GE Electrical Distribution & Control Application Engineering Information Ground-Fault Protection for Solidly Grounded Low-Voltage Systems@ Arcing Fault Review introduc! The intent this publication to provide a clearer understanding of the many. con. siderations associated with the applica. tion of ground faut protection to soldly rounded, low volage systems operating 31600 Vols or les. Itdoes not propose any short-cut methas for artiving at the settings of ground faut relays, since such a method may lead to questionable system protection and/or oor continuity of service, Arcing Fault Current Review Arcing faults represent an abnormal con- dton of great concern tothe system de- signer and operator. Although several publications have discussed this subject, its importance deserves a review: Several types of ground currents® can exist in any power system, three of which 2. Insulation leakage current, such as In appliances, portable too's etc, Normally, current magnitude is very low, in the order of miliamperes, This important subject is discussec in other bulletins . Arcing fault ground current (subject, of this bulletin), commonly caused by insulation failure, loose connec- tions, construction accidents, ro- dents, debris, el. The current mag nitude may be very low in relation to the three-phase fault current Bolted fault ground current, com- monly caused by improper connec tions or metalic objects wedged be- ‘ween phase and ground, In this fault the current magnitude may be equal 10, orless than, the three-phase fault current Arcing Faults ‘Tne major problems arising from arcing fauts.are the inleruption of electrical power, esttucon of electrical equipment land ascocialed azar to personnel. Are ig fauls have been responsible for dam- lage 10 virally all types of electrical equipment regardless of manufacturer or mode of operation, The energy released Additional ground currents can occur due to lightning discharge, static charge, capacitor charging current, ete during an arcing faults localized and can be so intense that it vaporizes copper or aluminum conductors and surrounding steel enclosures. This energy can also destructively distil toxic gases from orga ric insulation systems. Continued arcing at the point of fault can release tremendous amounts of energy in the fault area and the electromagnetic forces can cause the arc to travel. This tends to spread the fault and transfer ito areas not originally within the fault zone. In fact, the point-offault origin and the point ofmaximum damage are practicaly nev er the same. Experience has shown that arcing in grounded electrical systems inevitaby i volves ground even though it may start between phases. This makes possible a separate means of arcing faull detection by sensing ground current quite apart from the phase-overcurrent protection re: Quitements. This is fortunate, since arcing faults can exist at very low current magn- tudes and thus may be very dificult 10 sense with phase-overcurtent devices, Arcing fauls can exhibit iow current levels due fo the apparent impedance of the arc itself. t should be noted that arcing-faul- Current magnitudes are subject to wide variations as functions of the fault circuit impendance. Also, the arc current may be discontinuous, requiring a sparkover volt ‘age equal tothe restrike vollage to cause arc reignition, This discontinuous current has a greatly reduced rms value and its discontinuous nature is one explanation of why single-phase-arcing faults can have very low magnitudes. Tne probable minimum values of arcing-fault current, although diffcult to determine, are an im- Poriant consideration in designing protec- tion schemes, Bolted Faults Bolted line-to-grouns faults rarely occur in practical cicults. When they do occur, they generally do not display the very low Curent magnitudes possible in an arcing line-to-ground fault. They may be low in magnitude compared to a three-phase fault condition since they are dependent ‘upon the tolal impedance path (phase and ground return). Because ofthis, bolt fed ine-t0-ground faults may of may not be sensed by phase-overcurrent devices. When ground fault protective devices are used for a given fault location, they are sensitive to arcing ground fault current ‘magnitudes. The bolted. line-to-ground faultcurrents atthe same location wil also be detected because of their higher mag- nitude. Solutions to the Arcing Fault Problem Solutions to the arcing fault problem in volve a two-pronged aporoach 1. Minimize the probability of arcing fault intiation by: ‘8, Careful attention to system design and to the settings of protective devices. b. Selecting equipment that is isolated by compartments within grounded ‘metal enclosures. ©. Selecting equipment with draw-out, Fack-out, or stab-in features, thereby reducing he necessity of working on energized components. 4, Providing proper installation practic. fs and supervision €. Protecting equipment from unusual ‘operating oF environmental condi tions, f. Insisting on a thorough clean up im mediately before initial energization (of equipment to remove construc tion debris, such as wire clippings, misplaced tools, ete. 1. Executing regular and thorough maintenance procedures. j. Maintaining daily good housekeep- ing practices 2. Sense and remove the arcing fault Quickly (within cycies on 3 power fre {quency base) so that damage is minimal, thus allowing relatively rapid restoration of ower after the damage is repaired. To remove the arcing fault current promptly from the system, protectve devices with the following characterstics are cequired: {a Sensitivity to detect ow-level ground fault current magnitudes, b. Speed to operate within cycles 10 remove the faul from the system 6. Selectivity 10. provide coordination with other protective devices so that {minimum portion of the system is. shut. down under ground fault conditions. 4. An adjustment and setting of each protective device which can be tai- Jored to the specific system, 2@ Expected Magnitude of Arcing Fault Currents In designing an electrical power system, it ig always. customary to consider maxi- mum conaitons, Maximum fault currents are calculated te determine the equipment interrupting capacity requirements, Phase protective devices are set for the load Eonaitions and 10 achieve selectve Vip ping and avoid nuisance tipping. How fever, under arcing condtions, short-c- uitevels may bea hei minimum levels Sand he phase protective tipping devices ‘set 0 meet the load requrements may be insensitive 10 these Tow-level faut cur tens. Exact minimum values of arcing ground current are dificult to compute precisely {or several reasons: 1. Results are influenced by the geom- ‘etry, spacing, environmental and supply circuit characteristics, 2. Current wave shape is generally Irregular with a harmonic content. 3. Current is trequenty discontinuous. Mathematical, the general expression for a. fundamental frequency line-to- (ground fault current in a three-phase sys- {emis generally expressed in symmetrical ‘component parameters: Ew Zehr ts eZ, 2 line-to-ground fault current line-to-neutral voliage postive sequence impedance negative sequence impedance zero sequence impedance 2, = ground return impedance Both positive (Z) and negative (Z,) se- quence impedances are associated only with the source and phase impedance of the equipment supplying the fault current since the currents of each of these two ‘Sequences combine to zero atthe ground fault location. impedances 2, and Z, are equal for the circut equipments involved (transformers, buses, cables) and are the values familiarly uliized in three-phase fault calculations, Typical values are listed in application bulletin EESGI-AP-1 and GET-4550. The zero sequence imped. ance system, however, involves in-phase currents in each of the three-phase ci- cuits with each circuit consisting of the source and phase conductors of the equipment to the point of fault. Those Impedance-to-ground fault currents. for Osee your GE sales representative io oblain a copy this network can be identfied as the zero sequence, impedance Z), The sum of the zero sequence currents in the phase con- ‘ductors, aly, must then be returned to the ower Supply via the ground return path Identiied as Z,. This path may consist of building steel," condutt, ground conduc- tors, grounded neural conductors, ‘ground buses, bonding jumpers, ground- ing rods, earth, equipment grounded housings, etc. The ground return path re- sults in an addtional impedance voltage ‘op of 3425, By considering the vollage ‘drop term, 3iZ,, to be the product of 32, and ly t Becomes evident that it can be ‘correctly accounted for by adding an in pedance, 3Z,, 10 the zero sequence im- edance’ network, Thus, the total 2610 sequence Impedance network 1s (Zo + 3Z,), and each term need not be mea- sured independently (which would be at- ficult to do} but one may obtain value for the total term. tis important to recognize ‘that both terms are present Values for (2, + Z,) have been present. €ed al technical conferences in the form of (2, + 32,)/Z, ratios for some system ‘components (cable, busway} and are tab- lated in Appendix A for convenience. Since Z, has been defined and is known, (2) + 32,) can be computed trom the above mentioned ratios for cable and busway. Recalling thal the calculation of the minimum fault current is desired, any system component that would introduce ‘additional impedance should be included. ‘The mathematical expression thus far ‘does not consider the effects of tne vot lage drop due fo the arc in an arcing fault condition, but expresses a_bolted-io- ‘ground condition, Due tothe voltage drop ‘across the arc, the resultant ground fault current may be considerably lower than the bolted-ground fault current. This re ‘duction can be accounted for by a mul- tiplier K which relates the arcing to bolted ‘ground fault current as follows. (9E. $009 KE EZ, + 20 8) @ Values for K are given in Appendix B and are used only in low vollage systems ‘sinoe the effect of arc voltage is significant in comparison with the driving voltage. It is important to remember inal this cal culation procedure for determining the ‘Ground fault current is only an approxima lion, The minimum fault current value is dependent on actual system condi- tions at the time of fault. Typical condi lions that would increase the system im- Pedance and thereby cause 2 lower Arcing Fault Review {ground fault current than that calculated ‘would be: 4. Installation changes that depart from design, such as greater conductor spacings (phase-to-ohase and/or phase-to-ground) or ground return path alterations (ground conductors, ‘bonding jumpers, etc.) b. Operating conditions such as open Ing of one phase to the transformer primary, changes in the ground re- ‘urn path due fo loose connections, ‘open-ground conductors, etc Itis interesting o note that when a line-t0- ‘ground arcing faut occurs at the second: ary terminals of a source power iranstor- ‘mer delta connected on the primary and \wye-solidly grounded on the secondary the approximate magnitude of ground fault current will be “K’ times the three: phase short-circuit current value at the lransiormer terminals, Therefore, for a 480 /277-Volt, solily-grounded system the approximate transformer terminal arc- ing-ground fault current would be 38% Ibgsc- This value (0.981) comes trom realizing, in the basic } equation (2), that the ground return path impedance, Z,, from a transformer phase terminal to is ‘neutral is fr all practical purposes, zero. Furthermore, the zero sequence imped- ‘ance, Z;, approaches the values of posi- tive (2,) and negative (Z:) impedances. Therefore Z, = Zs = Zs; while Z, = Oand then Equation (2) SE on et el tamer areca @ becomes (approximately) | arcing En) {Bion «(F2)-"®2) Since, 4/2) expresses he three-phase shortcut current then harcing = K base tion, as shown in Appendix B, is 40% fora 575.olt system, 38% for a 480-Volt sys- tem and approaches zero for a 208-Volt system, It should be observed, however, that for ‘ine-to-qround arcing faults at locations in the system other than at the source trans- former, the ground return impendance (Z,) 1s not zero. The (Z> + 8Z,) value becomes increasingly greater than the postive (Z,) oF negative sequence (Z;) values as one advances into the system away from the source transformer