Technical considerations 37

In this section the simple case of conductor heating will be considered. The
effect of heating on transformers and cables is discussed in Chapter 6.
At any point in time the heat flow into a conductor due to losses is balanced
by heat emission from the conductor plus heat retained in the conductor, in
accordance with:
(3.15)
where Pi = heating power
m = mass of conductor
6 = (conductor temperature) — (ambient temperature)
d# = temperature rise during time dt
a = surface area
c = specific heat
a = heat emission constant
In the case of a short circuit the period involved is very short and the last term in
eqn. 3.15 covering emission can be omitted, giving
Bsc-{Plt)/{mc) "(3.16)
2
Given that Pi = I R, the final temperature just before the clearance of a short
circuit can be taken as being proportional to the protection operating time and
to the square of the fault current, assuming the resistance to be independent of
the temperature over the short period of time involved.
In the case of a steady load current the term (mcdO) of eqn. 3.15 describing
the retention of heat, is zero. Thus the difference between the final conductor
temperature and the ambient temperature is given by
6f=iP,/(aa) (3.17)
and this is also proportional to the square of the load current.
In load-change conditions the time function of the temperature is obtained by
solving the complete eqn. 3.15. When studying cooling Pi = 0. The solution
leads to attenuating exponential curves. Their approximate equations are:
heating: 6t=df{l - et/x) (3.18)
cooling: 0, = 0 / e - ' / T (3.19)
where 6t = temperature rise at time t from switching on or off
Of = final temperature rise
x = time constant depending on material, size and shape
of the conductor, given by
T = mc/aa (3.20)
The general shapes of the heating and cooling functions are illustrated in
Figure 3.4.