Cooling Transformer in Electricity Delivery via Liquid Metal and Its Feasibility Evaluation

The coil winding and core of a working electrical transformer often produce huge amount of rebarbative heat. An efficient heat transfer device is therefore very necessary. Conventional cooling approaches that encompass oil-immersed natural cooling, forced oil loop cooling and loop water cooling cannot meet the increasing transformer load, which may result in high safety risk and reduce lifespan of the transformer. In this study, a new conceptual loop cooling modality based on liquid metal coolant was proposed for the first time. Comparison on the performances between the present method and the conventional ways were computationally evaluated. It was found that liquid metal can dramatically reduce the temperature of the coil winding and core and temperature difference among each part of the transformer. This suggests a better cooling approach for the transformer in the coming time.