A thermal study of an encapsulated electrical transformer

A thermal study of a 45 KVA-prototype encapsulated transformer is described. Casting resin systems were used as insulating systems for encapsulated electric transformers. Normal transformer operation is at full load and, thus the conductor and insulating system become hot owing to current circulation through the winding. To determine the various temperature distributions throughout the transformer, the thermal properties of the insulating system and boundary conditions must be known, so that hot spots are located via numerical modelling and maximum permissible temperatures are not attained. Results presented herein include thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and specific heat capacity. Thermal conductivity was obtained experimentally by means of the line-source technique at various temperatures, between room temperature and 155degreesC which is the thermal limit of class F insulators. The thermal diffusivity was obtained by parameter estimation by fitting an approximate analytical model to the temperature-time data of the thermal conductivity experiment. Specific heat capacity was obtained from the definition of thermal diffusivity and the insulating-system density. In order to improve the electrical performance of the transformer criteria, a numerical simulation of the different dielectric structures was made using computer program. The boundary conditions for the thermal simulation stage were also determined experimentally from temperature test. runs. Finally, in order. to obtain data for thermal design, a numerical simulation of the high tension winding was carried out. The thermal simulation stage was performed at different current densities in the conductor with and without electrostatic. shields to determine the temperature field and maximum attainable temperatures..,Maximum transformer temperature were found to be 15-20degreesC below its thermal limit and a correlation of maximum temperature as function of circulating current was developed for design. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.