I am completing an essay on how to improve the performance of a transformer. Please could someone advise me on the problems incurred in transformers and ways that have been designed to reduce these problems. Thanks in advance
To improve the performance of a transformer, you have to:- [1] Reduce the copper losses, and [2] reduce the iron losses. Copper losses can be reduced by using copper wire of the highest purity; and by using copper wire that has the thinnest possible layer of insulating material on it. These measures, taken together, reduce the length of the wire and therefore its resistance. Iron losses are reduced by using magnetically soft iron in the laminations. This is the type of iron that has a tall and narrow hysteresis loop. Using copper wire with thin insulation (as mentioned above), keeps the windings close to the iron and so reduces magnetic leakage. A third measure is to use very thin laminations and to insulate them with very thin material as this will reduce eddy currents. It is very expensive to build a 99% efficient 250 MVA transformer. The losses in a 94% efficient version, are often cheaper to manage than the extra cost of making the 99% version.
