Practical Aspects

Question asked and answers

1. How long do our pre-pracs (reports) need to be?
The length of the pre-prac report will depend on the prac itself. For example, it will be of different
lengths for the two pracs in power systems 2.
For the first one: separation of core losses a well written report using highly weighted and related
words and figures with proper flow of concepts and contents should not take more than 3 pages.
The reason is that it is about the separation of core losses occurring in a transformer. So, even if one
starts with the definition of transformer, and how it works, following by the losses that occur in it
and how core losses can be separated and finally the summarised steps (including circuits and
instruments to be used) of the practical itself, it should not take 4 or 5 pages.
However, for the asymmetric fault prac: it may take 4 pages, the reason is that one need to state the
positive, negative and zero sequence reactances of generator, transformer and then different types
of faults which would be investigated following the summarised steps (including circuits and
instruments to be used) for the actual practical.
2. Do we need an abstract?
Actually abstract is not essential here. However, I would leave up to the student. If they want to
include an abstract, it is good. The reason is that writing abstract of a report is an art as well, it
teaches not only how to write them, but also what points must we include in the abstract. If we
practice writing abstracts for each report we submit, it would always be beneficial because it also
helps us to learn to get to the points quickly and illustrate them appropriately in a document.
3. How deep does our pre-prac knowledge need to be?
It should be deep enough required for a student to come do the practical by him/her-self with little
help of the technicians/demonstrators/lecturers (the reason is there might be some cases when one
would not know much about a new equipment/instrument being used by him or her for the first
time). However, if the student knows what s/he is expecting on that new equipment/instrument
without seeing it physically, it would not be very difficult to make it happen.
It is in fact not possible to demonstrate all the required depth of knowledge in the pre-prac report. It
goes beyond the pre-prac report. The reason is doing the practical needs something more than what
is illustrated/expected in a pre-prac report. It is also not possible to assess or evaluate one if s/he
has the required depth of knowledge from the report itself. The report will not be showing any
evidence of how one is capable of connecting the equipment and measuring instruments during the
practical although it might show the correct connection diagram. But it is essential that the student
has at least some idea how they should be connected. A very simple example can be given here
one might have shown in the report the connection of a simple circuit having a source, a voltmeter,
an ammeter and a load. However, while connecting them, s/he might not be able to do so by
himself/herself. There have been so many instances where wrong meters were selected (AC/DC),

wrong polarities were chosen (incoming/outgoing), connecting ammeters like a voltmeter and so on.
This is the most important area where student must focus on.
Actually, student can judge himself/herself properly as well being honest if s/he can perform the
prac with little help/guidance from others, and would ask the things s/he would need to know about
the new equipment/instrument or such things and that is what is required.
4. What do K and L stand for on the current transformers?
I did not get any direct answer to the question asked. But it is true that these are the names given to
the terminals of the CT according to the naming convention followed by the manufacturer or
standards followed by the manufacturers.
For example this K-L and k-l are the naming conventions used by Gossen (from Germany) where K-L
are the input and output terminals respectively on the higher current side (or primary side) while k-l
are the lower current side (or secondary side).
Fig. 1 shows connections of CT and PT from such a company that can be studied to understand what
their recommendations are about how to use their instrument:

Fig. 1: CT and PT Connections

It is clearly shown in the Fig. 1 that K is connected to the supply side (or in other words K is the input
terminal) and L goes to load while k-l is connected to the meter. The same can be said about the PT
here. The terminals are labelled as U-V (HV side) and u-v (LV side) where they are the voltage
terminals.
However, it is important to note again that the naming depends on the standards being followed. In
IEEE standards, the convention used for transformer terminal marking is H-X for high voltage and
low voltage windings respectively.
Again coming back to CT, the naming of the terminals used by another company is as P1-P2 and S1S2 representing primary and secondary terminals respectively which are shown in Fig. 2.

Fig. 2: CT connection

However, the most import thing here to take note of or learn is that CTs are polarised and must be
fitted in correct way. CTs are marked with P1 and P2 to indicate which way they should connected
around the cable or the busbar. The side marked P2 must point toward the generator, and P2 must
point toward the load. The CT output secondary must be connected to the meter correctly. All
terminals supplied with secondary terminals marked S1 and S2 which must be connected to the
correct terminals on the meter. The meter will not register correctly if any of the CTs are connected
incorrectly. The S1 terminal must be connected to the current in terminal for the appropriate
phase on the meter while S2 terminal must be connected to the current out terminal of the meter.
5. For Power Systems prac PS4, for part (d), when we are required to increase the excitation
current to full load current, how do we achieve this and what full load current value do we use?
In part (d), we are determining the sequence reactance of a transformer. According to the prac
manual, the current should be full-load current and the transformer is a 1:1 one in which case the
current supplied by the generator and the current on the secondary side of the transformer would
be the same. However, as we dont have the 1:1 transformer, we use the transformer ratio and
maintain the same generator full-load current for this part of prac. For example, for the old
generator we have full-load current of 26 A and we would be maintaining that current whereas for
the new generator the full-load current is 10.1 A and again we maintain the same current.
Now, the important thing here is that the ammeters are connected on the secondary side of the
transformer and by making sure that those currents are 15.05 A and 16.68 A, the currents at the
generator sides would be 26 A and 10.1 respectively.
Obviously, these currents can be achieved by increasing the voltage across the generator stator
terminals by increasing the flux (by increasing excitation current). As we start with a short-circuit on
the secondary side of the of the transformer, we would observe no or low voltage. But when S.C.
condition is withdrawn, the voltage is readable.