Wild Pig Frankenstien, was Rewinding BIG transformer

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Christopher Boden by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>

>	ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>	The primary turns per volt must remain the same. If you are going to
>use the same primary voltage the only thing you have to work with is the
>number of secondary turns.  I'd go buy another transformer and figure
>out how to dump this one.
>
>Ed


Hang on.....I know jack about transformers, but I have a feeling I may be 
somewhat right.....let me clarify, then we'll see.

Ok. I have access to a half dozen very well fed Pigs. These would weigh in 
at well over a ton. They're about 5' tall, and about 2 or 3' dia. The HV 
side is 2400V and the LV would be about 440, or in some cases maybe 220. I'm 
not sure if they're 1 or 3Phase or what. I never payed much attention after 
seeing the 2400V becasue they're not worth the SERIOUS effort to remove 
them. Coupled with the P.C.B. hazard (with this vintage they're probably 
contaminated) I just kept walking.

At these sizes I would guess them at easily over 100kVA, maybe as high as 
250kVA. They're not pole pigs, they're sitting on a concrete pad, hidden in 
the middle of a building. They were fed with 500MCM cables (the remnents are 
left, the cables long since scavenged by the industrial vultures), and are 
in excellent condition.

What I'm wondering is, can I simply remove X number of LV side windings (the 
easiest way to alter the ratio of the windings) to increase the voltage on 
the HV output? The Pig would be fed with 220 (though 440 is possible if we 
have to) and I imagine the only limiting factor would be the insulation of 
the HV windings (It was designed for 2.4kV but knowing how these things are 
built I'll bet it can take signifigantly more.) I would think it possible to 
even improve the HV insulation.


Ok.....next dumb question of the day.

Can I completely gut this beast (or a couple of them) , clean the core of 
any and all windings, rewind it, and make a VERY large HV transformer. Say 
something in the 220 to 25000 V at maybe as high as 25kVA (anything bigger 
and I'll blow the Pig off the pole outside)? Can this be done? ok ok ok ok 
ok .....why not?

Ok, can I clean and gut one of the pics, and rewind it into a very nice, oil 
cooled, saturable reactor for controlling a VERY large coil in the future? 
Can such a large reactor control small coils as well? I.E. can a reactor 
designed to handle a 250kVA coil also control a 10kVA coil? Why?

Thanks Guys!

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Christopher A. Boden Geek#1
President / C.E.O. / Alpha Geek
The Geek Group
www.thegeekgroup-dot-org
Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!



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