Guide for electrical design engineers

Krzysztof Piatek
AGH-University of Science & Technology
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Power Quality
Voltage drop calculation: permissible level
of voltage fluctuations for a motor
Supply system
PPC 400 V
M
line
L1
Tr
line
Lz
400 V
Z
PPC
Z
L
Z
r
U
PPC
U
N
2
http://www.leonardo-energy.org
Power Quality
Problem
An industrial customer plans to connect a new induction motor to the power supply system as shown in the
diagram.
Power supply system parameters:
- feeder line Lz impedance (at 0.4 kV level): Z j
Lz
m = + 1 55 1 66 . .
- supply line L impedance: Z j Z
L L
m m = + = 25 60 65 ,
Transformer data:
- rated power S
N
MVA =1
- short-cir cuit voltage u
%
=5%
- reactance to resistance ratio X R=5
Motor data:
- rated voltage: U
N
V =400
- rated power: P
N
kW =75
- starting power factor: PF
r
=0 3 .
- starting overload coef cient: k
r
kVA/kW =7
Using the permissible level of voltage fuctuations as a criterion, determine whether the motor should be installed.
For the planned number of 20 starts per hour the voltage change: K
max
= 3%
Solution
First, calculate the motor impedance during start then, employing Kirchhof voltage law, fnd the voltage drop during
start. The voltage drop value relative to the rated voltage at PCC is the sought coef cient; it has to be compared with
the coef cients given for 20 starts per hour.
The apparent power during start
S k P
r r N
kVA = = = 7 75 525
The motor impedance during start
Z
U
S
j
r
N
2
r
r r
= + ( ) cos sin
where
rozr
is the phase shift angle during start, and cos
r
= PF
r
is the starting power factor. Thus we obtain
Z j j
r
m = + ( )= +
0 4
525
0 3 0 954 91 43 290 74
2
.
. . . .
The voltage drop at PCC is calculated from the voltage divider in the fgure. The voltage at PCC is
U U
Z Z
Z Z Z
PPC N
r L
r L PPC
=
+
+ +
Supply system
PPC 400 V
M
line
L1
Tr
line
Lz
3
http://www.leonardo-energy.org
Voltage drop calculation:
permissible level of voltage fuctuations for a motor
i.e. the relative voltage drop is
k
U
U
Z
Z Z
u
PPC
N PPC
= =
+

where Z Z Z j

= + = +
r L
m 116 43 350 74 . .
The power system impedance at PCC equals the sum of the feeder
line Lz and the transformer Tr impedances
Z Z Z
PPC Tr Lz
= +
The transformer impedance
Z Z j
Tr Tr Tr Tr
= + ( ) cos sin
where
Z
u U
S
Tr
N
N
m = = =
%
.
.
100
0 05
0 4
1
8
2 2

whereas the angle

Tr can be determined from the X/R ratio

tan , .
Tr Tr
= = =
X
R
5 78 69

Inserting the calculated values to the transformer impedance

formula, we obtain
Z j j
Tr
m = + ( )= + 8 0 196 0 98 1 57 7 84 . . . .
Summing up with the feeder line Lz impedance, we obtain
Z j
PPC
m = + 3 12 9 5 . .
Inserting the calculated impedances to the voltage divider formula, we obtain
k
j
j
k
u u
=
+
+
= = =
116 43 350 74
119 55 360 24
369 56
379 56
0 9736 97
. .
. .
.
.
. , .336%
The relative voltage change coef cient is defned as
K
U
U
u
PPC
N
=

where U
PPC
is the voltage drop at PCC during starting. It can be determined directly as
U U k U
PPC N u N
V = = ( )= 400 1 0 9736 10 56 . .
and, fnally:
K K
u u
= = =
10 56
400
0 026 2 6
.
. , . %
Since this coef cient does not exceed the limit value of 3% the motor can be directly connected to the network.
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400 V
Z
PPC
Z
L
Z
r
U
PPC
U
N