• Power transformer explosion kills one, injures 9 more in Perth shopping centre
    8 replies, posted
[QUOTE]ONE person is dead and up to nine injured after an explosion at Galleria shopping centre in Morley, in Perth’s northeast. Witnesses say they saw people “burning from head to toe” as they ran from the blast. It is believed that a transformer exploded near a Woolworths at about 9.30am, although police said the cause of the explosion is unknown. Three men have been taken to Royal Perth Hospital with serious burns and are all in a critical condition, with one suffering burns to 80 per cent of his body.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]St John Ambulance said half a dozen people were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and shock. Some of the injured were electrical contractors who had been inside the Woolworths. A woman who was trying to assist the injured was taken to Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital for smoke inhalation. A spokesperson for the ambulance service said the man with burns to 80 per cent of his body was conscious and breathing when paramedics arrived. “All of these people are in for a long stint in hospital,” the spokesman added.[/QUOTE] That's pretty terrifying, transformers exploding are pretty big. Seen them happen before and you really don't want to be near one when it goes off. Would suck though, just going through your normal day grocery shopping and suddenly on fire. Crappy low res picture from someone who was there. [url]http://i.imgur.com/YqP06C6.jpg[/url] [URL="http://www.news.com.au/national/casualties-in-shopping-centre-explosion-in-perth/story-fncynjr2-1227206257487"]Source[/URL] [editline]3rd February 2015[/editline] Since I can't edit the OP, a second person has died.
Sounds like it exploded while they were operating on the transformer. They probably accidentally shorted and overloaded it.
How exactly does a transformer explode? Is the oil inside flammable?
Man, I wonder if this could have been avoided with proper care. Maybe it was just one simple human mistake, causing major injury. Imagine being the person who realized they made the mistake :(
[QUOTE=damnatus;47066381]How exactly does a transformer explode? Is the oil inside flammable?[/QUOTE] Yes, the oil is flammable (as are most oils) but under normal conditions shouldn't burn due to the lack of oxygen inside a sealed transformer unit. Until about the 80s they used wonderfully non-flammable PCB based oils but then they discovered they were at about as good as Agent Orange at causing cancer so they got rid of them. As for how they explode, depending on the size they can have anything from about 10kW to 500 [I]Mega[/I] watts of electrical power flowing through them. If the transformer was to short and overload the oil would rapidly start to boil which would cause the transformer case to rupture and then a n electrical arc could easily light they vaporized oil on fire. Given this was attached to a shopping center it was probably in the 500kW to 1MW range.
[QUOTE=download;47066424]Yes, the oil is flammable (as are most oils) but under normal conditions shouldn't burn due to the lack of oxygen inside a sealed transformer unit. Until about the 80s they used wonderfully non-flammable PCB based oils but then they discovered they were at about as good as Agent Orange at causing cancer so they got rid of them. As for how they explode, depending on the size they can have anything from about 10kW to 500 [I]Mega[/I] watts of electrical power flowing through them. If the transformer was to short and overload the oil would rapidly start to boil which would cause the transformer case to rupture and then a n electrical arc could easily light they vaporized oil on fire. Given this was attached to a shopping center it was probably in the 500kW to 1MW range.[/QUOTE] I thought transformer explosions were pretty much just the sheer force of the discharge itself.
[QUOTE=Mingebox;47066453]I thought transformer explosions were pretty much just the sheer force of the discharge itself.[/QUOTE] Under lightning strike conditions maybe, but they're designed to be reasonably resistant to lightning strikes. More likely is that a lightning strike causes an arc-over inside the transformer which creates a carbonized path for the electricity to flow through which causes a short and overloads the transformer. For lightning strike itself to make a transformer explode it would have to be a very small transformer and the strike would have to be very close to the transformer.
Amid all the stroms here I thought it may have been related to that. I hope those guys make it.
That sucks :(, hope the burn victims have an easy time with recovery.
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