HIGH-POWER FERRORESONANT VOLTAGE

REGULATING TRANSFORMERS

T. Wroblews ki A. Kus ko
C onsultant Alexander Kusko, Inc.
Danvers, MA Needham Heights, MA

ABSTRACT Wroblewski structure permits the designer

more freedom of parameters and better cooling
Two-core Wroblewski ferroresonant trans- of the core and coil structure than in the conven-
formers up to 25 kVA have been built for 1-phase, tional type. One manufacturer offers transform-
and up to 75 kVA for 3-phase, 60-Hz operation. ers of this type under the name ISOREGTM in
These transformers are used for the isolation, ratings up to 25 kVA 1-phase and 75 kVA 3-phase.
regulation, and transient suppression of line volt- The structure, the analysis of operation, and
age for computers and other data-processing the performance of Wroblewski-type ferroreso-
equipment. The transformers have also been nant transformers now in production, will be
used for general service in overseas 50-Hz described in this paper.
poorly regulated electric-supply systems. The
WroblewskL structure serves for gaseous-dis- 2. DESCRIPTION
charge lamp ballasts, and more recently for
high-power autotransformer or fully isolated out- The Wroblewski structure for a large fer-
put ferroresonant transformers. The butt and resonant transformer is shown in Fig. 1. A
spline air gaps are used to adjust the range of
input line voltage, the output voltage, and the
waveform. The functLon and interconnection of
the windings, the operation of the structures at
high and low line-voltage conditions, waveforms
and regulation curves will be described.

1. INTRODUCTION

Protection of computers, data processing

equLpment, and other electronic system loads
from short-term and long-term variations of sup-
ply line voltage has prompted a renewed interest
in line voltage regulators. The ferroresonant
transformer, because of its simplicity, reliabil- ,-
1.o I'll
I--,
ity and relatively low cost, has been found to be I
A}F'
uniquely suited to this application. Recently de-
signed ferroresonant transformers provide out- -It:
put voltage within a one-percent band in the face
of excursions of input voltage of as much as +15 F ig. 1. WroblewskL structure ferroresonant
to -25 percent. In addition, the transformer transformer. Rating: 15 kVA, 60 Hz.
provides voltage level change, voltage isolation,
and transient voltage suppression by shielding. schematic diagram of the transformer is shown
in Fig. 2. Core B contains a butt air gap;
The problem of the itconventional" ferro- core A contains a spline air gap. All three legs
resonant transformer, which uses an E-type cen- of the structure are equipped with one or more
ter-leg structure with stamped or pushed-in windLngs depending upon the application. The
leakage reactance shunts, is that its practical same structure is used for ferroresonant trans-
size has been limited to about 5 kVA. We have formers, for isolated and for autotransformer
found that the rating can be extended, the per- type large gaseous-discharge lamp ballasts.
formance improved, and the size per kVA re-
duced, by using the Wroblewski magnetic struc- In the diagram of Fig. 2, the wLndings are
ture described in references 1 through 4. The arranged for ferroresonant transformer

371
CH1502-4/79/0000-0371$00.75 © 1979 IEEE
 3. 0 ANALYSIS
Since the ferroresonant transformer de-
pends upon magnetic saturation of Core A for op-
eration1 the waveforms with time of the voltage,
currents and fluxes will be nonsinusoidal to some
degree. To explain the operation of the Wrob.
lewski structure, we will assume that the wave-
forms are sinusoidal, which is equivalent to
Output
Ternrinals using the fundamental component of the wave-
forms, and represent the various quantities by
their phasors. We will also assume that the
turns N1 and N2 are equal, but turns N3 are
Inptut Terminals selected to provide the required compensating
voltage. All of the variables are defined in
Table 1.
Fig. 2. Wroblewski structure ferroresonant
transformer. The phasor diagrams of Fig. 4 illustrate
the operation of the two cores and three windings
operation. Wilnding N1 is the primary; winding as the input line voltage Ls varied from its high
N2 is the secondary; and winding N3 is the com-
pensating winding. A shield can be placed over V
lb
the primary winding N1 to reduce the capacitance
from the prLmary to the secondary winding. The
capacitor C completes the configuration. In an c
actual transformer, the output terminals would v
be tapped on winding N2, and an active magnetic Bh
f ilter used to improve the waveform, as shown
in Fig. 3.

V3h
tBB
m vi

(a)

v 1ho.

vAh

F ig. 3. Schematic diagram of ferroresonant v 31

transformer with shields.
Presently, the cores are assembled from
M6 U-I laminations. The spline gaps are not
used for all transformer designs. Their princi-
pal purpose is to control the waveform of the out-
put voltage. The transformers are easily as-
sembled by first stacking the U sections, slipping
on the coils, then placing on the I sections and ad- Fig. 4. Phasor diagram of ferroresonant trans-
justLng the air gaps. former at full load, PF = 1. 0. (a) high
input line voltage. (b) low input line
voltage.

372
value Vlh to its low value Vl1. The load is as- 4. 0 PERFORMANCE
sumed to be resistive. At the high value, cor-
responding to Fig. 4a, core A is fully saturated, The proof of a ferroresonant transformer
flux 'PA is at its maximum value, and the mag- is in the performance. Performance parame-
netizing current [ is also maximum. The mag- ters of Wroblewski-type ferroresonant trans-
netizing current Im requirement is provided en- formers of various ratings have been measured
tirely by the capacitor current 'c. The load cur- and are presented in the following figures:
rent 1l is reflected to the input winding as current
11. The magnetizing ampere turns ImNi1 IcN2 * Fig. 5 - Input Voltage Regulation. The
drive the flux 'OA in core A. The ampere turns output voltage as a function of input voltage and
IlNl drive the flux tB in core B. The flux 4'A load for a 2. 5 kVA transformer. The input volt-
induces the voltage VA in both the windings N1 age ranges from 40% to 190%. The load ranges
and N2. The flux 4>B induces the voltage VB in from 1/4 to full load, unity PF.
winding N1 and the voltage V3 in winding N3. The
input voltage Vlh VBh + VAh by induction. The * Fig. 6 - Load Regulation. The output
output voltage VI - VAh + V3h by connection. voltage as a function of loadand load PF for a
10 kVA transformer. The load ranges from
When the input line voltage is reduced to 1/4 to full load. The PF ranges from 0. 5 leading
VIj, correponding to Fig. 4b, core A becomes to 0. 5 lagging.
"less saturated". The induced voltage is reduced
to VAI, the magnetLzing current 1m reduces * Fig. 7 - Output Voltage Waveform. The
sharply, and the net input current, 11 Ij + Ic + Im, total output voltage harmonic distortion as a
shifts as shown. The phasors shift to accommo- function of input voltage and load for a 2. 5 kVA
date the lower input voltage and the changed input transformer. The input voltage ranges from
current. The turns N3 and the compensating 75% to 115% of nominal. The load ranges from
voltage V3 have been selected to keep the magni- 1/4 to full load.
tude and position of the output voltage VI fixed as
the input line voltage varies. * Fig. 8 - Input Voltage Filtering. Output
voltage at full load in response to square-wave
The compensation is designed for a particu- input voltage with 1000 Hz ringing for a 2. 5 kVA
lar condition of load current and power factor. transformer.
For example, as the load current would be re-
duced in the phasor diagrams of Fig. 4, the out- * Fig. 9 - Load Switching. Output voltage
put voltage range would appear to approach the when full load is switched on and off a 2. 5 kVA
range of voltages VAh to VAI. Actually, the transformer. rnput voltage at nominal value.
phasor diagrams exaggerate the variation of the Load at unity PF.
induced core A voltage. The variation also in-
cludes the effect of winding IR drop, which dimin- * Fig. 10 - Input Voltage Interruption.
ishes wLth load current, as well. The actual Input and output voltage at full load when the in-
regulation is shown in Fig. 5. put voltage is interrupted to a 2. 5 kVA trans-
former. Interruption times of 4 ms (1/4 cycle)
and 16 ms (1 cycle).
: 100
co
0
0 The input voltage regulation shown in
Fig. 5 will improve (decrease) as the kVA
rating is increased because the saturation of the
09
C, larger core is "sharper". Furthermore, the
0. regulation with load current and power factor of
Fig. 6 will improve as well. The per unit re-
80 sistance decreases and the necessity for com-
pensation decreases as the kVA rating is in-
creased. The output voltage waveform distor-
60 80 100 120 140 160 180 tion shown in Fig. 7 will tend to increase as the
Percent Input Voltage kVA rating is increased. The transformer will
require more attention to the spline air gap and
Fig. 5. Output voltage as a function of input to the active magnetic filter to restrict the dis-
voltage and load for a 2. 5 kVA, 60 Hz tortion. The voltage dips (and overshoots) of
ferroresonant transformer. Load at Figs. 9 and 10 will be attenuated as the kVA rat-
PF - 1. 0. ing is increased because the transformer acts
like a higher "Q" device.

373
at
C;
0
> 100
-4
t t
0t

C
X

+90 5 +0.6 +0. 0.8 +0.9 1.0 -0.9 _0.8 -0. . 0-.6 _0.5
Leading PF Lagging PF (a) (b)
Fig. 6. Output voltage as a function of load and
power factor for a 10 kVA, 60 Hz fer- Fig. 9. Effect of load switching on output volt-
roresonant transformer. age of 2. 5 kVA, 60 Hz ferroresonant

transformer. (a) full load PF = 1. 0

applied. (b) full load PF = 1.0 removed.
~~~~~~~~~~~1. 41load
II I
' - ' = C 1 ~ ~ ~ 1;2 load
Al
.3,'4 load / I) /
Full load i I
f 1
I I Ft
I I
1
LY
(a) (b)

go 80 90 100 110 120

Fig. 10. Effect of input voltage interruption on
Percent Inout Voltage output voltage of 2. 5 kVA, 60 Hz fer-
Fig. 7. Percent harmonic distortion of the out- resonant transformer operating at full
put voltage as a function of input voltage load PF = 1. 0. Upper trace-input volt-
and load for a 2. 5 kVA, 60 Hz ferro- age. Lower trace output voltage.
-

resonant transformer. Load at PF 1.0. (a) interruption time of 4 ms (1/4

cycle). (b) interruption time of 16 ms
(1 cycle).

5. C ONC LUSIONS
t

The Wroblewski-type ferroresonant-

transformer provides the following features:
\~~~
/\
The transformer can be built without
*
apparent limitationon kVA rating to meet the
requirements of new electronic equipment at
lower cost and greater reliability than other
line-voltage regulators.
Fig. 8. Filtering effect of 2. 5 kVA, 60 Hz * Because of the added features of the
ferroresonant transformer. Response core A splined gap and the compensating winding,
of output voltage at full load PF 1. 0 to = the regulation and waveform can be improved
square-wave input voltage with super- over that of conventional ferroresonant trans-
imposed 1000 Hz ringing. Upper trace- formers.
input voltage. Lower trace-output
voltage.

374
 * The transformer can operate consid- References
erably above and below its rated input voltage
range and still deliver usable output voltage to 1 A. Kusko and T. Wroblewski, "Computer-
its load. Aided Design of Magnetic Circuits", The
M.I.T. Press, 1969.
* The primary and secondary wind-
ings are electrically and physically isolated. By 2. A. Kusko and T. Wroblewski, "Equivalent
adding a shield over the primary windLng, the pri- Circuits for Use in Computer Aided Design
mary to secondary capacitance can be made so of Large-Lamp Magnetic Ballasts", IEEE
small as to vLrtually eliminate common-mode and Transactions on Magnetics, March 1970.
transverse-mode input transient voltages from the
output. 3. T. Wroblewski, U. S. Patent No. 3,987,339,
"Constant Power Lamp Ballast",
0 The output voltage waveform correc- Oct. 19, 1976.
tion is so effective that the transformer can be
used to convert the square output voltage of an Ln- 4. T. Wroblewski, U.S. Patent No. 4,075,547.
verter to a sine wave voltage for the utilization "Voltage Regulating Transformer",
equipment. The transformer will also deliver Feb. 21, 1978.
usable output voltage when the input voltage is
interrupted for one quarter to one cycle of the
line frequency.

Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge the valuable

assistance of Mr. E. B. Rechsteiner and
Mr. R. Stewart of TDC Division of Frequency
Technology, Inc., Littleton, MA, in providing
the data on the transformers cited in this article.

Table 1
Definitions of the Variables*

V1 = Input voltage, N1 winding voltage

V3 - N3 compensating winding voltage
i*A - Core A flux
B = Core B flux
11 = Input and N1 winding current
= Magnetizing current component of 11
IC = Capacitor current, component of 1
- Load current, component of 1l
Vt = Output voltage
VA - Component of V1 induced by :'A
VB = Component of V1 induced by cIB, N2
winding voltage

*Sinusoidal waveform, rms value.

375