Maintenance and Testing of Electrical Machines

Week 03 Lecture 01

Instrument Transformers

Objectives

 Instrument Transformer Definition: An instrument transformer is a device that steps

down high voltage and current from power systems to manageable levels for measurement

and safety.

 Advantages: Instrument transformers standardize measurements, reduce equipment costs,

and enhance operator safety by providing electrical isolation.

 Types of Instrument Transformers: The main types are Current Transformers (C.T.) and

Potential Transformers (P.T.), each designed for specific measurement tasks.

 Safety and Functionality: These transformers include safety features such as grounding

and operation under specific circuit conditions (short-circuited for C.T.s, open-circuited for

P.T.s) to ensure accuracy and prevent accidents.

Instrument transformers (ITs) are designed to transform voltage of current from the high values

in the transmission and distribution systems to the low values that can be utilized by low

voltage metering devices. There are three primary applications for which ITs are used:

metering (for energy billing and transaction purposes); protection control (for system

protection and protective relaying purposes); and load survey (for economic management of

industrial loads).

Depending on the requirements for those applications, the IT design and construction can be

quite different. Generally the metering ITs require high accuracy in the range of normal
operating voltage and current. Protection ITs require linearity as a wide range of voltages and

currents. During a disturbance, such as system fault or overvoltage transients, the output of the

IT is used by a protective relay to initiate an appropriate action (open or close a breaker,

reconfigure the system, etc) to mitigate the disturbance and protect the rest of the power

system.

Instrument transformers are the most common and economic way to detect a disturbance.

Typical output levels of instrument transformers are 1-5 amperes and 115-120 volts for CTs

and VTs, respectively. There are several classes of accuracy for instrument transformers

defined by the IEEE, CSA, IEC, and ANSI standards.

the primary voltage or current to values that are suitable for measuring instruments such as

voltmeters, ammeters, watt-meters, energy-meters, power factor meters, frequency meters etc,

and protection relays and control equipment. In addition to that, they can act as isolation between

the instruments and high voltage circuits.

In addition to the basic merits mentioned above, it has a commercial advantage also. Power

generation, transmission and distribution networks have different voltage level. Designing

instruments that can safely operate at all these voltage levels and maintaining a huge inventory is

highly impractical. Manufacturers design instruments suitable for 120V or 5A, which in

combination with suitable instrument transformers can be connected to high voltage and high

current circuits.

Types of Instrument transformers

There are two types of Instrument transformers:

1. Current transformers (CT)

2. Voltage transformers or potential transformers (VT or PT)

Transformers that are used to transform currents are known as current transformers. They are

used to reduce high currents to 1A or 5A so that they can be measured using an ammeter or used

in other control circuits. It consists of a single or fewer primary turns and large numbers of

secondary turns. In most types, the current-carrying conductor itself acts as the primary winding

of the transformer.

The primary of the current transformers is connected in series to the line while the secondary is

connected to the measurement, control or protection devices. Current transformers serve two

purposes: 1) facilitates the measurement of high currents and 2) Insulation of meters, instruments

and protection relays from high voltages.

Current Transformer

For a short-circuited transformer the following valid:

current transformer is ideally a short-circuited transformer where the secondary terminal

voltage is zero and the magnetizing current is negligible.

Types of CT:

 Window CT or toroidal CT: hollow core through which the current-carrying conductor or

cable is passed.

 Bar CT: contain a copper or aluminum bus bar surrounded by the secondary winding wound

over the ferromagnetic core.

 Wound CT: They have separate primary and secondary winding.

The secondary circuit of connected of the current transformer must never be opened while the

transformer is excited by primary current, because due to higher turns ratio, high voltages are

induced at the secondary which may be hazardous to insulation and to personnel and because the

accuracy of the transformer may be adversely affected.

Instrument transformers that are used to transform voltages are known as voltage or potential

transformers. They are used to reduce high voltages to 120V or other lower levels so that they

can be measured using a voltmeter or used in other control circuits. It consists of a magnetic core

upon which a large number of primary turns and fewer numbers of secondary turns are wound.

They are designed for optimal performance with high impedance secondary loads.

Potential Transformer

The primary winding of a voltage transformer is connected in parallel with the load for which the

voltage is to be measured or controlled. The secondary winding is connected to measuring

instruments and control devices.

For a transformer in no bad the following is valid:

voltage transformer is ideally a transformer under no-load conditions where the load current is

zero and the voltage drop is only caused by the magnetizing current and is thus negligible.

Difference between CT and PT

Rated burden: The amount of load that can be imposed on the secondary of the instrument

transformers without causing an error higher than that defined by its accuracy class.

Accuracy class: Accuracy class describes how accurate the transformation of the instrument

transformers would be when the burden within the allowable limits.

Polarity: Polarity makings are done on a transformer to show the relative instantaneous

directions of current flow in primary and secondary terminals. This indicates the direction of

secondary current when primary current is flowing into the marked primary terminal.

There are three types of potential transformer:

Electromagnetic induction type: Principle similar to two winding transformer.

Capacitive-coupled type: A capacitive-coupled voltage transformer is a combination of

capacitance voltage divider and electromagnetic type PT.

Optical type: An optical voltage transformer works on the principle of Kerr effect, by which the

light which is reflected from a magnetized surface may change both polarization and reflected

intensity.

The Kerr effect, also called the quadratic electro-optic (QEO) effect, is a change in the refractive

index of a material in response to an applied electric field.

Advantages of instrument transformers

1. They isolate measuring instruments and control circuits from high voltage circuits.

2. Manufacturers design instruments suitable for 100 to 120V or 1A & 5A, which in

combination with suitable instrument transformers can be connected to high voltage and high

current circuits.

3. Instrument transformers ensure the safe operation of instruments and operating personnel.
4. Several instruments can be connected to a single instrument transformer provided the

combined burden will not exceed the rated burden of the transformer.

Disadvantages of Instrument Transformer

1. The main drawback is that these instruments cannot be used in DC circuits.

MCQ