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Three-phase Transformers

Just as with general three-phase circuits, there are four possible configurations for a 3-phase transformer setup:

  1. wye-wye
  2. delta-delta
  3. wye-delta
  4. delta-wye

Power in three-phase transformers:

With all of the four configurations above, the following power expressions can be used:

Total apparent power:

$$ S_T = \sqrt{3} V_L \; I_L $$

Total real power:

$$ P_T = S_T \; \cos(\theta) $$ $$ \;\;\;\; = \sqrt{3} V_L \; I_L \; \cos(\theta) $$

Total reactive power:

$$ Q_T = S_T \; \sin(\theta) $$ $$ \;\;\;\; = \sqrt{3} V_L \; I_L \; \sin(\theta) $$

Wye-Wye connections

Y-Y three-phase transformer

Recall the turns ratio for an ideal transformer: $$ \frac{V_2}{V_1} = \frac{N_2}{N_1} = n $$ For the Y-Y circuit above, we have: $$ \frac{V_{Ls}}{V_{Lp}} = n $$

$$ V_{Ls} = n V_{Lp} $$

Additionally, we know that the turns ratio for input and output current is: $$ \frac{I_2}{I_1} = \frac{N_1}{N_2} = \frac{1}{n} $$ So, for the Y-Y circuit we have: $$ \frac{I_{Ls}}{I_{Lp}} = \frac{1}{n} $$

$$ I_{Ls} = \frac{I_{Lp}}{n} $$

Delta-Delta connections

delta-delta three-phase transformer

In a similar manner we have the following expressions for a delta-delta transformer configuration:

$$ V_{Ls} = nV_{Lp} $$ $$ I_{Ls} = \frac{I_{Lp}}{n} $$

Wye-Delta connections

Wye-delta three-phase transformer

For the wye-delta transformer we have:

$$ V_{Ls} = \frac{nV_{Lp}}{\sqrt{3}} $$ $$ I_{Ls} = \frac{\sqrt{3}\;I_{Lp}}{n} $$

Delta-Wye connections

delta-wye three-phase transformer

Lastly, for a delta-wye transformer configuration we have:

$$ V_{Ls} = n\sqrt{3} V_{Lp} $$ $$ I_{Ls} = \frac{I_{Lp}}{n\sqrt{3}} $$

Next we will look at an example problem involving a three-phase transformers.

Continue on to three-phase transformer example problem...