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Slide 1: The importance of transformer testing Electricity plays a crucial role in our lives today. We cannot live without them as most of our work and other related things we do every day depends upon them. This electricity has several components and equipments helping humans to transform and regulate the current flow in their usage. Transformers are crucial equipment that comes along with the package. As the name suggest they are equipments that allows us to either step up or step down the AC/DC current as well as voltage supplied to several accessories we use every day. The equipment that steps up the current or voltage is known as step up transformer whilst the transformer that reduces the flow of current or voltage is known as step down transformers. However, failure amidst this component is pretty rare but nonetheless, it is very important for us to test it on regular basis to ensure its longevity. And good equipment always sustains for longer periods without providing much issues. Testing the Transforme r: Most electronic and electrical components we use every day undergo failure. The cause for the failure is primarily because of component failure. And transformer as component failing is pretty much a rare event when compared to other components. And even if they do fail it is probably because of too much current flow which has results the coiling structure to get heated up and expand or the insulation provided for resisting the heat has broken apart. The latter leads to sort circuiting of the system. All you’ll have to do is regularly test for the winding expansion primarily every now and then. You’ll easily find expansions if there are any. Apply AC voltage at the primary side and expect output voltage at the secondary side. If there is no output voltage then there is either open circuit or short circuited system. For overheating issues, check for darkened or blackened areas or burnt smell in case no such mark is present.
Slide 2: The Testing Procedure: The testing procedure is rather complicated than what it sounds like. You cannot simply apply AC voltage to the primary side and expect the desired output voltage without connecting it to a load. If you forget to do so, it will lead to over voltage issues which might blow up the power section consisting of several crucial components such as power fet, pwm ic etc. You can make use of SMPS (Switching mode power system) under such a scenario as it is designed to run with load while linear transformer can run without the load and the entire system is balanced out with the power supply. This allows you to test the linear transformer without load. The best possible way to test a switch mode power transformer is to remove it from the board and check for both primary and secondary winding failures irrespective of how rare it could be. Remember that ignorance is bliss. You need to use a ringer tester to figure out short circuiting issues. Only a ringer test can reveal any signs of short circuit problems. Source: flyback transformer