AnalysisofEddyCurrentLossandLocal OverheatinginOilTankofaLarge Transformer Using3DFEM

YanliZhang, BingYan, FanCao,DexinXie,LinsuoZeng

SchoolofElectricalEngineering,Shenyang University ofTechnology,Liaoning110178,China Email: zhangyanli_sy@hotmail.com

Abstract Taking a 380000kVA/500kV large power transformer as an example, in this paper, the eddy current loss generated by leakage magnetic field in transformer tank is calculated by two 3D finite element methods (FEM) and the factors to affect the computation accuracy of loss are discussed. By adding magnetic shielding to the surface of oil tank, the maximum magnetic flux density and total eddy current loss are computed, and the effect of different size of the magnetic shieldingisdiscussed.
I.

INTRODUCTION
Fig.1. 3Dmodelofa 380000kVA/500kV singlephasetransformer.

Recently,withthedevelopmentoftransformercapacity,the leakage magnetic flux is increasing, which may enlarge the straylossintheoiltankandotherstructuralmemberssuchas iron core clamp, pulling board, and so on. It is significant to control the distribution of eddy current loss and temperature rise of hot spot in order to assure the normal operation of transformer. The research on experimental test and 3D numerical simulation of stray losses in large transformer design is a complex and classic problem [1]. However, it is difficult to achieve the accurate 3D finite element analysis (FEA)ofatypicallargetransformerbecauseofthecomplexity of transformer configuration, the contradiction on mesh size between millimeter order depth of penetration of oil tankand large size of oil tank, the lack of accurate modeling data for magnetic characteristic of silicon steel sheet in iron core,and soon. In this paper, the advantage of several popular FEA soft wares when solving the loss problem of oil tank in transformers is, firstly, compared. Then, the 3D leakage magneticfield distributionin a 380MVA large transformer is calculatedbasedonMAGNETfiniteelementanalysissoftware. Themethods of improving the computation accuracy in eddy current loss of oil tank are presented. The effect of the magnetic shielding is analyzed, and the temperature range is computed. II. PROBLEM DESCRIPTION Fig.1 showsa380000kVA /500kVsinglephase transformer

model,andby applyingreasonable engineeringreduction, the 3D FEA computation model mainly includes winding, iron core,clamp,pullingplateandoiltank.Currently,ANSYSand MAGNET are popular software for solving electromagnetic field problem of electrical equipment. From the viewpoint of computationaccuracy totheoiltank,MAGNET,inthispaper, is employed to computation the 3D transformer model because it permits user to input the magnetization curve of threedirectionofthelaminatedsiliconsteelsuchasmagnetic shielding of oil tank, and provide the surface impedance functiontosolvethedepthofpenetrationproblemofoiltank. III. 3D EDDY CURRENTLOSSANALYSISAND TEMPERATURE RISE DISTRIBUTION IN OIL T ANK WITHOUTSHIELDING A. DiscussiononComputationAccuracyofLoss The computation accuracy of loss depends mostly on the mesh accuracy during FEA. There are two methods to mesh theoiltankduringthesolutiontoeddycurrentlossinoiltank in MAGNET. One is surface impedance method which is widelyusedbasedontheanalysisofstructureandeddycurrent characteristics in tank. When the depth of penetration is very small,thereisthefactthattheelectricalfieldEandmagnetic field density H have only the normal component within the ferromagnetic material. Surface impedance can substitute the

field of outside the conductor, and reduce the computation time.Theformulaofsurfaceimpedanceis givenas: Zs = (1+ j)

pf m s

(1)

Therearethreerulestofollowwhen usingsurfaceimpedance method: a) Thedepthoftankshellismuchmorethantheskindepth. b) Tangential magnetic field attenuated faster than normal component intheconductor. c) Alternating current (AC) power is far away from the surfaceof eddycurrentfield. According totheformulaof depthofpenetration:

TABLEI THEEDDYCURRENTLOSSANDLOSSDENSITYOFOILTANK Mesh Layerwithindepthofpenetration 1 2 3 4 eddycurrent 147.84 193.312 217.464 225.832 loss (kW) loss 7 7 7 7 1.20910 2.15910 2.30210 2.46610 3 density(kW/m ) ThecomputingtimeforFEharmonicfieldanalysiswas8hourswhen subdividingthetankshellsinto 4layerswithacomputerhaving2048MB ofmainmemoryand2.5GHzofspeed.

d =

1 pf ms

(2)

The oil tank is made of ferromagnetic material such as A3 2 steel with the parameters: m =300 , m = 4p 10 7 N/A , r

s = 6. 10 S/m, f =50 Hz. According to (2), the skin 484 6

3 depthofoiltankis1.5671 10 m,lessthanthedepthofthe oil tank, thus surface impedance method can be used to compute the oil tank loss. According to (1), the surface impedanceofoiltankis Zs = 0. 10 4 + 098 10 4 j.Using 98 . the MAGNET software, eddy current loss of the oil tank withoutshieldingis229.344kW whilethecomputationtimeis abouthalfanhour. Theothermethodistosubdividethetankshellsintolayers asmany aspossible.However,itwillincrease thecomputation time[2]and even resultin failure owing to limited computer performance.Inthispaper,by subdividing theoiltank intoone, two,threeandfourlayerswithinthedepthofpenetration,the eddy current loss and loss densityon the surface oil tank are computedandlistedinTABLEI.Fromthetable,thenumbers of layers have an obvious effect on the eddy current loss. Whenthemesh layer varies from one to two layers,the eddy currentlossincreasesobviously.Withtheincreasingoflayers, the eddy current loss is closed to the result from surface impedancemethod.

(a)

(b) (c) Fig. 2. Theeddycurrentloss.(a)wholeoiltank,(b)onthebacksurface, and(c)onthetopsurface of1/8tankshellwithoutshielding.

B. LossDistribution ofOil Tankwithout Shielding Fig.2showtheeddycurrentlossonthe backsurfaceandthe topsurface of1/8tankshellwithoutaddingmagneticshielding 7 3 to tank. The loss density is up to 2.484 10 kW/m in local place. Fig.3 show the distribution of magnetic flux B on the backsurfaceandthetopsurfaceof1/8tankshell. C. Thermalrisedistribution of OilTankwithout Shielding

(a) (b) Fig. 3. Themagneticfluxdensitydistribution.(a)onthebacksurface, and (b)onthetopsurface of1/8tankshellwithoutshielding.

paper, the stray loss in oil tank is inputted to thermal field The temperature rise and local overheating in large computation as heat generation [3]. The temperature rise transformers are hot problems in transformer design. In this formula isexpressedasfollows(3):

T k T = -Q + r c t

(3)

where k iscoefficientofheattransfer, Q isheatdensity, r is mass density, c isratio of specific heat, T is temperature. In thispaper,theeddycurrentlossiscomputedtoheatgeneration, andlaidontotheoiltank. The heatconvectionis12.436W/ 2 2 m and8.082W/m .The heatconductivityofoiltankis50 W/m.Aftersimulation,thetemperatureofthebacksurface ofoiltankisfrom111 to116,andthetopsurfaceisfrom 100 to108. IV. EFFECTIVENESSINREDUCING EDDY CURRENTLOSSDUE TO ADDING MAGNETIC SHIELDING As we know, the complex structure of large transformer resultsintheunevendistributionoftheeddycurrentlossinoil tank, which may get rise of local overheating and affect normal operation of the transformer, and bring about huge economiclosses.Therefore,theelectromagneticshieldingand magnetic shielding are often used to add onto the surface of thetankandotherpartofthetransformertoreducingtheeddy currentloss.Theelectromagneticshieldinggeneratesopposite eddy current to reduce the leakage magnetic flux into the oil tank, thus reducing the eddy current loss. The magnetic shielding has better magnetic conductivity. The leakage magneticfluxisattractedintothemagneticshieldingtoreduce theleakagemagneticflux intotheoiltank[4]. In this paper, magnetic shielding and electromagnetic shieldingare added to the back surface of oil tank where the eddycurrentlossislarger,andthetopsurfaceisonly laidwith electromagneticshielding.Thedifferentconfigurationformof electromagnetic shielding and magnetic shielding are presentedanditseffectonreductionoflossisdiscussed. Firstly, the magnetic shielding on the back surface is composed of 13 groups of laminated silicon steel sheets, of whicheachgroupis0.03mindepthandislaminatedwith30 pieces of silicon steel sheets, and the interval between each twogroupsis0.02m.The electromagneticshieldingisadded to the top surface of the tank shell, and is a whole piece of rectangle aluminum sheet. On the back surface of oil tank, besides magnetic shielding, another piece of electromagnetic shielding is added. Fig.4 shows the 1/8 oil tank shell model withshielding. Fig.5 shows the eddy current loss on the back surface and thetopsurfaceof1/8tankshellwithaddingshieldingtotank. Fromthefigure,wecanseethatthedistributionoflossisless than tank shell without shielding, and the maximum eddy current loss point is located at the edge of electromagnetic shielding. The eddy current loss of oil tank reduce from 7 3 5 3 2.484 10 kW/m to 5.284 10 kW/m . The eddy current lossoftheoiltankisreducedto2.776 kW.

Secondly, the magnetic shielding is constructed with one wholepieceofsiliconsteelsheetwiththedepthisthesame as oneinthefirstcasementionedabove. TABLEIIliststhecomparisonoftheeddycurrentlossand loss density of tank shell and Fig.6 and Fig.7 show the distribution of magnetic flux B under the conditions of two kindsofmagneticshieldingformsontheshielding.Fromthis table,wecanseethatthetotaleddycurrentlossforonewhole shielding is a lower slightly than one from group shielding. However, the figures show us that the distribution of B on groupshieldingismoreeven,andavoidstheconcentrationof loss because the maximum B is 1.681T for group shielding, but1.807T fortheonepiece of shielding.

Fig.4. The 1/8oiltankshellwithshielding .

(a) (b) Fig. 5. Theeddycurrentlosswithshielding.(a)onthebacksurface, and (b)onthetopsurface of1/8tankshellwithshielding. TABLEII THEEDDYCURRENTLOSSANDLOSSDENSITY OFDIFFERENTSIZEOFMAGNETIC
SHIELDING

Layer Groupshielding eddycurrentloss (kW)

3 lossdensity(kW/m )

Onepieceshielding 2.664
5 5.23910

2.776
5 5.28410

V. CONCLUSION The3Dfiniteelementanalysisofleakagemagneticfieldin a 380MVA singlephase transformer is presented based on MAGNETsoftware.Theeddycurrentlossandlossdensityin oil tank with magnetic shielding and without magnetic shielding are computed. Theconclusionsaredrawnasfollows: 1) In order to improve the computation accuracy, it is necessary to subdivide the tank shell into at least 4 layers withinthedepthofpenetrationofoiltank. 2) To improve the loss distribution and reduce the eddy currentloss of the oiltank,the electromagnetic shieldingand magneticshieldingmustbeimposedontotheinnersurfaceof theoiltank. 3) By comparing the effectiveness of one whole piece of magneticshielding andgroupshielding,itissuggestedthatthe configurationformofgroupshieldingcangivebettershielding effect.. 4)Althoughtheincreasingdepthofmagneticshieldingcan, to someextent,decreasethe eddy currentloss of the oil tank, the shielding measures should be carried out in accordance withthe designsize andeconomic costoftransformer.

Fig. 6.The distribution of magneticflux Bon thegroup magneticshielding.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work is supported by National Natural Science FoundationofChinaunderGrant50807039,bytheFokYing TongEducationFoundationforYoungTeachersintheHigher Finally, we also investigate the effect of the depth of Education Institutions of China under Grant 121059 and by magnetic shieldingmade of severalgroups similar tothe first SpecializedResearchFundfortheDoctoralProgramofHigher casementionedaboveonoiltankloss.Thedepthofonegroup EducationunderGrant20102102120002. of silicon steel sheets is set as 0.015m, 0.03m and 0.06m, respectively. The comparisonresultsare listed in TABLE III. Fromthistable,wecanseethatwiththeincreasingofdepthof REFERENCES magnetic shielding, the eddy current loss of the oil tank [1] ChengZhiguang,NorioTakahashi,ElectromagneticandThermalField decreases obviously. But it isnotreasonable to conclude that Modeling and Application in Electrical Engineering, First Edition, the more depth the shielding, the less eddy current loss Beijing:SciencePress,2009. because the size of magnetic shielding is constrained by [2] Jianmin Wang, Chongyou Jing, Wenfeng Zhang, et al, Study on 3D Eddy Current Field and Stray Loss in Configuration Member of Large transformer components, and the deeper shielding can result transformer, Proc. the Sixth Symposium of New SelfCreative 5 3 intooverconcentrationoflossdensityupto9.69510 kW/m TransformerTechnologyinChina, HangZhou.pp.14, Oct.2010. on the pulling plate. Thus, the 0.03 m depth of magnetic [3] ChengZ,TakahashiN,etal.HysteresisLoss AnalysisinSteel Basedon WhBm Curve, Proceedings of The Third Chinese International shielding is suitable forthistypeoftransformer.
Fig. 7. The distribution ofmagneticflux Bon one whole piece magnetic shielding. TABLEIII THEEDDYCURRENTLOSSANDLOSSDENSITY OFDIFFERENTDEPTH OF
MAGNETICSHIELDING

Conference on Eledtrical MachinesInternational Academic Publishers, Beijing.pp.454457,1999. [4] Gu Chenglin, Power Transformer Core Magnetic Field, Loss and Temperature Field Theory and Calculation, Wuhan: Huazhong Universityof Scienceand Technology Press, 1993.

Depth ofonegroupofmagneticshielding (m) 0.015 eddycurrent loss (kW) loss 3 density(kW/m ) 3.247
5 5.05810

0.03 2.776
5 4.33510

0.06 2.356
5 3.30710