Latest Test and Measurement News

Precise Verification of Power Losses in Transformers

24 June 2022 - Yokogawa launched the WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer - Transformer Version, which is dedicated to helping transformer manufacturers develop and validate the losses of highly efficient products for utility industry customers. Transformers play a crucial role in the power grid. With electricity demand set to soar to as much as 40 TWh by 2040 and with transformers responsible for some 4% of distribution network losses, achieving more efficient transformers has never been more important.

Owners of distribution networks impose penalties on transformer manufacturers according to the degree of losses measured during the no load test. As these penalties can exceed 13,000 EUR per kilowatt and include the measurement uncertainty, it is vital for transformer manufacturers to measure these losses accurately and with minimum uncertainty. This lowers the cost of penalties and builds greater trust with customers.

The WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer - Transformer Version helps manufacturers achieve the highly accurate analysis needed to develop economical and efficient transformers. The instrument is equipped with a special input module that has much better uncertainty specifications for transformer testing.

The WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer -Transformer Version is Yokogawa’s most accurate power analyzer, offering accuracy of 0.008% at unity power factor and offering the best accuracies at low power factors for commercial frequencies of 45 to 66 Hz. Low power factors have a dramatic effect on accuracy. The instrument offers accuracy of 0.6% of the reading for measurement, even at a power factor as low as 0.001 at 100 V and 1 A.

Kelvin Hagebeuk, Marketing Manager – Test and Measurement, says: “Whether during R&D, production, or acceptance testing, the WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer - Transformer Version produces the reliable measurements that engineers need as they seek to improve transformer efficiencies and verify the losses to reduce the total cost of ownership for utility companies.”

The WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer - Transformer Version is supplied with ISO17025 accredited calibration certificates from Yokogawa’s ISO17025 accredited calibration laboratory. This gives confidence that they comply with the IEC60076-8 standard.

The WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer - Transformer Version is optimized by ISO17025 accredited calibration at 53Hz at power factors of 1, 0.5, 0.05, 0.01 and 0.001. Additional calibration up to 100 kHz ensures performance when measuring distorted waveforms, for example during no-load loss current measurements of transformers. This enables the integrated transformer measurement system to measure power losses with great accuracy and capture any drift outside the limits described in the IEC60076-8 Standard.

Featuring a full touchscreen supported by hardware hotkeys and powerful software for remote data capture, the WT5000 offers a seamless and intuitive experience that makes connecting, configuring, and measuring easier than ever before. The 10.1-inch WXGA touchscreen delivers excellent noise immunity even in high-noise environments.

Using the WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer - Transformer Version, engineers can measure either three or four different power phases at 10 MS/s (18 bits). The high resolution, 10.1-inch WXGA display allows split screen viewing of up to seven waveforms and can display up to 12 pages of measurement parameters, from products as diverse as inverter-driven motors, renewable energy technologies, and traction applications such as pumps, fans, and electric vehicles and power transformers. Measurements can also be displayed in vector format or trending in time.

Yokogawa also offers supporting software packages that can be used to coordinate several instruments, including the WT5000, into a single measurement suite to view different data sources simultaneously. Some software features allow users to simultaneously view up to 22 waveforms and two harmonic bar graphs (six waveforms, sixteen trends, two vectors, and three harmonic bar graphs: WTViewerE) in split screen mode. Alternatively, they can zoom in using cursors to see more detail in a particular area of interest. Users can customize, save, and load screen layouts as well as specify the data to be saved in CSV format. The software also allows users to create custom computations, combining values from multiple power analyzers.

Additionally, the software allows users to analyze and control remote measurements in real time or use previously acquired data. In the online mode, users have real-time control of measurements from each connected instrument, allowing them to remotely start or stop integration or collect live measurement values. Users can analyze the latest acquired or previously stored data in the offline mode as well.

Up to 32 GB of internal storage memory can be used to store and recall various custom configurations and test setups. It can also be used to log large amounts of measurement data over long periods of time, behaving just like a logger. This large non-volatile memory makes it easy to store data without preparing any external media.

Using the WT5000’s three-phase delta calculation, engineers can check line voltage and phase voltage simultaneously without changing wiring. The built-in delta computation function allows both star-delta and delta-star conversion, allowing users to calculate individual phase voltages from the line voltages measured in a three-phase, three-wire (3V3A) system.

The WT5000 offers advanced harmonic analysis, allowing engineers to evaluate and compare input and output harmonics of inverters, motors, or power conditioners up to the 500th order. As well as measuring harmonics and power simultaneously, it also offers side-by-side comparison of harmonics from two different input sources.

In addition to low pass frequency filters and line filters, the WT5000 features advanced filtering capabilities, allowing the analysis of even the most challenging of waveforms with precision.

For further information on the WT5000 Precision Power Analyzer - Transformer Version please click here.

https://tmi.yokogawa.com/