Investigation of Transformer-Based Solutions for the Reduction of Inrush and Phase-Hop Currents

Abstract

A comprehensive literature review shows that transformer-based solutions are superior for the mitigation of inrush currents than external (to the transformer) solutions. The use of air gaps and low-permeability (iron) materials are known techniques for this purpose. This paper investigates the effectiveness of these approaches for reducing inrush and phase-hop currents. Studies are carried out on toroidal transformers, due to their broad application in power electronics devices. Contrary to common belief, this paper demonstrates that air gaps do not reduce the inrush currents when a transformer is fully demagnetized. However, inrush currents can be mitigated by the use of low-permeability iron materials. It is also demonstrated that air-gaps significantly reduce inrush currents when transformers have residual flux, e.g., for phase-hop conditions. Analytical expressions are derived to compute the mitigation factor for a specific gap length. The results and formulae presented in this paper are verified with laboratory experiments, transient simulations with validated circuit models, and 2-D finite element simulations.