Wye and Delta Electrical Configuration

The Definition of Wye and Delta Electrical Configurations as taught in Electrical Trade Schools

The Definition of  Wye and Delta Electrical Configurations
[ad#block]Electrical Training Question: I am a graduate of an electrical trade school and have 2 yrs experience.

• I do not recall reading up on Wye & Delta wiring.
• Can you give me a small explanation of Wye and Delta.
• When I will most likely come across this type of wiring.
• Are these configurations mostly used on residential or industrial.

Background: Eddie, a Electrician from La Puente CA
Dave’s Reply:
Thanks for your electrical question Eddie.

Wye and Delta Electrical Configurations

The Wye and Delta, also described as Y-delta, Wye-delta,  is a mathematical technique to simplify the analysis of an electrical network. The name is given due to the shapes of the circuit diagrams, which look respectively like the letter Y and the Greek capital letter which resembles a Triangle. In the UK  the Wye diagram is also known as a star.
Because the Y and Delta is directly related to the transformation of electricity,  it will also be helpful to see how this is applied at the transformer:

Using Three-Phase Transformer Connections as a Practical Example

• There are only 4 possible transformer combinations:
  1. Delta to Delta – used in industrial applications.
  2. Delta to Wye – used most common in commercial and industrial applications.
  3. Wye to Delta – used with  high voltage transmissions.
  4. Wye to Wye – use is rare because it can cause harmonics and balancing problems.

• Comparatively the connections of three-phase transformers that are connected in delta or wye configurations:
  The  wye-delta transformer has the primary winding connected in a wye and the secondary winding is connected in a delta.
• The delta-wye transformer has the primary winding connected in delta and the secondary winding is connected in a wye

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