Why should you pay attention to the ambient temperature when purchasing a transformer?

Why should you pay attention to the ambient temperature when purchasing a transformer?

Experienced power industry professionals pay attention to the ambient temperature and the temperature specified in the transformer’s instruction manual when selecting a transformer. Today, we’ll mainly discuss why temperature is important and what effects ambient temperature has.

We’ll focus on some less noticeable aspects of ambient temperature, such as the temperature difference caused by latitude and longitude, which most people are familiar with. We’ll focus on issues that are easily overlooked by customers within a single region:

For accuracy, we’ll define the ambient temperature of a transformer as the air temperature surrounding the transformer.

Let’s continue:

Even transformers of the same type in the same region can experience performance and operational problems due to differences in ambient temperature. To avoid this, manufacturers recommend that customers measure the ambient temperature with a thermometer before purchasing, and pay attention to differences in cooling methods and load due to different installation locations.

For example, the temperature in the city center of Mount Tai differs from the temperature at the summit by about 10K. The annual average temperature difference between provinces and cities in my country can reach up to 30K.

Continuing our thought process, let’s briefly discuss the impact of paying attention to this.

The operating temperature of a transformer directly affects its allowable load factor.

For example, when the heat dissipation capacity of a transformer is directly related to the ambient temperature, for the same model of transformer, the lower the ambient temperature, the higher the allowable load; the higher the ambient temperature, the lower the allowable load. 3) Selection of Ambient Temperature.

Furthermore, the heat dissipation capacity of air-cooled devices (including coolers and radiators) is greatly affected by the ambient temperature. Only transformers installed in open areas can be considered to have a cooling medium temperature equal to the ambient temperature.