Trafo Power Solutions recently came to the aid of a mining company in KwaZulu-Natal, South, Africa, suffering from a transformer failure.

Following the incident, dry-type transformer specialist, Trafo, designed, built and delivered a non-standard cast-resin replacement for the company – in just five weeks.

David Claassen, Managing Director of Trafo Power Solutions, said: “Once the situation with the old transformer was assessed, it was decided it would be more economical to replace the unit than to embark on major repairs.

“We were able to accommodate the customer’s specifications in our replacement design, and have the unit manufactured by our European partners (the TMC transformers facility, in Italy, pictured) in just four weeks. After that, it took just a week to fly in the transformer and deliver it to the customer.”

Claassen said it is not uncommon for transformer replacements of this scale to take anything from 12 to 14 weeks, with Trafo’s rapid turnaround time highly valued by the customer.

The mine required a 1,600 kVA dry-type DYN11 transformer that stepped 33 kV down to 550 V, with a non-standard tap setting arrangement of seven tap settings instead of the normal five.

Dry-type transformers – also called cast-resin transformers – are growing in popularity as users recognise their safety benefits, as well as their economy and flexibility of placement, according to Trafo. To meet this demand, Trafo works in close collaboration with established and well-resourced manufacturing partners in Europe to source tailored designs that meet customers’ exacting specifications, it said. This comes on top of ongoing after-sales service.