System faults

System short circuits produce a relatively intense rate of heating of

the feeding transformers, the copper loss increasing in proportion to
the square of the per unit fault current. The typical duration of
external short circuits that a transformer can sustain without
damage if the current is limited only by the self-reactance is shown
in Table 15.1. IEC 60076 provides further guidance on short-circuit
withstand levels.
Maximum mechanical stress on windings occurs during the first
cycle of the fault. Avoidance of damage is a matter of transformer
design.
2.8.3 Overvoltages
Overvoltage conditions are of two kinds:
i. transient surge voltages
ii. power frequency overvoltage
Transient overvoltages arise from faults, switching, and lightning
disturbances and are liable to cause interturn faults, as described in
Section 2.5. These overvoltages are usually limited by shunting the
high voltage terminals to earth either with a plain rod gap or by
surge diverters, which comprise a stack of short gaps in series with
a non-linear resistor. The surge diverter, in contrast to the rod gap,
has the advantage of extinguishing the flow of power current after
discharging a surge, in this way avoiding subsequent isolation of
the transformer.
Power frequency overvoltage causes both an increase in stress on
the insulation and a proportionate increase in the working flux.
The latter effect causes an increase in the iron loss and a
disproportionately large increase in magnetising current.
In addition, flux is diverted from the laminated core into structural
steel parts. The core bolts, which normally carry little flux, may be
subjected to a large flux diverted from the highly saturated region of
core alongside. This leads to a rapid temperature rise in the bolts,
destroying their insulation and damaging coil insulation if the
condition continues.
2.8.4 Reduced system frequency
Reduction of system frequency has an effect with regard to flux
density, similar to that of overvoltage.
It follows that a transformer can operate with some degree of
overvoltage with a corresponding increase in frequency, but
operation must not be continued with a high voltage input at a low
frequency. Operation cannot be sustained when the ratio of voltage
to frequency, with these quantities given values in per unit of their
rated values, exceeds unity by more than a small amount, for
instance if . If a substantial rise in system voltage has been
catered for in the design, the base of �unit voltage� should be taken
as the highest voltage for which the transformer is designed.