Guide for electrical design engineers

Power Quality
Krzysztof Piatek
AGH-University of Science & Technology

Voltage drop calculation: permissible level

of voltage fluctuations for a motor
400 V

Supply system
line
Lz

Tr

Z PPC
UN
ZL

PPC

400 V
line
L1

Zr

Power Quality

U PPC

Power Quality
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Problem
An industrial customer plans to connect a new induction motor to the power supply system as shown in the
diagram.

Supply system

Power supply system parameters:

- feeder line Lz impedance (at 0.4 kV level):

ZLz =1.55 + j1.66 m

- supply line L impedance:

ZL = 25 + j 60 m, ZL = 65 m

line
Lz

Transformer data:
- rated power

SN =1MVA

- short-cir cuit voltage

u% =5%

- reactance to resistance ratio

X R =5

Tr
PPC

400 V

Motor data:
- rated voltage:

UN = 400 V

- rated power:

PN =75 kW

- starting power factor:

PFr = 0.3

- starting overload coefficient:

kr =7 kVA/kW

line
L1

Using the permissible level of voltage fluctuations as a criterion, determine whether the motor should be installed.
For the planned number of 20 starts per hour the voltage change: Kmax = 3%

Solution
First, calculate the motor impedance during start then, employing Kirchhoff voltage law, find the voltage drop during
start. The voltage drop value relative to the rated voltage at PCC is the sought coefficient; it has to be compared with
the coefficients given for 20 starts per hour.
The apparent power during start
Sr = kr PN = 775 = 525 kVA
The motor impedance during start
Zr =

UN2
(cos r + j sin r )
Sr

where rozr is the phase shift angle during start, and cosr = PFr is the starting power factor. Thus we obtain
Zr =

0.4 2
(0.3 + j 0.954 ) = 91.43 + j 290.74 m
525

The voltage drop at PCC is calculated from the voltage divider in the figure. The voltage at PCC is
UPPC = UN

Z r + ZL
Zr + ZL + ZPPC

Voltage drop calculation:

permissible level of voltage fluctuations for a motor
http://www.leonardo-energy.org

i.e. the relative voltage drop is

400 V

Z
U
ku = PPC =
UN
Z + ZPPC
where

Z = Zr + ZL =116.43 + j 350.74 m

Z PPC

The power system impedance at PCC equals the sum of the feeder
line Lz and the transformer Tr impedances

UN

ZPPC = Z Tr + ZLz
The transformer impedance

ZL

Z Tr = Z Tr (cos Tr + j sin Tr )
where

u% UN2
0.4 2
= 0.05
= 8 m
100 SN
1
whereas the angle Tr can be determined from the X/R ratio
X
tan Tr = = 5, Tr = 78.69
R
Inserting the calculated values to the transformer impedance
formula, we obtain

U PPC

Z Tr =

Zr

Z Tr = 8 (0.196 + j 0.98 ) =1.57 + j 7.84 m

Summing up with the feeder line Lz impedance, we obtain
ZPPC = 3.12 + j 9.5 m
Inserting the calculated impedances to the voltage divider formula, we obtain
ku =

116.43 + j 350.74 369.56

=
= 0.9736 , ku = 97.3
36%
119.55 + j 360.24 379.56

The relative voltage change coefficient is defined as

U
K u = PPC
UN
where UPPC is the voltage drop at PCC during starting. It can be determined directly as
UPPC = UN kuUN = 400 (1 0.9736 ) =10.56 V
and, finally:

10.56
= 0.026 , K u = 2.6%
400
Since this coefficient does not exceed the limit value of 3% the motor can be directly connected to the network.
Ku =

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