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Editorial message

Mladen Banović ; Transformers Magazine

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Dear readers,
This issue dedicated to new trends arrives with perfect timing. After the past two drought years, so to speak, we are finally seeing a rising trend in new innovations. For some of those I have wondered how come they have not turned up even sooner. In this interview, Stephane Schaal of Hitachi Energy discusses in detail some major trends, primarily with regards to energy efficiency standards, decarbonization and digitalization, which now shape our industry and will continue to do so for a long time. One of his conclusions is that only the most agile and innovative players will be able to transform the challenges into opportunities. Among the significant and noteworthy innovations mentioned by S. Schaal, I would like to emphasise Hitachi Energy’s CompactCoolTM technology, blending dry and liquid cooling transformer technologies, which was extensively
reported by Transformers Magazine in the April 2022 edition. Another major innovation I would especially highlight here is related with Narrowband Dielectric Frequency Response, which is basically DF/PF testing at 1 Hz (in addition to a test at line frequency), described by Diego Robalino
et al. of Megger. A new important product to mention is certainly presspaper DDP-Xtherm 140, designed for liquid-filled transformers used in wind and solar applications, designed to withstand harsh conditions. The related article by Helmut Bockshammer of Hitachi Energy includes a lot of other useful details. I must admit that I still find this topic particularly interesting, as some ten years ago I worked in the former ABB, in insulation and components product group. Furthermore, another thing especially worth emphasising, as one of the innovations I would expect to turn up much earlier, is CAREPOLE – a dry-type cast-resin pole-mounted transformer from Siemens Energy. These are practically the smallest transformers used in the distribution of electricity. Up until now, those have always been liquid-filled transformers, however, now they are also available in a drytype version. This topic will be covered in the upcoming issues of the magazine. In any case, these are all extremely valuable innovations, and it is highly expected that the market will recognise and accept them. In brief, this edition brings two interviews, four columns, and no less than eight articles. In addition to the already mentioned interview with Stephane Schaal, I also recommend the interview with Joy Ditto, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association. Of our regular columnists, this edition features articles by Vitaly Gurin, Marius Grisaru, P. Ramachandran, and Tony McGrail. The remaining articles deal with the following topics: physical security, temperature detection and reduction, diagnostics related to exciting current and power factor, transformer components, varistors, monitoring of sealed transformers, and monitoring of transformer transport. Finally, what can we expect from all these new trends and innovations? Systemic development is impossible without a good vision, and here I would like to add one particularly good vision, also from the interview with Stephane Schaal: It is interesting to observe that the power distribution grid is characterized by more and more DC generation and, at the same time, more and more DC consumption. In this context, one may reconsider the process of converting electricity from DC to AC for transmitting it from the point of generation to the point of consumption and then again converting it from AC to DC for consumption. Going forward, it may become viable to overcome this repeated conversion process by replacing the MVAC grid with a possibly more energy efficient MVDC grid. This is a vision that requires investing in
innovation, leveraging technologies like solid-state transformers, including power electronics, artificial intelligence, additive manufacturing and software, among others. I hope you will find a wealth of useful information in this edition, perhaps even ideas for new innovations. 😊
Mladen Banovic, Editor-in-Chief

Ključne riječi

Hrčak ID:

277830

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/277830

Datum izdavanja:

9.5.2022.

Posjeta: 494 *