Digitalization of regulation unit selection process in power transformer design

Large power transformers generally include a customer request for a technically appropriate regulation unit. The selection process of the regulation unit consists of defining the required input data, performing mathematical calculations necessary to find the technical limit values that the regulation unit has to satisfy, and finally optimizing and selecting the appropriate regulation unit. The regulation unit is defined by the tap changer type, number of phases, maximum rated through current, insulation level, tap selector size, number of positions and type of regulation. Each of these items is mutually dependent and may have an impact on the restrictions of other items (according to the manufacturer's technical data). Taking this into consideration, the number of possible permutations for selecting the appropriate regulation unit consists of thousands of different combinations, depending on the type of regulation and other technical limitations. The process of finding the optimal regulation unit “manually” can take up to several hours. Implementing the developed algorithm and introducing Tap Changer Selection application, the required time is reduced to several minutes, which represents significant time savings and reduced possibility of errors during power transformer design process.