Harmonic currents generated by nonlinear loads can
cause overheating and premature failure in power transformers.
K-factor transformers are specially designed to accommodate
harmonic currents and offer protection against overheating
caused by harmonics. They minimize harmonic current loss and
have an additional thermal capacity of known limits. According
to IEEE C57-110, the winding eddy current losses are considered
proportional to the harmonic current squared times its harmonic
number. K-factor is only an indicative value and the authors'
main objective in this paper is to study the effect of harmonics on
oil filled transformer and to simulate harmonic behavior using
Matlab Simulink. A case study is simulated in order to investigate
K-factor values with pumping loads, with and without the use of
harmonic filters. Results are compared with measured values.