174

IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, Vol. 6, No. 1, January 1991

LARGE SIGNAL NONLINEAR MODEL O F ANISOTROPIC TRANSFORMERS F O R NONSINUSOIDAL OPERATION, PART I: X - i CHARACTERISTIC E. F. Fuchs Fellow, IEEE

M. A. S. Masoum Student Member, IEEE

D. J . Roesler Senior Member, IEEE U.S. Dept. of Energy Washington, DC 20585

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309

Keywords: Nonlinear anisotropic transformers, nonsinusoidal operation, power quality

Abstract - Single-phase, nonlinear transformers with anisotropic iron cores are modeled for nonsinusoidal (consisting of fundamental and low-order harmonics) terminal conditions based on design data through a quasi three-dimensional magnetic field analysis. This analysis includes the effects of the interlamination and butt-to-butt air gaps, the exchange of flux between any two neighboring anisotropic laminations and the influences of the end windings. It is shown that the B-H characteristics of cross- and with-grain iron core samples, obtained from Epstein measurements, are not valid for anisotropic iron cores. However, these characteristics can be used to compute through a quasi three-dimensional magnetic field analysis appropriate BH characteristics for anisotropic iron core samples. Based on such newly defined B-H characteristics the X - i functions representing the saturation-dependent magnetizing inductance as well as saturation-dependent leakage inductances are calculated from design data. Calculated and measured characteristics corroborate well for a lkVA single-phase transformer.
INTRODUCTION Single-phase transformers as they occur in electrical distribution systems are nonlinear devices with anisotropic iron cores producing for either sinusoidal or nonsinusoidal terminal voltages nonsinusoidal terminal currents at no-load and load conditions. The generated current harmonics within a transformer are due to nonlinear B-H characteristics of the transformer core, terminal voltage harmonics. and linear (e.g.: capacitors) and nonlinear (e.g., solid-state switching devices) loads. Such current harmonics can be detrimental to the individual transformer [1!2] or consumer of electrical energy [1,3] as well as to the distribution system [4]. In order to be able to study the propagation of harmonics and to assess their impact on transformer losses [5] and temperatures [6], an accurate large signal transformer model -reflecting the influence of the transformer design and the transformer loads as well as the terminal quantities on the additional harmonic losses- has to be developped. In the past some attempts have been made using two- [7] and three-dimensional [8] magnetic field analyses based on the finite element method. Unfortunately, neither approach applies to anisotropic iron cores, and both papers apply to sinusoidal terminal voltages only. It is the objective of this paper to employ a quasi three-dimensional numerical magnetic field analysis [9] for the derivation of a nonlinear large signal model of saturated, anisotropic single-phase transformers: consisting of nonlinear X - i characteristics representing the magnetizing inductance and saturation-dependent leakage inductances. In the second part of this paper this model will be expanded to include the ohmic and iron-core losses of low-order harmonics, where the attenuation of the harmonic magnetic fields -through the generation of eddy currents within the individual laminations- can be neglected [lo]. The required data for this new model are the geometric di-

mensions of a transformer and its measured B-H characteristics for cross- and with-grain iron core samples as they result from Epstein frame measurements. The interlamination and butt-tobutt air gaps are properly modeled and the effects of the end windings on the induced voltage are taken into account. It is shown that the B-H characteristics of cross- and with-grain iron core samples, as obtained from Epstein frame measurements, must be modified for their application to anisotropic iron core arrangements, since such measurements do not include the existence of intersheet and butt-to-butt air gaps, as well as the fact that cross- and with-grain laminations may be interspersed in some of the core regions. In addition, the core flux does not generally flow in parallel or perpendicularly to the grain orientation and, therefore, the angular relationship between flux direction and grain orientation must be modeled [ll]. A new method for deriving the X - i characteristics is proposed and tested. Calculations and measurements compare well for the sihgle-phase transformer with the name plate data: High Voltage Side: 240/480 V; Low Voltage Side: 120/240 V; (Secondary) (Primary) kVA : 1.00 ; pendix A. APPROACH The behavior of single-phase transformers may be modeled by the equivalent circuit of Figure 1. Frequency : 50/60Hz. Design details of this transformer are listed in Ap-

Figure 1 An equivalent circuit of single-phase transformers. The difficulty in analysing a network containing such an equivalent circuit arises from the fact that the core-loss resistance, R,, and the magnetizing inductance, L,, are nonlinear. These nonlinearities are due t o the anisotropy of the saturable transformer iron core. To determine the components of this equivalent circuit, one has to find the relationship between e p and i , which can be defined by the X - , i characteristics of the primary and secondary windings. The influence of the saturation on LlP and L;, turns out to be moderate. The transformer type on which this analysis is based has an E1 core consisting of laminated, grain-oriented steel sheets, as indicated in Figures 2a, b. Note that the flux travels within the three legs approximatly in the direction of the grain (withAgrain). In both yokes the flux travels -depending upon the lamination layereither in the direction of the grain or in a direction which is perpendicular to the orientation of the grain (cross-grain). In the eight corner regions the flux travels neither in with- nor in cross-grain direction. The difficulty in analyzing such an anisotropic transformer in two dimensions stems from the fact that the core por-

W W I U ) A paper recoxmended and approved 90 Sib$ 315-2 P by t h e IEEE Transformers Committee of t h e IEES Power Engineering Society f o r p r e s e n t a t i o n a t the IEEE/PES 1990 Summer Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, J u l y 15-19, 1990. :lanuscript submitted August 29, 1989; made a v a i l a b l e f o r p r i n t i n g May 1 , 1990.

0885-8977/91/0100-0174$01.00 0 1990 IEEE

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tions forming the yokes and legs have strictly speaking neither with-grain nor cross-grain permeability properties, and their B-H characteristics are not available. Therefore, a quasi threedimensional analysis -yielding representative B-H characteristics for the yokes and legs- is needed.

field solution (based on modelling of the individual laminations) is obtained, which is presently not feasible because of the high computational cost and computer memory requirements [8]. In such transformers the materials cannot be considered t o be of the with- or cross-grain types because of the presence of interlamination and butt-to-butt air gaps, and the alternating arrangement of with- and cross-grain laminations in the yokes and corners. In Section G the B-H characteristics of the mixedcore material regions will be calculated. A4ssuming that the B-H characteristics for the mixedcore material regions are available, Eq.(2) applied to these mixed-core material regions will become

H = awvm(Bw,Bc,gaps)Bw ~ c v m ( B w , B c , g a p s ) ~ c, (4) where v , (the reluctivity of the mixed-core material regions) is defined by the B-H characteristics of the mixed-core material regions.
B. The Partial Differential Equations
\ -

IL

Figure 2a Stacking arrangement used in the oriented steel transformer. The arrows indicate the orientation of the steel.

itad

; A X I S OF S Y M M E l R Y

The magnetic field in the transformer is found by solving the differential form of Amperes law. For low frequencies where the displacement current will be negligible [lo], Amperes law reduces to curlH = J . (5) Using the relationship between H and B Eqs.(l to 4) we obtain for isotropic steel CUTl[V(B)B]= J , (6) and for anisotropic steel curlia,v,(B,,,)B, Ccvc(B,)Bc] =J, and for the mixed-core material regions CUT1[TLwVmB,

.LEG
-CORNER
2
X

(7)
(8)

+ acvmB,]= J .

YOKE

For nonmagnetic regions we get curI(voB) = 1, (9) where v, = l/p0 is the reluctivity of free space. Notice the nonlinearities produced by the dependence of the reluctivity on in Eqs.(6 to 8). This nonlinearity combined with the difficulty in finding a simple expression for the reluctivity functions makes it practically impossible to solve these equations in closed form. Thus, the equations are solved numerically using finite difference methods 19,. C. The Grid System - Finite Difference Representation of the Magnetic Field To obtain a finite difference solution, the nonlinear partial differential equations Eqs.(6 to 8) are approsimated by a sequence of sets of linear algebraic equations: for their derivation one must decide how to represent the field approximately. The representation involves dividing the cross-section of the transformer (Figure 3) into rectangular elements or meshes. In dividing the cross section in this manner, one has created a grid system (see Figure 16 for a typical grid system). The approximation arises when it is assumed that the flux density, magnetic field intensity, and the reluctivity are constant throughout a mesh.

Figure 2b Diagram of the core with the z-axis out of the page showing the regions where the flux travels in with-grain direction (legs), and where it travels both in with- and cross-grain (yokes and corners) directions. The next section introduces a new method for defining representative B-H characteristics for the mixed-core material regions (e.g., yokes, corners and legs) in which the direction of the flux differs from that of the grain orientation in a manner given by the design of a transformer.

A . The B - H Relations for Anisotropic Regions

The relationship between B and H for isotropic (nonoriented) steel may be expressed as H = v(B)B, (1) where v , the reluctivity, is a scalar function of B and is specified by the measured B-H characteristic. For transformers with anisotropic (oriented) steel cores, this relationship will no longer be so simple, and it will depend on direction. The more complicated relationship may be expressed as

H = a;H,
=

G v w ( B w , B c ) B w &vc(Bw,Bc)Bc, (2) where the subscript w means in with-grain direction, and the subscript c means in cross-grain direction. a, and a, are unit vectors in the with- and cross-grain directions, respectively. To obtain the scalar functions v,(E,. E,) and v,(B,, E,) which depend on both flux densities in the with- and cross-grain directions, one would have to measure the B-H curves for a number of directions relative to the grain. However. steel companies usually measure only the with-grain and cross-grain B-H curves. For this reason it is assumed that v, is a function of B, and v, is a function of B, only. This results in the approximate relationship H 2 u;v,(B,)B, A &v,(B,)B,, (3) where v, and U, are specified by the measured with-grain and cross-grain B-H characteristics, respectively. Unfortunately, for anisotropic transformers the above relationship does not hold either, unless a three-dimensional

+ &H, +

Figure 3 Cross-section of the transformer described in Appendix -4. Because of symmetry only half of the cross-section is analyzed. Because of the solenoidal property of 8, divB = 0; B may be represented by a vector potential, -4, defined such that B = CUTlA. (10)

--

176

Since B is assumed to have no z-component (the transformer is assumed to be infinitely long in z-direction), the x and y comDonents of A are zero. In other words

The vector potential is in this case a scalar field (.4=.4,). In the grid system representation, a value for A is stored at each grid point (or node). Discretizing Eq.(lO), one gets for the typical

( X I

Figure 4 A typical mesh. With this representation of the field assuming that the vector potential is given at each node, arid the measured or calculated B-H characteristics of the mesh materials are known, the reluctivity of the mesh can be determined as forniula

Figure 5 A typical mesh block showing the path used in deriving the five-point formula for anisotropic regions. so-called five-point

Solving for A0 yields the for anisotropic meshes:

D. First - Order Finite Difference Approximation for the Vector Potential To obtain the vector potentials at each node, one inspects the definition of the curl operation in more detail. Because the transformer is assumed to be infinitely long in zdirection, the x- and y-components of curli? will be zero. Therefore, Eq.(5) is in this case equivalent to J, H . dl - J. CUT~= H E , lim (15) as,-0 AS,
~

Note that if one sets voi = vyi = v,, = vi this equation also applies to isotropic materials. If subscripts are maintained but the reluctivities of with- and cross-grain materials are replaced by the reluctivity of the mixed-grain (vz;# v2i = vy; = vm;) material, the equation applies to the case of mixed-core material regions.

To evaluate Eq.(15) take note of the path associated with node 0 in Figure 5. Assuming that the corners of the path are in the
centers of the meshes, one gets the closed line integral (16) Assuming

f is constant in the region surrounded by 1

i?.di=io,

(17)

E. The Nonlinear Field Solution Having derived the equations for the reluctivity, the flux density for each mesh and the vector potential at each node, the next step is to compute the magnetic fields. The algebraic form of Ampere's law (Eq.(20)) can be written for each interior node of the grid system. The vector potential for the boundary nodes are assumed to be of the Dirichlet type (e.g., zero). Assuming that there are N interior nodes, one can write N simultaneous equations. This set of equations may be written in matrix form as

kobcdefgh

where lois the current passing through the area bounded by 1. Performing the integration, using Eq.( 3) and identifying the x- and y-coordinate axes with the cross- and with-grain directions, respectively, one gets where [ G ( d ) is a square matrix whose elements involve the a; of Eq.(20\, [A] is a column vector of the unknown vector potentials, and [C] is a column vector containing the l o for each interior node. The fact that [G(A)] is a symmetrical and bounded matrix allows a considerable reduction of computer memory requirements. Because of the nonlinearity of the B - H characteristics, Eq.(21) is solved iteratively [12]. F. Flux Linkages from Field Solutions The magnetic field solutions, found by the procedure explained in the preceding subsections, are the fields which exist at given instants of time. From these solutions it is necessary to find the corresponding flux linkages. The flux linking, for example, the primary is the sum of the flux linking each turn of the primary winding
=

i,"

V , ~ B , ~ ~~ Z a ~ 2 1 B , l= d Io. z

(18)

ilssuming the reluctivities and flux densities in the above integrals are constant and using the first-order approximation for the flux density as given by Eqs.(l2) and (13), one arrives at

E,=,
NP

4n.

(22)

In Eq.(22) N . ,is the number of primary turns and dn is the magnetic flux linking the nth turn. According to the definition of flux and the definition of A ,

(23)
S* S,

where S, is a surface bounded by the nthturn. Applying Stokes' theorem gives the result

4*

= 12.21,
1,

(24)

177

assuming that 2, is the path length of the nth turn. Because of the assumption of an infinitely long transformer in z-direction. only the z-component of A is nonzero. If one neglects the flus outside the core, the integration reduces t o 0, = (--le, -A&) ' 1 ' j s t , (25) where ( yr st is the stacking factor of the core laminations: see Figure 6 for the definition of the remaining quantities.
-

Figure 8a Epstein frame used for the with-grain measurement s.

Figure 8b Epstein frame used for the cross-grain measurements.

Figure 6 Geometric definitions for Eq.(25). Note that the flus outside the core and end effects are ignored. Because of the symmetry of the arrangement
I ; = ,-.4&, the integration reduces further to

Figure 6c Epstein frame used for the half-with and half-cross grain measurements. It is not possible to measure the B-H characteristics of the mised-core material regions (e.g., the yokes, legs. and corners o f the transformer)? since one cannot include the buttto-butt air gaps within an Epstein frame. Therefore: representative (composite) B-H characteristics for the legs, yokes, and corners are computed from a quasi three-dimensional magnetic field analysis. 13. Representative BCke - H g k p Characteristic of the l-oke and Part of the Corner Regions If the effects of the butt-to-butt air gaps are included in the legs and the corners are divided u p between the yokes and the legs, the transformer will have the cross-section of Figure 9a.
l A X l S OF SYMMETRY

(26)

g n = 2,4t,lpst. (27) This equation may be easily applied using the grid system representation of Figure 16 since the vector potential can be computed using Eq.(21). G . Determination of the B , - H, Characteristics of the hlixed- Core IIaterial Regions
As mentioned in the first section, most electrical steel manufacturers measure the B-H characteristics of the withgrain, cross-grain. and so-called h a l f - ~ i t h and half-cross-grain materials. These characteristics were provided by the General Electric Co., Fort IYayne: IN 46804 for the transformer in question, and are shown in Figure 7. The Epstein frames used for measuring these B-H characteristics are illustrated in Figures 8a,b:c.
WITH G R A I N ( B w - H w )

'HALF-WITH AND HALFC R O S S GRAIN ( B 1 / 2 ~ ~ - H 1 / 2 w c )

' A V E R A G E OF WITH A N D C R O S S GRAIN ( B A V E R - H A V E R )

l l 1 1 1 l ' l

100

200
H [A/rn]

300

400

Figure Sa Diagram of the core with z-axis pointing out of the page showing the newly defined yoke and leg regions.

Figure 7 Measured B-H characteristics for with-grain, crossgrain, and half-with and half-cross grain Epstein frames. Unfortunately, these measured characteristics cannot be used for anisotropic transformers unless a three-dimensional field analysis is performed, where individual laminations are modeled. The presence of the laminations and the alternatingly stacked with- and cross-grain sheets of the yokes (Figures 2a,b), along with the butt-to-butt air gaps. make the permeability of the core act very differently from either a with- or crossgrain characteristic. In fact, the presence of the butt-to-butt air gaps and alternatingly stacked with- and cross- grain sheets will result in an exchange of flux between individual cross- and with-grain sheets. In the corner regions where the flus lines undergo a 90" change in direction, individual laminations exhibit either with- or cross-grain material behavior, depending upon the direction of the flux and the grain orientation.

Consider the stacking arrangement of Figure 9b: where the left-hand corner including one half of the yoke of the transformer core of Figure 2a is shown in the xy plane. The outer leg width is b , the window width is a , the center leg width is 2b and the butt-to-butt air gap length is g. Using Figure 9b and the new definition for the yokes, as shown in Figure 9a. the configuration of Figure 9c is obtained viewing a transformer corner and half of the yoke from the top in the xz plane. The laminations (11) and (111) of Figure 9b are labeled in Figure 9c appropriately. This figure represents in a schematic manner the stacking arrangement in the s z plane for the computational determination of the representative BI total of 8 laminations H characteristic of the yoke regions. . are modeled including intersheet air gaps. In order to exclude nonperiodic boundary effects from the magnetic field solution, only the inner 4 laminations (I to 11.1 are used for the calculation of representative flus density ( B g k eand ) magnetic field

178

intensity (Hgphe) values of the stacking arrangement. It is well known 1 1 1 1 that for anisotropic electric steels, the permeability is strongly dependent upon the direction of the flux with respect t o the grain orientation. Figure 10a illustrates such a dependency, where the flux experiences with-grain permeability within 0 to 5 as measured from the direction of the grain orientation (direction of rolling), and for the remaining 85 the flux experiences cross-grain permeability. In other words, within a corner, as shown in Figure lob, the flux is aligned with the grain for onlv 5 out of 90. However, as numer~calfield solutions nil1 shdw, even within this 5 sector the flux lines will not be in parallel with the grain orientation because of the exchange of flux between laminations (see Figures 1 2 and 15) imposed either by the presence of butt-to-butt air gaps within neigboring laminations or the anisotropg of neighboring laminations.
5

Figure 9b Stacking arrangement used for the oriented steel transformer described in Appendix A. The arrows indicate the orientation of the steel.
INTERLAM I NAT10N A I R GAP

Figure 10b Alignment of flux with grain orientation for sheet (11) of Figure 9b. Computations show that the flux density across line A-B of Figure 10b is highest at point B and lowest at point A (Figures 17a, b). As a good approximation one can assume a linear increase in flux density, as shown in Figure 11.

Figure 9c Stacking arragement in xz plane for the computational determination of the representative B-H characteristics of the yoke regions. Note that I and - means the materials are of the cross- and with-grain types, respectively.

Figure 11 Equivalent length of a corner region.

,PERMEABILITY AT 15000 GAUSS

,FLUX DENSITY AT 8A/cm

The centroid C of this flux- distribution is located at the coordinates x = -b/3 and y = b/3; therefore, the equivalent length of a corner region is equal t o 2b/3. The dashed lines within the individual 8 sheets of Figure 9c indicate the type of B-H characteristics experienced by the flux within the corner and yoke regions. The with-grain B,-H, characteristic is valid within a of sheet (11) and the cross-grain characteristic applies within b=b/3 of the same sheet. The cross-grain B,-H, characteristic applies within b and a of sheet (111). The representative equivalent B-H characteristic for the mixed-core material region can now be computed from magnetic field solutions for a given excitation Fe+=as shown in Figure 9c. The representative magnetic field strength is

+P E R M E A B I L I T Y

FLUX D E N S I T Y (GAUSS1

Figure 10a Dependency of the relatilre permeability of anisotropic electrical steel laminations as a function of the direction of the magnetic flux with respect to grain orientation [ l l ] .

Hm = ( I e m .N)/Lequ, (28) where N is the total number of turns of the exciting winding and Lequ is the equivalent length of the mixed-core material sample as indicated in Figure 9c. The representative magnetic flux density is correspondingly. A i - -4k 4 ; - -4i Bm = [(TI +( ~ ) l / b e q u , (29) where.4;, A; , A i , and -4; are the vector potential values

179

at the 4 corners of the sample strip, and bequ is the equivalent width of this mixed-core material region. Figures 12a,b,c and d show the grid system used and the resulting magnetic field distributions for the mixedcore material sample strip of Figure 9c for excitation currents corresponding to Fe,, =0.753 A.turns, 4.52 A.turns and 301.1 A.turns, respectively. Note the exchange of flux between the laminations resulting from the anisotropy of the laminations of the yoke. In all calculations it is assumed that the permeability of the laminations in z-direction corresponds to the cross-grain B,-H, characteristic. The exchange of flux is predominant a t low saturation where the B-H characteristics of the with- and cross-grain materials are quite different.
0.2

o 0.4 ' 6 F B c ; H c

,
H [AIM]

'0

50

100 150 200 250 300 350

Figure 13 Calculated B z k e - H X k e characteristics of the yoke and the leg regions and measured cross-grain (B,-H,) and withgrain (B,-H,) Characteristics.

I. Representative Bkg - H $ Characteristic of the Leg and Part of the Corner Regions "
In the preceding subsection the stacking factor in zdirection ( y S t ) the , anisotropy of the yoke materials and half of the corners have been implicitly taken into account in the calculation of the B g k e - H g k e characteristic of the yoke regions. dlthough all neighboring laminations have the same grain orientation in the leg regions (that is, in y direction the B,-H, and in x and z directions the B,-H, characteristics are valid), a representative B 2 - HZg characteristic can be calculated, taking the stacking factor in z-direction ( p s t ) ,the effects of the butt-to-butt air gaps and the effects of the remaining halves of the corners in an implicit manner into account. Figure 14 shows the arrangement of the with-grain sample strip. Again, the materials in the corners are assumed to be cross grain, and in order to exclude the nonperiodic boundary conditions only the 4 interior laminations are used for the calculation of the magnetic field strength H , (see Eq.(28)) and the magnetic flux density B , (see Eq.(29)).

Figure 12a Grid system used for calculating the representative B-H characteristic of the yoke. The vertical dimensions have been compressed by 1345.5 % with respect to the horizontal dimensions and the interlamination gaps are magnified by 133%.

Figure 12b Flux distribution in the xz plane for the calculation of the B z k e - H g k " characteristic of the transformer yoke region a t low saturation (Fe,, = 0.735 A.turns). The vertical dimensions have been compressed by 1345.5% with respect to the horizontal dimension and the potential difference between two flux lines is 0.000014 W b / m .

INTERLAMINATION AIR GAP

Figure 12c, d Flux distributions in the xz plane for the calculation of the B K k e - Hyoke characteristic of the transformer yoke region at medium (cyand high (d) saturation (Fe,,=4.52 A.turns and 301.1 A.turns, respectively The vertical dimensions have been compressed by 1345.5'k with respect to the horizontal dimensions and the potential difference between two flux lines is 0.00007 Wb/m. characFigure 1 3 illustrates the calculated B,-H, teristic of the yoke regions together with the measured crossand with-grain material characteristics B,-H, and B,-H,, respectively. Note that the measured characteristic of the halfcross and half-with grain material (B1/2,, of Figure 7 is very different from the B z k e - H x k e characteristic, taking into account the exchange of flux between laminations due to the grain orientation of neighboring laminations as well as the stacking factor in z-direction.

Figure 14 Stacking arrangement in yz plane for the computational determination of the representative E29 - HZg characteristic of the transformer legs. Figures 15a,b,c, and d illustrate the grid system used for the legs, and the resulting magnetic field distributions for the mixed-grain core material sample of Figure 14 for excitation currents corresponding to Fe,,=1.6 A.turns, 9.61 A.turns and 640.7 A.turns, respectively. Note the exchange of flux caused by the presence of the butt-to-butt air gaps.

180

INTERLAMINATION AIR GAP

T-TO T GAP

'1
Z

Figure 15a The grid system used for calculating the representative B 2 - H k 9 characteristic of the legs. The vertical dimensions have been compressed by 2611% with respect to the horizontal dimensions and the interlamination gaps and the buttto-butt air gaps are magnified by 133% and 78770, respectively.

Figure l5d Flux distribution in the yz plane for the calculation of the Bkg-Hfneg characteristic of the transformer legs a t high saturation (Fe,, =610.7 A.turns). The vertical dimensions have been compressed by 2611% with respect to the horizontal dimensions and the potential difference between two flux lines is 0.00007 M'b/m.

J. Checking of Proposed Method

To test the accuracy of the proposed method for finding the B-H characteristic of the yokes (including 50% of the corners , as well as that of the leg regions (including 50% of the corners] , the method was applied to a grid system which has the structure of Figure 12a with no laminations and interlamination air gaps included and consisting of with-grain solid material only. The calculated B-H characteristic is almost identical to the measured one (Table I). -4maximum error of < 1% clearly confirms the validity and accuracy of the proposed method for finding the B-H characteristics of the mixed-core material regions. Table I Comparison of measured and calculated B-H characteristics for the with-grain material.

Figure 1Sb Flus distribution in the yz plane for the calculation of the B 2 - H k 9 characteristic of the transformer legs at low saturation (Fe,, = 1.60 A.turns). The vertical dimensions have been compressed by 2611% with respect t o the horizontal dimensions and the potential difference between two flux lines is n.nnnn14 K b i m .

*) Linear interpolation between the measured values is used in generating this column
X - i CH.4R.4CTERISTICS K i t h the B-H characteristics of the mixed-core material regions calculated (see Figure 13), one can compute the X - z characteristics as experienced by the transformer windings based on a two-dimensional magnetic field analysis. Figure 16 illustrates the grid system used to model the transformer (Figures 2a,b) in the xy plane. In this Figure "/" and '.+" characterize the types of material in the meshes, the Bkg-H$g and B g k e - H z k etypes, respectively. A mesh with no symbol in it, has the reluctivity of free space. Kote, there are neither laminations nor air gaps in this model. since these arc included in the previously derived mixed-core material B-H characteristics . To model the leakage flux outside the transformer core, the neighboring air space is also included as part of the grid system.

Figure 15c Flux distribution in the yz plane for the calculation of the B k g - H k g characteristic of the transformer legs a t medium saturation (Fe,, =9.61 A4.turns). The vertical dimensions have been compressed by 2611% with respect t o the horizontal dimensions and the potential difference between two flux lines is 0.00007 W b / m . The calculated BZg - H k g characteristic for the legs is shown in Figure 13. At low saturation the ordinate values of this characteristic are below those of the yoke characteristic because of the additional effects of the butt-to-butt air gaps.

181

plane is found for the operating-point -dependent frozen reluctivities and one Gaussian elimination is required only. Thereby it is assumed that the reluctivity distribution is uniform u-ithin the z direction of the iron-core center leg. The reluctivities of the end shields are assumed t o be constant: e.g.: v , h Z e i d = 500 ml'H. Iiote that the butt-to-butt and interlamination air gaps are not included in the grid system of Figure 18b since they are included in the "frozen" reluctivities.

MESH

#6
MESH

#3

yI~ ~

MESH #5 MESH
#I

MESH #2 MESH # 4

Figure 16 Grid system for calculating the X - z characteristics using niised-core material B-H characteristics of the legs and yokes (surrounding air region is not completely shonn).

A . Procedure for Comautine: the X i Characteristics Flux linkages in sy plane : After computing the field solution in the xy plane of the transformer for a given excitation Fe,, of
~

'1
Figure 17a. b Magnetic fields in the s y plane of the transformer
for low ( a ) and high (b) saturation at Fe,,=10.69 ,\,turns and

the primary winding, determine the flux linkages for the primary a n d secondary windings. For the determination of the reluctivities in the s and y directions of the meshes within the legs of t h e transformer, the measured B,-H , characteristic and the calculated BZg - H 2 9 characteristic are used, respectively. This is valid since the B , H , and B, - H , characteristics of the leg in the y and z directions are taken into account in the BZg H k g function and the characteristic of the legs in the s direction is given by the measured B, H , function. In the yokes, where the flux traveles mostly in x-direction: the calculated Bgke Hgkeand the measured B, - H , characteristics are used for the calculation of the reluctivities in the s and y directions. respectively. The length o f the butt-to-butt air gap was adjusted t o match the measured and the calculated A, i curves in the linear region (e.g., Fe,, 5 20.4.turns). -1ppendis A shows that the length of the butt-to-butt air gap -estimated by the transformer manufacturer- is 0.001 inches. However: the calculations of this paper indicate a butt-to-butt air gap of 0.005 inches. Considering the fact that it is very difficult to measure the butt-to-butt air gap length since the gap is not of equal length for all laminations the estimated overall air gap length of the transformer manufacturer can not be very accurate. Figures 17a and b illustrate the magnetic fields within the sy plane of the transformer for l o ~ v and high excitations of the primary winding.
~ ~ ~

415.4 .i.turns, respectively. T h e potential difference between two flux lines is 0.001 TVb/m.

LT

0
0

z
W LT

LT
LL

0 0

0 LT
W

I-

z
W 0

L E F T SIDE

F GHT S I D E

l u s linkages due t o the end Flus _ _ linkages in yz plane : The f ~ as windings ( y z plane) are negligibly small at l v saturation compared with those of the xy plane. However) at very high

Figure 18a Contours of the left- and right-hand side end regions. From the solution via Gaussian elimination the flux f either the primary and secondary are found from linkages o

saturation the flus linkages of the end irindings are not negligible and must be taken into account. Figures 18a.b illustrate the arrangement of the end windings. the iron core and thc end shields. The symbol ..-" indicates the iron core material associated with the lcg and yokes of the transforrncr and the ' . t ' . symbol characterizes that of the end shields. -4fter computing the field solution in the sy plane of the transformer for given excitations Fe,, of either the primary or the secondary n-inding. "frozen" reluctivities of the meshes pertaining t o the symmetry axis of the center leg are stored for each excitation F,,,. Then either the primary or the secondary end \\-inding are escited vith Fe,, and the magnetic field distribution within the yz

where A ( j . k ) is the vector potential and s ( j > k )is the mesh area associated with the node having the coordinates ( j ,k ) . N is the number of turns of either the primary or the secondary end winding: s, is the total cross section of either the primary or the secondary end winding, and l e n d is the length of the end ivinding which is approximately identical with the total width of the center leg of the transformer. -4 magnetic field solution irithin the yz plane is shown in Figure 19 for an excitation of Fe,, = 25.46 A.turns.

182

g
cn cn
W

2.2

2 2.0

2 1.8
1.6 1.4

-S

W q 1.2
Y

J
L L

1.0
0.8 0.4 0.2
RIGHT (SECONDARY)

-P

2 0.6
Y
Q

4 0 8 0 120 160 2 0 0 2 4 0 2 8 0 3 2 0 3 6 0 4 0 0 P E A K E X C I T A T I O N Fexc,=N I e x c . [ A ' T U R N S ]

Figure 20a Comparison of calculated and measured X - i characteristics.

LE,F,T SIDE

RIGHT SIDE

Figure 18b Grid system used for end regions.

NATION AIR GAP

4-

'I

L A

,'FFT

SIDE

RIGHT SIDE

Figure 19 Magnetic field for the left and right end regions for medium saturation at Fe,, = 25.46 A.turns. The potential difference between two flux lines is 0.00004 ll'b/m.

In most transformers the end regions on both sides

of the iron core are not identical. This is the case for the transformer a t hand (as shown in Figures 18a,b) and one obtains the two flux linkage curves l e f t ( e ) and A:$ r i g h t ( s ) as shown in Figure 20a. The same figure alsa shows the total flux linkage curves (AY', Ayi)which is the sum of the flux linkages in the xy plane and the flux linkages of the two end regions (yz plane). Note that the calculated characteristic corroborates well the measured values. The calculated magnetic fields of the xz, yz, xy planes, and the end regions (yz plane) are assembled in Figure 20b. This figure demonstrates the quasi three-dimensional method of this paper. Instead of solving the magnetic field of the transformer in three dimensions (which is not practical because of the high computing time required when individual laminations are modeled) the magnetic fields in each plane are calculated separately and the solutions are linked through the B-H characteristics. Note that the excitation is the same for all planes but the potential difference between two flux lines is not identical for all flux distributions.

't
DETAIL A

Figure 20b Magnetic fields of the transformer in different planes. The potential differences between two field lines of the xz, yz, xy planes, and the two end regions are O.OOOOi, 0.00007, 0.001 and 0.00002 lVb/m, respectively a t F,,,.=9.61 A h m ~ Note that rarious cross-sections have different scales.

B. Saturation - Dependent Leakage Inductances The determination of the X - i flux linkage characteristics requires magnetic field solutions within the xy and yz planes. These can be employed to calculate saturationdependent leakage inductances of the transformer. For a field solution in the xy plane at a given excitation Fe,, of the primary winding, the corresponding leakage inductance within the xy plane can be found from
2y

inraz kw.a=

- ~ J = J , , , ~ . .E k = k . , , . . ,

183

In this relation i , , , , is the minimum vector potential associated with the leakage flus of the primary 111th respect to the secondary as shown in Figure 21. and I p ( j .k) I S the current of the mesh associated with the coordinates ( 3 . k ) The double sum is taken orer the boundaries of the primary ninding for n hich the leakage inductance is to be drtermned.

Table I1 Primary flux linkage (AY') and the comparison between the and measured secondary flux linkages. calculated (

(Area')

Figure 21 Definition of t h e leakage inductance of the primary with respect to the secondary in the ?cy plane. The primary leakage component within the yz (end region) plane ca.n be computed in a similar manner and one obtains the total leakage inductance Lip = L;; T L;; . (32) The same calculation procedure applies t o the secondary leakage inductance L i s . Both leakage inductance components and the total leakage inductance referred to the primary are plotted in Figure 22 as a function of the excitation. To check these coniputed values, the transformer resistance. and the total leakage inductance are measured using the dc voltage drop method and the short circuit test, respectively. The measured total inductance is LIT = 3.325 mH.
36
L I T ' L ~ s + L ~ ~

*)Contains calculated end region flux linkages.

Z3,t
28
W
n

To show that the measured half-with and half-cross grain characteristic of Figure 7 cannot be used directly for the analysis of anisotropic transformers, the A, characteristic is calculated applying the average of the measured B , - H , and B, - Hc characteristics (which is very close to the measured half-with and half-cross grain B-H characteristic as shown in Figure 7) to mixed-core material regions. The alternating buttto-butt air gaps are replaced by two uniform air gaps of half the size throughout the length (z-direction) of the transformer. The corners are assumed t o have the same material properties as the yokes.
The reluctivities of the legs in the x and y directions are calculated using the measured B, - H , and B , - H , characteristics, respectively. For the yokes where the flux is mostly traveling in x direction, the reluctivities in x and y directions are calculated using the average of the measured with- and crossgrain characteristic and the measured B, - H , characteristic, respectively. The calculated A-i curves using the above method for butt-to-butt air gap lengths of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 thousandth of an inch are shown in Figure 23 together with measured values. The results of Figure 23 and Figure 20a prove the invalidity of the use of the averagr of the measured half-with and half-cross grain B-H characteristics and szpports the need for representative, mixed-core material B, - - H , characteristics as proposed in this paper.

g 24

LIS

40 9 0 I 2 0 160 200 240 280 320360 400 PEAK EXITATION F e , = N . I e X c [A T U R N S ]

Figure 22 Calcluated primary and the secondary (referred to primary) leakage inductances as a function of the excitation Fe,, and the calculated total leakage inductance referred to the primary . In the second part of this paper the A , characteristic and the leakage inductance Lip of the primary series-connected winding will be used to calculate the no-load currents and losses for given primary terminal voltages.

C 0hIP.4 RI S ON K I T H ME A S U RE ME ! I i ' S
In order to measure the flux linkages the standard set up is used, where the two transformer primary (low) voltage windings are energized and the primary exitation'current as well as the voltage across one secondary winding are measured. The peak of the flux linkage ralue is then given for a frequency of 6OHz by y a k \? 1-7,377 , (33) The measured and calculated A, characteristics are compared i i l Table 11. Since only half of the secondary voltage is involved in the measurement of the induced voltage one obtainer. t h e mea=: 2 . , Ca sured flux linkage function as that the eddy currents in the core laminations are negl calculated and the measured responses are in good agreement. r\ maximum error of less than 1% in the operating region (e.g., X = 1.7 W b ) clearly confirms the accuracy and the validity of the method proposed.

Areas

PEAK EXCITATION Fexc.= N . I e x c . [A.TURNS]

Figure 23 Comparison of the calculated A, characteristics (applying the average of the measured with- and cross-grain B-H characteristics to the mixed-core material regions) 15-ith measured values.

CONCLUSIONS This paper represents a new approach for the determination of X - i characteristics of anisotropic transformers. Such characteristics represent an important component of a large-signal nonlinear model of transformers suitable for the analysis of nonsinusoidal operating conditions. The capability of this model is general enough so that it can also be applied t o large distribution transformers. The paper shows that the nonlinearities of anisotropic transformers can be modeled by representative mixed-core material B , - H , characteristics derived from a quasi three-dimensional nonlinear field analysis. A numerical method for finding nonlinear, single-valued X - i characteristics is proposed and tested. Saturation, end effects, anisotropy of the individual laminations, interlamination air gaps and butt-to-butt air gaps are properly modeled. It is shown that the half-with and half-cross grain B-H characteristic as obtained from Epstein frame measurements does not model the physical behavior of mixed-core material regions. Saturation-dependent leakage inductances are calculated. Computed and measured flux linkage functions show a good agreement. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The work described was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC, under contract number DE-FG02-86CE34002 . APPENDIX A : DESCRIPTION O F TRANSFORMER

Six single-phase transformers (No. 9T51Y0010) including design specifications were purchased from the Specialty Transformer Department of the General Electric (G.E.) CO. (P.O. Box 1701, Fort Wayne, IN 46801). The air gap length existing between the E and I laminations (butt-to-butt air gap) was estimated by the G.E. engineers to be 1 mil (of an inch). The arrangement of the windings within the transformer window was not given. However, it was said that 85% of the window was occupied by the windings. The low voltage coils are embracing the high voltage coils and the high voltage winding occupies 47% of the window. The B-H characteristics for the with-, cross-, and half-with and half-cross grain Epstein frames (Figures 8a,b,c of this paper) were measured by the General Electric Co., Fort Wayne and the Armco Steel Co. (P.O. Box 600, Middletown, OH 45043). One of the transformers was dismantled at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Colorado to check the stacking arrangement, the number of turns, and the physical dimensions. According t o these results the number of turns of the two lou--voltage and the two high-voltage windings are 2 N ~ = 2 5 5 and 2 N ~ = 4 8 0 re, spectively, and the physical dimensions of the transformers are as shown in Figure Al. In the body of the paper (because of experimental reasons) the two low-voltage windings are designated as the two primary windings and the two high-voltage windings are designated as the two secondary windings.

REFERENCES E.F. Fuchs, D.J. Roesler, and F.S. Alashhab, Sensitivity of Electrical appliances to Harmonics and Fractional Harmonics of the Power Systems Voltage, Part I: Transformers and Induction Machines, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, April 1987, Vol. PWRD-2, No.2 , pp. 437-444. E.F. Fuchs, D.J. Roesler, and K.P. Kovacs, Aging of Electrical Appliances Due to Harmonics of the Power Systems Voltage, July 1986, Vol. PWRD-1, No.3 , pp. 301307. E.F. Fuchs, D.J. Roesler, and K.P. Kovacs, Sensitivity of Electrical Appliances to Harmonics and Fractional Harmonics of the Power Systems Voltage, Part 11: Television Sets, Induction Watthour Meters and Universal Machines, Ibid.,April 1987, Vol. PWRD-2, No.2 , pp. 445-453. J.F. Fuller, E.F. Fuchs, and D.J. Roesler, Influence of Harmonics on Power Distribution System Protection, April 1988, Vol. PWRD-3, No.2, pp. 549-557. M.D. Hwang, W.M. Grady, and H.W. Sanders, Jr., Distribution Transformer Winding Losses Due t o Nonsinusoidal Currents, IEEE Trans. on Power Delivery, January 1987 , Vol. PWRD-3, No.1 , pp. 140-146. M.D. Hwang, W.M. Grady, and H.W. Sanders, Jr., Calculation of Winding Temperatures in Distribution Transformers Subjected t o Harmonic Currents, Ibid.,July 1988, Vol. PWRD- 3, NO.3 , pp. 1074-1079. P. Silvester, and M.K.V. Chari, Finite Element Solution of Saturable Magnetic Field Problems, IEEE Trans. on Power Apparatus and Systems, Vol. PAS-89, Sept./Oct. 1970, pp. 1642-1650. O.A. Mohammed, N.A. Demerdash, and T.W. Nehl, Nonlinear Vector Potential Formulation and Experimental Verification of Newton-Raphson Solution of Three Dimensional Magnetostatic Fields in Electrical Devices, IEEE Trans. on Energy Conrersion, March 1986, Vol. EC1, No.1 , pp. 177-185. E.F. Fuchs. and G..4. McNaughton, Comparison of FirstOrder Finite Difference and Finite Element Algorithms for the Analysis of Magnetic Fields, Parts I and II, IEEE Trans. on Power Apparatus and Systems, May 1982, Vol. PAS-101, KO. 5 , _ pp. _ 1170-1180 and pp. 1181-1201. [lo] G. Funk, and T. Hantel, Frequenzabhangigkeit der Betriebsmittel von Drehstromnetzen, etz Archiv, Vol. 9 (1987) Heft 11,.pp. 349-356. [ll] Th. Bodefeld, and H. Sequenz, Elektrische Maschinen, Springer -Verlag, Vienna, 1962. [12] E.F. Fuchs, and U.V. Frank, High-speed Motors with Reduced Windage and Eddy Current Losses, Part 11: Magnetic Design, etz Archiv, Vol. 5 (1983), Heft 2, pp. 55- 62.

m,

m,

I
Figure dl

AIR

Mohammad A. S. Masoum was born in Isfahan, Iran, on August 23, 1959. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1983 and 1985, respectively, from the University of Colorado at Denver. He is presently working towards a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. His main interests include numerical analysis as applied t o harmonic power flow studies, finite-difference and finite-element formulations as well as optimization of electrical devices and solar power plants. He has been on the staff of the Electrical Engineering Department a t University of Colorado as a Teaching and Research Assistant since 1983. Presently he is an instructor at the University of Colorado and teaches energy conversion classes.

Mea.sured dimensions of transformer in mm.

185

Ewald F. Fuchs received his Dip1.-Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Germany, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1967 and 1970. respectively. From 1972 to 1978, he was employed as an engineer in the Large Steam Turbine Division of the Kraftwerk Union .4G in Llulheim, Germany. Presently Dr. Fuchs is a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309. His main interests are design and optimization techniques of drive systems, harmonic power flow studies, and finite-difference and finite-element formulations. Dr. Fuchs is a Fellow of IEEE, a member of VDE, a member of E t a Kappa Xu, and of Sigma Xi. At the annual meeting of the VDE in 1972 he was the recipient of the annual best paper prize. At the Summer Power Meeting 1989 in Long Beach; CA, he received the PES/IEEE Prize Paper Award 1989 and the IEEE 1989 Power System Relaying Committee Award.

Dietrich J. Roesler received the B.S. and M.S.degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Technical Univer4 sity of Berlin, Germany in 1956 and 4 1958, respectively. He trained at the Siemens AG as a graduate student in their electrical machinery and high voltage departments. In addition, he has taken graduate engineering courses in systems control at the University of Colorado. In 1959 Mr. Roesler joined the Brown Boveri Company, hlannheim, Germany as a project engineer on electrical power and distribution plants. From 1962 to 1978 Mr. Roesler has been employed by the U.S. Army R&D Laboratory in Fort Belvoir. He was engaged in various assignments involving high-speed electrical machinery, electric propulsion and electronic controls. From 1977 on, he had the position of a Senior Engineer and was responsible for the development of photovoltaic(PV) power systems, solid-state inverters and exotic high power. low-duty-cycle power plants. In this capacity, he planned the first utility interactive PV plant, the 60 kW plant at Mt. Laguna, CA. A t present he holds the position of a Program hiIanager in the U. S . Department of Energy and is responsible for R&D efforts dealing with Electric Energy Systems. hlr. Roesler is a Senior Member of the IEEE, a Professional Engineer, and a member of Sigma Xi. 4 t the Summer Power Meeting 1989 in Long Beach, CA, he received the PES/IEEE Prize Paper Award 1989 and the IEEE 1989 Power System Relaying Committee Plward.

186

DISCUSSION

The proposed method of calculating representative

B-H characteristics for either the yokes or legs (where grid di-

R. FEI, Power and Energy International, Inc., Madison, Wisconsin:

It is a very good idea to combine the B-H characteristics of cross- and with-grain iron cores measured from Epstein frame through a quasi three-dimensional magnetic field calculation based on design data. The obtained A-i characteristics for the anisotropic transformers are very useful for more accurate determination of the transformer parameters which are neccessary in the simulation of any network including the transformer. The sophisticated use of Finite-Difference method in this paper has resulted in a significant progress in transformer modeling while saturated and anisotropic iron cores are taken into account for large nonsinusoidal signals. The discusser has the following questions and sussestions: 1. Could the modeiing of this 1 KVA transformer be applied to actual power transformers(e.g., distribution transformers)? 2 . Could this type of modeling be used in optimizing transformer design? 3 . What are the effects of butt-to-butt and interlaminational gap lengths on the computed A - i characteristics? It would be instructive to compute and plot the A-i characteristics for different air gap lengths and compare them with the measured results. 4 . Considering the number of selected meshes and given convergence tolerance, it will be useful to present some information about the required computing time for this type of modeling.
Manuscript received July 30, 1990.

mensions of 29 by 30 are employed) requires about 9 min of CPU computing time (VAX 8550 using double precision) for the computation of one point of a representative mixed-core material B-H curve. For one point of the A-i characteristics (where grid dimensions of 19 by 20 are used) 4.5 min of CPU computing time is sufficient. The total required CPU computing time for calculating representative B-H characteristics and A-i curves (eight points for each curve) is about 3 hours. In order to investigate the effects of butt-to-butt air gap lengths on the A-i characteristic, the representative B-H characteristic of the legs (note, the yoke does not contain buttto-butt gaps) and the A-i curve were computed for butt-to-butt air gap lengths of 1, 5 and 9 m i l s (one thousandth of an inch) for a given interlamination gap (e.g., 0.75 mils) as shown in Figure D1. As expected, the curves corresponding to shorter than 5 mils butt-to-butt gap lengths result in higher flux linkages for given excitation levels. Note that the curve corresponding to a butt-to-butt gap length of 1 mil (estimated by the G.E. engineers) does not match the measurements.

2 2.0
6
U)

1.8
1.6

9 mil

1.4
1.2

a Y

1.0

3
LL W

0.8 0.6

x : MEASUREMENTS

5 0.2
0
40 8 0 120 160 200 240 280 320 360 400

P E A K EXCITATION F e , . -

N Iexc. [ A . T U R N S ]

Figure D1 Comparison of calculated A.-i characteristics with measured values for different butt-to-butt air gap lengths. REFERENCES [l] M. A. S. Masoum, E. F. Fuchs, and D. J. Roesler, Large Signal Nonlinear Model of Anisotropic Transformers for Nonsinusoidal Operation, Part 11: Magnetizing and CoreLoss Currents, submitted for the Winter Power Meeting 1991, New York, NY, February 4-9, 1991. 121 M. A. S. Masoum and E. F. Fuchs, Additional Losses and Derating of Anisotropic Transformers Under Nonsinusoidal Operating Regimes, submitted for the Winter Power Meeting 1991, New York, NY, February 4-9, 1991.
Manuscript received October 2, 1990.

E. F. FUCHS and M. A. S. MASOUM: The authors wish to thank Dr. R. Fei for his comments and suggestions. The methodology of the proposed method is general enough to be applied with minor changes (e.g., modifying the grid systems representing the transformer in the xy, zy and zx planes) to other anisotropic transformers. The method may also be used in optimizing transformer designs. The computed A-i characteristics for different designs may be used to calculate transformer losses [1,2] and the optimal design may be selected.