Short-Circuit Electromagnetic Force Distribution Characteristics in Transformer Winding Transposition Structures

For continuous or spiral windings which feature multiple continuously transposed conductors (CTC) wound in parallel, the transposition structure is commonly used to suppress circulation between conductors. This introduces a local asymmetry in transformer windings. Fault analyses have shown that building an asymmetric structure in transformers increases deformation risk in these windings. Researchers have yet to fully investigate this asymmetric structure. This study was conducted to observe the influence of transposition structure in a 110 kV transformer. The conductor's relative position forms three patterns during the transposition process; two parameters are established to describe the position-changing process. A finite-element method (FEM) model is built to investigate the magnetic field and electromagnetic force distributions. The results indicate that the transposition structure distorts the magnetic field distribution. The maximum distortion factor of the axial component of magnetic flux density (B-z) along the axial direction caused by the transposition structure is 14.6%. The transposition structure only changes the radial change slope of B-z. The gap caused by the transposition process aggravates imbalance in the ampere-turns distribution, increasing the amplitude of the radial component of magnetic flux density (B-r) at the middle height of the transformer low voltage (LV) winding. The maximum amplitude of B-r at the transposition structure increases by 513%. The Lorentz force over the CTCs remains constant from before to after the transposition process, though its linear density over the CTCs is unevenly distributed throughout. The axial component F-z varies from -31 to 10 kN/m, while the radial component F-r varies from -146 to -51 kN/m. The results show that the initial stage of the CTC height rising segment is a weak point and should be strengthened in the manufacturing process.