Providing a tertiary winding for a transformer may be a costly affair. However, there are certain constraints in a system which calls for a tertiary transformer winding especially in the case of considerable harmonic levels in the distribution system. Following is an excerpt from the book "The J&P Transformer Book".
Tertiary winding is may be used for any of the following purposes:
1) To limit the fault level on the LV
system by subdividing the infeed that is, double secondary transformers.
2) The interconnection of several
power systems operating at different supply voltages.
3) The regulation of system voltage
and of reactive power by means of a synchronous capacitor connected to the
terminals of one winding.
It is desirable that a
three-phase transformer should have one set of three-phase windings connected
in delta thus providing a low-impedance path for third-harmonic currents. The
presence of a delta connected winding also allows current to circulate around
the delta in the event of unbalance in the loading between phases, so that this
unbalance is reduced and not so greatly fed back through the system.
Since the third-order harmonic
components in each phase of a three-phase system are in phase, there can be no
third-order harmonic voltages between lines. The third-order harmonic component
of the magnetising current must thus flow through the neutral of a
star-connected winding, where the neutral of the supply and the star-connected
winding are both earthed, or around any delta-connected winding. If there is no
delta winding on a star/star transformer, or the neutral of the transformer and
the supply are not both connected to earth, then line to earth capacitance
currents in the supply system lines can supply the necessary harmonic
component. If the harmonics cannot flow in any of these paths then the output
voltage will contain the harmonic distortion.
Even if the neutral of the supply and the star-connected
winding are both earthed, then although the transformer
output waveform will be undistorted, the circulating third-order harmonic
currents flowing in the neutral can cause interference with telecommunications
circuits and other electronic equipment as well as unacceptable heating in any
liquid neutral earthing resistors, so this provides an added reason for the use
of a delta connected tertiary winding.
If the neutral of the star-connected winding is unearthed
then, without the use of a delta tertiary, this neutral point can oscillate
above and below earth at a voltage equal in magnitude to the third-order
harmonic component. Because the use of a delta tertiary prevents this it is
sometimes referred to as a stabilizing winding.
When specifying a transformer
which is to have a tertiary the intending purchaser should ideally provide
sufficient information to enable the transformer designer to determine the
worst possible external fault currents that may flow in service. This
information (which should include the system characteristics and details of the
earthing arrangements) together with a knowledge of the impedance values
between the various windings, will permit an accurate assessment to be made of
the fault currents and of the magnitude of currents that will flow in the
tertiary winding. This is far preferable to the purchaser arbitrarily
specifying a rating of, say, 33.3%, of that of the main windings.