Modeling and Simulation of Internal Incipient Faults in Electrical Transformers Using a Bond Graph Approach

Power transformers are a key piece of equipment located between the points of supply and consumption of electrical energy. Due to their continuous exposure to the environment, they may be subject to failure. Thus, the modeling of transformers subject to incipient faults using a bond graph approach is presented in this study. In particular, incipient faults in the primary and secondary windings with respect to ground and a turn-to-turn fault in the primary winding are modeled. In order to develop a mathematical model capturing the incipient faults in transformers including magnetic saturation effects, a junction structure for the system applied to the bond graph model is proposed. The steady-state responses of the faulted transformer models using a bond graph approach are presented, leading to the proposal of a method for fault analysis in transformers with DC supply sources. Simulation results for the transformers with the different faults are presented, validating the results obtained according to expressions derived from the bond graph models.