TRANSFORMER VOLTAGE REGULATION AND EFFICIENCY

The series impedances in the primary and secondary winding of the transformer are
the reason that the output voltage of a transformer varies with the load even if the
input voltage remains constant.
Full-load voltage regulation is a quantity that compares the output voltage of the
transformer at no load with the output voltage at full load . It is defined as:
VS ,nl  VS , fl
VR  x100%
VS , fl
V
As at no load, VS ,nl  P , the voltage regulation can also be expressed as:
a
VP
 VS , fl VP  a.VS , fl
VR  a x100%  x100%
VS , fl a.VS , fl
The voltage regulation in per-unit can be expressed as:
VP. pu  VS , fl. pu
VR  x100%
VS , fl. pu
For an ideal transformer, as the series impedances of the two transformer windings are
zeros, thus: VP. pu  VS , fl. pu and VR  0 .

Consider the simplified transformer equivalent circuit, shown below.

If the effects of the excitation branch on transformer voltage regulation is ignored, so

only the series impedances need be considered. The phasor diagram of this equivalent
circuit, at a lagging power factor, is shown below.

Note for equivalent circuit:

VP
 VS  Req I S  jX eq I S
a
VP
From the phasor diagram, it is easy to see that, for lagging loads,  VS and the
a
voltage regulation of a transformer with lagging loads must be greater zero.
Yasin A. Al Shiboul, Al Balqa Applied University, Faculty of Engineering Technology, EE Department
 The phasor diagram at unity power factor is shown in the next Figure. Here again. the
voltage at the secondary is lower than the voltage at the primary, so VR > O, but is
smaller number than it was with a lagging current.

The phasor diagram of a transformer with a leading current is shown below.

Notice that the secondary voltage can actually be higher than the referred primary
voltage, or the transformer actually has a negative voltage regulation.

Transformer Efficiency
The efficiency of a device is defined as:
P Pout
  out x100%  x100%
Pin Pout  Ploss
Transformer losses can be calculated using its equivalent circuit. There are three types
of losses present in transformers:
1) Copper ( PCu  I 2 R ) losses. These losses are accounted for by the series resistance
in the equivalent circuit.
2) Hysteresis losses.
3) Eddy current losses.
Notice that hysterisis and eddy current losses are included in resistor RC , and their
sum is called the core losses ( Pcore )
The output power of the transformer is given as:
Pout  VS .I S . cos  S
Thus the efficiency of the transformer can be given as:
VS .I S . cos  S
 x100%
VS .I S . cos  S  PCu  Pcore

Example:
A 15kVA, 2300 / 230 transformer is tested to build its equivalent circuit. The
following are the results of the open-circuit and short-circuit tests of the transformer.

Yasin A. Al Shiboul, Al Balqa Applied University, Faculty of Engineering Technology, EE Department

 Open-circuit test Short-circuit test
(low-voltage side) (high-voltage side)
VOC  230V VSC  47V
I OC  2.1A I SC  6.0 A
POC  50W PSC  160W
a) Find the equivalent circuit of this transformer referred to the high-voltage side.
b) Find the equivalent circuit of this transformer referred to the low-voltage side.
c) Calculate the full-load voltage regulation at 0.8 lagging power factor, 1.0 power
factor, and at 0.8 leading power factor using the exact equation for VP .
d) Plot the voltage regulation as load is increased from no load to full load at power
factors of 0.8 lagging, 1.0, and 0.8 leading.
e) What is the efficiency of the transformer at full load with a power factor of 0.8
lagging?

Solution:
The turns ratio of this transformer is a  2300 / 230  10
a)
From the open-circuit test data, the open-circuit impedance angle is:
 P   50 
 OC  cos 1  OC   cos 1    84
0

 VOC .I OC   230 x2.1 

The magnitude of the excitation admittance is:
I 2.1
YE  OC   0.00913S
VOC 230
Or:
 
YE  YE    OC  0.00913  840  0.00913 cos 840  j sin 840  0.000954  j 0.00908
but:
1 1
YE   j
RC XM
Thus:
1 1
RC   1050 and X M  110
0.000954 0.00908
From the short-circuit test data, the short-circuit impedance angle is:
 P   160 
 SC  cos 1  SC   cos 1    55.4
0

 VSC .I SC   47 x6 
The magnitude of the equivalent series impedance is:
V 47
Z SE  SC   7.833
I SC 6
Or:
 
Z SE  Z SE  SC  7.83355.4 0  7.833 cos 55.4 0  j sin 55.4 0  4.45  j 6.45 
But:
Z SE  Req , P  jX eq , P
Or, the series elements referred to the primary side are:
Req ,P  4.45 and X eq ,P  6.45

Yasin A. Al Shiboul, Al Balqa Applied University, Faculty of Engineering Technology, EE Department

 The resulting simplified equivalent circuit referred to the primary side can be found
by converting the excitation branch values to the primary side. Or:
RC , P  a 2 RC ,S  10 2 x1050  105k and X M , P  a 2 X M ,S  10 2 x110  11k
This equivalent circuit is shown in the figure below:

b)
To find the equivalent circuit referred to the low-voltage side, the impedance is
devided by a 2 , the resulting values are:
RC  1050 , X M  110 , Req  0.0445 and X eq  0.0645
And the equivalent circuit is as below:

c)
The magnitude of the full-load current on the secondary side of this transformer is:
S 15000
I S ,rated  rated   65.2 A
VS ,rated 230
At PF=0.8 lagging, the power factor angle is: cos 1 0.8  36.9 0 , thus:
I S  65.2  36.9 0 A
From the previous equivalent circuit:
 VS  I S Req , S  jX eq , S   230  65.2  36.9 0 0.0445  j 0.0645
VP
a
 234.850.4 0
The resulting voltage regulation is:
VP
 VS , fl
234.85  230
VR  a  x100%  2.1%
VS , fl 230

At PF=1.0, the power factor angle is: cos 1 1.0  0 0 , thus:

Yasin A. Al Shiboul, Al Balqa Applied University, Faculty of Engineering Technology, EE Department

 I S  65.20 0 A
And:
 VS  I S Req , S  jX eq , S   230  65.20 0 0.0445  j 0.0645
VP
a
 232.941.04 0
The resulting voltage regulation is:
VP
 VS , fl
a 232.94  230
VR   x100%  1.28%
VS , fl 230

At PF=0.8 leading, the power factor angle is: cos 1 0.8  36.9 0 , thus:
I S  65.236.9 0 A
And:
 VS  I S Req , S  jX eq , S   230  65.236.9 0 0.0445  j 0.0645
VP
a
 229.851.27 0
The resulting voltage regulation is:
VP
 VS , fl
a 229.85  230
VR   x100%  0.062%
VS , fl 230

d)
To plot the voltage regulation as a function of load, the calculation made in (c) are
repeated for many different loads, this can be done using a MATLAB program.

e)
The efficiency of the transformer is found after calculating the losses in the
transformer:
- The copper losses are:
PCU  I S  .Req  65.2 0.0445  189W
2 2

- The core losses are given by:

2
 VP 
 
Pcore   a 
.
234.85
2
 52.5W
RC 1050
The output power of the transformer at this power factor is:
Pout  VS .I S cos   23062.5cos 36.9 0   12000W
And the efficiency of the transformer at this condition is:
Pout 12000
   98.03%
Pout  PCu  Pcore 12000  189  52.5

Yasin A. Al Shiboul, Al Balqa Applied University, Faculty of Engineering Technology, EE Department