University of Canterbury. Electrical and Computer Engineering
Doi
Abstract
This thesis describes the design, construction, and testing of a 15kVA, 11kV/230V partial
core power transformer (PCPT) for continuous operation. While applications for the partial
core transformer have been developed for many years, the concept of constructing a partial
core transformer, from conventional copper windings, as a power transformer has not been
investigated, specifically to have a continuous operation. In this thesis, this concept has been
investigated and tested.
The first part of the research involved creating a computer program to model the physical
dimensions and the electrical performance of a partial core transformer, based on the existing
partial core transformer models.
Also, since the hot-spot temperature is the key factor for limiting the power rating of the
PCPT, the second part of the research investigates a thermal model to simulate the change of
the hot-spot temperature for the designed PCPT. The cooling fluid of the PCPT applied in
this project was BIOTEMP®. The original thermal model used was from the IEEE Guide for
Loading Mineral-Oil-Immersed transformer. However, some changes to the original thermal
model had to be made since the original model does not include BIOTEMP® as a type of
cooling fluid. The constructed partial core transformer was tested to determine its hot-spot
temperature when it is immersed by BIOTEMP®, and the results compared with the thermal
model.
The third part of the research involved using both the electrical model and the thermal model
to design a PCPT. The PCPT was tested to obtain the actual electrical and the thermal
performance for the PCPT.
The overall performance of the PCPT was very close to the model estimation. However,
cooling of the PCPT was not sufficient to allow the PCPT to operate at the design rated load
for continuous operation. Therefore, the PCPT was down rated from 15kVA to maintain the
hot-spot temperature at 100°C for continuous operation. The actual rating of the PCPT is 80%
of the original power rating, which is 12kVA
