Modeling of UHV Power Transformer and Analysis of
Electromagnetic Transient
Linjun Zeng, Xiangning Lin, IEEE Senior Member, Jingguang Huang, Zhiqian Bo, IEEE Senior Member
College of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology
Three Gorges University
443002, Yichang, P. R China
Abstract1— To correctly apply transformer differential protec-
tion in the environment of UHV (Ultra High Voltage), it is neces-
sary to model the UHV power transformer reasonably and carry
out corresponding electromagnetic transient simulations. There-
fore, according to the equivalent circuit of three winding auto-
transformer, we firstly set up the three winding autotransformer
model by means of UMEC (Unified Magnetic Equivalent Circuit)
transformer model provided by EMTDC software. Then, the pa-
rameters of UHV transformer are converted to those of the
UMEC model. In this way, the UHV transformer model is built.
Based on this model, the internal faults model of UHV transfor-
mer is set up. Under the UHV environment, the energization and
internal fault of UHV power transformer are simulated, and the
simulated data are utilized to investigate the operation reliability
of the well-applied differential protection combined with the crite-
rion of second harmonic blocking. It is shown with the simulation
results that the second harmonic ratios of three phase inrush of
the UHV power transformer are all below 10% in the case of some
energization scenarios. In this case, the mal-operation of the diffe-
rential protection with 15%~20% second harmonic restraint ratio
cannot be avoided, even though it adopts such a blocking strategy
that the protection will be blocked as the second harmonic ratio of
any one phase exceeds the threshold. Besides, in some light fault
conditions, the second harmonic ratio of the fault current is rela-
tively high in the beginning of fault inception, leading to the short
time delay of operation of protection.
Inde x Te rm s— UHV power transformer; autotransformer; UMEC;
EMTDC; magnetic inrush; internal fault current; harmonic
I. INTRODUCTION
T here has been a problem of distinguishing between magnet-
ic inrush and internal fault current for the differential pro-
tection of the power transformer, and the scenario of the
1000kV UHV (Ultra High Voltage) transformer protection is
possibly more serious. Compared with EHV (Extra High Vol-
tage) power systems, the electromagnetic environment of UHV
system is more complex. Meanwhile, the configuration and
parameters of UHV transformer differ from EHV transformer
1
This work is supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
(50777024) and by Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Universi-
ty(NCET-07-0325)..
L. Zeng, X. Lin, J. Huang are with College of Electrical Engineering and In-
formation Technology, Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, Hubei
Province, China. X. Lin is also with the Department of Electrical Engineering,
Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), Wuhan430074,
China (e-mail: linxiangning@hotmail.com). Z. Q. Bo is with the AREVA
T&D—Automation & Information Systems, Stafford ST17 4LX, U.K.
978-1-4244-4241-6/09/$25.00 ©2009 IEEE
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obviously. In this case, modeling the UHV power transformer
reasonably and carrying out the corresponding electromagnetic
transient simulations are the preconditions of applying trans-
former differential protection correctly.
Autotransformer is the main type of UHV transformer, but
the model of autotransformer provided by most simulation
software is absent. An ordinary way is to replace autotransfor-
mer by the common transformer in electromagnetic transient
simulations. In this way, only the effect of magnetic coupling is
included, but the electric relation between primary side and
secondary side is ignored. The model proposed in reference [1]
adopts flux linkage as state variable and includes the nonlinear-
ity of transformer core. It is clear in terms of concept but too
complex to perform in many cases. In reference [2], a new
transient simulation model of the three-phase autotransformer
is described, in which the controlled voltage and current
sources are developed with the modified damping trapezoidal
method which is engaged to form its synthetic simulation mod-
el. In this case, both efficiency and precision of simulations are
improved. However, this type of investigation can be more
reasonable if it considers the nonlinearity of magnetizing im-
pedance. Furthermore, the electromagnetic transient simula-
tions in the UHV electromagnetic environment is a new chal-
lenge, especially including the UHV transmission line with
distributed parameters.
PSCAD/EMTDC is an appropriate simulation software ap-
plied in various fields of power systems. In particular, it is
suitable for electromagnetic transient simulations. In this paper,
according to the equivalent circuit of three winding autotrans-
former, we set up the UHV autotransformer model and its in-
ternal faults model by means of UMEC (Unified Magnetic
Equivalent Circuit) transformer model provided by EMTDC
software. This new model considers both particularity of UHV
transformer and nonlinearity of transformer core. Based on this
model, we carried out simulations in several cases included
energization, inter-turn short-circuit fault, phase to ground
short-circuit fault and phase-to-phase short-circuit fault. Finally,
we analyzed the current waveforms and evaluated the issues of
the transformer differential protection with 2nd harmonic
blocking scheme applied in UHV transformer protection.
II. MODELING OF UHV POWER TRANSFORMER
A. Basic configuration of UHV Power Transformer
Autotransformer is applied widely in 220kV and higher sys-
tems due to many merits such as low cost, high efficiency, low
exciting power and so on. The tremendous capability and the
high requirement of insulation lead to the huge bulk and prodi-
gious weight of UHV transformers as the single-phase capabil-
ity of UHV transformer is up to 1000 MVA. In view of the
convenience of transportation, adopting single-phase configu-
ration becomes necessary. The UHV transformer produced in
China is exactly single-phase autotransformer [3]. The
three-phase configuration is implemented with the single-phase
transformer bank.
Autotransformer has the tertiary winding, namely
low-voltage winding. The tertiary winding is unloaded, instead,
its functionality is to circulate third harmonic. Three phases of
the tertiary winding are connected by delta-type and earthed
through a low-voltage reactor.
To satisfy the demand of isolation, the off-line vol-
tage-regulating from the neutral terminal is adopted and the
voltage regulator and compensation transformer separately are
set by the UHV transformer. The principle can be illustrated by
Fig.1.
Fig.1 the principle diagram of UHV transformer voltage regulation
、 、 、 、 、 、
SV CV LV TV EV LE LT respectively represents series
winding, common winding, low-voltage winding, voltage reg-
ulation winding, magnetizing winding, low-voltage magnetiz-
ing winding, low-voltage compensation winding. Due to this
special type of coupling of windings, short-circuit impedance
of UHV transformer is much bigger than that of ordinary
transformer.
Since the currents of each sides of UHV transformer are
the main concerns, the main transformer and the corresponding
voltage-regulating compensation transformer are equivalent to
be a three winding autotransformer.
B. The equivalent circuit of three winding autotransformer
No mater how the windings are arranged, we can study the UMEC three-winding transformer model to form the
three-winding autotransformer by means of a equivalent Y-type high-voltage winding and the medium-voltage winding. In this
equivalent circuit[4]. In the following, the equivalent circuit of way, UHV transformer model can be achieved.
UHV transformer based on the series, common and tertiary
winding are modeled.
I&c' I&B'
U& c' U& B'
U& Q
I&Q
Fig.2 Three winding auto transformer theory Diagram
As seen in Fig.2, after converting electrical quantities to
' '
common winding side, U& c and I&c are the voltage and the
current respectively of the series winding. The voltage and the
current of the common winding are denoted by U& Q and I&Q .
' '
Besides, U& B and I&B represent the voltage and the current of
the tertiary winding.
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Similar to equation derivation of ordinary three winding
transformer, the following equation can be deduced when the
exciting current is ignored, as given by:
⎪U C − U Q = I C Z C + I Q Z Q
⎧ & ' & & ' ' &
⎨ ' (1)
⎩U C − U B = IC Z C + I B Z B
& &' & ' ' &' '
⎪
'
Where, Z C is the leakage impedance converted from the
series winding; Z Q is the leakage impedance of the common
'
winding; Z B is the leakage impedance converted from the
low-voltage winding.
According to (1), its Y-type equivalent circuit can be de-
duced, as seen in Fig.3:
C
ZC'
ZQ Z B'
Q B
Fig.3 Three ports Y-type equivalent circuit
The parameters of the equivalent circuit can be obtained by
three-winding ordinary transformer test. By this token, the
three-winding autotransformer can be simulated based on three
winding ordinary transformer.
C. Models of UHV transformer for simulation
EMTDC is a widely-used simulation software in power sys-
tem analysis. The typical application is to calculate the varia-
tion of electric parameters momentarily when power system is
disturbed or the system parameters are changed. In this paper,
modeling of UHV transformer and simulation of electromag-
netic transient are both carried out by EMTDC. However,
EMTDC does not provide the three-winding autotransformer
models directly. According to the above analysis, and in view
of the "electric" relation between series winding and common
winding of autotransformer, we connect two windings of the
Fig.4 Model of UHV transformer
As seen in Fig.4, 1# winding, 2# winding and 3# winding
form the low-voltage winding, the series winding and the
common winding respectively. The effectiveness of the equi-
valence is to guarantee the leakage impedances of correspond-
ing windings being equal between the equivalent model and the
original model. Significantly, the parameters of the UHV
transformer should be converted to the tertiary winding, name-
ly low-voltage winding.
The UMEC transformer model is built primarily based on
core geometry. Unlike the classical transformer model, the
magnetic coupling between windings of different phases, in
addition to coupling between windings of the same phase, are
taken into account in the UMEC model. The piecewise linear citance C0=0.008955μF/km. Nanyang–Jingmen: length=
technique is used to control the model equivalent branch con- 291km. Positive sequence resistance in per km R1
，
=0.00801Ω/km positive sequence reactance in per km X1=
ductance. The non-linearity of the core is input directly into the
0.2631Ω/km
model as a piece-wise linear U-I curve, which makes full use of ，
positive sequence capacitance in per km
C1=0.013830μF/km. Zero sequence resistance R0=0.1563
the interpolation algorithm for the calculation of exact instants
in changing of state range. ，
Ω/km zero sequence reactance X0=0.8306Ω/km zero sequence ，
capacitance C0 = 0.009296μF/km .
Internal faults of transformer include inter-turn short-circuit
fault, inter-turn to ground fault, and phase to phase short-circuit
The UHV autotransformer parameters are as follows: Rated
fault and phase to ground fault. At present, diversified phase to
capabilities of the high-voltage side, the medium-voltage side
phase fault or phase to ground fault are available by means ofand low-voltage side are respectively 1000 MVA, 1000MVA
FAULTS module provided by EMTDC. Therefore, the model and 334MVA. Voltage ratings (RMS)of the high-voltage side,
of internal winding fault is the main concern of this paper. the medium-voltage side and the low-voltage side are respec-
When an inter-turn fault occurs on double-winding transfor-tively 1050 kV, 525kV and 110kV; short-circuit impedances
mer, the fault turns of the faulty winding can be seen as a ter-
(based on rated capabilities of high voltage side): 18% in
tiary winding. It can be regarded as the fault of the tertiaryHigh-medium side, 62% in High-low side, and 40% in me-
winding of a three-winding transformer[5].Based on this con- dium-low side. No-load loss is 0.07%; magnetizing loss is
cept, faulty turns of three winding transformer can be simulated
155kW.
by a fourth winding, see Fig.5. Rated capability of high voltage reactors: 960MVA in Jin-
dongnan side of Jindongnan–Nanyang transmission line, while
720MVA in Nanyang side; 720MVA in Nanyang side of Na-
nyang–Jingmen transmission line, and 600MVA in Jingmen
side.
In view of the influences which result from the energization
transient of the transmission lines and high voltage reactors, the
energization position is at the high voltage side of UHV trans-
Fig.5 internal faults model of transformer former at Jingmen side.
In Fig.5, 2# winding denotes the fault turns, and the fault The system model is shown in Fig.6.
types can be controlled by the breakers. Leakage reactance X2
of 2# winding and leakage reactance X3 of 3# winding can be
calculated, as given by:
⎪X2 + X3 = Xc
⎧
⎨ (2)
⎩ X 2 / X 3 = ( N 2 / N3 )
2
⎪
In (2), Xc is known as the leakage reactance of series
winding. N2, N3 are respectively the turn quantities of 2#
winding and 3# winding. Practically, N2/N3 nearly is equal to
the ratio of 2# winding's rated voltage to 3# winding's. Fig6. Model system

As seen in Fig.6, the UHV source is connected to the high-

III. SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS
Due to the nonlinearity of transformer core, the magnetizing
inrush possibly occurs when a transformer is energized, which
easily leads to the mal-operation of the differential protection if
no blocking strategy is included. Therefore, identifying inrush
current accurately is the premise of correct operation of diffe-
rential protection. The above two models were used to carry out
the simulations of energization and internal faults of UHV
transformer in the following. In this way, the operation beha-
vior of the protection can be investigated.
A. System Model and correlative parameters
The system model comes from Jindongnan– Nanyang–
Jingmen 1000kV AC test and demonstration project of CHINA
in process, and all the parameters in the model system are from
the real UHV project.
The transmission lines parameters: Jindongnan–Nanyang:
length =363km; Positive sequence resistance in per km
R1=0.00758Ω/km, positive sequence reactance in per km X1
=0.26365Ω/km, positive sequence capacitance in per km C1=
0.01397μF/km. Zero sequence resistance R0=0.15421Ω/km,
zero sequence reactance X0=0.7821Ω/km, zero sequence capa-
voltage side of the UHV transformer via UHV transmission
lines. The medium-voltage side is linked with a equivalent load,
while low-voltage winding is connected in delta-type and is
grounded through a reactor and a capacitor for compensation.
Actually, the source of the UHV project is provided by the
medium-voltage side of the UHV transformer at Jindongnan. It
is no harm to replace Jindongnan by equivalent source since the
emphasis lies in the energization at Jingmen. Besides, the
reactors are modeled by parallel inductances, and capacitors are
modeled by capacitances. The remnant flux is modeled by DC
source which is put on the high-voltage side of transformer.
B. Simulation and analysis of energization
Energization simulations were carried out in terms of diverse
initial angles and remnant flux densities. A scenario of typical
inrush waveforms in three phases is shown in Fig.7. As seen,
the harmonics of the inrush is more abundant than the trans-
former’s in EHV and lower voltage level systems, leading to
the more abnormal waveforms.

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 According to Tab.I, when the initial angle of phase A is
30o, the harmonic ratio of one phase will be under 15%, even if
there is no remnant flux. When the remnant flux is taken into
account, the harmonic ratio of phase C will fall below 1.9%, as
shown in fifths row of Tab.I. This indicates that it is unrealistic
to adjust harmonic restraint ratio only to avoid the
mal-operation of differential protection. Only by virtue of
adopting such a blocking strategy that the protection will be
blocked as the second harmonic ratio of any one phase exceeds
the threshold, and regulating harmonic restraint ratio to the
value lower than 15%, the scenario of above mal-operation can
be avioded. Furthermore, when the remnant flux densities of
three phase are 0.9Bm, 0 and -0.9Bm and the initial angle of
phase A is 30o, the 2nd harmonic ratios of three phase
differential currents are all under 10%. In this case, even the
above strict countermeasure cannot allow the protection to
survive.
It is impossible to simulate all the conditions involving the
Fig.7 Magnetic inrush currents in the condition of typical energization, Initial
angle of phase A is 0o; remnant flux densities of the three phase are all 0 diverse initial angles, remnant flux densities and different op-
eration states of systems. However, the simulation results pre-
The UHV transformer adopts Y-d-11 type. Therefore, our sented in this paper at least suggest that the 2nd harmonic cha-
concern is the differential current with regard to the transformer racteristic of the inrush of UHV transformer is weaker than that
differential protection. Differential current is the summation of in EHV and lower voltage level systems. This scenario should
three-side influx currents, which should be equipped with phase be paid attention to when the differential protection of UHV
and magnitude compensation. Namely, if the influx currents of transformer is put into service.
the high, medium, low voltage sides of phase A are I&ah 、I 、 &
am
Besides, the high order harmonic, especially odd harmonic
of the inrushes are more abundant than ordinary transformer. It
I&al , and the influx currents of the high, medium, low voltage possibly has some impact on the methods identifying inrush by
means of waveform characteristic.
side of phase B are I&bh , I&bm , I&bl , in view of the phase com-
pensation and magnitude compensation, the differential current C. Simulation and analysis of internal faults
of phase A is Inter-turn short-circuit fault, turn-to-ground fault simulations
525 of different faulty turns ratios have been carried out and shown
110 in Fig.6. All the faults occurred in phase A exemplarily.
( )
I&ah − I&bh +
1050
3 I& − I& +
am ( bm )
1050
I&al . Moreover, several phase to ground faults were simulated by
3 3 means of FAULTS module provided by EMTDC, including
Because the transformer is energized at the high-voltage side, phase A to ground, phase A to phase B short-circuit fault and
there are no currents in other two sides, so the differential cur- phase A-phase B short-circuit-to-ground fault.
( )
Several current waveforms of phase A in different fault
rent of phase A is I&ah − I&bh exactly. Tab.I provides the har- conditions are shown in Fig.8.
monic ratios of the three phase differential currents in the con-
dition of various energizations.
Tab.I Harmonic analysis of inrush currents
Remnant flux Initial angle 2nd harmonic ratio (%)
density of phase A Phase Phase Phase
( o) A B C
Phase A:0Bm 0 30.4 40.4 15.1 （a）Inter-turn short-circuit fault
Phase B:0Bm 30 31.8 22.6 14.8
Phase C:0Bm 60 37.0 23.7 34.3
Phase A:0.7Bm 0 16.0 18.9 10.1
Phase B:-0.5Bm 30 17.0 15.4 1.9
Phase C:-0.5Bm （b）turn to ground fault
60 30.3 15.0 3.7
Phase A:0.9Bm 0 12.8 17.7 4.0
Phase B:0Bm 30 9.8 6.9 6.1
Phase C:-0.9Bm
60 17.0 17.0 7.8
（c）phase A to Phase B short-circuit fault

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 Fig.8 Currents for internal faults [4]T. Yang, C. Shi, X. Tan, Autotransformer and its applications (In Chinese).
According to waveforms, no mater inter-turn short-circuit or Beijing, China: China Electric Power Press, pp.28-30.
[5]W. Wang and B. Hou, Theoretical Basis of the Protection Principle of the
turn to ground fault occurs, the smaller the short-circuited turns, Utility-Type Unit (In Chinese). Beijing, China: China Electric Power Press,
the lower the primary current. When a terminal fault occurs, the pp.63-64.
fault current is big and abnormal. [6]X. Wang and Z. Wang, "Study of simulation of transformer with internal
Due to the distributed capacitive effect of UHV transmission faults", Power System Technology, vol. 28, no. 12, pp.51, 2004. (In Chinese)
[7]Y. Huang and Q. LI, et al, "Simulation for magnetic inrush and fault current
line and the particularity of UHV transformer itself, there is of three-phase transformer based on EMTDC", RELAY, vol. 35, no. 1, pp.
abundant harmonics within the fault currents. However, for 26-29, 2007. (In Chinese)
most inter-turn faults, the ratio of the 2nd harmonic of differen- [8]B. He and X. Xu, "Protection based on wave comparison", Proceedings of
tial currents of diversified faults is under 15%. Therefore, it the CSEE, vol. 18, no.6, pp. 395-398, 1998. (In Chinese)
[9]S. Jiao and W. Liu, "A novel scheme to discriminate inrush current and fault
would not influence the rapidity of the protection operation in a current based on integrating the waveform", Proceedings of the CSEE, vol. 19,
mass of fault conditions. no.8, pp. 35-38, 1999. (In Chinese)
However, the exception still exists. For instance, when a 2% [10]X. Lin, P. Liu, C. Yang, "Studys for identification of the inrush based on
improved correlation algorithm ", Proceedings of the CSEE，vol. 21, no. 5, pp.
inter-turn fault occurs, the 2nd harmonic of the faulty phase is 56-60, 2001. (In Chinese)
nd
up to 22.6%, which exceeds the conventional 2 harmonic re- [11]D. Chen , X. Yin, et al, "Virtual third harmonic restrained transformer
straint ratio setting, leading to the time delay of the protection differential protection principle and practice", Proceedings of the CSEE, vol.
operation. 21, no. 8, pp. 19-23, 2001.(In Chinese)
nd [12]J. He and J. Li, B. Yao, et al, "A new approach of transformer inrush de-
According to the simulation result, 2 harmonic blocking tected based on the sine degree principle of current waveforms", Proceedings
scheme can distinguish between inrush and fault current on the of the CSEE, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 84-59, 2007.(In Chinese)
whole. The differential protection with 2nd harmonic blocking
can do well when applied in UHV transformer protection if the
restraint ratio is chosen reasonably. However, the settings and BIOGRAPHIES
Linjun Zeng received Bachelor degree from China Three Gorges University
the restraint mode should be chosen carefully. (CTGU) in 2006. He is presently a master candidate at the department of Elec-
Besides, a great deal of beneficial works on the aspect of trical Engineering in CTGU. His research interests are power system protection
identifying inrush current were presented[8-12].we can assess and control.
the adaptability of these methods to UHV transformer based on
the energization and internal fault model of UHV transformer Xiangning Lin received a Master and a Ph.D degree from the Huazhong Uni-
proposed in this paper. Accordingly, the operation performance versity of Science & Technology (HUST) respectively in the Electrical Engi-
neering. He is currently a professor titled of "Chutian Scholar" in Three Gorges
of the differential protection of UHV transformer can be im- University, Yichang, Hubei Province, China. His research interests are modern
proved further. signal processing and its applications in the power systems, power system
protective relaying and control.

IV. CONCLUSION
Jingguang Huang is presently an associate professor at the department of
Based on the elementary transformer model provided by Electrical Engineering in CTGU. His research interest is modern signal
EMTDC, the UHV transformer and its internal fault model processing and its applications in the power systems.
possessing the characteristic of autotransformer are built in this Zhiqian Q. Bo received the B.Sc. degree from Northeastern University, She-
paper. We carry out the corresponding electromagnetic tran- nyang, China, in 1982 and the Ph.D. degree from The Queen’s University of
sient simulations in UHV environment, and offer the reasona- Belfast, Belfast, U.K., in 1988.
From 1989 to 1997, he was with the Power Systems Group, University of Bath,
ble precondition for investigating the protection operation of
Bath, U.K. Currently, he is with AREVA T&D—Automation and Information
the UHV transformer, especially for proving its applicability to Systems, Stafford, U.K., responsible for new technology developments. His
the UHV test and demonstration project in CHINA. The em- main research interests are power system protection and control.
phasis is to evaluate the operation reliability of the differential
protection combined with 2nd harmonic blocking. It is shown
with the simulation results that the 2nd harmonic characteristic
of the inrush in UHV transformer is weaker than EHV and
lower voltage level systems. The 2nd harmonic ratios of three
phase differential currents may be all under 10% in certain
conditions. In the fault conditions, all the 2nd harmonic ratios of
differential currents are under 10% except the light inter-turn
fault. Making a comprehensive view of simulations of inrushes
and fault currents, the differential protection with 2nd harmonic
blocking scheme still has redundancy when applied in UHV
transformer protection.

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