Numerical and experimental comparison of the no-load losses in the different grain-oriented electrical steel materials

Abstract

One of the critical pieces of equipment for power transmission and distribution is the transformer. The operation of the transformers is essential for the power supply's continued stability and efficacy. With an increase in rated power, the transformer's manufacturing time, cost, and size all go up. The core loss of the transformer is still a big concern for transformer designers. Minimization of the core loss in the transformer is also important for transformer manufacturers. Accurate evaluation of the core loss is also important for optimizing the magnetic design of the transformer. Evaluating the no-load losses of the new magnetic materials also needs a reliable technique as conventional analytical methods are limited and difficult to implement. In this study, the use of different materials for manufacturing the core of the transformers is used to minimize and compare the no-load losses. In this work, different types of grain-oriented silicon steel and lamination thickness are used for core materials to evaluate and minimize the core losses using numerical analysis. The results of the two different materials are also verified by a no-load experiment test performed on the prototype transformers. Considering the finite element analysis results of the different materials, core losses were calculated as 66.35 % lower in the M-H0 material than in the reference M-6 material. To increase transformer efficiency, a material with low no-load losses can be used. The results of this work will give guidelines to the transformer designers for selecting core materials to improve the efficiency of the transformer.