The manufacture of transformers requires engineering knowledge and skills derived from experience and from other disciplines such as chemistry, economics and user practices just to mention a few. The manufacturer’s aim is to produce equipment that is fit for purpose; that meets the purchaser’s specification and applicable Standards; that will be competitive and will enhance the business and promote further orders.
The process of manufacture begins with a purchaser’s enquiry. It ends when the product is dispatched. This is not necessarily the contract end point. That usually occurs when the in-service guarantee period ends. Thereafter, issues relating to the performance and operation of the transformer in service are the responsibility of the purchaser. The supplier is only likely to be involved when the equipment requires some special resource for maintenance or to rectify some latent problem or to make repairs following a technical failure of the equipment.
There are factors throughout the whole of these activities and the purpose of this presentation is to examine some of these to see how they affect transformer design and manufacture. The factors chosen are: Standards, specifications, design and manufacture, asset management and economics.
