Determination of temperature distribution and reduction of life of a dry type three phase transformer

This paper reports the development of a numerical model which can predict the temperature distribution in a 5 kVA, 400/400 V, delta - star dry type three phase transformer. The numerical model has been developed using the Commercial Computational Fluid Dynamics Package FLUENT 6.3. Numerical simulations are carried out for different loads. In order to validate the numerical model, experiments are conducted by performing a short circuit test and the numerical results compare well with experimental data. Based on the numerically obtained hot spot temperature, the reduction of life of the transformer is determined using Montsinger Equation.