Continuous Chopper-Based Voltage Regulation for Power Transformers

This paper presents a procedure to regulate the voltage of power transformers in a continuous manner. The proposed system combines a minimum number of solid-state switches with conventional magnetically coupled windings in such a way that currents and voltages applied to semiconductor devices constitute only a small fraction of the rated values, which leads to reduced cost, losses and harmonic distortion. An added advantage lies in its modularity, allowing the main transformer to remain in service at nominal constant voltage in case of failure of the electronic module.