A Mathematical Model to Determine the Temperature Distribution of a Distribution Transformer

The paper presents a mathematical model of a transformer, developed to determine its temperature distribution. The thermodynamic heat conduction equation is used to derive the equations governing the heat transfer. These have been discretized using finite element analysis and solved using the software COMSOL Multiphysics, taking core loss and conductor loss as inputs. The model has been validated using the test data for a 250 kVA distribution transformer. The derived model has shown to be capable of determining the temperature variation in the transient state and the steady state, at any point or at any given cross section inside the transformer.