A New Scheme for On-Load Tap-Changer of
Transformers
Dawei Gao, Member, IEEE, Qingchun Lu and Jishou LUO
Abstruct-On-load tap changing transformers play important
roles in any modern power system, since they allow voltages tozbe
maintained at desired levels despite load changes. Traditionally,
on-load tap-changer is a complex mechanical device, which has
some deficiencies. In this paper, a new scheme for on-load tap-
changer of transformer is presented, which can eliminate
excessive conduction losses and suppress the arcing in the diverter
switch, which are inherent in traditional on-load transformer tap-
changers. The presented on-load tap-changer has the different
circuit configuration and operation principle from the traditional
tap-changer. Besides, the results of simulations and experiments
are given, showing that the proposed on-load tap-changer is
feasible.
Index Terms-- AC transmission, Power electronics, Thyristor
applications, Tap changer, Transformer
I. INTRODUCTION
N-LOAD tap changing transformers play important roles
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in any modern power system, since they allow voltages
to be maintained at desired levels despite load changes.
Traditionally, the key part of an on load tap changing
transformers is on-load tap-changer, which is a complex
mechanical device, shown in Fig. 1. An on-load tap-changer
gear comprises two major components, the tap selector and the
diverter switch. The tap selector selects the tapping and its
electrical contacts are designed to carry the rated current of the
transformer but not to make or break this current. The diverter
switch, however, needs to be designed to carry, make and
break the load current in circuits previously selected by the tap
selector. During the operation of diverter switch the transition
resistors bridge the tap in use and the tap next to be used,
thereby limiting the circulating current due to the inter-tap
voltage. So, arcing occurs at all the fixed contacts during the
current making and breaking process, which causing oil
contamination and contact erosion in the diverter unit. At the
same time, the transition resistors can cause excessive
conduction losses. These, in a power system, are undesirable.
With the developments of power electronics technologies,
Dawei Gao is with the State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and
Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 P. R. China (e-mail:
dwgao@ieee.org).
Qingchun Lu is with the State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and
Energy, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084 P. R. China (e-mail:
luqc@tsinghua.edu.cn).
Jishou Luo is with the Department of Electrical Engineering, Northeast
Institute of Electric Power Engineering, Jilin, 132012 P. R. China.
0-7803-7459-2/02/$17.00 Cyci 2002 IEEE -1016-
alternative tap-changer designs have been suggested which aim
to address some or all of these deficiencies in recent years, but
f e v can be adopted because of some reasons, which are
analyzed in this paper. Besides, a new scheme for on-load tap-
changer of transformer is presented, which can eliminate
excessive conduction losses and suppress the arcing in the
diverter switch, which are inherent in traditional on load
transformer tap changers. An experimental on-load tap-
changer is also developed in this paper. And results of
simulations and experiments are presented, showing that the
proposed diverter switch is feasible.
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Fig. 1. The configuration of a typical on-load tap-changer
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11. A REVIEW OF THE SCHEMES FOR THYRISTOR ASSISTED TAP
CHANGERS
Fig. 2 shows the circuit diagram of the arrangement of the
diverter switch described by Roberts and Ashman[ 13, which
used three thyristor pairs connected across the stationary
contacts. In order to divert the load current away from the
mechanical contacts, these thyristors were required to conduct
for short periods. This thyristor assisted tap-changer can
suppress the arcing in the diverter switch, but the major
drawback of it was low reliability because the thyristors were
connected permanently across the contacts.
In order to overcome the problem existed in the former
scheme, Cooke and Williams presented a new scheme[2],
which is shown in Fig. 3. From Fig. 3, it can be seen that the
thyristors were disconnected from the circuit, except for the
.
 period of time when the diverter switch operates. So, the
thyristors can be reduced greatly. However, the problem that
the transition resistors caused was not solved.
Q Q
Fig. 2. Thyristor assisted diverter switch of Roberts and Ashrnan
Fig. 3. Thyristor assisted diverter switch of Cooke and Williams
Fig. 4 shows the circuit diagram of the thyristor assisted
diverter switch given by Shuttleworth et a1[3]. The proposed
diverter comprised two solid-state switches, A and B,
. connected between each of the selector output leads and
neutral point. VA and VB are vacuum switches connected in
parallel with A and B, respectively. During a tap change, the
load current was transferred from one tap to the next is
performed only by A and B. When finished the tap changing,
the load current was carried by vacuum switch. Because an
auxiliary current diverter S was used, in order to transfer
current of a vacuum switch to its parallel solid-state switch, the
configuration of the scheme is complex.
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VA ’ pqq VB
Fig. 4. Thyristor assisted diverter switch of Shuttleworth et al.
111.’ NEWSCHEME FOR ON-LOADTAP-CHANGER
The proposed scheme for on-load tap-changer is shown in
Fig. 5. The presented on-load tap-changer has the different
circuit configuration and operation principle from the
traditional tap-changer. The taps, which electrical contacts are
designed to carry the rated current of the transformer, are laid
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in a circle. The diverter switch comprises three moving
contacts, one main contact and two auxiliary contacts, which
can be designed to carry and ne,ver make or break load current.
The three contacts rotate round the same center of the circle,
which the taps laid in. In Fig. 4, A and B are solid-state AC
switches which are described as follows.
Fig 5 The configuration of the proposed on-load tap-changer
A. Main contact
Main contact is a moving contact selectively engages
stationary contacts connected to various sections of the
winding so as to connect varying numbers of turns into the
circuit. The main contact, which is designed to carry the rated
current of the transformer but not to make or break this current,
is used for carrying the load current except for the period of
time when the tap change is doing.
B. Auxiliary contacts
Each auxiliary contact is connected with a solid-state AC
switch. In order to insure the two auxiliary contacts bridge the
two taps reliably during the tap changing, the two auxiliary
contacts lie at a fixed angle according to the number of taps.
The two auxiliary contacts and the main contact rotate round
the same center of the circle, but they do not move at the same
time. .
C. Solid-state AC switches
The solid-state AC switch has two configurations, which
are shown in Fig. 6 , one is anti-parallel and the other is
bridge[3]. The first configuration formed from two GTO
thyristors, two diodes and snubber components, the second one
is composed of one GTO thyristors, four diodes and snubber
components. It must point out each has his strong point for the
two circuit diagrams. For the sake of reliability of the switch,
using with upwards of two GTO thyristors in parallel can be
considered according to the load current.
 using the mechanical energy storage system as in traditional
tap changer.
For a three-phase tap changer, three separate single-phase
tap changers follow a similar process to that above.

Fig. 6 . The circuit diagrams of solid-state AC switch. (a) Anti-parallel

configuration (b) Bridge configuration.

D. Operation
The operation of the proposed on-load tap-changer is
different to the traditional one because of it’s novel
configuration. The operating principle of the new scheme has
been shown in Fig. 7. In this figure, tap 1 is used and load
current flowing through it. The Tap 2 is selected as the next
tap. To complete a tap change, some steps initiate as follows:
a) Tap 1 is connected through main contact to transformer
neutral point and has load current flowing through it, and
the two auxiliary contacts lie in the both sides of the main
contact. The Tap 2 is selected as the next tap.
b) The auxiliary contacts traverse from left to right until the
auxiliary contacts bridge the tap 1 and tap 2 . Load current is
via tap 1 and the main contact to the load.
c) The main contact traverses from left to right. The
auxiliary contact is connected to the tap 1 at the same time,
the triggering signals for solid-state AC switch A are sent,
but solid-state AC switch A is off before the main contact
parts from tap 1. The main contact leaves from tapl without Fig. 7. The operation of the proposed on-load tap-changer
arcing since solid-state AC switch A is on.
d) The main contact severs itself from the tap lcompletely,
Load current flows via A to the load. Iv. SIMULATION RESULTS
e) On the following load current zero, solid-state switch B is To verify the performance of the proposed method, a
turned on and switch A is turned off, which causes load number of computer simulations with different operating
current to transfer from A to B. During this step, no inter- conditions were developed using MATLAB. The MATLAB
tap current path, via A and B, occurs as tapl and 2 are simulator has matured as a mathematic package in the past -
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connected together, since the solid-state AC switches A and
B do not conduct at the same time. Besides, load current
does not break since A or B is on.
0 The main contact continues to traverse and is connected
the tap 2 with the auxiliary contact together. No arcing
occurs, when the main contact touch the tap 2, because
solide-state AC switch B is on. But when the main contact
reaches the tap 2, switch B is off, and the load current flows
via the main contact.
g) The triggering signals for solid-state AC switch B is
cancelled.
h) The two auxiliary contacts move from tapl and tap 2, and
lie in the both sides of the main contact. The tap change is
complete.
The complete tap change can be accomplished with fast
speed because the movable contact arm traverse speed is fast
years and the simulink approach has simplified the
programming task by allowing the use of the model
representation with blocks.
The simulations are performed for resistive, inductive and
capacitive loads. The simulation results are shown in Fig. 8. In
this figure, the current iA corresponds to the current through
the solid-state AC switch A, the current iB corresponds to the
current through the solid-state AC switch B, the current iLoAD
corresponds to the load current. And the voltages are
illustrated by uLOAD for the voltage of load.
v. EXPERIMENTAL
RESULTS
The proposed on-load tap-changer is tested in an
experimental system implemented the operation sequence
already described. -,

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 current carI be transfer from one tap to anther efficiently, and
3oo' : ' ' 1
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The close; agreement between the simulation and the

experimenla1 results can be obtained, which shows the
0 002 004 006 008 0.10 0.12 014 016 proposed a
ULOAD

LOAD
004 006 008 010 012 014 016

~B(A) O-F- iB

0 002 004 006 008 010 012 014 016

1A

1 1
300

~Load(V)-gO:

0 002 004
-U
006 008 010
I ,
012
-
J
014
1
016

12 0 I4 0.16

0 002 004 0.06 008 0.10 012 014 0.16

ULOAD
1 - . - 1 _ - 1 I - . - L ~ . i
0 0.02 0 04 006 008 0.10 0.12 0 14 0 16

'LOAD

0 002 004 006 008 010 012 014 016

7 - 7 1

IB

0 002 004 006 008 010 012 014 016

Fig. 8. The simulation results for the proposed on-load tap-changer.

(a)Resistive load. (b) Inductive load. (c) Capacitive load.

The experimental results are shown in Fig. 9. In this figure,

the current iAcorresponds to the current through the solid-state
AC switch A, the current iB corresponds to the current through
the solid-state AC switch B, the current iLoAD corresponds to
the load current. And the voltages are illustrated by the voltage
uA for the voltage of switch A, and by uLOAD for the voltage of
load.
From the experimental results, it can be seen that the load

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Fig. 9. The experimental results for the proposed on-load tap-changer.
(a)Resistive load. (b) Inductive load. (c) Capacitive load.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
A new scheme for on-load tap-changer of transformers is
presented, which can eliminate excessive conduction losses
and suppress the arcing in the diverter switch. The results of
simulations and experiments are given, which can show that
the proposed on-load tap-changer is feasible.

VII. REFERENCES
[ I ] M. E. Roberts and W. G. Ashman, "A thyristor assisted mechanical on-
load tap changer," in Proc. 1969 IEE Power Thysistors and Their
Applications Conf, pp. 185-192.
[2] G. H. Cooke and K. T. Williams, "New thyristor assisted diverter switch
for on load transformer tap changers," IEE P r o c - B, vol. 139, pp. 507-
511.
[3] R. Shuttleworth, X. Tian, C. Fan, A. Power, "New tap changing
scheme," IEE Proc.-Electr. PowerAppl., vol. 143, pp. 108-1 12.

VIII. BIOGRAPHIES

Dawei Gao was born in Jilin, P. R. China, in 1971.

He received the BS degree from Southwest Jiaotong
University, Chengdu, P, R. China, in 1992, the MS
degree from Northeast Institute of Electric Power, Jilin,
P. R. China, in 1998, and the Ph. D. degree from
North China Electric Power University, P. R. China, in
2001.
His employment experience included Northeast
Electric Power Company and Tsinghua University, P.
R. China. His research interests are in the fields of power electronics, railway
traction and electric vehicles.

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