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What Is Silicon Steel Core Transformer?

What Is Silicon Steel Core Transformer?

2022-11-29

Since the start of the industrial revolution, man has been trying to find out ways to achieve 100% efficiency and lower power consumption. Even though we are still far away from achieving these goals, man has made significant progress since the start of time.

There is a long list of components that play their part and affect the factors mentioned above. Let’s take a Silicon Steel Transformer Core, for example, as we will be talking about that today. Nowadays, transformers cores are made up of Silicon steel, which helps in improving their performance and reliability.

If you have questions like, what is a Silicon steel transformer core? Or why is it used? Stick around and read this till the end, as we will be answering these questions today.


What is a Transformer?

In order to understand what a Silicon Steel Transformer Core is, we first need to know what a transformer is. A transformer is an electrical device that is used to convert alternating current from one voltage to another.

They are used to decrease the amount of voltage needed for low power-consuming components like toys, energy savers, and doorbells. They can also increase the voltages if they are designed to do so. They reduce the amount of voltage through a process called electromagnetic induction.

A transformer is mainly used to convert the energy produced at the power plant into a usable amount of voltage so that you can continue to use your appliances.


What is a Transformer Core?

A transformer core is found inside a transformer and has the primary function of reducing the loss of hysteresis, which occurs when in the alternating current state. It also significantly reduces the losses that result from eddy currents in the transformer core.

A transformer core comprises of many thin electrical sheets usually made of steel. These sheets are called Lamination Sheets. Around these sheets, there are two or more coils wound on the laminated steel core. When current flows through the first coil, a magnetic field is generated, which creates electricity in the other coil.

What is Silicon Steel?

Many people confuse Silicone with Silicon. Silicone is used for beauty enhancements and surgeries. On the other hand, Silicon is the 2nd most abundant chemical element on earth after oxygen. Even though Silicon is found in 90 of the material inside the earth's crust, it’s usually in the impure form on earth. Pure Silicon is only found in space amongst comic dust and other planetoids.

Silicon is a blueish-greyish solid material and the eighth most abundant element in the universe. Silicon possesses some of the most desirable characteristics needed for a transformer core. It is a semi-conductive material that identifies as a metalloid even though it has a metallic luster and is quite brittle.

When you mix an iron alloy and Silicon together, you get Silicon steel, a soft magnetic material. The Silicon helps in a significant reduction of the electrical resistivity of iron (up to 5 times) and improves its magnetization. These changes drastically affect and decrease the alloy's eddy current losses, which impact the magnetic core.


What is a Silicon Steel Transformer Core?

Silicon steel is used in the making due to several magical properties. Firstly, it is highly energy efficient and prevents excessive energy usage and wastage. Secondly, Silicon has great electrical and magnetic properties that make it a great conductor that requires less energy to maintain constant flows.

Due to all these properties, Silicon is used in transformer cores as it greatly reduces the power consumption of a transformer. Silicon Steel Transformer Core also plays an important part in reducing energy wastage.

Since a transformer works in an AC state, there are power losses in the resistance of the coil as well as inside the iron core. This is why iron core transformers encounter two types of energy losses, one is called Hysteresis loss, and the other is known as Eddy current loss. Both of these losses are significantly reduced if a Silicon Steel Transformer Core is used.

Usually, Silicon sheets measuring around 0.5mm and 0.35 mm in thickness are used for the iron core of the transformer. Then these cold-rolled Silicon sheets are cut into long pieces and overlapped. Thin cutting of sheets is preferred as it can significantly reduce the temperature rise. The thinner the sheet is, the lower the eddy current loss will be, and consequently, less material will be consumed.

As mentioned above, there are losses that result from eddy currents in the transformer core. This results in heating up of the transformer core. Silicon steel core transformers improve their resistance and reduce the loss caused by Eddy currents.

The addition of Silicon in the iron core also has the added benefit of increasing the working hours of the iron core. The usage of Silicon can also substantially increase the life span of the iron core. It also reduces the risk of power spikes or shortages as Silicon helps the Transformer Core in providing stable performance even after many years of usage.

Even though there are many other materials you can use in a transformer core, Silicon is by far the best material when inspected in a wide field of factors. Silicon provides great quality and longer life to the product, making it cost-effective in the longer run. And as mentioned above, Silicon has great electrical resistance and a significantly high flux density making it a clear winner against the other substances.


Conclusion

Silicon is a conductive and magnetic solid material usually found in its impure form on earth. Due to its impressive resistive and conductive properties, it is combined with steel and used in modern-day transformers as a Silicon Steel Transformer Core.

This use of Silicon in transformers has revolutionized the usage, efficiency, and power consumption of transformers. We hope that this brief and comprehensive article solved all your queries related to Silicon Steel Transformer Core. 


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