Session

Session - II II - Paper
Paper 77 II - 47

Special Purpose Transformer for Industrial Application

Subodh Prakash1 Nitin Shukla2 M. L. Jain3

1
GM., 2Manager, 3Vice-President, EMCO LTD.

I. Introduction
Many industrial loads require controlled DC power
or high frequency AC power. Normal 50 Hz or 60
Hz power available in grid needs to be modified
using power electronic circuits to feed such loads.
These circuits are more efficient than previous
types of controls, and being applied in many types
of every day use. They are used in steel, copper,
aluminum, electrochemical and cement industry.
They are also used in variable speed drives for
motor controls which find application in almost
all areas of industrial loads. The transformers
connected to such loads are generally referred to
as converter / rectifier transformers.
Fig. 1 : Three phase bridge rectifier circuit connected to
Power electronic circuit presented new problem 3-phase AC power supply
of harmonics. The operation of rectifier produces
II. Harmonics & Higher Pulse Rectifier
harmonic voltages and currents. The current
harmonics are currents at higher frequencies than Fourier analysis and energy balance of square wave
form confirms that each harmonic in DC voltage
the fundamental frequency of transformer. These
requires harmonic currents of frequencies of 6n+1 &
higher frequency currents cause overheating 6n-1 in AC lines. The magnitude of harmonic current
of transformer, cables, motors, generator and is inversely proportional to the harmonic number or
capacitor connected to same power supply. a value of 1/n.
In transformer, harmonic currents cause high Thus a 6-pulse rectifier converter will begin to
levels of eddy current losses and other stray generate harmonic from 5th & 7th and higher order
harmonics, similarly a 12-pulse rectifier consisting
losses in different parts of transformer and result
of 2-bridge rectifier having power supplies 30°
in overheating of insulation which may cause early
apart will begin to generate harmonic from 11th &
failure of transformer. 13th and higher order. A generalized formula for
A three phase bridge rectifier connected to 3-phase harmonic number can be given for different pulse
number rectifier converter as
AC supply (Fig-1) converts AC power to DC power.
The periodic switching causes DC voltage to be H = Kq ±1
superimposed with high frequency ripple. The where, K = Any integer,
ripple voltage consists of supply voltage with a q = Rectifier converter pulse no.
frequency of multiples of six times the fundamental
The Table-1 shows a variety of harmonics generated
frequency.
by various pulse number rectifier converters. From the
diminishing harmonic orders with the increase in the
rectifier pulse number, it could be deduced that the
total harmonic distortion reduces significantly with
II - 48 Session - II Design - II

increase in pulse numbers. The rectifier converters
produce better input and output characteristics with
increasing pulse numbers.
The Table-1 shows the theoretical magnitudes, while
in practice the harmonics are greatly reduced due to
impedance of system and its elements which restrict
the flow of harmonic currents.
rectifier converter. The 2 secondary windings will
have 30° phase shift and will generate 12-pulses
per cycle. In order to achieve higher pulse number,
additional phase shifts are required and these are
accomplished using extended delta and zig-zag
(interstar) windings (Fig.2a & 2b).

TABLE I
Harmonic current present in input current of
rectifier converter
Har- Rectifier Pulse Number/Harmonic Current
monic (p.u.)
Order 6 12 18 24 36 48
5 0.2000 - - - - -

7 0.1429 - - - - -

11 0.0909 0.0909 - - - -
a) Extended delta shift b) Zig-zag shift
13 0.769 0.769 - - - -
Fig.2
17 0.0588 - 0.0588 - - - The shifts in winding could be 7.5° 10°, 15°, 20°,
19 0.0526 - 0.0526 - - - depending on the requirement. However, depending
on the usage, other shifts are also possible. The below
23 0.0435 0.0435 - 0.0435 - - mentioned different combinations were used for
25 0.400 0.400 - 0.400 - - achieving pulse number for rectifier converter.
a) 6-pulse: The winding feeding to rectifier converter
29 0.0345 - - - - -
could be star or delta.
31 0.0323 - - - - - b) 12-pulse:
35 0.0286 0.0286 0.0286 - 0.0286 - i) The 2 secondary windings feeding to 2 rectifier
converters must be one in star and other in
37 0.027 0.027 0.027 - 0.027 - delta.
41 0.0244 - - - - - ii) Winding feeding to 2 rectifier connection must
be one delta (-7.5°) and other delta (22.5°)
43 0.0233 - - - - -
c) 18-pulse: The 3 secondary windings feeding to 3
47 0.0213 0.0213 - 0.0213 - 0.0213 rectifier converters could be delta (+20°), delta
and delta (-20°) (refer Fig. 3). Another possible
49 0.0204 0.0204 - 0.0204 - 0.0204
combination is delta (+10°), delta (-10°) and star.
In some cases the harmonic currents are greater
than the magnitude defined. Such systems are
equipped with power factor correction capacitors
and filters. In fact sometimes it is not easy to predict
the behavior of filters. This has led to shift in focus
towards multi-secondary transformer, which allows
the use of higher pulse rectifier converter circuits.

III. Higher Pulse Number &

Multi Winding Transformer
A simple 2-winding transformer is used with 6-pulse
Fig. 3: 18-pulse transformer secondary windings with phase shifts
rectifier converter and a 3-winding transformer with
primary as star or delta and 2 secondary windings The 24 and 36 pulse transformer circuit can be
one star and one delta will be used for 12-pulse configured by using two 12 and 18 pulse transformers

(refer Fig. 4 & 5) having delta connected primary winding
of one transformers and star connected primary of
another transformer. The two transformers could either
be housed separately or put in a common enclosure.
Fig. 4 : 24-pulse transformer consisting of two 12-pulse transformers
Fig. 5 : 36-pulse transformer consisting of two 18-pulse
transformers
However, from the point of view of interchangeability,
the two transformers can have 15° phase-shifted
primary windings. The primary winding can be made
with reconnectable winding with +15° phase shift.
Then the two transformers can be built identical and
primary side re-connection will provide the necessary
phase shift.
IV. Emco Experience with 24 Pulse In order to match the secondary voltage and to
Transformer
The 12 MVA, 33/4 x 0.612 kV, 24-pulse transformer
manufactured at EMCO had entirely different
configuration. The 24-pulse configuration was
achieved by using 2 nos. 6 MVA transformers in a
common enclosure. The primary windings of both
the transformers were connected in delta. The
two secondary windings of one transformer were
connected in delta and in star respectively, while
the secondary windings of another transformer were
connected in delta with a +15° shift and -15° shift.
The vector configuration of the transformer is as
represented in below Fig. 6.
Session - II Paper 7 II - 49
Fig. 6 : Configuration of 24-pulse transformer manufactured at
EMCO
The 12 MVA, 33/4 x 0.612 kV, 24-pulse transformer
manufactured at EMCO is shown in below Fig. 7.
Fig. 7 : 12 MVA, 33/4 x 0.612 kV, 24-pulse EMCO Transformer
The transformer is intended to be connected
across 33 kV grid supply. The insulation of the
transformer is suitable for 52 kV class. The
no-load secondary voltage of transformer for
rectifier converter is 612 volts. The impedance
of the transformer was restricted to 8% with IS
tolerance
reduce the turn error, the secondary voltage of
transformer was changed to 612 from original
600 volts (to accommodate the turns adjustment
from delta to star (√3) and to achieve the required
15° phase shift). The tapping range of transformer
was +10% to -15% in equal steps of 2.5% each.
Such a high tapping range necessitated careful
balancing of winding in order to sustain high short
circuit forces at extreme tap ranges. Such high
tapping range is rather un-usual and increases
the cost of transformer. Usually the voltage
profile is maintained/ controlled from behind the
rectifier converter transformers, specifically in
II - 50 Session - II Design - II
the incoming supply yard of the user. The winding
configuration of the transformer is shown in
Fig. 8.
As discussed earlier, there are numerous
possibilities of providing phase shift. So far we
have discussed phase shift provided in secondary
winding only. It is possible to provide phase shift
in primary winding also. EMCO has designed,
manufactured and tested transformer for
rectifier converter duty where primary winding
was provided with phase shift. The 4 MVA
transformers with following vector group were
supplied to customers (a) D (+7.5°) d0y11; (b) D
(-7.5°) d2y1 & (c) Dyn11zn0.
Fig. 8 : Connection diagram of 12MVA, 33/ 4X0.612kV,
24-pulse transformer manufactured at EMCO
The typical winding arrangement inside the transformer
tank for 12MVA, 33/4 x 0.612 kV, 24-pulse transformer
is shown in below Fig. 9.
Fig. 9: Winding placement over core (24-pulse transformer)
The transformers at (a) & (b) have phase shift in
primary winding. The primary winding is also provided
with ± 5%, ± 2.5% off circuit taps. The phase shift of
normal tap is nearly perfect, however at other taps it is
not feasible to perfectly match the desired phase shift.
It is rather recommended that such transformer may
not be provided with off circuit taps at all and voltage
profile be maintained before transformer preferably at
incoming supply station of the industry itself.
The transformer supplied at (c) consisted of zig-zag
winding on secondary side. Zig-zag winding placement
and lead location increases complexity of transformer
it is therefore recommend that zig-zag winding should
be used for affecting phase shift in the transformer.
The desired 300 phase shift could have been provided
by using delta winding in place of zig-zag winding.
V. Conclusions
All the above transformers have been designed and
supplied as per customer specification. We must keep
in mind that multi-winding transformers are costlier
than the same rating power transformers, even without
considering the overrating due to harmonic loading.
The emphasis should be on selecting a configuration
which is simple so that unnecessary cost overruns
could be avoided. Broadly, may keep following points
in mind.
1. As the choice of turns is limited on secondary side
due to low voltage, the phase shift is desirable in
primary circuits wherever feasible.
2. For achieving the desired phase shift, extended
delta and zig-zag winding connections are used.
3. Whenever the phase shift is provided in the
primary winding, avoid taps on transformer as it
is not always possible to achieve the same phase
shift on all taps also.
4. It may be noted that lower order harmonic
cancellation is generally not perfect due to various
factors, such as turns ratio error (star & delta), and
extended delta causing inaccurate phase shift,
unbalanced loading, tap changes and difference
in impedance of various pairs of windings. It is
common to assume 5% contribution for lower
harmonics.
5. Ground shield: Grounded shield between primary
and secondary winding is recommended as it
provides capacitance de-coupling of windings. It
also helps in reducing the transfer of transients
from primary side to secondary side and also
in minimizing the transfer of high frequency
disturbances to transformer primary side from
rectifier converter.

References
1. A.Sapin, P.Allenbach, J.J.Simond, “Modeling of multi-
winding phase shifting transformers application to DC
and multilevel VSI supplies”, Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology, Electrical Machines Laboratory (LME), CH-
1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
2. IEEE recommended practices & requirement for harmonic
control in electrical power systems, IEEE standard 519–
1992.
Session - II Paper 7 II - 51
3. Paice D, “Power Electronic Converter Harmonics,
Multipulse methods for clean power”, IEEE press.
4. IEEE, Standard Practices and Requirements for
Semiconductor Power Rectifier Transformers, IEEE
C57.18.10-1998, Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Piscataway, NJ, 1998.
5. James H. Harlow, “Electric Power Transformer
Engineering”, CRC Press LCC, 2004.
n n n