Design considerations for a medium frequency transformer in a line side power conversion system

Design considerations are presented for a medium frequency transformer in a line side power conversion system for electric railway traction. The system employs soft commutation in order to reduce switching losses and allow for high operating frequency of the transformer. Two different designs are evaluated; The first one is dry insulated and the second one is liquid-immersed. Calculations indicate that a 1 MVA transformer operating at 4 kHz could be realized with an active weight of below 150 kg for both dry and liquid-immersed transformer concepts. The transformers are modeled magnetically, electrically and thermally, and a geometric optimization procedure based on a cost function is applied to achieve an optimum design.