2021 Nashville AISTech

Investigation of Grounding Failures in Transformers and Evaluation of Best Practices (Room 202 B)

30 Jun 21
4:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Tracks: Electrical Applications: II

Speaker(s): Ramesh Khajjayam; Hiranya Pathak, Primetals Technologies USA LLC

Typical industrial transformer grounding design includes grounding of the tank, neutral and the control cabinet. The transformer core acts as a magnetic medium to channel the flux and is also grounded. Core grounding may not be seen as a requirement by process or safety. Improper grounding may lead to increased dielectric stresses, leading to internal transformer failures or line-to-ground faults. Investigations of transformer failures due to improper grounding are presented along with solutions to such problems. This paper also presents aspects of transformer grounding, focused on the core ground in order to improve the insulation system, protective relaying and safety.