3 phase xfmr as saturable reactor?

[Opcom]

If one had a 3-ph plate transformer and wanted to try it as a saturable reactor, could one connect two low voltage windings of the outer cores in series with one side of the load and then use the center core's HV winding as the saturating winding? I have been experiemtning with a A 120/208 3-PH 3KW transformer with 3500V secondaries. I am not sure the experiment is working thoiugh. I admit this pushes the realm of normal experiments.

Has anyone tried anything like this?

Putting current through it should saturate the core and then all one should have would be the resistance of the primary windings.
Alternately, a 4-winding single core unit might work as well.

This is being pursued as an experiment from info shown in an old UTC transformer catalog. A saturable reactor was shown as being used to control plate transformer input and regulate the carrier, but it could also be used to regulate the B+ in some applications.

UTC CV-6 and AV-6 were the larger sizes of a similar scheme back in the day.

"CV-6", and/or "CV" unit most important of the two, but what is out there? Nobody is using them.

CV the saturable reactor, AV is the autotransformer. These go on the primary side of the class C RF PA plate transformer, and the saturable reactor interconnects to the separate modulator plate supply.

CV-6 and AV-6 - to 800W DC input
CV-5 and AV-5 - to 500W DC input
CV-4 and AV-4 - to 300W DC input
CV-3 and AV-3 - to 170W DC input
CV-2 and AV-2 - to 100W DC input
CV-1 and AV-1 - to 50W DC input

[WBear2GCR]

Yeah, I think this is the "magnetic amplifier" scheme.

Are you hoping to do this for regulation? As in, as the load current increases, you decrease the juice through the core?? Might work if you do some tests and figure out the saturation curve of the transformer (not linear) and then manage to set the DC control juice to fit that range and curve??

Hmmmm...

              _-_-WBear2GCR

[Opcom]

Regulation is how it started, but then I saw the carrier control article in the transformer manual.

[WBear2GCR]

Maybe with "feetback" it could be made lin-E-ar?

Unless of course they did some special trick to those special saturable transformers that made them relatively linear already. Dunno. I have a book on magnetic amplifiers... back in the day they had nil bandwidth, but today with an amorphous core they might get some additional bandwidth... which is an interesting point WRT "carrier control" for modulation. Were they going to modulate it, or just control the output level?? I didn't read it fully... heh.

                  _-_-bear

[Opcom]

haha that's why I was asking for the original iron.. The 3-phase transformers misbehave.. not intended for that. Feedback might be the thing all right.