Impact and sources of reverse current on neutral and windings of

Utility transformer:
Reverse current flows in a system when the output voltages in that are higher than the input
voltages. This alters the direction of current too and current starts flowing backwards i.e. from load
towards the source.

One source of reverse current is when the system input is suddenly disconnected, so that a higher
voltage is left at the output which produces reverse current for a short interval. The other source of
reverse current is when the body diode of an FET becomes forward biased. If there is an FET present in
the system and the FET output voltage becomes greater than the input voltage then the reverse current
flows backward through the body diode. A linear rise in power dissipation is observed due to this
phenomena. Another reason of reverse current flow is the power multiplexing or the power muxing
process. In this process the circuit is switched to select one of the multiple power supplies available. It the
voltage of one power supply is greater than the other then the reverse current can flow even if the other
power supply has an “open” switch.
It is to be noted that the reverse voltage and reverse current are two different phenomenon.
Negative voltage is when the polarity of the system is changed i.e. the positive and negative terminals of
the power source are switched. So as a result the terminal connected to the ground then have the positive
output from the system and the current that flows in this case is not same as the reverse current.
If the power dissipated in a particular device is more than its thermal rating then that device may
be burned. Therefore for the protection purposes reverse current or reverse voltage should be taken care
of. Reverse current can damage the internal circuitry of any system and also of the power supplies. It can
also damage cables and connectors based upon the path that the reverse current follows from the input to
the output.
The impacts of reverse current on a transformer could and could not be severe in nature. In the
case of utility transformers i.e. distribution transformers if the reverse current that flows in neutral is high,
it would shift the Wye junction point of the transformer from ground potential. If the voltage is reduced
considerably then the voltage of the heavily loaded phase will also be reduced and the voltage of low
loaded phase will be increased, this may lead to the damage of the appliances. The other possibility is that
if the reverse current that flows through the neutral is too high then there is a risk that the connection may
also get burned and cause the open circuit. It will cause the high voltage difference than the normal
voltage and eventually it will cause blackout and appliances could be damaged. The voltages increased on
the low loaded phase due to the high reverse current flow would be the reason to increase the voltage than
the permissible voltage per turn rating and it will lead towards the damage of transformer winding due to
the failure of insulation. The phase that is heavily loaded would have to bear the over load temperature
rise and the windings would be damaged.