Analysis of stray losses in transformers using finite element method modelling

The integration of classical transformer design procedures with the staggering speed and coherent versatility of modernistic computational methods to evaluate and manage stray losses in transformers incite better understanding into the transformer design philosophy especially for renewable energy (RE) application. This is on account of tools suchlike Finite Element Method (FEM) that can perform several unwieldy and iterative computations in a judicious and stepwise approach yielding transformer designs that meet the stringent technical specification of REs. In the present work, the key objective is to carry out the computation of the winding Eddy loss which fosters in mapping the hotspot temperature in the transformer windings. To enable the computation of dispersed winding Eddy loss, FEM based Ansys Maxwell is employed to treat the magnetic flux density calculations at the hub of individual winding conductors. The vector decomposition of the flux density gives winding Eddy loss as a result of axial and radial magnetic flux leakage components.