Thermal and aerodynamic tests of a digital combined current and voltage transformer

Abstract

This study examines the results of thermal and aerodynamic tests of a digital combined current and voltage transformer conducted in an environmental chamber. This measuring instruments consist of current and voltage transformers, featuring a resistive divider, and are used for commercial and technical electric power accounting. Different ambient temperatures, airflow rates and levels of insolation were set for the environmental chamber, with simulation of transformer functioning in emergency modes. It was established that heat release at transformer outer surface with natural convection depends to a larger extent on the difference between the temperature at the transformer surface and ambient temperature, while with forced convection this heat release depends more on air mass speed, with greater heat release on the surface of an upward facing rib than on the surface of a downward facing rib. The results of our study have been used in developing algorithms for diagnostics of the thermal state of digital combined transformers.