Modeling of grain-oriented Si-steel and amorphous alloy iron core under ferroresonance using Jiles–Atherton hysteresis method

Amorphous alloy is increasingly widely used in the iron core of power transformer due to its excellent low loss performance. However, its potential harm to the power system is not fully studied during the electromagnetic transients of the transformer. This study develops a simulation model to analyze the effect of transformer iron core materials on ferroresonance. The model is based on the transformer π equivalent circuit. The flux linkage–current (ψ–i) Jiles–Atherton reactor is developed in an Electromagnetic Transients Program-Alternative Transients Program and is used to represent the magnetizing branches of the transformer model. Two ferroresonance cases are studied to compare the performance of grain-oriented Si-steel and amorphous alloy cores. The ferroresonance overvoltage and overcurrent are discussed under different system parameters. Results show that amorphous alloy transformer generates higher voltage and current than those of grain-oriented Si-steel transformer and significantly harms the power system safety.