ENERAL ELECTRIC _REVIEW _525 June, 1928 GENPRAL ELECTRIC REVIEW Short-time Current Carrying Capacity of Copper Wire By ER. STAUFFACHER § POWER systems grow in size the possible A concentration of energy at some point where a Shortcireuit_or flashover to. ground occurs ‘ecomes correspondingly greater: and one of the pre- dominating present-day requirements of electrical apparatus is its ability to withstand short-circuits, ‘This applies algo to the manner in which the equip~ iment is installed and utilized, in other words, 10 the design of the power house, substation, transmission which might oceur during a fog or rain a5 a result of minute current leakage over the insulators, across the crossarms, and down the pole Tn case of a flashover of an insulator to ground, or the simultaneous flashover of two insulators, it will be necessity to have the copper wire used for bonding ff sch size that it will not be melted by the short- Cirenit current within the time required to clear the faulty line from the system. This time depends upon : AOS RN “ t [ ttt ‘ ‘ | i JT a \ & is : AN i f LUA AMM ESreertiteperes) Tet. Chr Stoning Unt Rs or distribution line, The utilization of copper wire fa apparatus or as some connecting link in the Scheme for controlling short-circuit currents should therefore be considered not only from the stand point of continuous carrying capacity but also from the standpoint ofits short-time eurrent carrying capacity. ‘The ability of copper wire to withstand heavy ‘currents for short periods of time, varying in Tength from a fraction of second to a few seconds, has ‘been studied; and the results are given in this article ‘One of the applications where a knowledge of the short-time current carrying capacity of copper wire js of value is where copper wire is used for bonding ‘and grounding the insulator pins of wooden pole transmission lines or distribution lines operating at 10 kv, or above, ‘This bonding is oocasionally em ployed for the purpose of preventing pote-top fires caper Contes with Rett Carnet end Tie the protective relay settings and the speed of operat of the oil citeuit breakers connected to the ‘of the line in trouble ‘The consideration of short-time current capacity of a copper conductor is also desirable Taying out the ground busses in generating plans substations. However, the carrying eapacity of joints, a funetion of the temperature at which the ‘dering or brazing will melt, is more of 2 det factor in station design than in the bonding of ‘pole transmission line insulator pins. ‘The values of short-time current required to copper conductors, as given by the chart sh Fig. 1, were calculated by the formula: Ef schee G4) Vol. #1, No. 6 1SHORT-TIME CURRENT CARRYING CAPACITY OF COPPER WIRE aa he current in amperes cross-sectional area of the conductor in lar mils sthe time in seconds that the current I is plied =the difference in temperature or the tempera ture rte of the copper, faleulations are based on a value of 1083 €. for the melting point of copper and on the assumptions: ) Ambient temperature of 40 deg. C. 2) Radiation neglected due to short time. 3) Resistance of one em: of Cu at 0 deg. C. taken a8 1.580 micros, f) Temperature coefficient of Cu at 0 deg. C. taken as 1.234 £ P a t 3 : Ncieina Point oeoreas ¢) Me 4 Mating Pit f Tin ad Lad ‘ined a Wass rp ‘Te must be understood that the application of the foregoing formula is Timited in that it applies only toshort periods of time and that heat storage only ithe copper itself is considered. When a long period ‘of time is involved, i, inthe order of several minutes, radiation becomes a factor and the copper wire would require a longer time to reach melting temperature than indicated by the formula, The values for the charts were calewlated by solving for Tas follows: [se +1) he tamper he ming pt of cope wie a Cand tome oe a sida he pre lec ie he 1088 de.—10 aepeinieg The tne fe ken sand Thee i [een (3) Vo =xr To owt 30 oa joosisz a =4 Vom =AxOMIE (Sat see) Tn consitering a longer time, 10 seconds is taken as the maxim Then fowsise raat N38 10, =AVo.030%% =A X0.04547 (S=10 sec.) ‘The same formula can be applied where the melting temperate of the soldering materials sed in making up the joints in the eopper conductor ete deterine ing factor. Tn. the ease of ordinary solder the Valse off would be about 183 deg. C. minus the teme perature ofthe ai. The curve #9 Fig 2, talen fem the Smithsonian Physicat Tables, shows the melting toints ofan alloy of tn and leat n'a fall range of Proportions. Where brazing ie sei, reasonable value for 1 430 deg. C. minus the temperatare of the a ‘The author wishes to express his appreciation of the suggestions given by W. W, Lewis and J. E, Clem in making a study of this abject.