Electricity + Control June 2017

42 / 52

Aluminium Offers Benefits in
Transformer Windings
PLANT MAINTENANCE, TEST + MEASUREMENT
An important factor behind
this option is the likely future
increase in the price of cop-
per, as worldwide reserves of the
metal gradually decline. While copper
reserves are currently estimated at
5,6 billion tonnes; the reserves of
bauxite, fromwhich aluminium is gen-
erated, are more than 13 times greater
at 75 billion tonnes.
Price of copper
The price of copper has fluctuated
greatly in the past and has recently
risen much faster than the price of
aluminium, making the winding of
conductors with aluminium increas-
ingly attractive.
Quality of operation and per-
formance
After years of testing, it has been es-
tablished that there are no significant
differences between the use of alu-
miniumwindings and copper windings
in designing and manufacturing distri-
bution transformers, as well as small
to medium power transformers. Either
metal gives the transformer the same
quality of operation and performance.
A little history
The use of aluminium in transformers
began as early as the Second World
War when industry experienced a
ZEST WEG GROUP AFRICA
While copper has been assumed to be the material of choice for transformer windings, global specialist WEG Transformers has successfully
manufactured thousands of transformers with aluminium windings.
Aluminium foil.
Electricity+Control June ‘17 40