JMEPEG (1995)4:430-434 9 International

Development and Application of Amorphous

Core-Distribution Transformers in Qudbec
R. Schulz, N. Alexandrov, J. Tdtreault, R. Simoneau, and R. Roberge

This paper describes research and development activities at Hydro-Quebec over the last ten years for im-
proving the efficiency of distribution transformers in Quebec. A shell-type (wound-core) design making
optimum use of the properties of amorphous metals (Metglas TCA formerly known as Metglas 2605s-2,
Allied Signal Inc., Morristown, N J) was adopted. Dry and oil-cooled, amorphous-core transformer pro-
totypes were built. The joint research and development project was initiated with Transformateurs Fer-
ranti-Packard Lt~e, a company of Rolls-Royce Industries Canada Inc., to build and test a few units of
high performance transformers on the Hydro-Quebec power system.

Keywords
transformer, amorphous metals, magnetic, iron-silicon, losses
I Table 1 shows that the core loss can be reduced by more than
a factor of three if the best grain-oriented electrical steel is re-
placed by amorphous alloys. The recent discovery of nanocrys-
talline soft magnetic alloys suggests that it will be possible to
reduce core losses further in the near future (Ref 6). Indeed, the
1. Introduction core losses of nanocrystalline Fe-Zr-Cu-B alloys are half those
of amorphous Metglas alloys at 1.3 T and 50 Hz (Ref 5), The
1995 MARKS the twentieth anniversary of the Allied Chemical microstructure of these new alloys consists of very small alpha-
(today Allied Signal Inc.) announcement of the availability of iron crystallites embedded in an amorphous matrix (Ref 5).
amorphous iron-silicon-boron alloys, such as Metglas 2605S-2 Since the crystallites are much smaller than the magnetic do-
(Ref 1). The new alloys, made in the form of thin ribbons, have mains, the effective magneto-crystalline anisotropy is an aver-
much lower core losses (hysteresis and eddy current) at 60 Hz age over several grains and, thus, is reduced in magnitude (Ref
than those of conventional grain-oriented silicon steels, but 7). Moreover, the induction limit for Fe-Zr-B nanocrystalline
there were more than two orders of magnitude difference in alloys is greater than that of amorphous metals (Ref 6). At this
price. The price of Metglas, when purchased in large quantities, time, however, these new alloys are quite brittle and, therefore,
dropped from about $300 kg in 1978 to below $3/kg in 1995. still far from commercialization (Ref 5) (see Table 1, Minimum
Consumption of amorphous steel is expected to grow 25% bending radius after annealing).
annually, whereas low-carbon steels (cold-rolled lamination Substantial energy savings can be attained by introducing
steels) and silicon steels (electrical steels) are expected to grow amorphous alloys on distribution networks. Table 2 estimates
about 6% annually through 1997 (Ref 2). Cold-rolled lamina- the total core losses in transformers in the United States (Ref 8).
tion steels are primarily used for motors and generators while The core losses in distribution transformers in the United States
silicon steels and amorphous alloys are used for transformers.
Those three applications represent 86% of the total U.S. market
for soft magnetic materials; the balance is composed of soft fer- Table 1 Properties of some important soft magnetic
rite (11%) and special metallic soft magnetic alloys, such as materials
iron-nickel, iron-cobalt, and stainless steels (Ref 3). The total
Minhnum
U.S. market for soft magnetic materials is approximately $2 bending
billion annually. radius
Core loss, Operating Price, after
Material W/kg point U.S.S/kg annealing
2. Results and Discussion Electrical steels
in 1953(Ref4) 4.4 1.7 T, 60 Hz <1
The introduction of amorphous alloys on electrical net- OrientcoreHI.B
23ZH90,
works has been in competition with a constant improvement in 0.23 mm 1.12 1.7T, 60Hz -2.5
the properties of grain-oriented electrical steel. Similar to the 0.62 1.3 T, 60 Hz
strong effort devoted to reduce core losses in conventional sili- 0.47 1.3 T, 50 Hz
con steels, new materials with losses even lower than those of MetglasTCA,
amorphous alloys were discovered. Table 1 summarizes the 0.025 mm 0.18 1.3T, 60Hz <3.0 0.5 nun
0.14 1.3T, 50Hz
properties of some important soft magnetic materials.
Nanocrystalline
Fe-Zr-Cu-B,
R. Schulz, N. Alexandrov, R. Simoneau, and R. Roberge, Materials 0.025 mm Not available
Technology Department, Hydro-Qutbec Research Institute, 1800 (Ref5) 0.07 1.3 T, 50 Hz commercially 3mm
Mont~e Ste-Julie, Varennes, P.Q., Canada, J3X 1S 1; and J. Tttreault, Note: Orientcore is a registered tradename of Nippon Steel Corp., Sumi-
Direction Distribution, Hydro-Qutbec, 680 Sherbrooke ouest, Mon- tomo Canada Limited, Quebec.
trtal, RQ., Canada, H3A 2M7.

430---Volume 4(4) August 1995 Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance

are about a quarter of the total annual production of Hydro- shell-type design was chosen. The IREQ design is shown in
Qu6bec and, therefore, are quite substantial. There are about 40 Fig. 1 (section Ill-A).
million distribution transformers in the United States, and the Compared to others, the IREQ design has several advan-
annual replacement rate is approximately 1 million. Of those tages. First, uncut ribbons of very large widths can be used. The
new ones, 7 to 10% are amorphous core distribution transform- core has no sharp corners or parts with small radius o f curvature
ers. In Qu6bec, there are more than 500,000 distribution trans-
formers with about 30,000 new ones added each year.
Amorphous core transformers have not been introduced yet, Table 2 A n n u a l core loss in t r a n s f o r m e r s in United States
except for experimental purposes.
Core losses,
Ten years ago a program was initiated at the Hydro- Qu6bec Transformers Wh x 1012
Research Institute, IREQ, to develop a transformer based on
amorphous alloys. In view of the need for large-scale produc- Distribution 31
Other 17
tion and the properties o f amorphous alloys, a wound-core, Total 48

I IT TIT
Winding the coilaround on unjointed Winding preonneoled amorphous
Winding the coil around on unjointed!
wound core by using toroidol metal onto o previously wound coil
wound core by rotating the coil
winding methods by rotating the core
Core Core ~ Coil Coil _,..Preonneoled _.Core
winding - annealing winding ;winding omorphousmelol winding
(A) GEC-OSAKA design (A) ALLIEDdesign (A) IREQ design
Coil
/
Core
A It A A A A f, I A
t f!I'~,il,~ II t t t I ll~lll, it
[!I '.'. II ',; t~l I~] ~111; ,11
@ !~-']
Co/e col,
Coil Core Core Coil Core Coil

Section A-A Section A-A Section A-A

Core -type (wound coil) Toroidol-type Shell - type (wound core )
(B) GE-EPRI design (e) (a)
Core Coil Coil

D{~"",][;; :u t l ]','.~H ~ t f t t
r I ',',~..i I1 -j~ ~!
J
Coil Core Core ~
Core Coil Coil Core Coil Core

Seclion A-A Section A-A Seclion A-A

Shell-lype (wound coil) Core- type (lot wound coil) Core- type (wound- core)

Fig. 1 Various possible core-coil configurations and assembly options for distribution transformers

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance Volume 4(4) August 1995----431

 (a) (b)

Fig. 2 IREQ dry-type transformer. (a) Schematic diagram. (b) Photograph of a 25 kVA prototype, dimension 27 in. by 18 in. by 8 in.

Table 3 Characteristics of a 25 kVA amorphous-core dry- around each leg of the electrical circuit. More information on
type transformer the manufacturing steps is found in R e f 9 and 10. Figure 2 pre-
sents (a) a schematic diagram of an IREQ dry-type transformer
Powerratingwith no internalcooling 25 kVA and (b) a photo of a 25 kVA prototype built at IREQ.
Powerratingwith 44 crn3/sof water 50 kVA Table 3 gives general characteristics of the prototype in Fig.
Voltagerating 6.56 kV/ll5 V 2(b). The measurements were made at the Hydro-Qutbec Re-
Numberof primaryturns 1084
Numberof secondaryturns 19 search Institute in Varennes.
Totalweight 200 kg Internal cooling was achieved using a cooling coil soldered
Weightof amorphousmetal 76.2 kg on the secondary winding. This made it easy to double, if not
Core lossat 1.3 Tand 22 ~ 18.5 W triple, the nominal power capacity of this type of transformer.
Copperloss at 25 kVA 300 W
Copperlossat 50 kVA 1230 W For instance, this prototype could handle 100% overcharge
High voltagewindingresistance 25 t2 with only 4 cm3/s of cooling flow.
Oil-cooled, amorphous-core transformers also were built in
collaboration with Transformateurs Ferranti-Packard Lt4e, a
company of Rolls-Royce Industries Canada Inc. Five of these
where magnetostriction can give rise to higher losses. The de- transformers with a nominal power rating of 100 kVA and one
sign is such that, instead of the usual batch annealing of toroids, of 50 kVA were installed on the Hydro- Qutbec power system
continuous on-line thermal treatment of the amorphous ribbons and tested over a period of one year. Their properties remained
can easily be implemented. We are presently working on the de- unchanged throughout the year except for a small increase in
velopment of this technology. Last, very simple core support losses in one of the transformers. Usually a decrease in losses is
can be used because it does not have to hold up the whole as- observed during the first year as the amorphous ribbon is fur-
sembly as in core-type configurations. The coil assembly is ther annealed. The noise levels are comparable to those o f con-
made first by using copper strips of different cross section. Af- ventional transformers and far below Canadian regulations.
ter heat treatment (2 h at 360 ~ the annealed ribbon is wound Four of them are kept on the system for a five-year test.

432--Volume 4(4) August 1995 Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance

Table 4 Characteristics of four 100 kVA amorphous-core distribution transformers and a standard transformer of the same
power rating

Standard Amorphous core

Characteristic M-4 1 2 3 4
Core loss(a),W/kg 0.82 (0.30 mm) 0.185 0.18 0.151 0.130
Induction,T 1.38 1.3 1.3 1.35 1.35
No-loadlosses,W/kg 0.777 0.255 0.187 0.215 0.170
No-loadlosses,W 206 96 70 63 50
Load losses,W 523 624 582 827 826
Impedance(IZ),% 1.62 2.23 1.90 2.25 2.29
Weightof Metglas,kg 265(b) 375 375 300 300
Totalweight(c),kg 550 970 970 675 675
Stackingfactor ... 0.72 0.72 0.78 0,78
Core 2 ribbons, 24 cm 6 ribbons, 12.8 cm 4 ribbons, 17 cm 4 ribbons, 21.3 cm 4 ribbons, 21.3 cm
(a) Measuredon annealedspecimens at 1.3 T and 60 Hz. (b) Weightof the grain-orientedsilicon steel (grade M4). (c) Includingoil and container.

Fig. 3 Pole-type amorphous-core distribution transformer on Hydro-Qurbec power system

Table 4 compares the general characteristics of four 100 nes. Figure 3 shows a transformer on the Hydro-Qurbec net-
kVA oil-cooled, amorphous-core distribution transformer pro- work.
totypes built sequentially over a period of about two years with Table 5 compares amorphous-core and conventional distri-
a conventional transformer of the same power rating. bution transformers for 50 and 100 kVA power ratings. The ad-
The equipment for heat treating amorphous alloys has im- vantage of using amorphous alloys to reduce the cost of no-load
proved over the years and is reflected by the decrease in core losses is obvious from Table 5 although, at the present time, this
losses observed from prototypes 1 to 4. Today the heat treat- gain is offset by the higher price of the materials. In areas where
ment and winding process for amorphous ribbons is fully auto- the cost of the no-load losses exceeds U.S. $5.20/W (current
mated. Transformers 1 and 2 were designed at 1.3 T induction. price in Qurbec), it would be advantageous to use amorphous
The stacking factor was low (0.72), and the total weight of the alloys.
transformer was higher than that of conventional transformers
(970 kg instead of 550 kg, see Table 4). To reduce the weight, a
second series of prototypes (transformers 3 and 4 in Table 4) 3. Conclusions
were designed at an induction of 1.35 T and a stacking factor of
0.78. The total weight is 675 kg. About 300 kg of Metglas is Oil-cooled, amorphous-core distribution transformer proto-
used, and the no-load losses were as low as 50 W. The tests were types were built and tested on the Hydro-Qurbec power sys-
conducted at the Hydro-Qurbec Research Institute in Varen- tem. The properties of the transformers remained practically

Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance Volume 4(4) August 1995----433

Table 5 Comparative study of amorphous and standard 50 and 100 kVAdistribution transformers

50 kVA 100 kVA

Characteristic Standard Amorphous Standard Amorphous
No-loadlosses,W 126 40 206 50
Load losses,W 327 340 523 826
Impedance(IZ), % 1.58 1.77 1.62 2.29
Weight,kg 335 540 550 675
No-loadlossescost, U.S. $5.20/W 655 208 1071 260
Load-lossescost, U.S. $2.80/W 915 952 1464 2313
Total 1570 l 160 2535 2573
(a) Transformer No. 4 in Table 4.

unchanged throughout the 12 months of operation. The intro- 3. "New Magnets and Magnetic Materials--An Analysis of the U.S.
duction of amorphous metals on the electrical power system Industry and Markets," T. Abraham, Business Communications
was slow because of the relatively low cost of electricity in this Company, Inc., 1992
province. Future research and development projects at Hydro- 4. H. Matuoka and O. Honjo, "An International Technical and Eco-
Qu6bec will concentrate on amorphous-core, dry-type distribu- nomic Perspective of New and Improved Materials and their Ap-
plications," ASM Materials Week (Orlando), American Society
tion transformers making use of the latest materials and of heat for Metals, Oct 1986
pipe for cooling.
5. F. Kogiku, N. Shiga, and M. Yukumoto, Low Frequency Soft
Magnetic Properties of
Acknowledgments 6. K. Suzuki, A. Makino, A. Inoue, and T. Matsumoto, J. Appl.
The authors thank Jean-Marie Simard and collaborators at Phys., Vo174, 1993
Ferranti-Packard for the development of amorphous-core dis- 7. G. Herzer, Mater. Sci Eng. A., Vol 133, 1991, p 1
tribution transformers in Quebec. g. G.E. Fish, Allied-Signal Inc., private communication, 1994
9. E. Schulz, N. Alexandrov, and R. Roberge, "Distribution Trans-
References formers Materials Limitations: Applicability of Amorphous
1. Allied Chemical News Release, Nov 1975, Industrial Bulletin, Magnetic Core Materials," Paper 300-05, CIGRE Symposium on
Feb 1976, p 14 New and Improved Materials for Electrotechnology, Symposium
2. Soft Magnetic Materials--Types, Processing, Applications, In- 05-87, May 1987
termaterial and Foreign Competition and Market Opportunities," 10. R. Schulz, N. Chretien, N. Alexandrov, J. Aubin, and R. Roberge,
T. Abraham, Business Communications Company, Inc., 1992 Mater. Scl. Eng. A, Vol 99, 1988, p 19

434---Volume 4(4) August 1995 Journal of Materials Engineering and Performance