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Hybrid Numerical-Analytical Technique for

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DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.2009.2012647 · Source: IEEE Xplore

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1408 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 45, NO. 3, MARCH 2009

Hybrid Numerical-Analytical Technique for Power

Transformer Thermal Modeling
Marina A. Tsili1 , Eleftherios I. Amoiralis2 , Antonios G. Kladas1 , and Athanassios T. Souflaris3
Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens 15780, Greece
Department of Production Engineering and Management, Technical University of Crete, 73100 Crete, Greece
Schneider Electric AE, Elvim Plant, 32011 Inofyta, Greece

Transformer thermal performance is a critical issue during the design stage, since it indicates its ability to operate reliably through
its lifetime and under possible overloading conditions. This paper introduces a hybrid thermal modeling technique that links numerical
methods to analytical calculations, providing a tool for accurate prediction of temperature distribution characteristics in the expense of
relatively reduced computation time, enhancing transformer design calculations often based on empirical methods.
Index Terms—Analytical techniques, finite element method (FEM), power transformers, thermal analysis.

I. INTRODUCTION methods, deriving a flexible thermal performance prediction

tool. The main novelty of the method relies on the combination
of analytical calculations, 2-D and 3-D FEM, in an efficient

O NE of the fundamental considerations, which limits the

transformer loadability and usable life, is determined by
its ability to dissipate the internally generated heat to its sur-
roundings. It is therefore essential to predict thermal behaviors
of a transformer during normal operating conditions and partic-
ularly in the presence of overload conditions. Furthermore, the
improved knowledge of transformer thermal characteristics can
allow transformer engineers to achieve enhanced designs and
manufacturers are particularly interested in its accurate predic-
tion.
Transformer thermal performance is usually predicted
through analytical formulas that use approximations and con-
stants deriving through experimental results [1]–[3]. Significant
research effort is focusing on the improvement of these for-
mulas and the derivation of more efficient calculation methods,
resulting to the proposal of different kinds of equivalent thermal
circuits [4], [5], dependent on the geometry of the core and
windings and the type of cooling.
Finite-element method (FEM), due to its enhanced ability to
represent transformer characteristics and performance has also
prevailed in the field of transformer thermal modeling. Various
implementations of thermal 2-D or 3-D FEM to distribution and
power transformers are encountered in the technical literature,
for the prediction of the windings [6], [7] or the core [8] hot-spot
location and temperature, as well as other parameters of thermal
performance of low-frequency transformers subject to harmonic
currents [9]–[11] or high-frequency transformers [12]. Coupling
of electromagnetic and thermal FEM analysis is also employed,
as a means of better representation of the transformer dynamic
thermal behavior [13].
This paper proposes a hybrid numerical-analytical technique
for power transformer thermal modelling, combining the ben-
efits of analytical calculations and numerical field analysis
Manuscript received October 07, 2008. Current version published February
19, 2009. Corresponding author: M. A. Tsili (e-mail: mtsili@central.ntua.gr).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TMAG.2009.2012647
0018-9464/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE
thermal model, able to provide accurate results with moderate
execution requirements. The method is applied to three-phase,
oil-immersed, ONAN distribution transformers and its results
are experimentally validated by local field measurements.
II. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
A. Outline of the Hybrid Numerical-Analytical Technique
The proposed technique combines 2-D and 3-D electromag-
netic and thermal FEM analysis, in conjunction with analytical
calculations, for the derivation of the transformer temperature
distribution under different loading conditions. For the simpli-
fication of post-processing tasks, 3-D analysis is used as an in-
termediate tool for calculations, and its results are exploited for
the generation of 2-D temperature distributions.
The methodology introduced involves the input of trans-
former main geometrical and electrical data and sequential
interaction of the analytical and numerical methods for thermal
calculations, as illustrated in the flowchart of Fig. 1 and de-
scribed in the following steps.
1) Calculation of the bottom-oil, top-oil, and average core
and winding temperature rise and gradient, for the deriva-
tion of nodal thermal properties at selected points of the
transformer geometry. The calculation is based on analyt-
ical formulas [1] and empirical coefficients provided by the
manufacturer.
2) Use of the previous values for the establishment of heat
transfer coefficients at the boundaries of the transformer
components, i.e. the interfaces between the oil and the core,
windings and tank. These coefficients define the boundary
conditions for the 2-D thermal FEM model.
3) Application of 3-D FEM model, developed in [14], pro-
viding accurate representation of the winding parts out-
side the core windows, including the existence of cooling
ducts (see Fig. 2). This detailed geometry representation
enables accurate calculation of flux distribution by appro-
priate magnetic analysis. Based on this distribution, the
loss and heat dissipation in transformer windings and core
is predicted by thermal analysis.

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TSILI et al.: HYBRID NUMERICAL-ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE FOR POWER TRANSFORMER THERMAL MODELING
Fig. 1. Flowchart illustrating the proposed hybrid method.
Fig. 2. Perspective view of the transformer 3-D FEM model. (a) Geometry of
the model (front side view); (b) Leakage flux distribution (backside view).
4) Application of 2-D steady-state thermal transformer anal-
ysis at the transformer symmetry plane, using the heat
sources defined by the 3-D model. The deriving temper-
ature distribution indicates the temperature variation in the
transformer oil and active part, while other crucial informa-
tion to the transformer designer such as temperature gradi-
ents, etc., can also be obtained.
B. 3-D Electromagnetic FEM Model
Fig. 2(a) illustrates the 3-D electromagnetic FEM model
adopted in the proposed technique [14]. It comprises the low
voltage (LV) and the high voltage (HV) windings of one phase,
as well as the small and large iron core that surrounds them.
The HV winding consists of turns of copper wire, while the
LV winding consists of layers of copper sheet. Due to the
symmetries of the problem, the model is reduced to one-fourth
of the device. The reduced scalar potential formulation em-
ployed in the model, along with the accurate representation of
the windings area ensure high accuracy in the calculation of
the transformer flux distribution [see Fig. 2(b)], necessitating
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1409
Fig. 3. Temperature distribution in a 1000 kVA transformer. (a) Temperature
density plot; (b) isothermal lines inside the small core window; (c) isothermal
lines inside the large core window.
relatively small execution times. The results of electromag-
netic FEM are used by the thermal model as explained in
Section II-C.
C. 2-D Thermal FEM Model
The thermal FEM model derives from the transformer sym-
metry plane, i.e., the plane illustrated in Fig. 2(b). Unlike the
electromagnetic model, where the symmetry along the trans-
former height can be exploited, the thermal model must rep-
resent the whole area from the bottom to the top of the tank;
therefore, the 2-D model geometry corresponds to half of the
real transformer geometry, as illustrated in Fig. 3 (instead of the
one-fourth represented in Fig. 2). For better accuracy, more de-
tailed 2-D core geometry is considered (the corners of the small
and large core are round and not rectangular as in the case of
Fig. 2). In order to avoid large mesh sizes, the different layers of
copper sheet in the LV winding and the strands of copper wire
in the HV winding are replaced by layers of an homogeneous
material inside the windings and appropriate layer and strand
copper factors are applied to return the equivalent Ohmic loss
density.
The 2-D steady-state thermal transformer analysis along its
symmetry plane is governed by the equation
(1)
where is the temperature at each point of the considered do-
main C , and are the materials thermal conductivity
in the - and -direction C and is the heat source
in the transformer conductors W/m . The proper solution of
(1) involves correct definition of the boundary conditions and
the definition of heat sources in the windings and core area.
1) Boundary Conditions: In the transformer case, convec-
tion boundary conditions along the interface between the core,
1410 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, VOL. 45, NO. 3, MARCH 2009

windings, and insulating oil are applied [5]. The general form of
this type of boundary conditions is described by the following
equation:

(2)

where is the oil thermal conductivity W m C , is

the direction normal to the considered interface, is the heat
transfer coefficient of the considered interface W m C
and is the initial temperature rise at the considered interface
C.
The heat transfer coefficient is calculated as follows:

(3)

where refers to the length of the considered interface ( ),

while corresponds to the Nusselt number, yielded by (4):

(4)

Symbols and in (4) are the Grashof and Prandtl number,

calculated by (5) and (6), respectively, while and are em- Fig. 4. Temperature distribution in a 400 kVA transformer. (a) Temperature
pirical constants based on oil circulation. density plot; (b) isothermal lines inside the small core window; (c) isothermal
lines inside the large core window.
(5)

(6)

Symbol denotes the oil thermal expansion coefficient (1/ C),

is the oil temperature gradient C , is the gravitational
constant m/s and stands for the oil viscosity kg/m s ),
dependent on the oil temperature according to (7)

(7)

where and are constants for the transformer oil.

The calculation of , , and in (2)–(7) is based on
analytical formulas and empirical coefficients provided by the
manufacturer.
2) Definition of Heat Sources: The heat sources in the wind-
ings and core area are calculated based on the results of the 3-D
FEM model described in Section II-B. More specifically, the
flux distribution in the core area is used for the determination
of the loss dissipation, based on the specific loss curve of its
material. The Joule losses in the windings are computed based
on the windings current density, multiplied by appropriate layer
and strand copper factor for the LV and HV winding, respec-
tively. The eddy-current loss in the windings is calculated via
analytical approximations, according to the transformer rating.
The leakage flux distribution in the windings area [see Fig. 2(b)]
results to accurate determination of additional loss, apart from
the ohmic and eddy-current loss of the windings. Therefore, in-
stead of assuming a constant heat source operating over the en-
tire winding structure, a proper loss distribution factor is applied
during the determination of heat sources in the 2-D FEM model.
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The method has been applied for the prediction of thermal
performance in transformers of various ratings, operating under
different loading conditions and its results were validated
Fig. 5. Temperature variation along the contours illustrated in Fig. 3.
through local thermal field measurements. The temperature
distribution (in Kelvin) of a 1000 kVA and 400 kVA, 20-0.4
kV transformer, operating under nominal load, at an ambient
temperature equal to 18 C is illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4,
respectively. The distribution of isothermal lines inside the core
windows is also shown in Figs. 3 and 4, while the temperature
variation along the contours of Fig. 3 is illustrated in Fig. 5.
Table I illustrates the comparison between local temperature
measurements and the values computed with the use of the
proposed method, in the case of the considered 1000 kVA
transformer of Fig. 3, under the examined operating condi-
tions. Points A and B of Table I correspond to the top and
bottom tank temperature, while point C corresponds to the
top oil temperature measured during the transformer thermal
tests. The results of Table I indicate the good accuracy of the
proposed method, providing an average deviation of 6.7% in
relation to experimental results. According to the results of

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TSILI et al.: HYBRID NUMERICAL-ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE FOR POWER TRANSFORMER THERMAL MODELING
TABLE I
COMPARISON OF COMPUTED AND MEASURED TEMPERATURES
FOR A 1000 kVA TRANSFORMER
Fig. 6. Variation of the windings average temperature as a function of trans-
former loading, for the 1000 kVA transformer of Fig. 3.
Table I, the proposed model predicts lower temperature values
than the measured ones, mainly due to underestimation in the
eddy current loss and ohmic loss in the transformer windings,
which, as stated in Section II-C, are calculated through the use
of analytical equations and appropriate factors.
The method was applied for the extraction of results for the
average LV and HV winding temperature variation under dif-
ferent loading conditions. The respective results are illustrated
in Fig. 6. Loading up to 130% is considered, since the usual
practice in electrical systems results to keeping transformers in
service longer than has been the practice in the past and a life
extension of several years can save considerable expense. The
results of the diagram in Fig. 6 indicate that, for the considered
transformer, overloading conditions do not result to violation
of the thermal limits imposed by the current IEEE Guide for
Loading Mineral-Oil-Immersed Transformers [1], information
that is quite crucial to the transformer designer. The core tem-
perature is not included in the diagram of Fig. 6, since the core
temperature is dependent mostly on core losses which remain
constant, therefore, its variation is practically insignificant.
IV. CONCLUSION
Accurate estimation of temperatures on all surfaces is ex-
tremely critical in the design of power transformers to decide
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1411
the operating flux density in core and current densities in wind-
ings. The proposed hybrid numerical-analytical technique for
power transformer thermal modelling constitutes an efficient
thermal model, checking the adequacy of cooling arrangements
provided for the core and windings.
Moreover, the presented hybrid thermal model helps in en-
suring reliable operation of the transformer since the insulation
life can be estimated under overload conditions and corrective
actions can be taken in advance. The model can also be applied
for determination of the location and temperature of the trans-
former hot spot, through further post-processing analysis of the
deriving temperature distributions.
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