.304 in all simulations. Measuring instruments were placed on the primary and
secondary sides of the transformer to measure the terminal values and the circulating current. Layer two is the
incipient fault model including the aging model and the arcing model. It is connected to the terminals of part of
the secondary winding, which is involved in the fault. Time-controlled switches were placed at several locations
to simulate short circuit and/or incipient fault scenarios at different initiation times. This was accomplished by
incorporating STEP functions as switch controlling signals. With SIMPLORERs state graph (machine),
discontinuous processes can be modelled as event-oriented operations. A process sequence can be considered as a
sequence of states. Switching the activity from states to their successor states is called an event. At the beginning
of the simulation, one state must be defined as active. Three state graphs were used in layer four to determine the
arcing voltage initiation time and to simulate the non-linear resistance during extinction period as a controlled
non-linear current source. State machine II controls the sign of the current by looking at the derivative of the
arcing voltage to determine whether it should be positive or negative. State machine III provides a short timesignal (t in Fig. 3) to simulate the decaying current during the extinction period. It determines the leading edge
of the voltage and increments the time by the step size to constitute the time signal. The signal is reset to zero
when the extinction period ends.

Fig.6. Schematic diagram of simulation circuit

To simulate an incipient fault scenario using the above circuit, the following steps are taken before running the
simulation. One, the corresponding FE transformer model is imported and assigned to the transformer block at
layer one. Two, the number of turns involved in the fault is entered in the constant block at layer three. Three,
simulation parameters such as, maximum simulation time, step size and maximum step size are set according to
the simulation scenario. Lastly, incipient fault model parameters are set.

10

7. SIMULATION RESULTS

Using the simulation circuit, various studies were performed, which are discussed in the following sections.
Even though, most of the figures were related to secondary fault cases, primary winding faults were also
simulated similarly. In fact, conceptually there are no differences between simulating primary faults and
secondary winding faults. The following procedure was followed for a primary fault case. Firstly, the
corresponding FE transformer non-linear model was imported and assigned to the transformer block. Secondly,
the necessary changes were made to the connectivity scheme of the transformer terminals to represent a primary
fault case. Lastly, the aging and arcing model parameters were tuned accordingly. Beginning with the third cycle,
at time 33.33 ms, the transformer underwent an advanced insulation deterioration, which was simulated by
switching the aging model on. Comparing with the previous normal condition, the primary current increased, and
the secondary current and voltage decreased slightly. The primary voltage did not change much since it is biased
by the Thevenin voltage of the upstream network. The amount of changes in the terminal values directly depends
on the severity of the aging or the degradation level of the insulation represented by R pm in the simulation model.
The aging activity was later accompanied by the arcing current at the end of the forth cycle, at time 66.66 ms. As
seen in the figure, the arcing happened randomly in the positive half cycle, negative half cycle or both. The peak
primary current when arcing occurred was considerably larger than that of the primary current with

11

8. CONCLUSIONS

This paper presented a new transformer model to simulate an internal incipient winding fault. The new
transformer model was implemented by combining deteriorating insulation model with a finite element analysis
internal short circuit fault model. The new deteriorating insulation model, which includes an aging model and an
arcing model, was developed based on the physical behaviour of aging insulation and the arcing phenomena
occurring when the insulation was severely damaged. The aging model and the arcing model of the insulation
were connected in parallel to produce a parallel combination insulation model. The parallel combination
insulation model was combined with the internal short circuit model to predict the terminal voltages and currents
of the transformer under various incipient fault conditions. The characteristics of the terminal currents and
circulating current in the faulted winding were analyzed in time domain and frequency domain.
Some incipient-like fault cases obtained from internal short circuit field tests were also analyzed in time
domain and frequency domain. The comparisons between the incipient-like fault experimental test cases and
simulation results showed that terminal behaviours of the faulted transformer obtained from the field tests show
some similar characteristics to those from simulations using the parallel combination model. In future work, the
incipient fault transformer model will be used to generate a database of incipient internal winding faults in
distribution transformers for the development of intelligent transformer fault detection techniques.

12

9. REFERENCES
[1] C. E. Lin, J. M. Ling, and C. L. Huang, Expert system for transformer fault diagnosis using dissolved gas
analysis, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 8, pp. 231238, Jan. 1993.
[2] W. Yuen, H. Zhuxiao, and Z. Jinxing, Expediting cellulose insulation aging evaluation and life prediction
thorough degree of polymerization measurements, in Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Properties Appl. Dielectric Materials,
1988, pp. 328331.
[3] A. Nora, K. Nakamura, T. Watanabe, and T. Morita, Acoustic-based real-time partial discharge location in
model transformer, in Proc. ICSPAT, pp. 10771082.
[4] J. Bake-Jensen, B. Bake-Jensen, and S. D. Michelson, Detection of faults and aging phenomena in
transformers by transfer functions, IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 10, pp. 308314, Jan. 1995.
[5] P. Bastard, P. Bertrand, and M. Meunier, A transformer model for winding fault studies, IEEE Trans. Power
Del., vol. 9, pp. 690699, Mar. 1994.
[6] A. Guzman, D. Hour, and S. E. Zocholl, Transformer modelling as applied to differential protection, in
Proc. Can. Conf. Elect. Compote. Eng.,vol. 1, 1996, pp. 108114.
[7] H.Wang and K. L. Butler, Modelling transformer with internal winding faults by calculating leakage factors,
in Proc. 31st North Amer. Power Symp., San Luis Obispo, CA, Oct. 1999, pp. 176182.
[8] H. Wang, P. Palmer-Buckle, and K. L. Butler, Transformer models for detection of incipient internal winding
faults, in Proc. 30th North Amer. Power Symp., Cleveland, OH, Oct. 1998, pp. 9098.
[9] H. Wang and K. L. Butler, Finite element analysis of internal winding faults in distribution transformers,
IEEE Trans. Power Del., vol. 16, pp.422427, July 2001.
[10] J. Hong, Y. Lee, K. Kim, H. Shin, and S. Kim, Dielectric characteristics on insulation oil due to the aging
by electron beam irradiation, in Proc. Fifth Int. Conf. Properties Appl. Dielectric Materials, vol. 1

13