Professional Documents
Culture Documents
nd
2 edition published May 2010 under participation of
Ake Carlsson
Franz Wegscheider
Gottfried Schemel
Jitka Fuhr
ABB Ltd
Transformers
Affolternstrasse 44
P.O. Box 8131
CH-8050 Zurich
Switzerland
www.abb.com/transformers
In almost every place where people live and work you will find at least one transformer, behind the scenes keeping the
supply of power to the escalator in the department store, the hotel lift, the office computer, the oven in the local bakery,
the farm machinery or the petrochemical plant. Nobody gives it a second thought to the important role it plays in the
overall power supply. Less you are in the energy business ensuring grid reliability and stability.
The quality of a transformer is of utmost importance for safety, industrial and financial reasons. In 2003, ABB compiled all
its knowledge in a book titled “Testing of Power Transformers”
The feedback from our customers has been very positive since in the year of its publication. The book has been sold all
over the world and is widely used in the industry and in universities for lecture purposes.
The overall interest has given us the idea to accept the challenge of adding to the original version. The basic structure of
the manual remains unchanged whereas we have updated some charts and graphics. Our aim remains defining the key
elements and principles of transformer testing.
In this second edition, a new section on the testing of shunt reactors has been added.
We are grateful to our customers who have embraced this guide. Their comments and feedback remain a source of
ideas and inspiration. We thank them for their helpful input and trust that this new edition will aid them to further their
knowledge, expertise, insight and contribution to the field of transformer testing.
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 18
1.1 Why transformer and reactor testing? ............................................................................................................. 18
1.2 Types of tests ................................................................................................................................................... 18
1.3 Test sequence .................................................................................................................................................. 19
1.3.1 IEC Standards ............................................................................................................................................. 19
1.3.2 IEEE Standards ........................................................................................................................................... 19
1.3.3 Recommendation of the authors ................................................................................................................. 19
1.4 Remarks concerning this test book .................................................................................................................. 20
2 Dielectric integrity and its verification ................................................................................................ 21
2.1 References / Standards ................................................................................................................................... 21
2.2 General ............................................................................................................................................................ 21
2.3 Voltages appearing during operation............................................................................................................... 21
2.3.1 Lightning over-voltages ............................................................................................................................... 22
2.3.2 Switching over-voltages .............................................................................................................................. 22
2.3.3 Temporary over-voltages ............................................................................................................................ 22
2.4 Verifying transformer major insulation electric strength .................................................................................... 23
2.5 Test voltages .................................................................................................................................................... 24
2.5.1 Alternating voltages ..................................................................................................................................... 24
2.5.2 Impulse voltages ......................................................................................................................................... 24
2.6 Test requirements ............................................................................................................................................ 24
2.6.1 IEC-philosophy ............................................................................................................................................ 24
2.6.2 IEEE / ANSI philosophy [51] ........................................................................................................................ 25
2.6.3 Repeated dielectric tests [3] ....................................................................................................................... 26
2.7 Examples for dielectric routine tests ................................................................................................................ 26
Appendix A 2: Dielectric integrity and its verification .............................................................................................. 27
A 2.1 Examples .......................................................................................................................................................... 27
3 Measurement of winding resistance ................................................................................................... 29
3.1 References / Standards ................................................................................................................................... 29
3.2 Purpose of the test ........................................................................................................................................... 29
3.3 General ............................................................................................................................................................ 29
3.4 Principle and methods for resistance measurement...................................................................................... 30
3.4.1 “Voltmeter-ammeter method” ...................................................................................................................... 30
3.4.2 Resistance measurement using a Kelvin (Thomson) Bridge ....................................................................... 31
3.5 Measuring procedure ...................................................................................................................................... 31
3.5.1 General ....................................................................................................................................................... 31
3.5.2 Voltmeter-ammeter method ......................................................................................................................... 31
The authors vocabulary in the test book is based on IEC Standards. There are no really important differences between
the vocabulary applied in IEC and IEEE (ANSI) Stanbdards.
The only exception is the use of the word “earth”/”earthed” (according to IEC) and “ground”/”grounded” (according to
IEEE).