Abstract—The paper proposes a measurement method for obtaining the parameters needed to calculate a reliable indicator of the state of transformer core saturation. The major nonlinear effects in transformer core are saturation, eddy current and hysteresis. Saturation is the predominant effect in power transformers, followed by eddy current and hysteresis effects. In saturation, a transformer core act as a source of current generating harmonics, some of which will flow directly toward the primary and secondary windings. The method is based on magnetization current, harmonic content and power factor evaluated of the transformer no-load current with high magnetic flux density subjected. The investigation is done on single phase model core type transformer. The transformer is connected to variable voltage variable frequency (VVVF) source and the investigation is done on various flux densities. The results show that the magnetization current and harmonic content increase significantly when high magnetic flux densities are injected and vice versa with power factor that decrease sharply. These phenomena can be used as the indication of transformer core saturation.
Index Terms—Harmonic content, no-load current, power factor, saturation, transformer
I. Daut is with Centre of Excellent for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical Systems Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis (e-mail: ismail.daut@unimap.edu.my).
S. Hasan is with Centre of Excellent for Renewable Energy, School of Electrical Systems Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis and Fakultas Teknik, Univ.Sumatera Utara (USU) Medan Indonesia (e-mail: syafruddin@unimap.edu.my).
S. Taib is with the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (e-mail: soibtaib@eng.usm.my).
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Cite:Ismail Daut, Syafruddin Hasan, and Soib Taib, "Magnetizing Current, Harmonic Content and Power Factor as the Indicators of Transformer Core Saturation," Journal of Clean Energy Technologies vol. 1, no. 4, pp. 304-307, 2013.