Transformer Construction
The construction of a simple two-winding transformer consists of each winding being wound on a separate limb or core of the soft iron form which provides the necessary magnetic circuit. This magnetic circuit, know more commonly as the “transformer core” is designed to provide a path for the magnetic field to flow around, which is necessary for induction of the voltage between the two windings.
However, this type of transformer construction were the two windings are wound on separate limbs is not very efficient since the primary and secondary windings are well separated from each other. This results in a low magnetic coupling between the two windings as well as large amounts of magnetic flux leakage from the transformer itself. But as well as this “O” shapes construction, there are different types of “transformer construction” and designs available which are used to overcome these inefficiencies producing a smaller more compact transformer.
The efficiency of a simple Transformer Construction can be improved by bringing the two windings within close contact with each other thereby improving the magnetic coupling. Increasing and concentrating the magnetic circuit around the coils may improve the magnetic coupling between the two windings, but it also has the effect of increasing the magnetic losses of the transformer core.
As well as providing a low reluctance path for the magnetic field, the core is designed to prevent circulating electric currents within the iron core itself. Circulating currents, called “eddy currents”, cause heating and energy losses within the core decreasing the transformers efficiency.
These losses are due mainly to voltages induced in the iron circuit, which is constantly being subjected to the alternating magnetic fields setup by the external sinusoidal supply voltage. One way to reduce these unwanted power losses is to construct the transformer core from thin steel laminations.
In all types of transformer construction, the central iron core is constructed from of a highly permeable material made from thin silicon steel laminations assembled together to provide the required magnetic path with the minimum of losses. The resistivity of the steel sheet itself is high reducing the eddy current losses by making the laminations very thin.
These steel transformer laminations vary in thickness’s from between 0.25mm to 0.5mm and as steel is a conductor, the laminations are electrically insulated from each other by a very thin coating of insulating varnish or by the use of an oxide layer on the surface.
Transformer Construction of the Core
Generally, the name associated with the construction of a transformer is dependant upon how the primary and secondary windings are wound around the central laminated steel core. The two most common and basic designs of transformer construction are the Closed-core Transformer and the Shell-core Transformer.
In the “closed-core” type (core form) transformer, the primary and secondary windings are wound outside and surround the core ring. In the “shell type” (shell form) transformer, the primary and secondary windings pass inside the steel magnetic circuit (core) which forms a shell around the windings as shown below.
Transformer Core Construction
In both types of transformer core design, the magnetic flux linking the primary and secondary windings travels entirely within the core with no loss of magnetic flux through air. In the core type transformer construction, one half of each winding is wrapped around each leg (or limb) of the transformers magnetic circuit as shown above.
The coils are not arranged with the primary winding on one leg and the secondary on the other but instead half of the primary winding and half of the secondary winding are placed one over the other concentrically on each leg in order to increase magnetic coupling allowing practically all of the magnetic lines of force go through both the primary and secondary windings at the same time. However, with this type of transformer construction, a small percentage of the magnetic lines of force flow outside of the core, and this is called “leakage flux”.
Shell type transformer cores overcome this leakage flux as both the primary and secondary windings are wound on the same centre leg or limb which has twice the cross-sectional area of the two outer limbs. The advantage here is that the magnetic flux has two closed magnetic paths to flow around external to the coils on both left and right hand sides before returning back to the central coils.
This means that the magnetic flux circulating around the outer limbs of this type of transformer construction is equal to Φ/2. As the magnetic flux has a closed path around the coils, this has the advantage of decreasing core losses and increasing overall efficiency.
Transformer Laminations
But you may be wondering as to how the primary and secondary windings are wound around these laminated iron or steel cores for this types of transformer constructions. The coils are firstly wound on a former which has a cylindrical, rectangular or oval type cross section to suit the construction of the laminated core. In both the shell and core type transformer constructions, in order to mount the coil windings, the individual laminations are stamped or punched out from larger steel sheets and formed into strips of thin steel resembling the letters“E’s”, “L’s”, “U’s” and “I’s” as shown below.
Transformer Core Types
These lamination stampings when connected together form the required core shape. For example, two “E” stampings plus two end closing “I” stampings to give an E-I core forming one element of a standard shell-type transformer core. These individual laminations are tightly butted together during the transformers construction to reduce the reluctance of the air gap at the joints producing a highly saturated magnetic flux density.
Transformer core laminations are usually stacked alternately to each other to produce an overlapping joint with more lamination pairs being added to make up the correct core thickness. This alternate stacking of the laminations also gives the transformer the advantage of reduced flux leakage and iron losses. E-I core laminated transformer construction is mostly used in isolation transformers, step-up and step-down transformers as well as auto transformers.
Transformer Winding Arrangements
Transformer windings form another important part of a transformer construction, because they are the main current-carrying conductors wound around the laminated sections of the core. In a single-phase two winding transformer, two windings would be present as shown. The one which is connected to the voltage source and creates the magnetic flux called the primary winding, and the second winding called the secondary in which a voltage is induced as a result of mutual induction.
If the secondary output voltage is less than that of the primary input voltage the transformer is known as a “Step-down Transformer”. If the secondary output voltage is greater then the primary input voltage it is called a “Step-up Transformer”.
Core-type Construction
The type of wire used as the main current carrying conductor in a transformer winding is either copper or aluminium. While aluminium wire is lighter and generally less expensive than copper wire, a larger cross sectional area of conductor must be used to carry the same amount of current as with copper so it is used mainly in larger power transformer applications.
Small kVA power and voltage transformers used in low voltage electrical and electronic circuits tend to use copper conductors as these have a higher mechanical strength and smaller conductor size than equivalent aluminium types. The downside is that when complete with their core, these transformers are much heavier.
Transformer windings and coils can be broadly classified in to concentric coils and sandwiched coils. In core-type transformer construction, the windings are usually arranged concentrically around the core limb as shown above with the higher voltage primary winding being wound over the lower voltage secondary winding.
Sandwiched or “pancake” coils consist of flat conductors wound in a spiral form and are so named due to the arrangement of conductors into discs. Alternate discs are made to spiral from outside towards the centre in an interleaved arrangement with individual coils being stacked together and separated by insulating materials such as paper of plastic sheet. Sandwich coils and windings are more common with shell type core construction.
Helical Windings also known as screw windings are another very common cylindrical coil arrangement used in low voltage high current transformer applications. The windings are made up of large cross sectional rectangular conductors wound on its side with the insulated strands wound in parallel continuously along the length of the cylinder, with suitable spacers inserted between adjacent turns or discs to minimize circulating currents between the parallel strands. The coil progresses outwards as a helix resembling that of a corkscrew.
Transformer Cores
The insulation used to prevent the conductors shorting together in a transformer is usually a thin layer of varnish or enamel in air cooled transformers. This thin varnish or enamel paint is painted onto the wire before it is wound around the core.
In larger power and distribution transformers the conductors are insulated from each other using oil impregnated paper or cloth. The whole core and windings is immersed and sealed in a protective tank containing transformer oil. The transformer oil acts as an insulator and also as a coolant.
Transformer Dot Orientation
We can not just simply take a laminated core and wrap one of the coil configurations around it. We could but we may find that the secondary voltage and current may be out-of-phase with that of the primary voltage and current. The two coil windings do have a distinct orientation of one with respect to the other. Either coil could be wound around the core clockwise or anticlockwise so to keep track of their relative orientations “dots” are used to identify a given end of each winding.
This method of identifying the orientation or direction of a transformers windings is called the “dot convention”. Then a transformers windings are wound so that the correct phase relations exist between the winding voltages with the transformers polarity being defined as the relative polarity of the secondary voltage with respect to the primary voltage as shown below.
Transformer Construction using Dot Orientation
The first transformer shows its two “dots” side by side on the two windings. The current leaving the secondary dot is “in-phase” with the current entering the primary side dot. Thus the polarities of the voltages at the dotted ends are also in-phase so when the voltage is positive at the dotted end of the primary coil, the voltage across the secondary coil is also positive at the dotted end.
The second transformer shows the two dots at opposite ends of the windings which means that the transformers primary and secondary coil windings are wound in opposite directions. The result of this is that the current leaving the secondary dot is 180o “out-of-phase” with the current entering the primary dot. So the polarities of the voltages at the dotted ends are also out-of-phase so when the voltage is positive at the dotted end of the primary coil, the voltage across the corresponding secondary coil will be negative.
Then the construction of a transformer can be such that the secondary voltage may be either “in-phase” or “out-of-phase” with respect to the primary voltage. In transformers which have a number of different secondary windings, each of which is electrically isolated from each other it is important to know the dot polarity of the secondary windings so that they can be connected together in series-aiding (secondary voltage is summed) or series-opposing (the secondary voltage is the difference) configurations.
The ability to adjust the turns ratio of a transformer is often desirable to compensate for the effects of variations in the primary supply voltage, the regulation of the transformer or varying load conditions. Voltage control of the transformer is generally performed by changing the turns ratio and therefore its voltage ratio whereby a part of the primary winding on the high voltage side is tapped out allowing for easy adjustment. The tapping is preferred on the high voltage side as the volts per turn are lower than the low voltage secondary side.
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