In a copper mining camp at 4,500 metres above sea level in the Andes, Chilean engineer Marta is accepting a newly installed 500 kva pad mounted transformer. the suspension system of thickened under-body pads and anti-seismic bolts is digesting the infrasound vibrations coming from the blasting of the mine. The secret of this design, which allows the machine to operate at an inclination of 15°, lies in the three-dimensional matrix of springs inside the pads, each of which has a stiffness factor corrected for elevation.
One copper mine is located in a seismically active zone, where more than 200 felt earthquakes are recorded each year.
In the blizzard zone of Hokkaido, the pad-mounted transformer's freeze-proof design is being put to extreme tests. The engineers installed a special 'snow skirt' structure, like the hem of a Japanese warrior's armour, to keep the distance between the snow and the electrically charged parts strictly within safe limits. When a temperature sensor detects -25°C, the built-in diesel heater is automatically activated to maintain the fuel temperature in the optimum viscosity range. Last winter, it was this design that allowed a nursing home on the outskirts of Sapporo to maintain its life support system via emergency lines even after a blizzard had knocked out power for 48 hours. At hydroelectric power stations in the foothills of the Himalayas, pad-mounted transformers face a different kind of challenge. At an altitude of more than 3,000 metres, the air is thin and the heat dissipation conditions are harsh. The engineers used an innovative 'air-cooled + oil-cooled' double cooling system. The top of the transformer is fitted with a special fan for the plateau, whose blades are aerodynamically optimised to maintain efficient operation under low air pressure. At the same time, the spiral oil channel is added inside the oil tank, which improves the cooling oil circulation efficiency by 40%. This design allows the transformer to maintain more than 95% of its rated capacity output even in a plateau environment.
Pad-mounted oil-immersed power transformers have conquered many extreme environments, earthquakes, blizzards, high altitudes, etc., such as the 500 kva power transformer, the 33kv 11kv transformer, etc. are helping to keep the mission going in these extreme conditions...