According to news sources, a major collapse of the national grid occurred nine times across Nigeria in 2024. It brought darkness to the lives of the people and the nation's economy.
In 2021, Texas was hit by extreme cold weather that froze a large number of natural gas pipelines and overloaded the grid, leaving 4.7 million people without power for up to a week. Countless homes lost heat and at least 246 people died. Electricity prices soared to $9 per kilowatt hour, with some families paying thousands of dollars a week. The blackout directly caused more than $20 billion in economic losses, making it one of the costliest power incidents in U.S. history.
In 2019, the United Kingdom's England and Wales region also experienced a large-scale blackout due to voltage, with many important cities, including London, experiencing iron shutdowns and signal disruptions that did not begin to return until 1.5 hours later, causing immeasurable damage.
Development history
On-load voltage regulator transformer experienced from manual adjustment to automatic adjustment of the development process with the continuous development of power electronics technology and automatic control technology, the performance of the on-load voltage regulator transformer has been continuously improved.
The emergence of on-load regulator transformer, effectively control the voltage, efficiently avoid voltage accidents.
On-load voltage regulator transformer working principle
Transformer exists impedance, in the power transmission, will produce voltage drop, and with the change of the user side load. Through the built-in voltage regulator, when the transformer is running with load, the transformer ratio can be changed smoothly thus adjusting the output voltage. When the voltage fluctuation of the system voltage or the change of the load on the user side causes the voltage change to exceed the fixed value, the on-load voltage regulator transformer will act after a certain delay time to adjust the voltage.
Three ways of voltage regulation and analysis of advantages and disadvantages
Linear voltage regulation
By changing the turns ratio of the transformer to realize the continuous regulation of voltage, the advantage is the high precision of voltage regulation, the disadvantage is the complex structure, high cost.
Switching regulator
By switching different winding taps to change the voltage, the advantage is simple structure, low cost, and the disadvantage is the limited number of regulating stages, and the switching process may produce arc.
Hybrid voltage regulation
Combining the advantages of linear voltage regulation and switching regulator to realize high precision and more voltage regulation but the cost and control complexity is relatively high.
Advantages and disadvantages of on-load voltage regulator transformer analysis
Advantages
1. The transformer can be adjusted under loaded condition.
2. Large regulating range: on-load voltage regulator transformer can be loaded within the rated capacity at any time to adjust the voltage, and the regulating range is large, can reduce or avoid large voltage fluctuations, reduce the peak and trough voltage difference.
3. Improve the quality of power supply: on-load voltage regulator transformer can guarantee the quality of power supply voltage to the user at any time, suitable for unstable power supply voltage or higher voltage quality requirements.
4. Reduce the time of power outage: Because the voltage can be adjusted without power outage, it reduces the time of power outage of users and improves the reliability of power supply.
5. Increase the reliability of power supply.
6. Reduce maintenance costs: although the cost of on-load voltage regulator transformer is higher, but it reduces the maintenance cost brought by frequent power outages, which can save the overall cost in the long run.
Disadvantages
1. Can not change the reactive power demand balance state: when the system reactive power deficit is large, on-load voltage regulator transformer action, the voltage rises temporarily, the reactive power deficit is transferred to the main network, so that the main network voltage gradually drop, when serious, it may trigger the collapse of the system voltage.
2. Affect the reliability of transformer operation: on-load regulator transformer in the operation process may be due to frequent operation or equipment aging and other issues affecting its reliability.
3. Increase the investment and operating costs: on-load regulator transformer volume is large, high cost, installation costs and maintenance costs are relatively high.
4. Long outage time for maintenance: the maintenance of on-load regulator transformer usually requires a long time outage, which will affect the continuity of power supply.
The future development of on-load regulator transformer
Intelligent development
1. Internet of Things and big data applications: With the development of Internet of Things and big data technology, the on-load regulator transformer will realize intelligent monitoring, fault diagnosis and remote control and other functions to improve operational efficiency and safety.
2. Remote monitoring and regulation: through the Internet of Things technology, remote monitoring and regulation of transformers can be realized, real-time voltage adjustment to ensure the quality of power supply.
Energy saving and environmental protection development
1. New materials and new technology: adopt new materials, new technology and new technology, such as amorphous alloy transformer, reduce energy consumption and loss, improve energy utilization efficiency.
2. Green transformer research and development: environmental protection policy to promote the green, low-carbon technology research and development and application of the trend, dry-type transformers and amorphous alloy transformers and other energy efficient products popularization, effectively reduce the grid operation of carbon emissions and environmental pollution.
