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STEPHEN J. CHAPMAN
THE AUTUTRANSFORMER
FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2
A step-down autotransformer
connection.
The voltage and current on the low-voltage side of the transformer are called VL and Iv
respectively, while the corresponding quantities on the high-voltage side of the transformer are
called VH and IH. The primary side of the autotransformer (the side with power into it) can be
either the high-voltage side or the low-voltage side, depending on whether the autotransformer
is acting as a step-down or a step-up transformer. From Figure 1b, the voltages and currents in
the coils are related by the equations.
Vc Nc
=
V N
SE SE
Nc Ic=N I
SE SE
(1)
The current relationship between the two sides of the transformer can be found by noting that.
(2)
It is interesting to note that not all the power traveling from the primary to the secondary in the
autotransformer goes through the windings. As a result, if a conventional transformer is
reconnected as an autotransformer, it can handle much more power than it was originally rated
for.
To understand this idea, refer again to Figure 1b. Notice that the input apparent power to the
autotransformer is given by.
Sin = VL IL (3)
Sout = VH IH (4)
It is easy to show, by using the voltage and current equations [Equations (1) and (2)], that the
input apparent power is again equal to the output apparent power:
(5)
where SIO is defined to be the input and output apparent powers of the transformer. However, the
apparent power in the transformer windings is
(6)
The relationship between the power going into the primary (and out the secondary) of the
transformer and the power in the transformer’s actual windings can be found as follows:
Therefore, the ratio of the apparent power in the primary and secondary of the autotransformer to
the apparent power actually traveling through its windings is
(7)
Equation (7) describes the apparent power rating advantage of an autotransformer over a
conventional transformer. Here Sio is the apparent power entering the primary and leaving the
secondary of the transformer, while Sw is the apparent power actually traveling through the
transformer’s windings (the rest passes from primary to secondary without being coupled
through the transformer’s windings). Note that the smaller the series winding, the greater the
advantage.