Electric Power Systems Research, 2 ( 1 9 7 9 ) 179 - 182 179

© Elsevier S e q u o i a S.A., L a u s a n n e - - P r i n t e d in t h e N e t h e r l a n d s

Computerised Evaluation of the Magnetising Inrush Current in Transformers

M O H I B U L L A H B A S U a n d K. P. B A S U
Department of Electrical Engineering, Zakir Husain Engineering College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
(India)
( R e c e i v e d N o v e m b e r 13, 1 9 7 8 )

SUMMARY obtained by linearising the magnetising curve

[4] with two straight lines or by approximat-
Design of protective systems in large p o w e r ing it with a hyperbolic curve [5]. For an
transformers necessitates a detailed knowl- accurate evaluation of this current a drastic
edge of the magnitude and shape of the linearising assumption of the magnetisation
magnetising inrush current during the switch- curve is not acceptable. Moreover, detailed
ing operation. It is very difficult to evaluate study of the governing factors of the inrush
the inrush current analytically owing to non- current and the control of these factors neces-
linearity in the magnetisation (B-H) curve. sitates a computerised m e t h o d for the evalua-
This paper suggests a m e t h o d for the tion of the inrush current.
computerised evaluation of the magnetising
inrush current in transformers without any
drastic linearising assumption for the B - H ANALYSIS
curve.
For the purpose of the analysis, leakage
between primary and secondary flux is
INTRODUCTION neglected. Hysteresis and eddy currents in the
core are also neglected.
When a transformer is suddenly energised a The differential equation of the primary
transient current, known as the magnetising and secondary circuit of a transformer may be
inrush current, flows for a short period of written as
time until normal flux conditions are estab-
de
lished. Often the magnitude of this current Ema x sin(co t + ~ ) = e = nl ~ + rl il (1)
reaches 5 - 10 times the full-load current. In-
rush current depends u p o n various operating
d¢ +L2 di2
(2)
conditions like voltage magnitude, switching n2 -dr = R2i2 dt
angle, the B - H characteristic of the core,
residual magnetism, resistance in the primary
circuit, etc. n2 .

Some of the harmful effects of the inrush im = i I - - ~ Z2 (3)

nl
current are voltage dips at the consumer
terminals, blowing of fuses, excessive un- ~b = f(im) (4)
balanced magnetic pull, and inadvertent
operation of protective relays. To eliminate, Equation (4) gives the relation between im
or at least to reduce, these harmful effects a and ¢ or, in other words, between H and B of
thorough knowledge of the inrush current is a the core. The variation of the primary current
necessity. il with time has to be calculated. When the
Various investigators [1 - 3] have studied secondary is on open circuit il becomes equal
the nature of inrush currents experimentally. to ira, the magnetising current.
Analytical evaluation of this current is dif- The non-linear relation between ¢ and im
ficult owing to the nonlinear nature of the suggests a piecewise solution to the problem.
B - H curve. Approximate values may be Writing down the differential equations in
180

finite d i f f e r e n c e f o r m , a f t e r simplification we
have
At
A¢ = ( e - - r l i l ) - (5)
nl
[ i;=oli'~=o, t%o ]
1
Ai2 = (n2A¢ -- R 2 i 2 A t ) L2 (6)
[ sEr . = o I
T h e c o m p u t e r algorithm f o r the c o m p u t a t i o n
o f i~, i~., etc. m a y n o w be w r i t t e n as
t K+I = t g + A t (7)
~K+I = c K 4- A(b K (8)

i~ ÷1 =i~ +Ai~ (9)

CAICULAT5 i~ U$/~'G CAJ-cuIA'rE lKm
A¢ K and Ai2K are d e t e r m i n e d f r o m eqns. (5)
t , ~ t
and (6) and il is d e t e r m i n e d f r o m eqn. (3)
after finding i 2 a n d im. im should be deter-
m i n e d f r o m eqn. (4) a f t e r ~ is obtained. N
values o f @d and imd c o m p u t e d f r o m the B - H
J
curve d a t a o f t h e t r a n s f o r m e r core are used as ,;A/.CU/.ATK il~ fArOtv/
L ,.U,*T, ON (=~, ]
input:
( ~ < ~ K + I < ~b/+l l = {1, ( N - 1)}

Assuming a linear relationship b e t w e e n ~ and

im in the small interval o f ~d,
i/+l .l
• K+I = i/md + md - - /md (~)K+I __~h)
lm (10)

The magnetisation curve in a region above ~ Fig. 1. F l o w chart.

m ay be assumed to be linear,having a slope
•N "N--1 N
(lind - - l i n d ) / ( ~ d - - ~ b N - 1 )
Emax = 3 2 5 . 0 V
If ¢K+I e x c e e d s ~N, n 1 = 135 turns
•N "N-1
• K+I "N 4- / m d - - / m d (~bK+l nl/n2 = 2
'm ='me @aN @~_~ --¢~) (11)
r 1 = 0 . 3 6 9 $2
Based o n the above e q u a t i o n s , a flow c h a r t
has been p r e p a r e d (Fig. 1). t = 0.0005 s

R 2 is assumed to be very high for the

INPUT D A T A A N D C O M P U T E R RESULTS
Based o n t h e f l o w c h a r t a c o m p u t e r
p r o g r a m has been p r e p a r e d f o r evaluation o f
the magnetising inrush c u r r e n t o f single-phase
t r a n s f o r m e r s . T h e p r o g r a m was fed with the
d a t a f r o m a 4 k V A , 230 V / l 1 5 , 50 cycle/s
t r a n s f o r m e r . T h e values o f @a and imd a r e
o b t a i n e d f r o m the @-i characteristic o f Fig. 2.
F o r a c c u r a t e results a large n u m b e r o f values
o f @d and /d is fed t o the c o m p u t e r . O t h e r
d a t a are:
evaluation o f inrush c u r r e n t u n d e r no-load
c o n d i t i o n s , i °, i ° are assumed t o be zero. ~o
s h o u l d be equal to the residual m a g n e t i s m ,
b u t in the cases c o n s i d e r e d it is also assumed
t o be zero. Results were o b t a i n e d u n d e r var-
ious o p e r a t i n g c o n d i t i o n s , n a m e l y :
(a) no-load at zero degree switching with
rl = 0 . 3 6 9 $2 ;
(b) as f o r (a) with r 1 = 2 . 8 6 9 ~2 ;
(c) full load (R2 = 3 . 2 6 7 0 4 ~2, L 2 = 0) at
zero degree switching with r 1 = 0 . 3 6 9 $2 ;
(d) no-load at 5 = 0 °, 30 °, 6 0 °, 85.4 °, 90 °,
120 ° and 150 ° with r I = 0 . 3 6 9 ~Z.
 181

11ol the magnetisation curve. The program may

~.07Z
also be used in the evaluation of inrush
tO~t$
98Z
currents in 3-phase transformers having three
single-phase units connected in a star. The
938
892 program can easily handle changes in (i)
J
848 primary resistance, (ii) load impedance, (iii)
( 804 switching angle and (iv) residual magnetism.
i770
76O
j
167o
715
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
625
The authors are grateful to Professor
~ 58o Jalaluddin, Head of the Department of
Z 535
~o492 Electrical Engineering, Aligarh Muslim Univer-
.J
~ 447 sity, for providing all the facilities of the
4o2 c o m p u t e r centre.
"~ 57.8
NOMENCLATURE
t~ 26S
223.4
E rll a x peak value of supply voltage
1~'8.5 CD angular frequency
~34
t time, s
80.98
44.5
switching angle
~tJ~RENT ,Yl A~pe~,es ~ QPeak Values)
o h i , n2 number of primary and sec-
|.414 2.1~28 4.25 5.1;6 7.07' 8.5
8,5 9.2 11.32 12.72 14,14- 15.55
ondary turns, respectively
t'T0 18"4 19.8P- &1.6~ ~.2.1~Z - - 2 ~T.o- 24'8 flux in the transformer core
Fig. 2. ¢ - i characteristic. rl primary circuit resistance
Rz, L2 secondary circuit resistance and
inductance
All the results are presented graphically in i l , i2 primary and secondary current,
Figs. 3 and 4. From the results obtained it respectively
m a y be easily concluded that, with no im magnetising current
residual flux, inrush current becomes max- B,H flux density and magnetic field
imum at zero degree switching. With increased in the core
primary circuit resistance its valtie decreases imd, ~d data of im and ¢ obtained from
and with secondary load its value increases. the magnetisation (B-H) curve
As the switching angle increases, the inrush of the core
current decreases and becomes a minimum at
an angle very near to 90 ° , depending u p o n the REFERENCES
primary resistance. In the cases considered, it
is a minimum at 5 = 85.4 ° with r z = 0.369 ~2. 1 L. F. Kennedy and C. D. Hayward, Harmonic
In the first few cycles, one-half of the current current restrained relays for differential protection.
wave almost vanishes and a considerable Trans. A m . Inst. Electr. Eng., 57 (1938) 262 - 271.
2 L. F. Blume, G. Camilli, S. B. Farnham and H. A.
period elapses before the current is symmet- Peterson, Transformer magnetising inrush currents
rical around the time axis. and influence on system operation. Trans. A m .
Inst. Electr. Eng., 63 (1944) 366 - 375.
3 W. K. Sonnemann, C. L. Wanger and G. D.
Rockefelar, Magnetising inrush phenomenon in
CONCLUSION
transformer banks. Trans. A m . Inst. Electr. Eng.,
Part 3, 77 (1958) 884 - 889.
A m e t h o d has been proposed and a 4 V. I. Malyshev, Determining the maximum inrush
c o m p u t e r program prepared for the evalua- current in the no-load closure of a transformer.
tion of the magnetising inrush current in Electr. Technol. USSR, 2 (1968) 136 - 142.
single-phase transformers. Results obtained 5 A. D. Drozdov and V. A. Borisov, Methods of
calculating the kick of magnetising current of large
from the program are fairly accurate because power transformers in power systems. Electr.
of the reasonably accurate representation of Technol. USSR, 4 (1968) 28.
182

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