Industrial Best Practice

Paul Jarman
Transformer Specialist
National Grid UK
Outline
• Standards and specifications
• Specifications in general
• Standards development
• Some transformer specifics (how to specify a transformer)
The (specification) process
 Levels of specification
Grid system design

International Standard Customer specification

Enquiry document

Tender design Tender document

Transformer design

Sub-component specification Winding schedule

Drawings
 People

• Utility
• System design engineer • Utility’s Customer
• Asset policy engineer • Engineers
• Project engineer • Contracts
• Procurement officer
• Consultants
• Contracts officer
• Utility
• Manufacturer • Bank
• Sales engineer
• Switchgear Contractor
• Designers
• Project manager
• Technical Managers
• Design engineers
• Commercial officers
• Procurement & Contracts
• Quality Assurance
• Manufacturing • Component suppliers
• Transport
Customer / Supplier interface

• Technical specification
• Enquiry document
• Tender
• Tender questions Good communication early can save
time cost or compromise later
• Contract
• Contract review
• Design Review
• Facory inspection
• Factory Testing
• Commissioning
• After Sales Support
Types of Specification

• Functional Specification
• What is required
– Function
– Performance

• Design Specification
• How it is to be achieved
– Materials
– Drawings
Advantage of functional specifications

• Gives manufacturer the opportunity to innovate and provide the best

value solution
• Widest possible supplier base
• But
• Some requirements are complicated to put in functional terms.
• The function must be testable
• Interfaces can dictate a particular requirement
• poor service experience might indicate a particular solution is not
appropriate
• Most specifications are mixed
• Functional specifications are preferred
 Key Interfaces
Trips
Volts
Protection
Network
CTs
Amps
Transport
Alarms
Control
Indications
Asset Management

lifetime Data
Maintenance
Environment
Oil
Spares Noise
Temperature
Pollution
 Influences and inputs

Commercial Policy System Design

Operating Experience Specification Tradition

Legislation
International Standards

Engineering Policy
 International Standards

• Why use international standards?

• Widest possible supplier base
• Basis for common understanding between customer and supplier (standard
definitions)
• Lower prices derived from standardised designs
• Years of international experience
Standards organisations

• International
• International Electrotechnical Commission IEC
• International Standards Organisation ISO
• European
• European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization CEN/CENELEC
• American
• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers IEEE
• American National Standards Institute ANSI
• National
• British Standards Institution BSI
Which standard?

• In European Union
• Utilities obliged to use CENELEC standards (ENs)
• Most ENs are based on IEC standards
• Dual numbering
• Some additions to text
• Some additional standards
• Can use National standards
• These must not conflict with EN
Main Documentation for Transformers
• IEC/EN 60076 Power Transformers
• 1 General
• 2 Temperature rise
• 3 Insulation levels and dielectric tests
• 5 Short Circuit
• 6 Reactors (60289)
• 10 Sound
• 11 Dry type transformers
• 60310 Railway transformers
• 61378 DC converter transformers
• Guides
• 4 Impulse testing
• 7 Loading
• 8 Application guide
• 9 Terminal and tapping markings
Standards for Components and Tests

• IEC 60214 Tap-changers

• IEC 60317 Bushings
• EN 50216
• 1 General
• 2 Gas and oil actuated relays
• 3 pressure relays
• 4 Earths, Valves, Pockets, Wheels
• 5 level etc. indicators
• 6 Radiators
• 7 Pumps
• 299 Cable connections
IEC Standards organisation
WWW.IEC.CH

IEC General Council IEC Central Office

Standardization Management Board

Technical Committee (TC14)

Working Group
(Drafts standard)

National Committee PEL14

National Standards body BSI

Trade associations ENA
IEC Standards making process

• New Work Proposal NP from National Committee

• Or Revision Decision from Technical Committee
• Agreement and nomination of experts by National Committees
• Working group forms and produces committee draft for comment CD
• Draft sent to National Committees – comments returned
• Working group considers and answers comments produces Committee Draft
for Vote CDV
• Draft sent to National Committees – vote and comment
• Working group considers comments, produces Final Draft International
Standard FDIS
• FDIS sent to National Committee for vote and editorial comments
• If vote positive then standard published
How to specify a transformer

• Scope of supply
• Technical parameters
• Tapping range
• Impedance
• System voltage and frequency
• Interfaces
• Transport
• Testing
• Lifetime costs
Scope of Supply

• What is included in the contract

• Very important, but may be in enquiry document rather than the
technical specification
• Transport and Erection
• Current transformers
• Auxiliary cabling
• Busbars and connectors
• Earthing
Basic technical parameters

• Ratio
• Voltage variation (Tapping range)
• Impedance

• System voltage
• Power
• Winding configuration
• tertiary connections
Tapping range

• Usually want to keep constant secondary voltage

• Can use taps to vary reactive power output of generators
• Tap range depends on
• Primary voltage variation
• Voltage regulation (impedance) of the transformer
• Voltage regulation in secondary connected system (line drop
compensation)
• Allowable secondary voltage limits
• Load current
• Load power factor
• If tapping range is asymmetric then the variation must be referred to
the HV or LV side
Tapping range example

• HV voltage variation ± 10%

• Regulation at 1.2PU and 0.8 PF = 10%
• Tapping range +10 -20% on HV voltage
• Position of tap-changer in the winding (not always specified)
• Line end
• neutral end
• HV
• LV
• De-energised taps can be specified to cater for different network
voltages
Impedance

• Important for controlling short circuit current on secondary system

• Minimum impedance depends on
• Switchgear and other plant short circuit ratings
• Impedance of the system connected to the primary
• Other fault current infeeds/number of parallel transformers
• Maximum impedance depends on
• Allowable voltage step on parallel transformer switching
• Allowable MVAR absorption
• Varies with tap position
Minimum Impedance
Maximum Impedance

50% 50% 50%

Voltage 100%
Maximum Impedance

75% 75%

Voltage 95%
 Impedance envelope

Desired slope
25

20

15 Voltage step
limit
Impedance %
10 SC current
limit
5

0
1 6 11 16
Low LV volts
Tap Position
Recommended minimum impedance levels
IEC 60076-5
Transformer X/r ratio

X/r = Rated Power x Impedance %

Load loss x 100

• Switchgear tested to X/r =14

• Large, high impedance, low loss transformers X/r > 100
• Need to check reduction in switchgear current capability due to long
DC time constant (high X/r)
• May need to specify minimum loss (to be avoided if possible)
System voltage and frequency

• Flux in the core determined by

• voltage
• frequency
• regulation
• tap position
• Need to be accurate about operating conditions
• Too large a core or too many turns (expensive)
• Overfluxing (even more expensive)
• High voltage and low frequency may not occur together
• Tertiary winding with capacitive load may be the limiting case
• Overheating due to overfluxing can be quick and damaging
Power or thermal rating
• Specification is average winding rise and top oil rise at 100% current
• Typically 60K oil rise 65K winding rise
• Real limit is hotspot temperature determined by
• Current magnitude and duration
• Ambient temperature
• tap position
• Allowed temperature for normal paper ageing 98°C
• Overloading is possible because
• Transformer has thermal inertia
• Ambient temperature may be low
• Increased ageing is acceptable for a limited period 125°C
• Need to be specific about requirements
• Use direct measurement of hotspot temperature on test
• Additional rating may be cheap compared to loss of life
Transformer hotspot temp

Important
Hotspot

Mean winding
Temperature

Top Oil
Specified

Bottom Oil
Measured Ambient

Distance Up Winding
Winding configuration

• Vector group A2
• YNa0d11 etc A2 B2 C2
• Neutral grounding a1 Yy0d11 a1 b1 c1
• Autotransformer or
double wound c1 N
• Tapping winding 3A2 b1 B2
3A2 3B2 3C2
• Line end
C2
• Neutral end 3B2
3A1
3C2
3A1 3B1 3C1
Tests and test levels

• Tests according to IEC 60076

• Routine tests
• Type tests
• Special tests
• Need to specify
• Special tests
– Special measurements
– Short Circuit
• Test options
– Type of overpotential test
– Test levels
Dielectric test levels
Dielectric
test
method
Works testing

• Check on design quality

• Check on manufacturing quality
• Check on material quality
• Does not represent all system stresses (dielectric, short circuit,
thermal, volts & current together)
• No guarantee of long term reliability
Tests for a transformer
(actual tests depend on size of transformer)
• Dielectric tests
• Turn-to-turn (induced)
• Terminal to earth (applied)
• Lightning impulse
• Switching impulse
• Core earth insulation
• Measurements
• Ratio and vector group
• Impedance (positive and zero sequence)
• Resistance
• Losses (load and no-load)
• Temperature rise
• Noise
• Partial Discharge
• Dissolved gas
• Mechanical (on tank)
• Pressure
• Vacuum
• Fluid leak
Environment and service conditions
• Ambient temperature
• Altitude
• Seismic conditions
• Lightning conditions
• Short circuit level and frequency
• railway supply or arc furnace duty
• Pollution
• Corrosion
• Paint finish
• Galvanising
• Need to be as explicit as possible
Cooling and Noise

• Type of cooling may need to be specified

• Noise constraints (no fans)
• Acoustic enclosure
• Auxiliary supply security
• Redundancy
• Maintenance
• Monitoring
• Noise
• Sound power or sound pressure
• no-load and load noise level
Transport

Maximum Height

Fittings

Maximum weight
Single phase or three phase

• Advantage/disadvantage of a 3 X 1 phase bank

• Lower transport weight
• Higher total installed weight
• Higher total oil volume
• Higher total no-load loss
• Higher initial cost
• lower cost of spare unit
Single phase or three phase
Geomagnetically induced currents

• DC currents in the grid

• Caused by solar activity
• 11 year cycle
• 2 transformers failed in 1989
• 3 limb cores OK
• Single phase transformer vulnerable
• Severity depends on site
• Specify neutral current and max MVAR absorption
Maintenance
• Maintenance must be considered in the design
• Safety during maintenance
– tap-changers
– Buchholz
– Conservator
• Fit in with existing systems and expertise
– Labelling
– Type of oil
– Spares (components and complete transformers)
– Breathing systems
– Protection testing
Spares

• Component spares
• Want minimum stock of spares
– Bushings
– Tap-changers
• Maximum freedom for manufacturer to use standard components
• Can require spares as part of contract
• Transformer spares
• Standardised ratings and impedance
• Minimum family size to make a spare worthwhile
• Possibility of four single phase units
 Alarms, trips, indications, monitoring

• Standardised interface for controllers

• Alarms & alarm names
• Tap numbering
• Protection system
• Current transformers
– Ratio and type
– Space to fit
• Neutral arrangement
• Remote unattended operation
• Additional alarms and indications
• Monitoring and facilities for monitoring
• Off-line
• On-line
Data and Documentation
• Asset Management Data
• Thermal performance
• Type and serial number
• Bushings
• Tap-changers
• Other parts
• Maintenance documentation
• Manuals
• Maintenance instructions
• Photographs
• Drawings
• Method Statements
• Information for scrapping/recycling
• Computer readable format
Whole Life costing

• Aim - to get the best (net present) value for money

• Pressure on capital costs
• But the most important thing is:
• Reliability
• Possible to evaluate the cost of unreliability (failure)
• Difficult to quantify reliability from a tender
• What can be done
• Loss evaluation
• Design feature evaluation
• Supplier assessment
• Design review
Evaluation of design features

• Immediate savings
• Reduced noise can avoid the cost of an acoustic enclosure
• Reduced cooler loss and staring current can reduce auxiliary supply
requirements
• Reduced oil volume reduces bund and dump tank volumes
• Reduced weight can reduce foundation size
• Lifetime savings
• Increased reliability
• reduced maintenance
• increased lifetime
Conclusions on Specifications
• Keys to a successful specification

• International standards
• operating conditions
• Interfaces
• supplier capability

• The challenge: Achieve a reasonable first cost without compromising

reliability