Practical Transformers

Characteristics of Practica
l Transformer
• The primary and secondary windings have finite resistance
.
• There is a leakage flux, i.e., whole of the flux is not confine
d to the magnetic circuit.
• The magnetic core has finite permeability, thus a considera
ble amount of mmf is require to establish flux in the core.
• There are losses in the transformer due to winding resistan
ces, hysteresis and eddy currents. Therefore, the efficiency o
f a practical transformer is less than 100 %.
Winding Resistances
• Since the windings consist of copper conductors, it imm
ediately follows that both primary and secondary will have
winding resistance. The primary resistance R₁ and secondar
y resistance R₂ act in series with the respective windings
as shown in the figure.

• When current flows through the windings, there will be

power loss as well as a loss in voltage due to IR drop. Th
is will affect the power factor and E₁ will be less than V
₁ while V₂ will be less than E₂.
Iron Losses or Core Losses
• The core of the transformer is subjected
to the alternating magnetic flux, hence ther
e occurs eddy current loss and hysteresis lo
ss in the core.

• The hysteresis loss and eddy current loss

together are known as iron losses or core lo
sses. The iron losses of the transformer dep
end upon the supply frequency, maximum flux
density in the core, volume of the core and
thickness of the laminations etc. In a pract
ical transformer, the magnitude of iron loss
es is very small.
 Magnetic Leakage or Leakage Flux
• As the current through the primary winding produce
s flux. The flux ϕm which links both the windings is
the useful flux and is known as mutual flux. Although
, a part of the flux (ϕ1) produced by the primary cu
rrent does not link with the secondary winding. When
load is connected across the secondary winding, a cur
rent flows through it and produces a flux (ϕ2), whic
h links only with the secondary winding. Thus, the fl
uxes such as ϕ1 or ϕ2 which links only one winding
is known as leakage flux.

• The leakage flux paths are mainly through the air

which has very high reluctance. Therefore, the effect
of primary leakage flux (ϕ1) is to introduce an indu
ctive reactance (X1) in series with the primary windi
ng. Similarly, the secondary leakage flux (ϕ) introd
uces an inductive reactance (X2) in series with the s
econdary winding (see the figure).
• However, the leakage flux in a practica
l transformer is very small (about 5% of
ϕm), yet it cannot be ignored. Because, t
he leakage flux paths are through the air,
which has very high reluctance. As a resul
t, it requires considerable mmf.
Finite Permeability of Core Material
• In general, the practical transformers have a core
made up of silicon steel, which has a specific relativ
e permeability (μr). Hence, the core saturates at a c
ertain value of magnetic flux density. Therefore, the
core of a practical transformer has finite permeabilit
y and hence possess reluctance in the path of magnetic
flux.
https://m.youtube.com/watch
?v=5alrcPC1wyc

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h?v=gA6hQ2we3tk