Design and fabrication of a Single-phase 1KVA

Transformer

1. INTRODUCTION

A transformer is an electrical machine that works on the principles of electromagnetic

energy conversion. It is a kind of device that transfers electrical energy through the
magnetic field from one electrical circuit to another keeping the supply frequency constant.
The energy received from the supply mains is denoted as the primary side and the energy-
distributing circuit to the load is denoted as the secondary side. Transformers cannot create
any energy but rather transfer’s energy by changing both the voltage and current levels of
the circuit. Transformers are commonly employed in electrical power generation and
distribution sites for efficient transmission of electrical power to the grid network and then
subsequent distribution to the end users. There are many types and applications of
transformers but all require efficient and low-loss transformers. But the efficiency of a
transformer is reduced because of several types of losses in the transformer at no load and
full load conditions. The designed transformer can be used for laboratory demonstration
with low loss and low cost so that after implementation, the loss is minimized and
efficiency is maximized for any practical use. In this paper, we have explored to design of a
low-loss small singlephase step-down transformer having a capacity of 1 kVA with a turns
ratio of 2.

1.1 Need of Transformer

In most of the cases, appliances are manufactured to work under some explicit voltage.
Transformer is used to adjust the voltages to a proper level. The transformer is the basic
components for the transmission of the electricity.

Transformer is use to increase the voltage at the power generating station (step up) and to
decrease the voltage (step down) for house hold persistence. By increasing the voltages the
loss of the electricity in the transmission purpose in minimalize

1.2 Hardware requirement

 Bobbin
 Winding Machine
 Copper wire
 Stamping( E & I Shape)
 Transformer Clamp
 Resistor (4.7KΩ)

1|P a ge
  Op Amp (LM 358)
 Transistor (BC 548)
 9V DC Battery
 5V DC Fan
 NTS Thermistor (4.7kΩ)
 Potentiometer (4.7kΩ)

1.2 THE TRANSFORMER DESIGN PROBLEM

A. Design Considerations and limitations:
In a design, a concept is given shape with the application of science, technology and
invention to realization of a machine so as to content required performance and
characteristics. A design process is not merely engineering calculations but involves
careful considerations of the design base, conditions, design transfer and information
updating.

Knowing the characteristics and specifications that a transformer has to satisfy, the main
areas of design include:

• Magnetic circuit; core, window etc.

• The electric circuit; the windings.
• The insulation.
• The mechanical construction.

The designer’s work lies in properly allocating the space to frame, core, air gap, windings,
insulation and cooling circuit in the transformer. Moreover economy in manufacturing
costs, operating and running costs are also kept in vision.

Limitations are imposed on design because of:-

• Saturation of magnetic parts.

• Temperature rise under high output.
• Insulation breakdown due to high voltage gradients.

B. Selection Of Design Constants:

The design depends upon power choice of design constants, flux density (Bm), current
density (δ) and window space factor (KW). Therefore, it is worthwhile to discuss the factors
governing the choice of these coefficients.

2|P a ge
If we choose higher value of flux density (Bm), the core area Ai reduces. This will reduce the
diameter of circum-circle thereby reducing the length of mean turn.

Thus there is saving in the cost of iron and copper. But very high flux density is not possible,
the restriction is because of iron losses, saturation and magnetizing current. Transformer
should be designed for lower iron losses giving good efficiency. Therefore, for small
transformer comparatively lower flux density (1.1 to 1.4 Wb/m2) is implicit.

The choice of current density (δ) affects the I2R losses and also the load at which maximum
efficiency occurs. The allowable values of current density for small power transformers are
taken as (δ =1.5 to 2.6 A/mm2).

The window space factor, Kw has been defined as the ratio of copper area in the window to
the total window area .The total window area includes the copper area, insulation and the
air gap of coil spaces. The relative amounts of copper and insulation used will influence the
value of Kw. The amount of copper and insulation used depends upon the KVA capacity and
voltage rating respectively. Thus choice of Kw depends upon KVA capacity and voltage
rating. The following experimental relation is normally used for estimation of Kw.

C. MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this work, a core-type single-phase transformer was intended to be designed as shown in
Fig. 1.

(1)

The main specifications of the design of this transformer were to design a single-phase step
down transformer with a turns ratio of 2 from an rms voltage of 220 V to 110 V (AC) with a
maximum current flow of 2 A in the primary, that is 1 kVA. The operating frequency of the
transformer should be in line with the power line frequency (50 Hz) of Bangladesh within
the specified limits of 49.5- 50.5 Hz (50 Hz ± 1%) [16]. If the voltage is applied below this
specified frequency level then the transformer’s inductive reactance would be lower and
more currents will be drawn by the transformer and thereby create more loss inside the
transformer, and eventually, the temperature will rise. Besides, if the frequency is very high
then the inductive reactance will be higher to cause more voltage drops across it and
thereby reducing the magnetizing current of the transformer. As such, the transformer may
not be able to produce required flux for its proper operation. The loss during the open

3|P a ge
circuit test must not exceed 5 W. For our practical design, we used super-enameled copper
wires for the primary and secondary winding of our transformer. Multiple plates of sheets
of iron silicon having E-shaped and I-shaped were used in this work. To provide isolation
between the sheets and conductors, lamination papers were selected along with the
masking tape. The required number of screws was used to join the sheets together.
Brackets were used also in this work. Besides, a framework made of a wooden board was
employed to place the transformer on it. To calculate the design parameters of a single-
phase transformer, we need to follow several steps, like bobbin selection, core selection,
turn/volt selection, and, conductor selection. We selected to have a magnetic flux density
(Bm) of 1.2 Wb/m2 because for designing a low-power transformer, this is the average
value of magnetic flux density used by the designers. For the cross-section area of the
transformer, we selected the length of the bobbin as l = 3.7 cm = 0.037 m and the breadth
of the bobbin as b= 3.3 cm = 0.033 m due to its ready availability in the market. The cross-
section was rectangular. As a result, the total crosssectional area becomes A = lb =
0.037×0.033 = 0.001221 m2 . Now we need to compute the number of turns for 1 volt as
given by the equation (1).

Therefore, we can compute the number of turns required for the primary and secondary
windings using equations (2) and (3).

Based on the number of turns, the required copper conductor for primary winding is 25
SWG and secondary winding is 21 SWG. For the transformer design, the AutoCAD drawing
software tool was used. After completion of the design, various views were observed to
check how the designed transformer will look like. These are shown in various Figs. 1- 4. Fig.
1 shows a 3-D view of the designed transformer after the completion of the design along
with the E-shaped and I-shaped cores in 2-D views on the right side. Fig. 2 is the front view
with the terminals for the line and neutral of the primary and secondary windings of the
transformer. Fig. 3 is the side view of the transformer showing how E- and I-shaped cores
are inter-spaced inside

4|P a ge
Fig. 1. A 3-D view and 2-D view of the transformer’s core design in AutoCAD

Fig. 2. A 2-D view of the designed transformer with primary and secondary
windings’ terminals in AutoCAD

5|P a ge
Fig. 3. A 2-D side view of the designed transformer in AutoCAD showing the E-
shaped and Ishaped cores

Fig. 4. A 2-D top view of our transformer in AutoCAD shows the core on the base

6|P a ge
 Fig. 5. Manufactured single-phase transformer on the base

D. SIMULATION AND EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

To simulate the single-phase transformer, MATLAB Simulink was used. At first, the circuit
was drawn according to the design requirements. The ammeter and the voltmeter were
connected in series and parallel, respectively. A load resistance (R) was also connected to
the secondary side so that the secondary side draws current as shown in Fig. 6. Oscilloscope
is connected to both the primary and secondary sides to observe the primary and
secondary voltage and current levels. There are options for the rms current and voltage
measurements, also.

7|P a ge
After simulating the circuit, the results are obtained graphically and are shown in Fig. 7. The
top left plot shows the primary voltage and the top right plot shows the secondary voltage
of this transformer. From the simulation results, we see that upon application of the
sinusoidal voltage of 220 V ac (peak) with a frequency of 50 Hz (the time period of 0.02 s) at
the primary side, the secondary side produces the sinusoidal voltage of 110 V ac (peak) with
the same frequency as per our requirement. Moreover, the bottom left and right plots
demonstrate the primary and secondary side sinusoidal currents, respectively. The results
also show that as a current of 0.55 A (peak) with 50 Hz (the time period of 0.02 s) is passed
through the primary coil the secondary steps it up to a level of 1.1 A (peak) with the same
frequency.

A no-load test of the designed transformer was conducted to apply a small primary current
(I1) to the high-tension side of the transformer by applying a small voltage at the primary
from AC voltage sources as shown in the experimental setup of Fig. 8. We applied the
voltage from 0 V up to 350 V (AC) to check how much current can be flown to the primary
winding without generating much heat in the transformer. We observed by touching the
body of the transformer that it was getting heated and making humming sound when 350 V
(AC) was applied. Then the secondary voltage (V2) was measured at the lowtension side.
We went to measure the secondary side voltage up to 176 V with the application of 350 V
at the primary side to check that the turns ratio of 2 (approximately) is maintained. It
means that the transformer core is still unsaturated. The observed data were recorded in
Table 1 which confirms that the turn ratio of the transformer (primary to secondary) is
almost 2 and remains constant always. From the data, a graph was plotted for the
secondary voltage (LT-side) against the primary current (HT-side) as shown in Fig. 9. This
graph shows that the secondary voltage starts to saturate after 180 mA. This satisfied our
design requirement.

We performed several tests with the designed transformer. For example, the polarity test,
open circuit test, short circuit test, and load test. From the polarity test, we found that the
transformer was of additive polarity.

To perform the open circuit test, we connected the rated supply voltage at the low-tension
side and measured the voltage, current, and power loss at that side and also measured the
open circuit voltage at the high-tension side. As such, an ammeter, voltmeter, and
wattmeter were connected on the low-tension side and only a voltmeter on the high-
tension side.

8|P a ge
9|P a ge
 Table 1. No load test of the designed single-phase transformer
Primary voltage, V1 (V) Primary current, I1 (mA) Secondary voltage, V2 (V)
40
80
120
160
200
240

10 | P a g e