172 Transformer construction to the aim of limiting the extent of the tapping range for high reliability in transformers, identified earlier, but represents another of the complexities resulting from the reduced system flexibility caused by omitting tapings on the 400/132 kV transformers. Clearly tappings at the earthed neutral point of a star-connected 275 or 132 kV winding are likely to be more reliable and less costly than those operating at the 275 or 132 kV line end of a 400/275 or 132 kV interbus transformer. The greater degree of control which can be maintained over the 33 KV system voltage compared with that for the 132 kV system means that 33/11 kV transformers normally need to be provided with tapping ranges of only -+10% As in the case of 132/33 kV transformers, however, the HV taps can still be used as a means of boosting the LV output voltage to compensate for system voltage regulation. In this case this is usually achieved by the use of an open- circuit voltage ratio of 33/11.5 KV, ie. at no load and with nominal voltage applied to the HV the output voltage is higher than nominal LV system volts. The final transformers in the network, providing the 11/0.433 kV transfor- mation, normally have a rating of 1600 kVA or less. These small low-cost units do not warrant the expense and complexity of on-load tapchangers and are thus normally provided with off-circuit taps, usually at 2.5% and +£5% This arrangement enables the voltage ratio to be adjusted to suit the local system conditions, usually when the transformer is initially placed into service, although the facility enables adjustments to be made at a later date should changes to the local system loading, for example, necessitate this. Impedance variation Variation of impedance with tap position is brought about by changes in flux linkages and leakage flux pattems as tapping tums are either added or removed Moan tap Mean tap percent positon positon mmpedance | | | | | | | | | | Minus tapoings Pus tappinas Minus lappings! Pus apaings @ ” Figure 4.42 Typical variation of impedance with tap postion for a ‘woewinding transformer having taps in the body of one of the windingsTransformer construction 173 from the tapped winding. Auxiliary system designers would, of course, prefer to be able to change the voltage ratio without affecting impedance but the best the transformer designer can do is to aim to minimise the variation or possibly achieve an impedance characteristic which is acceptable to the system designer rather than one which might aggravate his problems. It should be noted, however, that any special measures which the transformer designer is requited to take are likely to increase first cost and must therefore be totally justified by system needs. ‘The magnitude and sense of the change depends on the winding config- uration employed and the location of the taps. Figure 4.42 shows typically the patter of variation which may be obtained, although all of these options may not be available to the designer in every case. Figures 4.42(a) and (b) represent the type of variation to be expected when the taps are placed in the body of one of the windings. Figure 4.43 represents a series of sections through the windings of a two- winding transformer having the tapings in the body of the HV winding. In all three cases the HV winding is slightly shorter than the LV winding in order to allow for the extra end insulation of the former. In Figure 4.43(a) all tappings are in circuit, Figure 4.43(b) shows the effective disposition of the windings on the principal tapping and Figure 4.43(c) when all the tappings are out of circuit. It can be seen that, although all the arrangements are symmet- tical about the winding centre line and therefore have overall axial balance, the top and bottom halves are only balanced in the condition represented by Figure 4.43(b). This condition will therefore have the minimum leakage flux and hence the minimum impedance. Addition or removal of tapings increases the unbalance and thus increases the impedance. It can also be seen that the degree of unbalance is greatest in Figure 4.43(c), so that this is the condition corresponding to maximum impedance. This enables an explana tion to be given for the form of impedance variation shown in Figure 4.42. Figure 4.42(a) corresponds to the winding configuration of Figure 4.43. It can be seen that the tap position for which the unbalance is minimum can be varied by the insertion of gaps in the untapped winding so that the plot can be reversed (Figure 4.42(b)) and, by careful manipulation of the gaps at the centre of the untapped winding and the ends of the tapped winding, a more or less symmetrical curve about the mean tap position can be obtained. This is usually the curve which gives minimum overall variation, From this it will be apparent also that the variation will be reduced if the space which the taps occupy can be reduced to a minimum. While this can be achieved by increasing the current density in the tapping tums, the extent to which this can be done is limited by the need to ensure that the temperature rise in this section does not greatly exceed that of the body of the winding, since this would then create a hot-spot. If it is necessary to insert extra radial cooling ducts in order to limit the temperature rise, then the space taken up by these offsets some of the space savings gained from the increased current density. The designer's control of temperature rise in the taps tends to be174 Transformer construction s, + DISPLACEMENT OF CENTRE LINES OF HALF WINDINGS a) Mawnan tap to) Pencvpal tap DISPLACEMENT OF CENTRE INES OF HALF winloINGS. ep anima tag Figure 4.43 Effects of tappings within windings -ss than that which can be achieved in the body of the winding, where the designer can vary the number of sections by adjusting the number of tums per section, with a radial cooling duct every one or two sections. In the taps, the turns per section are dictated by the need to ensure that the tapping leads appear at the appropriate position on the outside of a section, hence one tap must span an even number of sections, with a minimum of twoTransformer construction 175 With the tapings contained in a separate layer the degree of impedance variation throughout the tapping range tends to be less than for taps in the body of the HV winding but the slope of the characteristic can be reversed depending on where the taps are located. This is illustrated by reference to Figure 4.44 which shows altemative arrangements having HV taps located either outside the main high-voltage winding or inside the low-voltage winding. Ampere-turn distributions for each extreme tap position are shown for both arrangements and also the resulting impedance variation characteristics. The arrangement having the taps located outside the HV winding is most commonly used in the UK and usually the transformer will have a star-connected HV winding taps | | uv Hv. Ww uv | | -Ltaes Ampere p | tt i ‘ums tap ji fi r\y i : t : ‘Ampere: | | if | turns ! ! tp | : : F Radial eistance Radial distance Mean tap Impedance Mea percent | Minus tapings’ Plus tappings Minus teppings Plus tappings (a) Taps inside LV winding (©) Taps outside HV winding Figure 4.44 Impedance variation with tap position with taps in a separate layer. In both cases HV winding is tapped winding176 Transformer construction employing non-uniform insulation. With this arrangement, described earlier in this chapter, the taps will probably have two sections in parallel and a centre gap to accommodate the HV line lead. The impedance characteristic shown in Figure 4.44(b) will in this case be modified by the additional distortion of This will probably result in an the leakage flux created by the centre gap, additional component of impedance and a re Figure 445. Percent impedance| ‘Additional Component due to gap in HV tapping winding Minus tapings Plus tappings Figure 4.45 Effect of gap in HV tapping winding on percentage Impedance In the arrangements described above all the tappings are configured in a linear fashion, that is, for each increasing tap position an equal number of tapping tums are added, However, if these are contained in a separate layer, it is possible to configure these in a buck/boost arrangement as indicated in Figure 4.46, With this arrangement the taps are first inserted with a subtractive polarity, that is, minimum tap position is achieved by inserting all taps in such a sense as to oppose the voltage developed in the main HV winding, these are removed progressively with increasing tap position until on mean tap all tapping tums are out and they are then added in the reverse sense until on maximum tap all ate inserted, The advantage of this arrangement is that it reduces the physical size of the tapping winding and also the voltage across the tapping range. The reduction in size is beneficial whether this is placed inside the LV winding or outside the HV winding. In the former case a smaller tap winding enables the diameters of both LV and HV main windings to beTransformer construction 17 — line High voltage winding — Reversing switch _ Bucklboost tapping winding Tap selector switches. Neutral Figure 4.48 Connection of HV tapping winding in buck/boost arrangement reduced. In both cases it produces a small reduction in impedance, which is often useful in the case of large high-voltage transformers, as well as reducing the number of tapping leads. The reason for the impedance reduction will be apparent from a simple example: a transformer requires 1000 turns on principal tap with a tapping range of 10%, With a linear arrangement this would have 900 tums in the body of the HV winding and 200 in the tapping winding. This is represented by Figure 4.47(a). If a buck/boost arrangement were used the HV winding would have 1000 turns in the main body and 100 tums in the tapping winding as shown in Figure 4.47(b). Both arrangements utilise the same total number of tums but it is clear that the area of the ampere-tums diagram is less in the case of the buck/boost arrangement. The price to be paid for these benefits is a slightly more complicated and therefore more expensive tapchanger. ‘Tapchanger mechanisms The principal of on-load tapchanging was developed in the late 1920s and requires a mechanism which will meet the following two conditions:178 Transformer construction w | | wv | | pte w | | av. Tap 900 200 1000 100 turns tums Ampere- turns tap =o (@) Linear tapping arrangement (b) Buckiboost tapping arrangement ‘Area under ampere-turns curves differs by difference in shaded areas for A, shaded area is: {or B, shaded area is 200 "100 ax 2nare dx = 0.36 dh = 0.18 ah Readers may wish to sketch the equivalent diagrams for the minimum tap condition, In this ease the tapping winding makes no contribution to the total ampere-turns withthe linear arrangement but adds negative ampere-turms with the buck/boost arrangement. Figure 4.47 Effect of type of tapping winding on impedance © The load current must not be interrupted during a tapchange. © No section of the transformer winding may be short-circuited during a tapchange, Early on-load tapchangers made use of reactors to achieve these ends but in modem on-load tapchangers these have been replaced by transition resistors which have many advantages. In fact, the first resistor-transition tapchanger made its appearance in 1929, but the system was not generally adopted in the UK until the 1950s. In the USA, the change to resistors only started to take place in the 1980s. Despite the fact that it was recognised that resistor transition had advantages of longer contact life, due to the relatively short arcing times associated with unity power factor switching, the centre-tapped reactor-type tapchanger was, in general, more popular because reactors could be designed to be continuously rated, whereas transition resistors had a finite time rating due to the high power dissipated when in circuit. This would have been of little consequence if positive mechanical tapchanger operations could have been assured but, although various attempts at achieving this were generally successful, there were risks of damage if a tapchanger failed to complete its cycle of operation. With the carlier designs thermal protection arrangements were usually introduced, to initiate the tripping and isolation of the transformer. These early