UNIT - IV

POLYPHASE TRANSFORMERS
Comparison between Single 3-Phase
Transformer

and

Bank of Three Single Phase Transformers
for
Three Phase System

The three phase system which has been adopted world
over to

Generate,
Transmit and
Distribute electrical power

Therefore to change the level of voltages in the system
three phase transformers should be used.

Three number of identical single phase transformers can
be suitably connected for use in a three phase system and
such a three phase transformer is called a bank of three
phase transformer.

Alternatively, a three phase transformer can be constructed
as a single unit
It is found that generation, transmission and
distribution of electrical power are more
economical in three phase system than single
phase system.
For three phase system three single phase
transformers are required.
Three phase transformation can be done in two
ways, by using single three phase
transformer or by using a bank of three single
phase transformers.

Both are having some advantages over other.
Single 3-phase transformer costs around 15%
less than bank of three single phase
transformers.
It occupies less space than later.
For very big transformer, it is impossible to
transport large three phase transformer to the
site and it is easier to transport three single
phase transformers which is erected separately
to form a three phase unit.
Another advantage of using bank of three
single phase transformers is that, if one unit of
the bank becomes out of order, then the bank
can be run as open delta.

POLYPHASE TRANSFORMERS


CONNECTIONS
AND
PHASOR DIAGRAMS

Marking or Labelling the Different
Terminals of Transformer
Terminals of each phase of HV side should be labeled
as capital letters, A, B, C

And

Those of LV side should be labelled as small letters,
a, b, c.

Terminal polarities are indicated by suffixes 1 & 2.

Suffix 1s indicate similar polarity ends and so do 2s.

If more terminals are brought out from a
winding by way of taps there are numbered in
the increasing numbers in accordance to their
distance from 1 (eg A
1
, A
2
, A
3
...).
If the induced emf at an instant is from A
1
to
A
2
on the HV winding it will rise from a
1
to a
2

on the LV winding.
The individual transformers are connected in a variety of ways in a
power system.

Due to the advantages of polyphase power during generation,
transmission and utilization, polyphase power handling is very
important.

As an engineering application is driven by techno-economic
considerations, no single connection or setup is satisfactory for all
applications.

Thus transformers are deployed in many forms and connections.

Star and mesh connections are very commonly used.

Apart from these, vee or open delta connections, zig zag connections,
T connections, auto transformer connections, multi winding
transformers etc. are a few of the many possibilities.
A few of the common connections and the technical
and economic considerations that govern their usage
are discussed here.
Literature abounds in the description of many other.
Apart from the characteristics and advantages of these,
one must also know their limitations and problems, to
facilitate proper selection of a configuration for an
application.
Many polyphase connections can be formed using
single phase transformers.
In some cases it may be preferable to design, develop
and deploy a polyphase transformer itself.
In a balanced two phase system we encounter two
voltages that are equal in magnitude differing in phase
by 90
Similarly, in a three phase system there are three
equal voltages differing in phase 120 electrical
degrees.
Further there is an order in which they reach a
particular voltage magnitude.
This is called the phase sequence.
In some applications like a.c. to d.c. conversion,
six phases or more may be encountered.
Transformers used in all these applications must
be connected properly for proper functioning.
Out of the different polyphase connections three
phase connections are mostly encountered due to
the wide spread use of three phase systems for
generation, transmission and utilization.
Three balanced 3-phase voltages can be
connected in star or mesh fashion to yield a
balanced 3-phase 3-wire system.
The transformers that work on the 3-phase supply
have star, mesh or zig-zag connected windings on
either primary secondary or both.
In addition to giving different voltage ratios, they
introduce phase shifts between input and output
sides.
.
Connection Primary Winding Secondary Winding
Delta D d
Star Y y
Interconnected Z z
Transformer Winding Identification

In a single phase transformer, we have only two
coils namely primary and secondary.
Primary is energized with single phase supply
and load is connected across the secondary.
However, in a 3-phase transformer there will be
3 numbers of primary coils and 3 numbers of
secondary coils.
So these 3 primary coils and the three secondary
coils are to be properly connected so that the
voltage level of a balanced 3-phase supply may
be changed to another 3-phase balanced system
of different voltage level.
Suppose you take three identical transformers
each of rating 10 kVA, 200 V / 100 V, 50 Hz and
to distinguish them call them as A, B and C.

For transformer-A, primary terminals are
marked as A
1
A
2

and the secondary terminals are
marked as a
1
a
2
.

The markings are done in such a way that A
1
and
a
1
represent the dot () terminals.

Similarly terminals for B and C transformers are
marked and shown in figure below.
Star-star connection
Star-Star Transformer

Now let us join the terminals A
2
, B
2
and C
2

of the 3 primary coils of the transformers
and no inter connections are made between
the secondary coils of the transformers.
Now to the free terminals A
1
, B
1
and C
1

a
balanced 3-phase supply with phase
sequence A-B-C is connected as shown in
figure below.
Primary is said to be connected in star.
It may be noted that individually each
transformer will work following the rules of
single phase transformer i.e,
Induced voltage in a
1
a
2
will be in phase with
applied voltage across A
1
A
2

and the ratio of
magnitude of voltages and currents will be as
usual decided by K where K = N
2
/N
1
, the turns
ratio.
This will be true for transformer-B and
transformer-C as well i.e., induced voltage in
b
1
b
2

will be in phase with applied voltage
across B
1
B
2

and induced voltage in c
1
c
2

will be
in phase with applied voltage across C
1
C
2
.
Since the secondary coils are not interconnected, the
secondary voltage phasors too have been shown
independent without any interconnections between
them.
In contrast, the terminals A
2
, B
2
and C
2
are physically
joined forcing them to be equipotential which has been
reflected in the primary coil voltage phasors as well
where phasor points A
2
, B
2
and C
2

are also shown
joined.
Coming back to secondary, if a voltmeter is connected
across any coil i.e., between a
1
and a
2
or between b
1
and
b
2

or between c
1

and c
2

it will read 100 V.
However, voltmeter will not read anything if connected
between a
1

and b
1

or between b
1

and c
1
or between c
1

and
a
1
as open circuit exist in the paths due to no physical
connections between the coils.
Imagine now the secondary coil terminals
a
2
, b
2

and c
2

are joined together physically as
shown in figure below.
So the secondary coil phasors should not be
shown isolated as a
2
b
2

and c
2

become
equipotential due to shorting of these
terminals.
Thus, the secondary coil voltage phasors
should not only be parallel to the respective
primary coil voltages but also a
2
, b
2

and c
2

should be equipotential.
Therefore, shift and place the phasors


in such a way that they remain parallel to the
respective primary coil voltages and the
points a
2
, b
2

and c
2
are superposed.




Here obviously, if a voltmeter is connected
between a
1

and b
1

or between b
1

and c
1

or
between c
1

and a
1

it will read corresponding
phasor lengths a
1
b
1
or b
1

c
1

or c
1
a
1
which are all
equal to 1003 V.


are of same magnitude and displaced mutually
by 120 to form a balanced 3-phase voltage
system.
Primary 3-phase line to line voltage of 2003V
is therefore stepped down to 3-phase, 1003V
line to line voltage at the secondary.
The junction of A
2
, B
2
and C
2
can be used as
primary neutral and may be denoted by N.
Similarly the junction of a
2
, b
2
and c
2
may be
denoted by n for secondary neutral.

A wrong star-star connection

In continuation with the discussion of the last
section, we show here a deliberate wrong
connection to highlight the importance of
proper terminal markings of the coils with dots
().
Let us start from the first figure (26.2) where
the secondary coils are yet to be connected.
To implement star connection on the secondary
side, let us assume that someone joins the
terminals a
2
, b
1
and c
2

together as shown in
second figure (26.4).

A wrong star-star connection

To implement star connection on the
secondary side, let us assume that someone
joins the terminals a
2
, b
1
and c
2

together as
shown in second figure (26.4).
The question is: is it a valid star connection? If
not why?
To answer this we have to interconnect the
secondary voltage phasors in accordance with
the physical connections of the coils.
In other words, shift and place the secondary
voltage phasors so that a
2
, b
1

and c
2

overlap
each other to make them equipotential.

The lengths of phasors


are no doubt, same and equal to 100 V but they
do not maintain 120 mutual phase displacement
between them as clear from second figure (26.4).
The magnitude of the line to line voltages too will
not be equal.
From simple geometry, it can easily be shown
that

Thus both the phase as well as line voltages
are not balanced 3-phase voltage.
Hence the above connection is useless so far
as transforming a balanced 3-phase voltage
into another level of balanced 3-phase
voltage is concerned.
Appropriate polarity markings with letters
along with dots () are essential in order to
make various successful 3-phase
transformer connections in practice or
laboratory.
Bank of three phase transformer
In the background of the points discussed in
previous section, we are now in a position to
study different connections of 3-phase
transformer.

Let the discussion be continued with the
same three single phase identical
transformers, each of rating 10kVA, 200V /
100V, 50Hz.

These transformers now should be connected
in such a way, that it will change the level of a
balanced three phase voltage to another
balanced three phase voltage level.

The three primary and the three secondary
windings can be connected in various
standard ways such as star / star or star / delta
or delta / delta or in delta / star fashion. Apart
from these, open delta connection is also used
in practice.
Star-star connection
We have discussed in length in the last section, the
implementation of star-star connection of a 3-phase
transformer.
The connection diagram along with the phasor diagram
are shown in figure below.
As discussed earlier, we need to apply to the primary
terminals (A
1
B
1
C
1
) a line to line voltage of 200 3 V so
that rated voltage (200 V) is impressed across each of
the primary coils of the individual transformer.
This ensures 100 V to be induced across each of the
secondary coil and the line to line voltage in the
secondary will be 100 3 V.
Thus a 3-phase line to line voltage of 200V is stepped
down to a 3-phase line to line voltage of 100 3

Now we have to calculate how much load current or kVA can be

supplied by this bank of three phase transformers without over loading
any of the single phase transformers. From the individual rating of
each transformer, we know maximum allowable currents of HV and
LV windings are respectively
I
HV

= 10000/200 = 50A and I
LV

= 10000/100 = 100A.

Since secondary side is connected in star, line current and the winding
currents are same.

Therefore total kVA that can be supplied to a balanced 3-phase load is

Note: While solving problems, it is not
necessary to show all the terminal markings
in detail and a simple and popular way of
showing the same star-star connection
Star Star Transformer is formed in a 3 phase
transformer by connecting one terminal of each phase
of individual side, together.
The common terminal is indicated by suffix 1 in the
figure above.
If terminal with suffix 1 in both primary and secondary
are used as common terminal, voltages of primary and
secondary are in same phase.
That is why this connection is called
zero degree connection or 0
o
- connection.
If the terminals with suffix 1 is connected together in
HV side as common point and the terminals with suffix
2 in LV side are connected together as common point,
the voltages in primary and secondary will be in
opposite phase.
Hence, Star Star Transformer connection is called
180
o
- Connection, of three phase transformer.

Star Connection Key points

As Primary in Star connected Line voltage on Primary
side = 3 X Phase voltage on Primary side.

So Phase voltage on Primary side = Line voltage on
Primary side / 3

Now Transformation Ration (K) = Secondary Phase
Voltage / Primary Phase Voltage

Secondary Phase Voltage = K X Primary Phase Voltage.

The neutral available on the primary can be earthed to
avoid distortion.

The neutral point allows both types of loads (single
phase or three phases) to be met.


1.Three single-phase transformers connected in a three-phase bank.

2. Three sets of windings wrapped on a common core.

Ease of transportation

Inefficient magnetic circuit, less efficient

Higher capital cost than a single one

1-phase of the transformer at fault, the other two are not affected

Harmonic Suppression:
The magnetizing current must contain odd harmonics for the
induced voltages to be sinusoidal and the third harmonic is the
dominant harmonic component.

In a three-phase system the third harmonic currents of all three
phases are in phase with each other because they are zero-
sequence currents.

In the Y-Y transformer connection, the only path for third
harmonic current is through the neutral.

Dd connection
Dd connection in three phase banks with mesh connection on
both primary side and secondary side provides a closed path
for the triplen harmonics to circulate currents.

Thus the supply current is nearly sinusoidal for the non-
triplen harmonic currents.

The triplen harmonic currents inside the closed mesh winding
correct the flux density wave to be nearly sinusoidal. The
secondary voltages will be nearly sinusoidal.

Third harmonics currents flow both in the primary and the
secondary and hence the magnitudes of these currents, so also
the drops due to them will be lower.
delta-delta transformer
In delta-delta transformer, 1 suffixed terminals
of each phase primary winding will be
connected with 2 suffixed terminal of next phase
primary winding.

If primary is HV side, then A
1
will be connected
to B
2
, B
1
will be connected to C
2
and C
1
will be
connected to A
2
.
Similarly in LV side 1 suffixed terminals of each
phase winding will be connected with 2 suffixed
terminals of next phase winding.
That means, a
1
will be connected to b
2
, b
1
will be
connected to c
2
and c
1
will be connected to a
2
.


That means, a
1
will be connected to b
2
, b
1
will be
connected to c
2
and c
1
will be connected to a
2
.
If transformer leads are taken out from primary
and secondary 2 suffixed terminals of the winding,
then there will be no phase difference between
similar line voltages in primary and secondary.
This delta-delta transformer connection is zero
degree connection or 0
o
- Connection.
But in LV side of transformer, if, a
2
is connected to
b
1
, b
2
is connected to c
1
and c
2
is connected to a
1
.
The secondary leads of transformer are taken out
from 2 suffixed terminals of LV windings, and then
similar line voltages in primary and secondary will
be in phase opposition.
This connection is called 180
o
- Connection, of three
phase transformer.

This connection proves to be economical for large low
voltage transformers as it increases number of turns per phase.
Key point : It can be seen that there is no phase shift between
primary and secondary voltages.
V
L1
= Line voltage on primary side.
V
L2
= Line voltage on secondary side.
V
ph1
= phase voltage on primary side.
V
ph2
= Phase voltage on secondary side.
K = Transformer ratio.
For delta connection, V
L1
= V
ph1

Now since V
ph2
/V
ph1
= K
.
.
. V
ph2
= K V
ph1

But again since secondary is connected in delta
V
L2
= V
ph2
= K V
L1

The advantages and disadvantages of this type of
connection can be summarized as follows.

Advantages
In order to get secondary voltage as sinusoidal, the
magnetizing current of transformer must contain a third
harmonic component.
The delta connection provides a closed path for
circulation of third harmonic component of current.
The flux remains sinusoidal which results in sinusoidal
voltages.
Even if the load is unbalanced the three phase voltages
remains constant.
Thus it allows unbalanced loading also.
The important advantage with this type of connection is
that if there is bank of single phase
transformers connected in delta-delta fashion and if one
of the transformers is disabled then the supply can be
continued with remaining tow transformers of course
with reduced efficiency.

There is no distortion in the secondary
voltages.
Due to delta connection, phase voltage is same as
line voltage hence winding have more number of
turns. But phase current is (1/3) times the line
current. Hence the cross-section of the windings
is very less.
This makes the connection economical for low
voltages transformers.
Disadvantages
Due to the absence of neutral point it is not
suitable for three phase four wire system.
Key point : The connection is commonly used for
large low voltage transformers.

Dy and Yd connection (without
neutral connection)
Behaviour of the bank with mesh
connection on one side is similar to the one
discussed under Dd connection.

The harmonic currents and drops and the
departure of the flux density from
sinusoidal are larger in the present case
compared to Dd banks.
Yy connection without neutral wires

With both primary and secondary connected in star
no closed path exists.
As the triplen harmonics are always in phase, by
virtue of the Y connection they get cancelled in the
line voltages.
Non-triplen harmonics like fundamental, become 3
times phase value and appear in the line voltages.
Line currents remain sinusoidal except for non-
triplen harmonic currents.
Flux wave in each transformer will be flat topped
and the phase voltages remain peaked. The potential
of the neutral is no longer steady.
The star point oscillates due to the third harmonic
voltages. This is termed as oscillating neutral.
Yy connection with neutral wires
When a neutral wire is provided the triplen harmonic
current can flow and the condition is similar to the
single phase case (with a star connected 4 wire source
or with the system earth).
The neutral wire carries three times the triplen
harmonic current of one transformer as these
currents are co-phasal. Unloaded secondary neutral
will not be operative.
Other polyphase connections not discussed above
explicitly will fall under one type or the other of the
cases discussed.
In a Yy connection, to obtain third harmonic
suppression one may provide a third winding
which is connected in mesh, which can be an
unloaded winding. It is called a tertiary.
This winding improves the single phase to earth
fault detection also.
Further, this winding can be used to feed some
permanent station loads also. Such
transformers are designated as Yyd
transformers.
If the neutral wires are provided and also mesh
connected winding is present, then triplen
harmonics are shared between them
depending upon their impedances.
Three phase transformers units
As against a bank of three single phase transformers
connected to three phase mains, a three phase
transformer generally has the three magnetic circuits
that are interacting.
The exception to this rule is a 3-phase shell type
transformer.
In the shell type of construction, even though the
three cores are together, they are non-interacting.
Three limb core type 3-phase transformer is the one
in which the phases are magnetically also linked. Flux
of each limb uses the other two limbs for its return
path.
This is true for fundamental and non-
triplen harmonics.
The triplen harmonics being co-phasal
cannot use other limbs for the return path
(this holds good for zero sequence,
unbalanced fundamental mmf also).
The flux path is completed through the air.
So substantially large value of the mmf
produces a low value of third harmonic flux
as the path of the flux is through the air and
has a very high reluctance.
Thus the flux in the core remains nearly
sinusoidal, so also the induced emf.
This happens irrespective of the type of
connection used.
The triplen order flux, sometimes links the
tank and produces loss in the same.
Other harmonics can be suppressed by
connecting tuned filters at the terminals.
Harmonic current compensation using
special magnetic circuit design is considered
to be outside the scope here.