Virtual valuations [transformer testing]

Modern power transformers are tightly designed to minimise volume, weight and cost. One solution to striking this delicate balance is to test the transformer in a virtual way at the design stage, through numerical simulation. When power transformers fail to meet their specification, it is almost always due to a very localised effect. such as a hot spot on the tank wall or an insulation breakdown at a critical point in the winding. Finite element methods are ideally suited to calculating local electric and magnetic field variations and, for more than 30 years, have been used for examining the performance of power transformers.