TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA

49 24

7H
Mechanical
Design of
Transformer
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VG PATEL
 Mechanical
Design of
Transformer
PRESENTED BY PROF. VG PATEL

VG PATEL
 TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MECHANICAL DESIGN

INTRODUCTION
The Mechanical Design of transformer starts from
Active Part assembly stage. During the Core Building,
Frames/channels are used to clamp the core with
Flitch plates/Tie Rods. The coil/winding is then lowered
around the core and its assembly is then tanked. The
transformer tank provides the containment for the core
& windings and for the dielectric fluid. It must withstand
the forces imposed on it during the transportation.

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MECHANICAL DESIGN
1) CORE CHANNELS & FLITCH PLATE:
The Core Channel & Flitch Plate is designed based on
the Core Diameter & Maximum packet width.
1) The channel size is calculated as “core diameter X
0.6”. The standard sizes are 100 X 50, 125 X 65, 150
X 75, 200 X 75, 250 X 80, & 300 X 90. For large rating
of the transformer, Plate type channel is used.
2) Flitch Plate pin diameter is calculated on the basis
of Active part assembly weight & coil clamping force.
The geometry of Flitch plate is verified by calculating
its tensile stress.

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MECHANICAL DESIGN

2) TYPE OF TANK & ITS ACCESSORIES:

The Tank consists of base, tank body & tank cover. It
is provided with an adequate number of smaller
removable covers, allowing access to bushings
connections, winding temperature CTs, core earthing
links, etc.
There are two types of Tank;
• Conventional Tank, &
• Bell Shaped Tank.

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MECHANICAL DESIGN
The tank is well stiffened with stiffeners to withstand both
Pressure & Vacuum test. It is mounted with various
accessories like, Jacking pad through which it can be raised
or lowered using hydraulic or screw jacks, Lifting Bollard
through which transformer is lifted by cranes, Radiators
which cools the hot oil of the transformer, Conservator which
conserves the transformer oil during expansion or
contraction, OLTC/OCTC which is used to change the Turns
Ratio of the windings.
Some additional fittings of tank are fans for forced cooling of
the hot oil, Marshalling Box which houses the Oil
Temperature Indicator (OTI) & Winding Temperature Indicator
(WTI), Pressure Relief Device (PRV) which operates during
the excessive pressure inside the transformer, and
bushings/cable boxes through which the lead is taken out
from the winding, etc.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN
3) TANK SIZE:
Tank Size is decided by following factors;
1) Leg centre
2) Leg length
3) Minimum clearance (both Mechanical & Electrical) from
coil maximum outer diameter and other insulation
parts.
4) Lead take out – top & bottom entry & exit or centre lead
exit.
The stiffeners of the tank are of different types:
5) Box Type
6) Flat Type
7) Rib type
8) T- Stiffener.
9) 1/20/22
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PROF. V. G. PATEL
 TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MECHANICAL DESIGN
Based on the KVA or MVA rating, tank length & height, the type
of stiffeners as mentioned above and its numbers are decided.
The placement of stiffeners on the tank wall is decided by
calculating the safe panel width. For smaller rating, the pressure
value is considered as 0.8 Kg/cm2 & for higher rating it is taken
as 1 Kg/cm2. Therefore safe panel is calculated as follows;
• For 0.8 Kg/cm2, B = 85 X t, where t = Tank wall thickness.
• For 1 Kg/cm2, B = 70 X t.
 The standard tank wall plate thicknesses are 6mm, 8mm,
10mm & 12mm.
 The deflection of the tank is calculated by considering the
stiffeners as the Fixed Beam and load as uniformly
distributed load.
 Also, additional supports are welded on the tank to mount
devices like Marshalling box, Drive Mechanism of OLTC or
any other special fittings.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN

4) CONSERVATOR:
Conservators are usually mounted on one end of the
transformer and well above the Cover & Bushings.
Conservators are of Conventional type or Air cell type.
The air cell type conservator has a rubber bladder
inside. This bladder expands or retracts due to the
temperature of the oil vs. the ambient temperature.
The conservator size is calculated from the total oil
quantity of the transformer oil, generally it is 10% of
the total oil quantity. To take care of coefficient of
expansion of oil, minimum 7% of the total oil quantity
in the transformer is required.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN

5) RADIATORS:
Radiators are generally tank mounted for small rating of the
transformers, but for higher rating it is separately mounted on
radiator cooler bank assembly which consists of headers, cooler
pipe lines, and header support. There are four types of cooling;
• ONAN – oil natural air natural
• ONAF –oil natural air forced
• OFAF – oil forced air forced
• ODAF – oil directed air forced
For above three types of cooling, generally Radiators are used
but for ODAF, heat exchangers (shell & tube type) are
preferred.
6) The minimum clearances in air between live conductive parts
& conductive parts to the earthed structure shall be maintained
as per CBIP, i.e., phase to phase & phase to earth clearance.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN
6) The minimum clearances in air between live conductive
parts & conductive parts to the earthed structure shall be
maintained as per CBIP, i.e., phase to phase & phase to
earth clearance.
7) Generally for the smaller ratings, sometimes bushings
are mounted directly on the tank cover. For higher ratings,
depending upon the CT details, they are mounted on
Turret.
These turrets are provided with vent pipes which are
connected to route any gas collection through Buchholz
Relay. The take off point of the vent pipes shall be the top
most point on the bushing turret so that there will not be
any air trapped in the bushing turret.
8) After fabrication, before dispatch to factory, tank is
tested for Pressure & Vacuum Test.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN

OVERVIEW OF
TRANSFORMER

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MECHANICAL DESIGN

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MECHANICAL DESIGN

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MECHANICAL DESIGN

MAIN ITEMS OF A TRANSFORMER

(A) INTERNAL ITEMS
(A) Core and core clamping structure
(B) Winding and winding insulation & clamping items
(C) Transformer oil
(D) Lead and Lead Support
Core clampings: -
• 2 to 3.5 kg/cm² load to be applied for clamping the
core.
• Core clamping structure design based on
lamination clamping pressure and the loads
transferred to core frame through pressure screws.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN

Winding: -
• Pressure screws design based on various loads
generated in winding.
• Size of the bolt and core frame will be decided based
on various loads generated in winding as well as the
weight of core & coil and clamping items.

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 TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MECHANICAL DESIGN
Transformer oil: -
 Insulation medium (For 132 KV, in air - 1200 mm
clearance, in oil - 120 mm clearance. This is a rough
comparison of dielectric strength of oil and air
medium).
 For heat transfer.
 When oil is heated, its volume will increase.
 1000 C is the normal temperature rise.
 0 -1000 C normal in country like India.
 -32 to 1000 C (generally) in cold countries.
 Conservator tank capacity is 10% of total oil in
transformer.
 Co-efficient of expansion of transformer oil is 0.00072.
 At 1000 C, 7.2% expansion of oil.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN

(B) EXTERNAL ITEMS

 Tank
 Conservator
 Cooler(Radiator)
 Bushing
 Protection items
 Marshalling Box, etc.

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MECHANICAL DESIGN

Normal loads acting on tank: -

 Vacuum load (For removing moisture from transformer
internal body insulation, vacuuming of the tank with
internal body inside is required)
 Lifting load, jacking load, pulling load, etc.
 1kg/cm² UDL - atmospheric load from all sides during
full vacuum.
 In low voltage transformer, high vacuum is not
required.
 Unsupported width between stiffeners = 70 times
thickness of tank plate (for side wall. For tank,
subjected to full vacuum).
Jacking pad to be designed based on total weight of
transformer as well as unbalanced load due to positioning
of jack pads.
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MECHANICAL DESIGN

Stress limit for tank wall plates: -

 30 kg/mm² side wall, 26 kg/mm² top plates.
 Stress limit for tank stiffeners1600 Kg/cm2
= M(bending moment)/Z(section modulus)
 Deflection formula for beam subjected to
uniformly distributed load
= (WL3) / (384EI)
Cooler (Radiators) : -
 Centre line of radiator shall be more than 200
mm above CL of transformer winding.

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MECHANICAL DESIGN

STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF TRANSFORMER

 CORE STUCTURE

 WINDING CLAMPING

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PROF. V. G. PATEL
 TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MECHANICAL DESIGN

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 TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA
MECHANICAL DESIGN

Normally, 1 kg/cm2 uniformly acting all around the tank when

subjected to full vacuum, it should be designed accordingly.
Stiffener should not bend during vacuum.
In addition to this loads due to various components provided on
tank also to be considered.
Distance of two stiffeners is normally taken as 70t, where,
t=thickness of the tank wall.
Deflection = WL3
384EI
Where,
W= Total force acting
L = Length of stiffener
E = Young Modulus (depends upon elasticity) – constant –
2.1x106
I = Moment of inertia = {(bh3) / (12)} (for flat stiffener).
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1/20/22
OPEN FORUM 24
 TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA

THANQ

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 TRANSFORMER ENCYCLOPAEDIA

49 24

7H
Mechanical
Design of
Transformer
1/20/22 26
VG PATEL