Investigation the Feasibility of Distribution System
Voltage Regulation with a Three Winding
Transformer
R. R. L. L. Wijayaratne, P. J. Binduhewa, S. G. Abeyratne, J. B. Ekanayake
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
University of Peradeniya
Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
lochanawijayaratne@ee.pdn.ac.lk, prabathb@ee.pdn.ac.lk, sunil@ee.pdn.ac.lk and jbe@ee.pdn.ac.lk
Abstract—It is anticipated that with increased penetration of
micro scale renewable generation sources, electric vehicles and
demand response initiatives the voltage of low voltage networks
need to be controlled in real time. Commonly used method of
voltage control is on-load tap changing. However as this has
limitations, an electronically controlled Volt-Var Control
(VVC) scheme based on a three winding transformer is
investigated. Two configurations based on serial injection and
parallel compensation are studied for their relevant merits. A
simple radial network with two loads was considered to assess the
effectiveness of the proposed VVC schemes against a tap
changing transformer. VVC approaches presented in this paper
seem to be promising. However, further work is required with a
more realistic transformer and a power electronically controlled
voltage source converter to assess the effectiveness of this scheme.
Keywords—Volt-Var Control(VVC); Demand side
management; Three winding transformer; Parallel Compensation;
Serial Injection
I. INTRODUCTION
In response to climate change, many governments have set
ambitious targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from
electricity generation. In order to achieve these targets utilities
are considering to increase the share of renewable energy. It is
anticipated that renewable energy will be added to the system
at all voltage levels.
With constant decrease in solar photovoltaic (PV) prices
and different mechanisms introduced by governments to
promote PV, it is anticipated that penetration of PV at low
voltage (LV) levels will increase. While micro-generators such
as micro-wind turbines and solar PV systems are connecting to
the LV grids, there is also a trend of connecting electrical
vehicles (EV) for charging.
With the penetration of renewables at high voltage and
medium voltage levels, the utilities will face issues of operating
the national grids in a cost effective manner. As renewables are
intermittent and their output is varying with time, maintaining
the balance between the variable generation and demand
becomes one of the major challenges. Even though the
variability of renewable output can be managed by having a
large reserve, operating de-loaded generators reduces the
overall efficiency of the power generation and increases the
cost of operation of the power grid. Therefore it is inevitable
that the demand side measures should be in place to provide
ancillary services such as response. It is anticipated that EV can
be operated in vehicle to grid (V2G) or gird to vehicle (G2V)
modes thus providing response services.
With the connection of microgeneration and increased
demand side participation it is anticipated that the LV
distribution network loading, thus voltage profile, will change
continuously. This will pose challengers to operate the LV
networks with passive approaches such as off-load tap
changers and fixed capacitors that are utilized at present. In
order to manage distribution network voltages more actively
(within ±10% of declared voltage level), the VVC is now
considered as a fundamental operating requirement [1]. With
the penetration of intermittent renewable generation grows,
high-speed dynamic VVC is required.
While VVC supports distribution networks, it also could be
used to manage power consumption of loads thus providing
demand side management. Constant impedance loads such as
incandescent lights, resistive water heaters, stovetop and oven
cooking loads and kettles, and constant current loads such as
welding units reduces their power consumption with the
reduction of voltage. Further in loads involving magnetic
circuits (such as transformers) iron losses are reduced when
voltage is lowered. Demand side management through VVC is
an ideal solution for developing countries where implementing
advanced smart metering infrastructure is expensive and
consumers are less responsive for demand side measures.
II. PROPOSED VVC SCHEME – PARALLEL COMPENSATION
Different approaches of solid state tap changes for VVC of
distribution networks are proposed in the literature. In [2]
connecting a number of series windings with the secondary
winding of a transformer through 4-quadrant converter is
suggested for tap changing. A number of references presents a
tap changing transformer using a back-to-back thyristor
switches to switch between taps [3],[4]. In view of voltage
regulation using a tertiary winding transformer, papers [5] and
[6] presents a method with an auxiliary winding transformer,
for feeding a synchronous condenser available at high voltage
systems.
 dφm
Ep = N p (1)
dt
dφm
Es = N s (2)
dt
dφ m
Et = N t (3)
dt
Ep Es E
= = t (4)
Np Ns Nt

Total primary current is a vector sum of the no-load current

(i.e. magnetizing component, Im since core losses are
neglected) and the load current (Ip’) (i.e. demagnetizing
component of secondary load current, Is) as shown in (5).

Fig. 1. Proposed VVC scheme I p = I m + I ′p (5)

The proposed VVC approach based on a three winding Primary ampere turns and can be represented by the
transformer is shown in Fig. 1. Existing distribution addition of secondary and tertiary ampere turns as given in
transformer is replaced with a specially designed three winding equation (6) [7]:
transformer. An external source is connected to the tertiary I ′p N p + It Nt = I s N s (6)
winding. Voltage source controller (VSC) was used to control
the external source voltage. A hysteresis current controller is Using (4), and (6), VA rating of the tertiary winding for an
used to control the tertiary current accordingly. Voltage ideal transformer can be derived in terms of primary and
variation at the secondary terminal was achieved with a secondary parameters, as given in (7),
specially designed reactance network corresponding to three
windings; without disturbing the flux distribution inside the
(
⎡ Is Ns − I p N p
Et I t ∗ = Es ⎢
)⎤⎥∗ (7)
transformer core. A simulation study was carried out to see the ⎢⎣ Ns ⎥⎦
capability of distribution voltage regulation using this approach
A practical transformer differs from the ideal transformers
and the performance is compared with a tap changing
in many aspects. It has core losses, winding resistances and
transformer.
magnetic leakage, giving rise to leakage reactances. Fig. 3
III. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS represents the primary referred single phase three winding
transformer equivalent circuit with respective leakage
Fig. 2, represents a single phase three winding transformer. reactances and winding resistances. Let Active power and
The subscript letters p, s and t are used for primary, secondary reactive power requirement of the secondary load are denoted
and tertiary respectively. Ø denotes the flux, N denotes the by P and Q respectively. Midpoint is represented using the
number of turns of a winding and I denote the winding letter “G”. It is clear from the Fig. 3, by changing the midpoint
currents. E is used to define the induced voltages in windings. voltage the secondary terminal voltage could be changed.
V stands for the terminal voltages. The total mutual flux is When the tertiary winding is at idle condition, primary terminal
represented by Øm. R stands for the winding resistance and X voltage and midpoint (G) voltage in terms of winding
represent the leakage reactance. The instantaneous value of resistances and leakage reactances can be derived as in (8).
induced electromotive force in the primary, secondary and
tertiary winding due to the mutual flux is given in equations ⎡ ( R p P + X p Q) ⎤ ⎡ X p P − R p Q ⎤
V P = ⎢VG + ⎥ + j⎢ ⎥
(1), (2), and (3). The ratio of three induced voltages was ⎣⎢ VG ⎦⎥ ⎣⎢ VG ⎦⎥
derived using equations (1) to (3) and given in equation (4). (8)

Fig. 2. Single phase three winding transformer at no load Fig. 3. Primary referred three winding transformer equivalent circuit
 When a portion of total power requirement ((1-x)P and
(1-y)Q) is supplied by the tertiary; and by keeping tertiary
winding resistance and reactance lesser than the respective
primary parameters; the midpoint voltage could be change with
the variation of tertiary supply. Therefore it is clear that by
proper selection of the leakage reactance value and winding
resistance of each winding the midpoint voltage thus the
secondary terminal voltage could be change.
In the simulation study a special three winding transformer
is selected such that primary winding reactance and the
resistance is comparatively higher than the tertiary respective
parameters. The portion of P and Q supplied by the tertiary
winding is controlled by changing the amplitude and phase of Fig. 4. Three winding transformer implementation in magnetic domain
tertiary current, and the achievable secondary voltage variation
is checked for four different tertiary current configurations. available magnetic components were connected such that to
create the equivalent circuit.
IV. TRANSFORMER MODELLING
For this study a three phase three winding transformer was
A. Magnetic Modeling of Transformer modeled using the permeance capacitance analogy. Winding
The magnetic circuit is one of the most important active arrangement of three windings was Delta/Star/Star. Core was
parts of a transformer. It consists of laminated iron core and modeled using a linear B-H loop. The no load loss of the
carries flux linked to windings. Energy is transferred from one transformer was neglected.
electrical circuit to another through the magnetic field. It is V. CASE STUDIES
important to have a transformer model which is capable of
representing both magnetic and electrical domain parameters. Fig. 5, shows simulated lump load model with two
configurations. In Fig. 5(a), a tap changing transformer is
In the commonly used coupled inductor equivalent circuit connected with the distribution network whereas in Fig. 5(b),
of a transformer the magnetic flux paths are represented by specially designed three phase three winding transformer
inductors and the losses are denoted by resistors. Magnetic (primary winding reactance is relatively higher than the tertiary
coupling between windings are represented by mutual reactance) is connected with the distribution network. Fly
inductances. conductor is used to model the distribution line. Two point
The equivalent circuit builds up in coupled inductor method loads were connected to busbar B and C and their power factor
bears a little resemblance to the physical structure since parallel was kept at 0.85 lagging. Point loads were calculated assuming
flux paths in the magnetic structure is modeled with series a 60A conductor current loading and voltage at the busbar C
inductors. In view of integrated magnetic components such as was assumed to be -6% of the declared voltage. Voltage
multi winding transformer this representation has some variation at secondary terminal for two cases is considered for
disadvantages. The magnetic modeling of transformer has two conductor loading conditions.
several benefits over the above mentioned methods, which is
capable of representing the behavior of non-linear core material
along with arbitrary saturation and hysteresis functions[8].
Here transformer is modeled using the permeance
capacitance analogy which is one of the magnetic domain
modeling approaches [8]. In this analogy, the magnetomotive
force (mmf) is taken as analogous to voltage, while the rate of
change of magnetic flux is analogous to current. With this
choice of system variables, magnetic permeance corresponds 5(a)
to capacitance. Magnetic path permeance is used to model flux
path elements instead of the reciprocal reluctance. A loss in the
magnetic circuit (which corresponds to resistance) is
represented using a dissipator component. The windings form
the interface between electrical and magnetic domain [8],[9].
Fig. 4, shows the magnetic domain implemented transformer
model defined in PLECS simulation software.
Here, Pσp, Pσs and Pσt represent the permeances of the
leakage flux paths. Pm represents the permeance of the core and
Gfe represents the iron losses of the core. The winding 5(b)
resistances Rp and Rs are modeled in the electrical domain. The Fig. 5. Simulated lump load models
A. Case Study 1- Tap Changing Transformer VI. SIMULATION RESULTS
The three phase two winding tap changing transformer For comparison the voltages at busbars A and C that can be
shown in Fig. 5(a), was used as the base case. The voltage obtained by tap-changing transformer for two conductor
regulation capability of the proposed approach (Case Study 2) loadings are given in Table I and II.
was checked against this case.
Tertiary winding voltage, current, apparent power and
B. Case Study 2- Voltage Regulation with Proposed voltages at busbars A and C for two conductor loadings for the
Transformer (Parallel Compensation) case study 2 are listed in Table III and IV.
Simulations were carried on the system shown in Fig. 5(b).
Three phase transformers that are connected in Delta/Star/Star TABLE I. VOLTAGE REGULATION CAPABILITY WITH A TAP CHANGING
TRANSFORMER FOR A 60 A LOADING CONDITION
configuration is used as the three-winding transformer. Tertiary
winding current was controlled using a hysteresis current Tap position Voltage at Busbar A/V Voltage at Busbar C/V
controller. Four different tertiary current injections were
considered as shown by the phasor diagrams in Fig. 6. 1 242.59 217.75

2 234.17 210.20
3 230.21 206.63
4 224.46 201.47
5 218.95 196.52

TABLE II. VOLTAGE REGULATION CAPABILITY WITH A TAP CHANGING

TRANSFORMER FOR A 120 A LOADING CONDITION
6(a): It is injected so that it is -90 6(b): It is injected so that it is +90
degrees with Vt degrees with Vt Tap position Voltage at Busbar A/V Voltage at Busbar C/V

1 240.56 195.18

2 232.26 188.45
3 228.29 185.22
4 222.59 180.60
6(c): It is in phase with Vt 6(c): It is in anti-phase with Vt 5 217.14 176.18
Fig. 6. Case study with different current injections through tertiary winding

TABLE III. VOLTAGE REGULATION CAPABILITY WITH THE PROPOSED VVC SCHEME FOR 60 A LOADING CONDITION
Tertiary supply Tertiary Apparent power Voltage at Busbar Voltage at Busbar
voltage/V Current/A requirement/ kVA A/V C/V
It is injected so that it is -90 235.81 19.12 13.53 232.96 209.13
degrees with Vt
240.78 57.21 41.32 237.36 213.07

248.22 114.4 85.19 243.83 218.87

It is injected so that it is +90 217.86 114.2 74.64 217.07 194.83

degrees with Vt
225.68 57.08 38.65 223.87 200.96

230.81 19.04 13.18 228.45 205.08

It is in phase with Vt 232.96 57.23 39.98 230.49 206.92

233.19 19.09 13.35 230.59 206.93

It is in anti-phase with Vt 233.54 19.09 13.37 230.52 206.92

233.79 57.11 40.05 231.20 207.56

 TABLE IV. VOLTAGE REGULATION CAPABILITY WITH THE PROPOSED VVC SCHEME FOR 120 A LOADING CONDITION
Tertiary supply Tertiary Apparent power Voltage at Busbar Voltage at Busbar
voltage/V Current/A requirement/ kVA A/V C/V
It is injected so that it is -90 degrees 235.93 49.61 35.12 232.61 188.79
with Vt
240.85 87.65 63.33 236.91 192.25

248.83 152.46 113.81 244.01 198.01

It is injected so that it is +90 degrees 209.07 152.54 95.67 208.87 169.47

with Vt
217.95 87.62 57.29 216.64 175.81

223.08 49.49 33.12 221.19 179.64

It is in phase with Vt 229.11 49.56 34.06 226.72 183.96

230.24 87.67 60.56 227.32 184.45

It is in anti-phase with Vt 229.89 49.56 34.18 227.13 184.31

228.88 87.67 60.19 226.44 183.77

According to the results shown in Table III and IV,
Secondary terminal voltage is directly affected by the phase
angle of the injected tertiary current. When injected tertiary
current is -90º to Vt, the secondary terminal voltage increases
with the tertiary current increment while +90º leading
tertiary current decrease the secondary terminal voltage.
When tertiary current is in phase and anti-phase to Vt, the
secondary terminal voltage variation is almost negligible.
The apparent power required to maintain the voltage of
busbar A increases with the busbar A voltage set point and
the distribution network loading condition.
However when the results of Table I,II and III,IV are
considered, one can clearly see the proposed approach
requires rather high apparent power requirement at tertiary
winding to obtain the voltage variation that was achieved
using tap-changing arrangement.
A. Feasibility of the proposed VVC approach
From equation (7), it can be seen that for a given
application where primary and secondary voltages (thus
turns ratios) and currents are fixed, the VA rating of the
tertiary winding is constant. As number of turns thus the
length of Cu wires required is proportional to the voltage and
the cross section of the Cu conductor is proportional to
current, the volume of Cu required for a given transformer
application is constant irrespective of the voltage or current
rating of the tertiary winding.
VII. MODIFIED VVC APPROACH- SERIAL INJECTION
Fig. 7, illustrates a modified VVC scheme. A transformer
with a separate magnetic core is added in series with the
secondary winding of the existing three phase two winding
transformer and it is fed through a separate tertiary winding.
In order to establish the dc link it is proposed to utilize a
tertiary winding.
Voltage source converter could be controlled depending
on the voltage of the distribution network. The secondary
terminal voltage (Vs) is compared with a reference and a
voltage x is injected to control the Vs towards a reference.
Table V and VI presents the preliminary results obtained
for the modified VVC scheme for two different conductor
loading conditions. A small 1:1 ratio transformer is added in
series with the secondary winding of the existing three phase
two winding transformer. Different external ac sources were
connected to the primary terminal of the newly added
transformer.

Fig. 7. Modified VVC scheme

 TABLE V. VOLTAGE REGULATION CAPABILITY WITH MODIFIED different power factor loadings to see the effectiveness of
VVC SCHEME FOR A 60 A LOADING CONDITIONS
both schemes. Also a detailed representation of the VSC and
External ac Source External Voltage at Voltage its controllers are required to see the effectiveness of these
source angle source Busbar at Busbar schemes.
voltage/V /degrees apparent A/V C/V
power / ACKNOWLEDGMENT
kVA
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial
0 --- --- 230.31 206.72 support provided by the International research center (InRC)
5 0 0.9 235.29 211.19 of University of Peradeniya and the financial and technical
10 0 1.8 240.26 215.65
contribution of the LTL Holdings (PVT) Ltd, Sri Lanka.
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VIII. CONCLUSIONS https://www.waset.org/Publications/?path=Publications&fields%5Btitl
In this paper, Volt-Var controlling capability based on a e%5D=on&q=Electrical+and+Magnetic+Modelling+of+a+Power+Tra
three winding transformer is investigated. The drawbacks of nsformer&search=Search. [Accessed: 24-May-2014].
the proposed approach in view of transformer and
distribution network are verified using both theoretical and
simulation studies. It was shown that for selected leakage
reactances of primary, secondary and tertiary windings, the
apparent power requirement of the external source connected
to the tertiary winding depends on the loading condition of
the distribution network and the voltage level to be
maintained at the secondary terminal. It was also shown that
at the maximum loading of transformer (80%); in order to
maintain the voltage at a maximum specified limit, parallel
compensation method requires a tertiary winding of rather
high apparent power. Therefore for a given application (for
example 33/0.4 kV, 160 kVA distribution transformer),
tertiary winding VA rating thus the volume of Cu required to
maintain the far end feeder voltage is constant. Thus in order
to reduce the current rating of the tertiary winding, its
voltage rating should be increased. On the other hand in
order to reduce the voltage rating, its current rating should be
increased. Comparatively the apparent power requirement of
the serial injection method is lower than the parallel injection
method. The preliminary results of the serial injection
scheme are presented. However, further work should be
carried out with a more realistic transformer and with