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ENERGY AND COST EFFICIENCY: Amorphous Transformers

The energy supply chain consists largely of generation, transmission and distribution, with each playing a role to bring power to households and different establishments. The generation side produces power from different sources of energy, while the transmission and distribution sector delivers this power to the different users. Along the way, some of the energy being delivered is lost due to technical and non-technical factors in the transmission and distribution system. Technical factors include line and equipment inefficiencies, while pilferage and metering tampering become the main non-technical factors. Get more news about Amorphous core,you can vist our website!

In the Asia and Pacific region, transmission and distribution losses range between 4% to 17.4% of final energy consumption.[1] Looking at the country more closely, the Philippines has over 9% losses for the total transmission and distribution system.[2] The Energy Regulatory Commission has regulation in place to enable a more efficient grid and has put a 5.5% system loss cap on privately owned distribution utilities, and 12% cap on electric cooperatives, all by 2021.This paves the way for transmission and distribution network operators to continually move towards better efficiency, and minimize lost energy.

As mentioned, part of the technical losses can be attributed to electrical equipment in the transmission and distribution network—this includes transformers. Transformers’ role in losses accounts for about a third of the total energy lost in the transmission and distribution system, [4] which opens up a big opportunity to increase energy efficiency and, ultimately, cost savings. There are two types of losses generated by a transformer when in operation: No Load Loss, and Load Loss. No Load Loss (NLL) is the constant loss regardless of the transformer’s load, while Load Loss (LL) on the other hand is the loss caused by the flow of current when the transformer is loaded. But in what way can transformers be designed to improve these losses? There are a couple of ways to answer this. For lower Load Loss, it can be addressed by reducing the resistance of the conductor via larger cross-sectional area. For No Load Loss reduction, the choice and size of the core material is key. [5] Common core materials are either Silicon steel, or Amorphous steel.

The two materials differ in their atomic structure, saturation flux density, thickness, and electrical resistance, but this article won’t dive too deep into the technicality of their properties. Silicon steel used in transformer core applications has a crystalline atomic structure with greater thickness and higher loss versus that of Amorphous steel.

Amorphous materials were developed in 1975 by Allied Signal by using a planar-flow casting method for the production of amorphous alloy ribbons in continuous lengths. Then the molten alloy is cooled at a rapid rate of 1,000,000°C per second. [6] Unlike Silicon steel, Amorphous steel has a non-crystalline atomic structure. It is thinner and has lower loss and exciting current compared to Silicon steel.[7]

With these differences in properties, amorphous steel cores have been identified to be more energy efficient than its silicon steel counterpart, mainly driven by its better No Load Loss. Reductions in No Load Loss can go as high as 70 to 80 percent.