An Efficient Investigation of Coupled

Electromagnetic-Thermal-Fluid Numerical Model for

Temperature Rise Prediction of Power Transformer
Hyun-Mo Ahn, Byuk-Jin Lee, and Sung-Chin Hahn*
Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Dong-A University, Busan 604-714, Korea
E-mail: schahn@dau.ac.kr

Abstract — This paper deals with coupled electromagnetic- noted that the predicted temperature on the surface of high
thermal-fluid analysis for temperature prediction of a power voltage winding, low voltage winding, and radiator show good
transformer. Electric power losses are calculated from finite agreement with the experimental values.
element method (FEM), and are used as input source of thermal-
fluid analysis based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In
order to accurately investigate the temperature distribution in a II. ANALYSIS MODEL OF POWER TRANSFORMER
power transformer, the thermal problem should be coupled with In this paper, we deal with a core-type power transformer
the electromagnetic problem. The coupling method proposed in (6600/690, 1MVA, single-phase). The coupling analysis has
this paper is compared with the experimental values for verifying
two steps to be solved. First, the electromagnetic model should
the validity of the analysis. The predicted temperatures show
good agreements with the experimental values. be modeled to obtain the heat source. Next, the thermal model
is solved with the heat source obtained from electromagnetic
I. INTRODUCTION analysis. To reduce the computing time efficiently, the
insulating material and the supporting structures are neglected
As the power transmission capacity increases, the power
in electromagnetic analysis. The electromagnetic model is
apparatus such as a power transformer is required to have
shown Fig. 1(a). To increase the computing accuracy, the
larger power rating, which is inevitable from larger size. The
thermal-fluid model is build up with radiator, coil winding
compact size with high efficiency of a power transformer can
with oil ducts, and insulating parts as shown in Fig. 1(b). The
be realized with the assistance of good thermal design under
specifications of a power transformer model are shown in
high power operation. Most of the power transformers are
Table I.
strongly restricted by thermal regulation specifying hot-spot
temperature inside the transformer tank. Particularly, the hot-
spot temperature of the power transformer is quickly causes
the deterioration of the insulating material. Namely, the life of
a power transformer is mainly governed by the temperature
rise [1]. Conventionally, the empirical approaches for thermal
design have been employed for satisfying the requirements,
mainly because of difficulties in finding solutions for coupled
problems between electromagnetic field and thermal field [2].
This paper deals with the coupled electromagnetic-thermal-
fluid analysis for the temperature rise prediction of a power
transformer. In order to accurately predict temperature rise,
electric power losses are calculated from electromagnetic (a) ) Electromagnetic model
analysis based on FEA. The calculated electric power losses
by electromagnetic analysis are used as input data for thermal-
fluid analysis based on CFD solving governing equations
composed of three conservation equations [5].
Particularly, to reduce analysis region, the heat transfer
coefficient is applied to boundary surface of the power
transformer model. Also, in order to increase accuracy of
analysis, the electric power losses of coil windings couple the
thermal problem with the electromagnetic problem.
With the utilization of the electric power losses and heat
transfer coefficient, we predicted the temperature rise by
coupled electromagnetic-thermal-fluid analysis. For verifying (b) Thermal-fluid model.
the validity, the proposed coupling method is compared with Fig. 1. Power transformer model for coupled analysis.
the experimental values for the power transformer model. It is
 TABLE I 1
2V e ³
SPECIFICATIONS OF THE POWER TRANSFORMER Pw J s2 dv (2)
Classification Specification
Rated Power [MVA] 1 Where, Pw is power loss of coil winding [W] and dv
Rated Voltage [V] 6600 / 690 represents the incremental volume element. However, the core
Frequency [Hz] 60 loss is rather complicated to compute exactly because the
material of a transformer core has nonlinear characteristics.
III. ELECTROMAGNETIC-THERMAL-FLUID ANALYSIS Moreover, the Steinmetz equation has occasionally some
errors comparing to measurement values. In this paper, we
A. Electromagnetic Field Analysis used Bertotti model to reduce such errors as below [3, 4].
1) Governing Equation
For the analysis of the temperature distribution in a power
K h fBm2  K c ( fBm ) 2  K e  fBm 
1.5
transformer, the total heat source should be known in advance. Pc (3)
From Maxwell’s equation, quasi-static magnetic field problem
can be solved from governing equation using magnetic vector Where, Pc is power loss of transformer core [W] and K h ,
potential shown as below [6].
K c , and K e are hysteresis loss coefficient, classical loss
JG
1 JG G wA coefficient, and excess loss coefficient, respectively, and f is
’u (’ u A) JS  V (1)
Pe wt frequency [Hz], and Bm represents maximum flux density [T].
Considering Bertotti model in (3), the total core loss
G consisting of hysteresis loss and classical loss, and excess loss
Where, P e is magnetic permeability [H/m], A represents
G can accurately be solved from core loss coefficients by using
magnetic vector potential, J s is current density [A/m2], and core loss data (B-P curve) as shown Fig. 3.
V is conductivity [S/m].

2) Magnetic Flux Density

Assuming a power transformer at no-load condition, the
magnetic flux density is calculated from non-linear
magnetization characteristic data (B-H curve) of the
transformer core. The distribution of magnetic flux density at
no-load condition is shown in Fig. 2. As seen in this figure,
magnetic flux density is uniformly distributed over the silicon
core. The calculated magnetic flux density is used for
calculation of core loss in the electric power losses [7].
Fig. 3. Core losse by using loss coefficients.

The measured data (core loss data by manufacturer) and

shows good agreement at operating regions of the power
transformer. In this figure, total core loss is sum of hysteresis
loss, classical loss, and excess loss [9]. The resultant electric
power losses consist of copper losses and core loss. The
calculated electric power losses are used as input data for
thermal field analysis and are given in Table II.

TABLE II
ELECTRIC POWER LOSS DENSITY OF POWER TRANSFORMER (CALCULATED)

Fig. 2. Magnetic flux density of transformer core. Classification Power Loss Density [W/m3]

High Voltage Winding 163,020.6

3) Electric Power Losses Low Voltage Winding 188,305.7
The electric power losses of a power transformer commonly Core 10,335.3
consist of copper loss and core loss. The copper losses are
resistive losses in winding caused by main current flow. The B. Thermal-Fluid Field Analysis
copper losses can be calculated from rated current in primary 1) Governing Equation
and secondary windings as below [8]. Typically, the heat transfer in a power transformer is largely
influenced by circulating cooling oil circulation, of which
momentum characteristics can be investigated by CFD
analysis. The mechanism of oil flow, convection heat transfer,
and temperature distribution of a power transformer are
predicted by solving the governing equations simultaneously
of three conservation equations [5, 10, 11].
G
Continuity equation : ’ ˜ U v 0 (4)
G
Dv G G
Momentum equation : U U g  ’p  P’ 2 v (5)
Dt
DT wQ
Energy equation : U cv  ’ 2 (kT )  ) (6) Fig. 4. Flow chart of coupled electromagnetic-thermal field analysis.
Dt wt
G G As seen in Fig. 4, electric power losses are calculated from
Where, U is density [kg/m3] and v is velocity [m/s] and g electromagnetic field analysis, then temperature distribution is
G
is gravity acceleration [m/s2] and P is viscosity [kg/m·s] and predicted by thermal-fluid field analysis with obtained heat
cv is pressure [N/m2] and T is temperature [ଇ] and Q is heat source obtained from electromagnetic field analysis.
Considering material properties depending on temperature,
source [W/m3] and k is thermal conductivity [W/mଇ], and heat sources are recalculated according to flow chart of
) is loss function. coupled method iteratively.

2) Heat Transfer Coefficient IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The boundary conditions of tank and radiator is defined
The temperature distribution considering fluid dynamics
with the heat transfer coefficient, which has been practically
can be investigated by CFD. According to the cooling material
obtained by analytic calculation applying the Nusselt number
and the geometry, the typical heat transfer coefficient at
for the vertical and horizontal plane as follows [8, 12].
natural convection is used as boundary values on the interface
between the radiator, tank and the atmosphere. The respective
k
h Nu (7) heat transfer coefficient at the radiator and the tank is assigned
G to 7 [W/m2ଇ] and 5 [W/m2ଇ]. The predicted temperature
­° ½°
2 distribution of the power transformer by the coupled analysis
0.387 Ra1/ 6
Nu v ®0.825  ¾ (8) method is shown in Fig. 5, which shows that hot-spot
¯° [1  (0.492 / Pr)9/16 ]8/ 27 ¿° temperature rising up to 128.3 [ଇ] located at the upper part of
Nu h 0.27 Ra1/ 4 (9) inner coil winding for low voltage, while ambient temperature
was kept to be 26.9 [ଇ].
Where, h is heat transfer coefficient [W/m2ଇ] and G is
characteristic length [m] and Nuv and Nuh are Nusselt
number of vertical plane and Nusselt number of horizontal
plane, respectively, and Ra and Pr represent Rayleigh
number and Prandtl number, respectively.
C. Electromagnetic-Thermal Field Coupling Method
The thermal fields are influenced by electromagnetic effects
since some of the material properties are dependent on the
temperature [8]. When the electrical resistivity is affected by
the temperature, the copper losses should be recalculated by Fig. 5. Temperature distribution of the power transformer model.
the equation of the temperature changes as below.
It is because the inner winding area is prevented from heat
I 2 AUe,0 [1  D c (T  T0 )] flow due to the mechanical structure and the insulating
Pw (T ) (10)
A material. Also, the amount of heat source of low voltage
winding is greater than that in high voltage winding. As a
Where, I is current [A] and A represents length [m] and result, the low voltage winding seems to be the highest
D c is temperature coefficient, and A is surface [m2]. The flow temperature region on the whole. In order to verify the validity
chart of coupled electromagnetic-thermal field analysis for of the proposed method, the temperature rise is measured at
determining the electric power loss of the windings is shown some points on the high voltage winding, low voltage winding,
and radiator as seen in Fig. 6.
in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6. Temperautre measuring point of the power transformer model.
The measured values from temperature rise test are
compared with numerically estimated values. Those values are
shown in Fig. 7.
(a) Comparison at HV1 and HV2
(b) Comparison at LV1-LV4
(c) Comparison at RA1 and RA2
Fig. 7. Temperautre rise prediction of power transformer.
As seen in Fig. 7, the predicted temperatures at specific
points from the proposed coupled method show good
agreements with experimental values.
V. CONCLUSION
This paper deals with the temperature rise prediction of a
power transformer by coupled electromagnetic-thermal-fluid
field analysis. The electric power losses are calculated from
electromagnetic field analysis using FEM. and are used as heat
sources for thermal-fluid field analysis based on CFD.
Particularly, the analysis region is reduced by using heat
transfer coefficient, which is applied to boundary surface of
tank and radiator. Especially, in order to increase accuracy of
analysis, the generated electric power losses of coil windings
are applied to heat source considering the material properties
depending on temperature. The results obtained from the
proposed coupling method are compared with the
experimental values for verifying the validity of the analysis.
It is noted that the predicted temperature rises on the surfaces
of high voltage winding, low voltage winding, and radiator
show good agreement with the experimental values. Therefore,
the proposed method is considered to be useful in the thermal
design of power transformers.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research was financially supported by the Ministry of
Education, Science Technology (MEST) and Korea Institute
for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) and through the
Human Resource Training Project for Regional Innovation
and by the high-quality human resources of the Korea Institute
of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP)
grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge
Economy (No.2009H100100164).
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