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Dynamic top oil thermal model of oil-immersed power transformers with tap
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Conference Paper · November 2016

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 VDE-Hochspannungstechnik 2016 ∙ 14.-16.11.2016 in Berlin

Dynamic top oil thermal model of oil-immersed power transformers

with tap changer
Zoran Radakovic1, Uros Radoman1, Dusan Vukotic2, Stefan Tenbohlen3
1
School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia
2
EDB – Electric utility of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
3
Institute of Power Transmission and High Voltage Technology (IEH), University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

Abstract
The paper presents the improved method for on-line calculation of top oil temperature. Basic of the model is well-
known lumped thermal circuit with nodes corresponding to each of phase windings and additional node for the core, oil
and the tank. Improvement in respect to the standards is consideration of the influence of temperature dependent
thermal conductivities (steady-state thermal characteristics) to the transient thermal characteristics. Change of the
cooling mode (AN - natural air flow / AF - forced air flow) and change of the number of fans in operation is taken into
account in the model. The finest content of the model, representing improvement in respect to the similar work
published in [1], is the manner of the calculation of the losses, including the dependence on the load, tap changer
position and average winding temperature.

1 Introduction input data, ambient temperature and the losses injected in

the nodes, change of characteristic temperatures of each
The paper deals with important practical issue of calcula- of two windings (ϑcu1, ϑcu2) and the core, oil and tank (ϑO),
tion of characteristic temperatures of oil-immersed power is obtained by solving the system of three difference
transformers with tap changer. The temperatures represent equations. The equations are solved numerically since the
limiting factor of transformer loading in conditions of system is non-linear due to dependence of thermal
variable ambient temperature and the current load. There conductances on the node temperatures (see [2]).
is a need to calculate temperatures on-line and that is why
the algorithm should be relatively simple and of sufficient
accuracy. The focus in this paper is the method which
takes into account all factors influencing the calculation
of top oil temperatures, while temperature gradient
winding to oil is calculated using one of widely accepted
methods.
The method takes into account the dependence of the
elements of the thermal circuit on the temperature (so, the
model is non-linear), but also the step change of thermal
conductance of heat transfer from oil to ambient when
cooling mode changes from AN - natural air flow to AF -
forced air flow or vice-versa, or when number of fans in
operation changes. The influence of the load, tap changer Figure 1 Thermal circuit of two-winding per phase
position and average winding temperature to the losses is transformer
considered in the method.
The method, after performing all necessary simplifica- PCu1 - losses (generated heat) in the first winding (W), ϑcu1
tions caused by limited set of data about the transformer is - characteristic temperature of the first winding (°C), CCu1
validated by comparing calculation results with the - thermal capacity of the first winding (J / (kg K)), λCu-O1 -
measured once on transformer ONAF/ONAN 40/24 conductivity of heat transfer from the first winding to the
MVA, 110(±11× 1.5%)/10.5 kV, YNd5, 50 Hz. oil (W / K), PCu2 - losses (generated heat) in the second
winding (W), ϑcu2 - characteristic temperature of the
second winding (°C), CCu2 - thermal capacity of the
2 Thermal model second winding (J / (kg K)), λCu-O2 - conductivity of heat
transfer from the second winding to the oil (W / K), PO -
2.1 Thermal circuit losses (generated heat) in the core and metallic
constructive parts (W), ϑO - characteristic oil temperature
Thermal circuit is presented on Figure 1. The system of
(°C), CO - thermal capacity of oil, core and constructive
difference equations corresponding to the thermal circuit
parts (J / (kg K)), λO-a - conductivity of heat transfer from
is presented in our previous publication [2]. For set of

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oil over tank and cooler surfaces to outer air (W / K), ϑa - (PEddy) losses was considered as the losses in the tank and
ambient temperature varying in time (°C) constructive transformer parts (PConstr). In that way,
inaccuracy in eddy losses will reflect to winding to oil
2.2 Running simultaneous calculations temperature gradient, while in the calculation of oil
Naturally, the most critical temperatures should be calcu- temperature the error is minor.
lated, first of all the hottest winding temperature (hot- Total losses injected in the node with characteristic
spot); although the hottest oil in the winding is critical oil temperature ϑO are equal to the sum of no load (core)
temperature, typically it is not calculated in on-line losses (PFe) and PConstr, where PFe does not depend on the
applications and instead of it the top pocket oil is load and PConstr is proportional to the square of the load.
considered as characteristic (and critical) oil temperature.
The reasons are that as a rule oil temperatures are less 3 Determination of parameters of
critical than the temperature of solid winding insulation
and that the top oil can easily be measured, with standard
thermal network
temperature sensors. So, one of the calculations should be
done based on the thermal circuit with winding hot-spot 3.1 Possible approaches
temperatures and top oil temperature associated to the If detailed construction data are available, the steady state
nodes. thermal characteristics of the transformers can be
As stated, the input data for the calculations are the losses. determined via set of calculation using software for
The losses are dependent on the temperature, first of all thermal design based on detailed thermal-hydraulic
on winding temperature, specifically on the distribution of network model [4]. Such an approach was used in our
the temperature over the windings. Going into such previous paper [2]. Parameters of the model relevant for
deeper analyses (such as presented in our paper [3]) is not transient thermal characteristics cannot be easily
adequate approach to dynamic calculation of the determined. Namely, the thermal capacitance for
temperatures, especially when they should run online. For isothermal volume is equal to simple product of the
such applications the calculation method should be simple volume and specific heat capacity; nevertheless, the
and should not be demanding regarding computation temperature over the volumes (winding, for example, or
resources and time. Instead of it, the total losses in the oil) change and determining of equivalent heat capacity
windings are calculated at each of the discrete time steps, would require knowing the distribution of temperature
as the sum of two components, both proportional to the over each of the parts.
square of load and both being temperature dependent: Another approach, used here, relates to realistic situation
Joule losses, taken to be proportional to the average that no details about the construction are known, than
winding temperature, and eddy losses, taken to be there are the results of top oil temperature measurements
inversely proportional to the average winding during transformer operation, in conditions of variable
temperature. Since average winding temperature is ambient temperature and load current. In addition to these
needed for the calculation of the losses, separate on site measurements, it is supposed that the data of
calculation based on the thermal circuit is run in parallel, standard tests of the transformer are known.
where for characteristic temperatures associated to the
nodes for the windings average winding temperatures are 3.2 Data from standard transformer tests
taken (it also influences the parameters of the thermal
The nameplate transformer data are: ONAF/ONAN 40/24
circuit from Figure 1.).
MVA, 110(±11× 1.5%)/10.5 kV, YNd5, 50 Hz. The
Table 1 contains the results of the measurements in
2.3 Further details about the losses different tap changer positions (Tap 1 - maximum voltage
The eddy losses depend on the distribution of stray flux. It - 128.15 kV, Tap 12 - zero position, rated voltage 110 kV,
differs at different tap position. If the detailed Tap 23 - minimum voltage - 91.85 kV). Table 2 presents
construction of the transformer is known, distribution of the results of open-circuit tests, at different voltages; the
stray flux and the values of the stray losses in each of the tap changer was in the zero position (Tap position 12).
conductors can be determined. Such an approach and the
results of its application were presented in our paper [2] Table 1 - The results of the factory short-circuit tests
on the case of three phase transformer with high voltage, RC HV IHVr PDC PTot PAdd uSC
Tap
low voltage, and tertiary windings, YNyn0 + d1, 132 / (m) (A) (kW) (kW) (kW) (%)
13.8 / 11 kV, rated power in ONAF mode 40 / 40 / 13.33 1 632 180 128.8 258.1 129.3 20.2
MVA, regulating voltage range -12 x 1.43 % to + 7 x 5 585
1.43%. Since the construction of the transformer treated 9 537
in this paper was not known, the value of eddy losses at 12 500 210 118.6 216.9 98.37 18.0
different tap positions were adopted according to 15 482
experience. The difference of total load losses measured 19 435
in short-circuit test (PSC) and the Joule (PJ) plus eddy 23 386 251 142.3 212.5 70.18 16.44

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RC HV – The resistance of HV winding (Ω) at
ϑC HV = 28 °C, IHVr – Rated HV current (A), PDC – The DC
losses in the windings (calculated) at rated current and at
temperature 75 °C, PTot – The total measured losses in the
windings (measured at lower current and re-calculated to
rated current and temperature 75 °C), PAdd – The
difference total minus DC losses at rated current and
temperature 75 °C (additional losses consist of two
components: eddy losses in the windings due to proximity
effect (PEddy) and losses in the tank and constructive parts
(PConstr) of the transformer due to induced currents caused
by stray flux); measured resistance of 10.5 kV winding at
ϑC LV = 28 °C amounts RC LV = 9.8465 mΩ
Table 2 - Results of the factory open-circuit tests at Tap
position 12 (zero position)
Relative voltage IOC (%) PFe (kW)
0.9 0.6323 15.16
1 0.6211 19.04
1.05 0.6094 21.56
1.1 0.5975 24.15
IOC - Open circuit current (%), PFe - Open circuit (core)
losses (W)
3.3 Adopted typical parameters
All parameters of thermal conductances, relevant for
steady-state winding to oil temperature gradients, are
determined according to the typical thermal
characteristics given in Table 2 of old loading guide [5]
(the hot-spot to top oil temperature rise 26 K, the hot-spot
factor 1.3, average winding to average oil temperature rise
20 K, the winding exponent y = 1.6).
The thermal capacities of the windings are determined
approximately, from supposed time constant of 5 min and
thermal conductance at rated load.
Finally, for the implementing the method presented in
detail in [2], it is supposed that both top (ϑto) and bottom
(ϑbo) oil temperatures change with total losses in
transformer (PTot) in the same way, according to the
equation
ϑo - ϑa = (ϑo - ϑa)r (PTot / PTot r)x (1)
meaning that top to bottom oil temperature gradient
changes with the load as
ϑto – ϑbo = (ϑto – ϑbo)r (PTot / PTot r)x (2)
Typical value of oil exponent x is 0.9. Total losses are
equal to core losses (from open circuit test) and load
losses, which in AF cooling mode (rated power 40 MVA)
amount PTot r AF = 221.369 kW, while in AN cooling mode
(declared rated power 24 MVA) they amount
PTot r AN = 221.369 (24 / 40)2 = 79.693 kW.
ISBN 978-3-8007-4310-0
3.4 Parameters determined from
measurements during transformer
operation
The parameters related to node representing oil, core and
constructive parts (ϑO) are determined from the
measurements in transformer operation. The relation of
the coefficient x with the parameter nto used in in further
text, is: x = 1 / (nto + 1); thermal conductivity of heat
transfer from top oil over tank and cooler surfaces to outer
air is equal to
λO-a = Kto (ϑO – ϑa)nto (3)
The coefficients Kto and nto, as well as the thermal
capacity of the oil (CO), are determined from the
measurements in transformer operation as described in
further text.
3.5 Approximately adopted parameters
In order to implement the complete calculation procedure
presented in our previous paper [2], i.e. to determine all
parameters of the model, in the case of realistic situation
of limited set of available data about the transformer
considered in this paper, we had to adopt some parameters
approximately, as described in this section.
3.5.1 Q and S factors
As stated, typical value of the hot-spot factors are adopted
(1.3). Since the detailed construction for the test
transformer is not known (as in many other situations in
practice), fixed value Q = 1.2745 (factor of non-uniform
losses), and S = 1.3 / 1.2745 = 1.02 (factor of non-
uniform cooling) are adopted.
In our previous paper [2], we presented the method of Q
and S factor calculation; it has been taken that Q depends
on the tap position and S depends on load level. These
equations for calculations of Q and S factors have been
derived from FEM calculation of losses and temperature
calculation using software based on detailed thermal-
hydraulic model; both of these calculations require
detailed construction of transformer as the input data.
Adopting approximate values of Q and S factors does not
have strong effect to the temperature of top oil, being the
quantity used for the validation of the model; the factors
Q and S influence to top oil temperature only via
dependence of the losses on average winding temperature
(for details, please see [2]).
3.5.2 Ratio eddy losses to total winding losses and the
losses in constructive parts and tank
As stated, eddy losses can be accurately calculated using
FEM tools with detailed data about construction as the
input data. Since such data were not available, the eddy
losses had to be estimated. Starting point were the values
of the factory measurements in Table 1. Table shows that
at lower tap positions (i.e. at higher voltages on HV side)
the differences total losses minus DC losses are higher; at
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these tap positions short-circuit voltage is higher, meaning winding temperature as described in [6] or hot-spot
the stray flux is bigger. Following this quantitative measured using fiber-optics) elements of thermal circuit
phenomena, it was approximately adopted that the ratio related to winding (parameters of thermal conductance
eddy losses to DC losses (at 75 °C) drop linearly from winding to oil - λCu-O1, λCu-O2, and thermal capacitance of
25% in tap position 1 to 15% in tap position 23 (limits the windings CCu1, CCu2) can be determined.
15% and 25% are adopted arbitrary). The values of the For transformer in the case study from the paper neither
losses in the tank and constructive transformer parts for online data nor data about transient change of winding
tap positions 1, 12 and 23, with known measured total temperature during heat run test are available. So, from on
losses, are determined after subtracting DC and eddy line data during transformer operation values of thermal
winding losses from measured total losses (the high parameters Kto and nto - see (3), and thermal capacity CO
values 97.105 kW, 60.441 kW and 48.820 kW, decreasing were estimated. Separate set of parameters were
with tap position increase, are obtained). After that, the determined: one for AN cooling mode and one for AF
losses in the tank and constructive parts for rated current cooling mode (fans are switch on seldom: typically about
at other tap positions are determined using interpolation 10 hours during hottest summer days (in 2013. there were
(for tap positions 2 - 11 an interpolation between the such 18 days).
values for tap positions 1 and 12 is used, and for tap Using data set (for AN of one week duration and for AF
positions 13 - 22 an interpolation between the values for of ca. 10 hours of operation in this cooling mode), the pa-
tap positions 12 and 23 is used). The results are presented rameters (CO, Kto and nto) are determined as the values
in Table 3. when minimum deviation (average root mean square
deviation over duration of considered data set) of
Table 3 - Estimated values of losses (kW) at rated current calculated to measured top oil temperatures.
and temperature 75 °C
PDC PEddy PTotWind PTot PTankConstr 3.6.1 AN cooling mode (no fans in operation)
Tap
(kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) (kW) The characteristic data in one week of each of the months
1 128.8 32.19 160.9 258.05 97.11 for which estimation of the parameters is made are
5 130.9 30.345 161.2 83.77 presented in Table 4. The results presented in Table 5 are
9 132.8 28.38 161.23 70.44 obtained using Excel Solver tool [7], with constrain
12 134.1 26.82 160.9 216.9 60.44 nto <= 0.5 (typical coefficient, corresponding to the
15 138.5 25.80 164.3 57.27
natural air cooling, is 0.25 - it corresponds to the oil
19 140.7 23.66 164.4 53.05
exponent x = 1 / (1 + 0.25) = 0.8; for the forced air flow,
23 142.3 21.35 163.7 212.5 48.82
the coefficient x is higher, i.e. nto is lower). For each of
the months the average root mean square deviations of
PDC - The DC losses in the windings, PEddy - The eddy
calculated in respect to measured top oil temperature
losses in the windings, PTot Wind - The total losses in the
(ΔϑRMS) are given. The procedure did not converge for
windings, PTot - The total measured losses, PTankConstr - The
one week data record in March (N.A. in Table 5).
losses in the tank and constructive transformer parts
Losses in the windings were determined starting from the
Table 4 – Characteristic temperatures and average losses
values in Table 3, and the current value of the load,
in each of considered weeks
average winding temperature and tap position, as
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
described in [2]; the losses in the tank and constructive
From 14. 6. 14. 1. 14. 8.
parts are taken to be equal to the product of their rated To 20. 12. 20. 7. 20. 14.
value for specific tap position (given in column PTankConstr
aAV 4.46 12.9 15.0 23.2 25.7 23.1
in Table 4) and square of relative current load. PTotAV 90.3 65.4 41.0 31.3 36.6 31.0
OAV 45.4 43.2 40.7 43.9 50.0 43.8
3.6 Estimation of the parameters from on Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
site measurements From 1. 4. 5. 1. 11.
As stated in section 3.1., it is possible to determine pa- To 7. 10. 11. 7. 17.
rameters of thermal circuit from available on line data aAV 27.6 19.3 14.9 16.0 0.42
recorded during normal transformer operation. Typically, PTotAV 34.6 42.1 61.0 41.1 96.0
load, ambient temperature, tap position and top oil tem- OAV 50.5 45.0 44.9 38.4 43.7
perature are available. From these data parameters of
thermal conductance describing heat transfer from the oil Table 5 –The results of estimation of all 3 parameters
to ambient (λO-a) and the thermal capacitance of oil, core (limitation: nto <= 0.5)
and tank with radiators (CO) can be determined. If data Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
about winding temperature are known (average winding Kto 0.81 N.A. 0.31 0.34 0.30 0.33
temperature using continuous measurements of average nto 0.27 N.A. 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5

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 VDE-Hochspannungstechnik 2016 ∙ 14.-16.11.2016 in Berlin

CO 66.6 N.A. 44.8 53.7 41.6 42.7 occurred, yielded with constant value of the thermal
RMS 0.88 N.A. 1.91 2.21 1.66 1.71 conductivity (nto = 0) of Kto = 1.749kW/K. Comparable
value, at rated losses in AN cooling mode, of thermal
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec conductivity in AN cooling mode amounts 1.0605 kW/K,
Kto 0.30 0.32 0.37 0.38 0.33 i.e. thermal conductivity in the AF cooling mode is
nto 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.5 1.749 / 1.0605 = 1.649 times higher than in the AN
CO 45.2 51.4 58.1 64.2 67.4 cooling mode. This number corresponds and is near equal
RMS 1.62 2.13 1.85 2.05 1.38 to the ratio of transformer rated powers in AF (40 MVA)
and AN (24 MVA) cooling modes: 40 / 24 = 1.667.
The graph for the week with the characteristic pattern and
high average root mean square deviation of top oil
temperature, ΔϑRMS = 2.13 K, in September, is presented
4 Application of the model
in Figure 2. This section presents few graphics of application of the
method and parameters specified in Table 6 for AN mode
and in section 3.6.2 for AF cooling mode.

Figure 2 Results for week in September

After performing few variants of constrains and averaging

of parameters, we fixed nto to 0.5 and CO to 52.94 MJ/K,
while two values of Kto two values are used: one for the
colder months February to April and September to
December (Kto = 0.3425 kW / K) and the second for
period May - August (Kto = 0.3144 kW/K). The results of
the application of such parameters are shown in Table 6.
Different values of Kto in colder and hotter moths are a
consequence of the change of oil and air viscosity with
the temperature. Using of two values of Kto represent a
compromise between the simplicity and accuracy.
Figure 3 Results for week in September for
Table 6 – The results of the application of the 2 values of
Kto = 0.3425 kW / K
Kto (while nto = 0.5, CO = 52.94 MJ/K)
Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul
Kto 0.34 0.34 0.34 0.31 0.31 0.31
RMS 0.94 3.52 2.54 2.39 2.05 1.82

Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Kto 0.31 0.34 0.34 0.34 0.34
RMS 1.78 2.47 2.30 2.72 1.56

3.6.2 AF cooling mode (fans in operation)

Thermal parameters (Kto and nto) change significantly by
switching on the fans (change from AN to AF cooling
mode) and new set of values are to be determined and
used in the calculations in AF cooling mode. Processing
of the data for 18 days during which the AF mode

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Figure 4 Results for week in July for Kto = 0.3144 kW / K
Figure 5 Results for the 14 hour period with fans in
operation (from 21 Jun, 12 h to 22 Jun 2h), for
Kto = 1.749 kW / K, nto = 0
5 Conclusions
In previous paper [2] we published the method which
includes key factors influencing top oil temperature:
ISBN 978-3-8007-4310-0
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521
dependence of thermal conductivity for heat transfer from
oil to ambient on oil to ambient temperature rise and its
change with change of cooling mode (AN / AF) or the
number of fans, dependence of the losses (DC and eddy
losses in the windings and stray losses in the tank and
constructive parts) on the load, average winding
temperature and the tap position. The method assumes
simultaneous running of two thermal calculations
according to thermal circuit from Figure 1, each of them
for the same load and ambient temperature, but with
different characteristic winding and oil temperatures and
different parameters of the conductances and capacitances
of thermal network.
The significance of this paper is the application of the
method from [2] in the situation when no detailed
construction data is available. So, contrary to assumption
we used in [2] that details of construction are known (in
that case FEM calculation of the losses and software
based on detailed thermal-hydraulic model can be used),
now we started from realistic case that only standard
factory heat run acceptance tests are available and the
data recorded during normal operation of the transformer
(load, tap position and top oil temperature).
6 Acknowledgement
The authors wish to express gratitude to Alexander von
Humboldt Foundation for support of this research.
7 Literature
[1] Weigen, C.: Chong, P.: Yuxin, Y. :Power
transformer top-oil temperature model based on
thermal–electric analogy theory, Euro. Trans. Electr.
Power. Vol. 19, 2009, pp. 341-354
[2] Radakovic Z.: Tenbohlen S.: Thermal model of oil
power transformers with tap changer, Turk J Elec
Eng & Comp Sci. Vol. 24, 2016, pp. 3293-3308
[3] Radakovic, Z.: Radoman, U.: Kostić, P.:
Decomposition of the Hot-Spot Factor, IEEE Trans.
on Power Delivery. Vol. 30, No. 1, 2015, pp. 403-
411
[4] Radakovic, Z.: Sorgic, M.: Basics of Detailed
Thermal-Hydraulic Model for Thermal Design of Oil
Power Transformers, IEEE Trans. on Power
Delivery. Vol. 25, No. 2, 2010, pp. 790-802
[5] IEC Publication 60354, Loading Guide for Oil-
Immersed Power Transformers. Geneva,
Switzerland: IEC, 1991
[6] Radakovic, Z.: Numerical determination of
characteristic temperatures in directly loaded power
oil transformer, European Transaction on Electrical
Power (ETEP). Vol. 13, No. 1, 2003, pp. 47-54
[7] The Microsoft Office 2010, Microsoft Excel, Solver
Add-in.
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