Second International Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering
ICECE 2002, 26-28 December 2002, Dhaka, Bangladesh
In-Situ Determination of Transformer Winding Temperature Rise
Using Genetic Algorithm Based Parameter Estimation
S. Hosimin Thilagar and G. Sridhara Rao
Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Chennai – 600 036, India
Abstract - This paper presents a novel method for the
determination of average winding temperature rise of
transformers under its field operating conditions. Rise
in the winding temperature is determined from the
estimated values of winding resistance during the heat
run test. The method uses genetic algorithm as a
parameter estimation tool to estimate the winding
resistance in an in-situ basis using the easily
measurable signals viz., supply voltage, current, input
power and load resistance of the transformer. This
method finds its application in overload management
and monitoring of health of transformers. Results of
the method are validated experimentally from the
measured value of hot resistance.
Keywords: Transformers, Average temperature rise,
Parameter estimation, Genetic algorithm.
1. INTRODUCTION
Transformers can be overloaded to the extent of
allowable limits of average winding temperature rise.
Moreover the rise in average winding temperature
beyond a limit is an index of the deteriorating health
of the transformers. Therefore the knowledge of
average temperature rise of transformers under its
operating condition is imperative.
The average temperature rise of transformers is
measured by determining the change in winding
resistance in accordance with the IEEE/ANSI
standards [1] for dry type power transformers. Various
techniques are suggested for the measurement of
average and hot spot temperature rise in regard to
ventilated dry type transformers and oil immersed
transformers [2,3]. On the other hand direct
temperature measurement at hot spots and average
temperature rise in windings are done [4] using optic
fiber sensors. The overload capability of transformers
and its management are dealt in [5].
The present paper suggests a method for the in-situ
determination of average winding temperature rise in
transformers. The estimation of hot-resistance in the
course of a heat-run test is presented in the paper
followed by the computation of winding temperature
rise. The estimation could be done using the readily
measurable signals of supply voltage, primary current
and input power of the transformer. A practical case of
normal load test is also considered to demonstrate that
the method could be applied in the field operating
ISBN 984-32-0328-3
condition of transformers in an in-situ basis. The
estimated results are experimentally validated through
the direct measurement of resistance. The method has
used the search optimization tool the Genetic
Algorithm (GA) as a parameter estimation tool to
estimate the resistances from the measured signals
during the heat run test. Principles of GA can be
obtained from [6].
This method would be useful to suggest the
overload capability of the transformer, which
essentially depends on the average winding
temperature rise but not the load current. Temperature
rise in the primary and secondary windings can be
separately determined apart from the computation of
the losses in the windings using the estimated
parameters. The method also finds its application to
monitor the health of the transformers.
Section 2 of this paper presents the nature of the
problem and the proposed method to solve it. Section-
3 deals with the experiments, implementation of the
method, results and discussions. Section 4 presents the
conclusions of this paper.
GLOSSARY
V1,est, V1,mea, I1,mea, I1,est P1,mea, P1,est – Measured and
estimated values of supply voltage phasor, Volts, primary
current phasor, Amps and input power, Watts
I' 2,mea, Icore – Measured secondary current phasor and c ore
loss current phasor, Amps
Rè1, Rè2 – Resistance of windings at ambient temperature è1
and at changed temperature è 2 respectively, Ohms
r1, r'2, x1, x'2 – Resistances and leakage reactances of primary
and secondary winding, referred to primary side, Ohms
RM, XM – Core loss equivalent resistance and magnetising
winding reactance, Ohms
R'L – Load resistance referred to primary side, Ohms
Z 1, Z'2, Z M , Z'1,est – Impedances of primary, secondary and
tertiary windings and equivalent impedance of transformer
referred to primary side, Ohms
k – a scalar constant
2. THE PARAMETER ESTIMATION METHOD
2.1. Problem Formulation
Monitoring of rise in average winding temperature
is important to ascertain the overload capability and
the protection of power transformers. The temperature
measurement methods would have to take into account
of the factors viz., variations in ambient temperature,
thermal time constant of the windings, etc. Moreover
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in-situ measurement of temperature rise of the magnetizing circuit parameters are ignored in the
windings is necessary to achieve on-line variation of equivalent circuit. According to the GA based method
the operating load margin of power transformer so that suggested by the paper the equivalent circuit
the transformer can be overloaded beyond its parameters are estimated by maximizing the fitness
nameplate for a short or long time. Indeed the on-line function (FF) given by (1). By applying the measured
method of temperature measurement using fiber-optic value of supply voltage, load current and input power
technique is quite costlier. Temperature measurement in (1) the equivalent resistance and reactance
based on thermal models requires solution of non- components could be determined. From the estimated
linear expressions and the knowledge of transformer value of resistance the temperature at various instants
geometrical and thermal parameters. Methods of time is computed using (7).
involving measurement of average rise in oil k
temperature are influenced by the secondary effects max ( FF ) = (1)
f1 + f 2 2
2
like deterioration of oil property, in case of oil
immersed transformers. In this background V1,mea − V1,est
achievement of simplicity of temperature where, f1 = ×100 ( 2)
measurement method seems to be difficult. V1,mea
P1,mea − P1,est
2.2 Proposed Solution f2 = × 100 (3)
The average temperature rise of transformers – P1,mea
both air-cooled and oil immersed types – due to
constant and variable losses, variation in ambient
V1,est = Z '1,est × I 1,mea ( 4)
temperature and change in the thermal time constant
2
P1,est = I 1,mea × ( r1 + r ' 2 )
of transformer are reflected through the change in the
(5 )
winding resistance. Therefore it is proposed to
estimate the resistance of the windings based on the
equivalent circuit structure of the transformer, using
(
Z '1,est = sqrt (r1 + r ' 2 )2 + ( x1 + x' 2 ) 2 ) ( 6)
which the rise in average winding temperature is to be  234 .5 + θ1 
Rθ1 = Rθ2 ×  
 (7 )
 234 .5 + θ2 
determined. The estimation of resistance along with
other equivalent circuit parameters is formulated as a
search problem and the search-optimization tool GA is To apply the method in a generalized case, where
applied for the parameter estimation. the transformer is in its loaded condition, the GA
based method is modified accordingly using the exact
2.3 Proposed Method equivalent circuit model, shown in fig. 2, as follows.
The average winding temperature rise of r1 x1 r'2 x'2
transformer is obtained using the equivalent loading
method, as suggested by the IEEE standards [1]. + I1, mea
According to this method a constant circulating RM
V1, mea XM R'L
current is passed through the short -circuited windings
for one hour. This current is equivalent to the full load – Icore I'2,mea
current plus the equivalent current supplying the
Fig.32: Exact equivalent circuit of a single -phase transformer
constant and variable losses of the transformer.
under loaded condition
Parameter estimation is to be done based on the
equivalent circuit of the transformer under short-
Expression (1) would be applied for the parameter
circuited condition, as shown in fig. 1, using the
estimation in which (5) and (6) are modified into (8)
readily measurable signals of voltage, current and
and (9) based on fig. 2. Using the estimated resistance
input power.
parameters of the exact equivalent circuit in fig. 2 the
r1+r'2 x1+x'2
rise in average winding temperature could be
determined in an in-situ basis. This also provides the
I1,mea advantage of computing the variable and constant
V1,mea losses separately and their specific contribution to the
rise in heat in the respective windings and core.
Fig. 1: Equivalent circuit of a single -phase transformer
under short -circuited condition P1,est = I 1, mea 2 × r1 + I ' 2 , mea 2 × (r ' 2 + R ' L ) + ...
Parameters in fig. 1 represent the equivalent
resistance and reactance value of the primary and I core 2 × R M (8)
secondary windings referred to primary side of the
transformer under short-circuited condition. The

92
 resistance of primary and secondary windings is
 Z' ×ZM  measured directly using the Wheatstone bridge
Z '1,est = Z 1 +  2 
 (9 )
 Z '2 + Z M  method [19] at the same intervals of time to validate

(
Z ' 2 = sqrt (r ' 2 + R ' L )2 + (x ' 2 )2 ) (10 )
the estimated results. The estimated and the measured
values of the equivalent resistance referred to primary
1 side are provided in Table II.
ZM = (11)
YM
Table II: Estimated and measure d resistance
1 j
YM = − (12 ) Time Estimated Measured
RM XM (Min) Resistance Resistance
E1 = V1,mea − Z 1 × I 1,mea (13 ) (Ohms) (Ohms)
0 4.0004 4.0112
E1
I ' 2 ,mea = (14 ) 5 4.3203 4.3260
Z '2 10 4.4781 4.5020
E1 15 4.6350 4.6430
I core = (15 ) 20 4.6722 4.6857
RM
25 4.7250 4.7434
30 4.7580 4.7736
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
35 4.7580 4.7956
40 4.7979 4.8192
A 230 / 50V, 1 kVA, 50 Hz single-phase 45 4.7979 4.8324
transformer is considered for the experimental studies.
50 4.8373 4.8498
The transformer is a naturally cooled and dry type. A
55 4.8373 4.8587
heat run test is performed in the transformer as per the 60 4.8373 4.8615
specifications of IEEE test standards [1]. That is a
constant current of 5A – equivalent to the full load The rise in winding temperature is estimated from
the estimated values of winding resistance, using (7).
current and the current supplying for the losses in the
The estimated and measured temperature is plotted in
transformer – is circulated in the short-circuited
windings of transformer for one hour. The voltage, fig. 3. From the results it could be found that the
estimated value based on short circuit test results
current and equivalent losses in the primary side of the
(Estimated 1) possess less than three-percentage error
transformer is recorded during the heat run test at
equal intervals of time using analog measuring with respect to measured value of winding
temperature determined from the measured resistance.
instruments of 0.5 class accuracy. The observed values
To demonstrate the applicability of the method in a
are provided in Table I.
practical situation, the parameter estimation is also
Table I: Equiv alent loading test data done based on the load test data of supply voltage,
primary current, input power and the load resistance
Time Primary Primary Power obtained from output power and secondary current.
(Min) Voltage Current Dissipated The load test data is recorded at the same time
(Volts) (Amps) (Watts) intervals as in the previous case and given in Table III.
0 21.0 5.0 100.0
5 22.5 5.0 108.0 Table III: Load test data of single -phase transformer at
10 23.0 5.0 112.0 230 Volts, 5 Amps supply
15 23.4 5.0 116.0
Time Power Secondary Secondary Power
20 23.6 5.0 117.0 (Min) Input Voltage Current Output
25 23.8 5.0 118.0 (Watts) (Volts) (Amps) (W atts)
30 23.9 5.0 119.0 0 1104 47.5 22.0 1029.5
35 23.9 5.0 119.0 5 1108 47.0 22.0 1011.0
40 24.0 5.0 120.0 10 1110 46.6 22.0 1004.0
45 24.0 5.0 120.0 15 1111 46.3 22.0 1001.0
50 24.1 5.0 121.0 20 1112 46.1 22.0 997.5
55 24.1 5.0 121.0 25 1113 45.9 22.0 995.0
30 1114 45.8 22.0 994.0
60 24.1 5.0 121.0
35 1114 45.8 22.0 994.0
These values are used to estimate the equivalent 40 1115 45.7 22.0 993.5
resistance and the reactance value of the transformer at 45 1115 45.7 22.0 993.5
the corresponding operating points by applying them 50 1116 45.6 22.0 993.0
in (1). Though a closed form solution is 55 1116 45.6 22.0 993.0
straightforward for the determination of equivalent 60 1116 45.6 22.0 993.0
resistance, the in-situ parameter estimation method Parameter estimation is done using (1) – based on the
using GA is also demonstrated. The winding exact equivalent circuit model – and the rise in

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Fig. 3: Average temperature rise in the
windings of transformer
temperature are computed using (7). Results are
plotted in fig. 3. The average winding temperature rise
after one hour in all the three cases is approximately
60 C, which is above the ambient temperature of 40
C, as found in fig. 3. The rise in temperature
determined from the load test results (Estimated 2) at
initial time periods shows a slight deviation from the
measured value, which is due to the fact that the
transformer is slightly overloaded above the rated
value. The final steady state rise in temperature after
one hour is found to be closer to the measured value.
The results demonstrate that the suggested method
could be used for the estimation of rise in average
winding temperature of the transformer in an in-situ
basis by applying the easily measurable signals of the
primary side and load side of the transformer
periodically. From the estimated parameters the rise in
winding temperature in the primary and secondary
windings can be also separately determined as shown
in fig. 4.
Fig. 4: Estimated temperature rise in
primary and secondary windings
Here, the secondary winding has a higher rise in
temperature, as it lies inside the primary winding. It
was found that the current density of both the
windings is the same, that is 0.7074 A/mm2 . Therefore
the heating of the secondary winding is faster and
higher.
By monitoring the rise in average winding
temperature the overload capability could be
determined directly. This means that the need for
costlier fiber-optic temperature sensors could be
avoided. Moreover the suggested method inherently
accounts the effect of various factors like variation in
ambient temperature, winding thermal time constant
94
on the change in winding temperature as it is reflected
through the winding resistance. Therefore special
attention on these factors need not be exercised to
determine the maximum overload capability.
The method does not address the issue of
determination of hot spot temperature, which finds its
application in the detection of incipient faults and also
the overload limit of transformer. Nonetheless from
the knowledge of winding resistance and the
equivalent reactance values this method could also
suggest the general health of the transformer by
comparing against the database of the estimated
parameters under healthier condition. Therefore using
this method the general health of the transformer could
also be monitored under its field operating conditions.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The paper has demonstrated an in-situ estimation
of the rise in average winding temperature of the
transformer using the easily measurable signals. The
applicability of the method has been experimentally
demonstrated with the heat run test, by both the short
circuit and actual load tests. Apart from the
determination of average temperature rise of
transformers the method could also estimate the
constant and variable losses and their specific
contribution towards the temperature rise.
This method could be directly applied for the
overload management of power transformer operating
under varying load conditions, changing ambient
temperature and thermal time constant of transformer.
The health of the transformer also can be monitored
using the database of the estimated parameters under
healthier operating conditions.
References:
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and Power Transfo rmers” , ANSI / IEEE C57.12.91,
1992.
[2] P. W. Linden , “Thermal Considerations in Specifying
Dry Type Transformers”, IEEE Transactions on
Industry Applications, vol. 30, no. 4 July -Aug 1994,
pp. 1090 - 1098.
[3] B.C Lesieutre, W. H. Hagman, and J. L. Jr. Kirtley,
“Improved Transformer Top Oil Temperature Model
for use in an On -Line Monitoring And Diagnostic
System”. IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery,
vol. 12, no. 1, Jan 1997, pp. 249-256.
[4] M. P. Saravolac, “Use of Optic Fibers for Temperature
Monitoring in Power Transformers”. IEE Colloquium
(Digest), no. 75, Mar 22 1994.
[5] P. K Sen, “Transformer Overloading”. International
Journal of Power and Energy Systems, vol. 19, no. 1,
1999, pp. 52-56.
[6] K. F. Man, K. S. Tang and S Kwong, “Genetic
algorithms: Concepts and Applications”, IEEE
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[7] Sawhney A K., “Electrical and Electronics
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