Investigation into the impacts on 11kV feeder operation as a result of the increasing use of amorphous core transformers

Duffy, Michael Anthony (2012) Investigation into the impacts on 11kV feeder operation as a result of the increasing use of amorphous core transformers. [USQ Project]

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Abstract

The motivation for completing this specific project was because Ausgrid is currently conducting a small tiral of four Amorphous Steel Core (ASC) 200kVA pole top transformers. this trail is part of a strategy to reduce operating costs of the distribution network, which would be specifically achieved by larger scale roll out of ASC transformers.

With this in mind two apsects of this trial deserved further investigation:
- A more meaningful economic comparison with specific attention to the performance of these transformers in comparison with existing cold rolled gain oriented (CRGO)legacy transformers across a range of load profiles.
- an investigation into the possible increased levels of inrush current in these 'new' tranformers and what implications this increase level of inrush current might have on existing protection schemes used on Ausgrid's 11kV distribution system.

Both these investigations were carried out using Matlab applications and the results were as follows:
- The ASC transformers out performed economically the legacy CRGO transformers across all load profiles. This performance was due to the fact that these transformers exhibited reduced no load and load losses characteristics. What further influenced these results in the ASC favour was that the purchase price of these ACS transformers is only 10% higher than existing transformers.
- The ASC transformers developed inrush current levels well below those designed for in existing protection schemes ad as such there is no implications if large scale roll out of these transformers was implemented.

With these results in mind there was 3 significant recommendation made before larger scale roll out of these transformers:
- Re-assess the manufactured quality of the transformers after a two year period.
- Assess the performance characteristics of other capacity transformers.
- Rectify an error within the inrush current simulator to ensure the validity of results presented in this report.

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Item Type:	USQ Project
Refereed:	No
Item Status:	Live Archive
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:	Historic - Faculty of Engineering and Surveying - Department of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (Up to 30 Jun 2013)
Supervisors:	Ahfock, Tony
Date Deposited:	26 Feb 2013 23:42
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2013 05:34
Uncontrolled Keywords:	amorphous core transformers; ausgrid; transformers
Fields of Research (2008):	09 Engineering > 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering > 090607 Power and Energy Systems Engineering (excl. Renewable Power) 09 Engineering > 0906 Electrical and Electronic Engineering > 090601 Circuits and Systems
Fields of Research (2020):	40 ENGINEERING > 4008 Electrical engineering > 400805 Electrical energy transmission, networks and systems 40 ENGINEERING > 4008 Electrical engineering > 400801 Circuits and systems
URI:	https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/23106

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