Modern Mining April 2020

MODULAR PLANTS

too. New hospitals, hotels and corporate buildings that would usually use oil transformers are now run- ning dry types in their basements, close to the load. “While the oil-transformer still dominates in the mining industry, there is movement there too. Dry transformers are being installed in underground min- ing operations because of safety concerns. We’re also seeing adoption at some surface mines.” Application engineering He says Trafo is not a typical transformer distribu- tor as it is involved in the application engineering up front, at the proposal stage. “We understand the application and the trans- former’s expected electrical load before we quote. We offer a different transformer design for almost every project we work on to ensure that we meet the application specifics.” Renewable energy installations are an example: their harmonic loads – typically generated by invert- ers, datacentre loads and large variable-speed drives – and their warm ambient conditions with high humidity and little air flow are the company’s “speciality”. “We supplied transformers to a tin mine in the north-east DRC, where we had to contend with over 200 km of very bad road conditions. The mine also

“Huge adoption” Claassen says North American and European coun- tries are experiencing a “huge adoption” of dry-type transformers, partly because of the safety benefits on offer. In these countries, the use of oil transform- ers in applications such as mini substations in public places is not common practice, as it is locally. “We see this trend in the construction industry,

feature Dry-type transformers being loaded into a modular substation.

28  MODERN MINING  April 2020