CANADA — In collaboration with the Canadian transmission system operator Hydro-Québec, Hitachi ABB Power Grids has developed a rupture resistant transformer tank solution.

The two companies developed computer models allowing vulnerable areas of the transformer tank to be strengthened while simultaneously making previously rigid areas flexible. This allows the transformer to literally expand during a major internal failure, absorbing the energy and preventing or controlling a potential rupture.

This technology has been deployed in Canada for several years and verified with a full-scale test in 2018, demonstrating the tank’s capability to resist an internal failure of 20 MJ.

A similar test conducted in Sweden in late 2020 implemented a specific toughened “turret” – the location at which the bushing attaches to the transformer tank – to address the special challenges of HVDC converter transformers. In contrast with the transformer without the rupture-resistant tank, the unit equipped with the news solution remained intact.

The rupture-resistant solution reduces the risk of human casualties and makes it possible to avoid fire, oil leakage and damage to surrounding equipment in the unlikely event of a failure, the company said in a press release.

Source: Hitachi ABB Power Grids