EUROCON 2005 Serbia & Montenegro, Belgrade, November 22-24, 2005

Cable Overheating in an Industrial Substation

Feeder Due to Untransposed Power Cables –
Measurement and Simulation
K. Gouramanis, Student Member, IEEE, and C. Demoulias, Member, IEEE

have the same cross-section and equal length then they do

Abstract — This paper presents measurements of
asymmetrical current distribution among parallel connected
cables on the secondary side of 20/0.4kV transformers.
Overloading of some cables is shown to lead to premature
cable ageing.
Simulation of the situation by EMTP shows that simple
and affordable cable layout – other than cable transposition –
can significantly deteriorate the current asymmetries. The
increase in cable temperature and losses as well as the
deterioration of cable useful life is calculated for various
cable configurations.
Keywords — Cable simulation, current distribution,
current unbalance, EMTP, power cables.
I. INTRODUCTION
I t is common practice to use multiple cables in parallel
from a transformer’s low-voltage (LV) side to the main
busbars in an industrial substation. In a practical situation,
the total cable cross-section required per phase, is
determined by its current-carrying capacity and the
permissible voltage drop. Since the distance from the
transformer LV terminals to the main substation busbars is
usually short, the determining factor for the cable cross-
section becomes the current-carrying capacity.
When the transformer rating is larger than 400 kVA,
20/0.4 kV, 50 Hz, its LV rated current is more than 580 A.
Most cable manufacturers do not make multi-core 0.6/1
kV cables with such an ampacity. Therefore the engineer
has to select multiple cables in parallel, to reach that
ampacity assuming (or hoping) that the total phase current
will be equally divided among the cables of each phase.
Based on that assumption the individual cables are not
protected against overcurrent. The only overcurrent
protection is provided by the main circuit-breaker which
monitors the total transformer current.
Theoretically, the transformer current is equally divided
among the parallel cables, when all the cables have the
same resistance and inductance. When all cable branches
Konstantinos Gouramanis is with the Department of Electrical &
Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, (e-mail:
kostisg@eng.auth.gr).
Charis Demoulias is with the Electrical Machines Laboratory,
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece (e-mail:
chdimoul@auth.gr).
have equal resistance. However, to achieve equal
inductance among the cable branches, the cables should be
transposed along their length, from the transformer
terminals to the main busbars. For this reason the most
commonly proposed solution for the current unbalance is
the transposition of the cables. But, this transposition is
seldom done, mainly due to lack of space, but also due to
lack of knowledge in practical situations, such as in the
case presented here.
The unbalance of inductance in parallel single core
cables is well known to cause high current asymmetries.
These high current asymmetries in turn cause several
problems such as cable overheating, additional ohmic
losses and faster cable ageing.
This paper presents current measurements conducted in
a private industrial substation feeding a textile industry in
Greece. These measurements show high asymmetries in
the distribution of current among the parallel cables of
each phase.
In order to examine the current asymmetries and come
up with a practical solution for the specific case the
substation was simulated from the transformer’s LV side
to the main busbars. The simulation was conducted using
the ATP version of the Electromagnetic Transients
Program (EMTP) software. The simulation results are in
good agreement with the measurements. The same
simulation model was then used to investigate various
cable arrangements and calculate the respective current
unbalance. The results show that the cable arrangement
plays a significant role in the magnitude of the current
asymmetry and that there are simple and affordable ways
of cable layout – other than transposition – that deteriorate
the current asymmetry.
II. SITE AND MEASUREMENT DESCRIPTION
The measurements were conducted at a 20/0.4kV
industrial substation. The single-line diagram of the
industry’s substation is shown in Fig. 1. The cable
arrangement is shown in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 1 a total
of fifteen cables (five cables per phase) are used to
connect the transformer’s LV side to the busbars. It must
be noted that the two sets of fifteen cables used for each
transformer are far apart and therefore there is no coupling
between them.
Current measurements were taken on each of the five
cables for each phase. The length of each cable is 30 m
approximately. The measurements were taken with two 3-
phase energy-analyzer instruments. Each measurement
monitored the rms current in one cable per phase and per
transformer, for 24 h approximately. Although each
measurement was taken at a different day, they can be
compared to each other, since the industry operates in
relatively constant-load mode. Indeed, the ratio of its
average to peak power is 91% and the total phase current
(measured at each circuit-breaker terminals over five days)
cables to be underloaded and some to be overloaded. For
example, Fig. 3 shows that a cable in phase L2 of
transformer T2 is –for some time- loaded above its
ampacity. Fig.4 shows that one cable in phase L1
(different from the one in Fig. 3) and phase L2 of
transformer T1 and one cable in phase L3 of transformer
T2 are loaded above their ampacity. In total seven out of
the fifteen cables are overloaded.
Fig. 3. Measured currents of the 1st set of cables
600

varied between 1100-1300 A. 500

T1-L1
400

Current, A(rms)
Grid T1-L2
T1-L3
300 T2-L1
20 kV T2-L2
T2-L3
200
1600 kVA 240A
1600 kVA
u =6% 468A
u =6% k 100
k

15:30
16:50
18:10
19:30
20:50
22:10
23:30
0:50
2:10
3:30
4:50
6:10
7:30
8:50
10:10
11:30
12:50
14:10
Neutral conductor
2 Hour of day from 30/01/2004-31/01/2004
Five J1VV-U 300mm made up of
cables per phase three J1VV-U 300mm2
15 cables in total cables
Fig. 3. Measured currents of the 1st set of cables
Fig. 4. Measured currents of the 2nd set of cables
12345 12345
800
Circuit Breaker
2500A 700
Main Busbars 0.4 kV PE
L1,L2,L3 600
N T1-L1
Current, A(rms)

Ground T1-L2
Fig. 1. Substasion sinlge-line diagramm 500
T1-L3

Fig. 1. Substation single-line diagram. 400 T2-L1

T2-L2
300 T2-L3
240A
200
468A

100

0
14:50
16:10
17:30
18:50
20:10
21:30
22:50
0:10
1:30
2:50
4:10
5:30
6:50
8:10
9:30
10:50
12:10
13:30
Hour of day from 30/01/2004-31/01/2004

Fig. 4. Measured currents of the 2nd set

Fig. 5. Measured currents of the 3rd set of cables
500

450

400

350 T1-L1
Current, A(rms)

T1-L2
300
T1-L3
250 T2-L1
T2-L2
200
T2-L3
150 240A
100 468A
Fig. 2. Cables laid out in open trays 50

0
11:10
12:30
13:50
15:10
16:30
17:50
19:10
20:30
21:50
23:10
0:30
1:50
3:10
4:30
5:50
7:10
8:30
9:50

III. MEASUREMENT RESULTS

Hour of day from 02/02/2004-03/02/2004
Figures 3-7 show the cable currents. Each figure shows
the rms currents in six cables. The legend in each figure is Fig. 5. Measured currents of the 3rd set
as follows: T1-L1 means the current in a cable belonging Fig. 6. Measured currents of the 4th set of cables
600
to phase L1 of transformer T1.
Each figure also shows one solid line and one dashed 500

line. The solid line – at 240 A – represents the current 400

T1-L1
Current, A(rms)

T1-L2
each cable would carry in case of symmetry, assuming that T1-L3
300 T2-L1
the total phase current is 1200 A. The dashed line is the T2-L2
T2-L3
permitted cable ampacity. The ampacity-according to DIN 200
240A

VDE 0298 [1]- is 468 A for J1VV-U 300 mm2 cables, 100
468A

with an ambient temperature of 30°C assuming that the 0

cables are laid flat in open cable-trays.
12:10
13:30
14:50
16:10
17:30
18:50
20:10
21:30
22:50
0:10
1:30
2:50
4:10
5:30
6:50
8:10
9:30
10:50

It is evident from Figs. 3-7 that there is large asymmetry Hour of day from 03/02/2004-04/02/2004

in the distribution of current. This asymmetry causes some Fig. 6. Measured currents of the 4th set
 simulation results. Obviously, the effective inductance of
Fig. 7. Measured currents of the 5th set of cables
these cables is smaller than by the rest of them.
600

500
B. Other Cable Arrangements
T1-L1 After the simulation of the existing cable arrangement
400
illustrated in Fig 8, two more arrangements were
Current, A(rms)

T1-L2
T1-L3
300 T2-L1 simulated using the same simulation model at EMTP. The
T2-L2
T2-L3 two cable arrangements are illustrated in Fig 10.
200
240A
468A
100

0
11:50
13:10
14:30
15:50
17:10
18:30
19:50
21:10
22:30
23:50
1:10
2:30
3:50
5:10
6:30
7:50
9:10
10:30
Hour of day from 04/02/2004-05/02/2004

Fig. 7. Measured currents of the 5th set

IV. SIMULATION

A. Real-Case Scenario Fig. 10a - b. New Cable Arrangements No 1 and No 2

The electrical system shown in Figure 2 was simulated respectively
using the ATP version of the Electromagnetic Transients Fig 11: All Simulation Results
600
Program (EMTP) software. The purpose for the simulation Real-Case Arrangement

was firstly to come up with a correct cable model and

Arrangement No1
500
Arrangement No2

secondly, to examine the behavior of the same set of 400

parallel single core cables for various cable arrangements. 300

The first cable arrangement simulated was the one used at 200
the substation and is shown in Figure 8.
100

0
Cable 1 Cable 2 Cable 3 Cable 4 Cable 5 Cable 1 Cable 2 Cable 3 Cable 4 Cable 5 Cable 1 Cable 2 Cable 3 Cable 4 Cable 5

Phase A Phase B Phase C

Fig. 8. Real-Case cables’ arrangement Fig. 11. All three simulation results (Real Case and two
new arrangements)
The load at the busbars was simulated as a simple R-L
branch in such a way that the total current per phase is It is evident, from the results illustrated in Fig 11 that
equal to the measured one. The simulation results the current unbalance is minimized when either of the two
compared with the measurements are shown in Fig 9. new arrangements is applied. Although the cables are not
transposed the current distribution is almost symmetrical
600
Fig. 9: Simulation and Measurement Results. in these cases. Furthermore the current distribution is
Measurement almost the same when either one of the two new
Simulation
500 arrangements is applied. Cable arrangements No1 or No2
400
have a significant advantage over cable transposition: they
are much simpler to implement and can be done also in
300 retrofit.
200

V. PROBLEMS ANALYSIS
100

A. Over-temperature
0
Cable 1 Cable 2 Cable 3 Cable 4 Cable 5 Cable 1 Cable 2 Cable 3 Cable 4 Cable 5 Cable 1 Cable 2 Cable 3 Cable 4 Cable 5 Overloading leads to over-temperature. The temperature
Phase A Phase B Phase C
rise of a cable relative to the maximum temperature rise is
given by
Fig 9. Measurement and Simulation results
∆ϑ I2 (1)
= 2
It appears from Fig. 9 that the simulation results are ∆ϑmax I n
relatively accurate when compared to the measurements. where I, is the rms value of current the cable is loaded
Another conclusion deriving from Fig 9 is the fact that the with, and In is the cable’s rated current (in this case
current unbalance seems to follow a general pattern. In=468A).
Neighboring cables that belong to different phases (such Using (1) the relative temperature increase of the seven
as cables 5, 6, 7, 10, 11 from Fig. 8) are overloaded. This overloaded cables, is in the range of 18% - 120%. For
pattern appears both at the measurement and at the PVC-insulated cables the maximum continuous
 temperature is 70°C. Assuming an ambient temperature of
30°C, the maximum temperature rise is ∆θmax=40 °C.
Therefore, in the case presented here, we have ∆θ, 47°C
to 88 °C, or 7°C to 48 °C above the maximum permissible
temperature.
B. Additional Losses
The current asymmetry leads to additional thermal
losses when compared to the losses generated from a
symmetrical current distribution. These additional losses
are due to the fact that the currents loading the single-core
cables are larger than they would be if the distribution was
symmetrical.
The thermal losses for the fifteen cables examined in
this paper were calculated for two representative
scenarios. Firstly, for the measured asymmetrical current
distribution and secondly for the new cable arrangement
shown in Fig 10a. The losses were calculated according to
15 15
P = ∑ I i2 R = R ∑ I i2
i =1 i =1
where Ii, is the rms value of current the cable i is loaded
with, and R is the cable’s resistance (in this case R=0.5836
x 10-4 Ohm/m and is assumed equal for each cable
although it will be larger in the overloaded cables).
When the current is distributed symmetrically among
the five cables per each phase, the losses can be calculated
using the following simplified expression of (2)
Ia Ib Ic
P = 5( ) R + 5(
2
) R + 5(
2
5 5 5 (3)
= ( R )( I a2 + I b2 + I c2 )
5 und Leitungen für feste Verlegung in und an Gebäuden
The thermal losses calculations are
TABLE 1: THERMAL LOSSES CALCULATIONS.
P Losses
W/m
Symmetrical Current (Theoretical) 46,08
Real Case 66,49
New Arrangement (Fig 10a) 47,36
The thermal losses calculations for the symmetrical
current correspond to a theoretical case were the current
distribution is completely symmetrical. As illustrated in
Table 1 the thermal losses with the asymmetrical current
distribution (real case) are about 50% bigger then the
thermal losses in the symmetrical case. On the other hand,
the losses for the cable arrangement shown in Fig 10a are
almost the same as the ones corresponding to the
symmetrical distribution.
C. Cable Ageing
Probably the most important effect of the high current
asymmetries analyzed in this paper is the rapid ageing of
the cables due to the deterioration of their insulation. This
deterioration occurs because of the over-temperature
mentioned earlier.
For PVC insulated cables, the equation for ageing [2], is
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log e t = − 31.6 (4)
T
where, t, is the life (in hours) of the cable and
T=273+ °C, is the core temperature
For a cable operating at 70°C, the above formula yields,
23 years.
In our case, the age of the overloaded cables ranges
from 9.5 years (77°C core temperature) to less than 2
months (118°C core temperature).
Indeed, two of the 15 cables were found to have severe
deterioration in their insulation and were replaced.
VI. CONCLUSIONS
Measurements at an industrial substation, have shown
large current asymmetries among parallel connected
cables on the low voltage side of transformers. Some of
the cables are shown to be overloaded, while the
employed overload protection devices do not detect it.
(2) Overloading leads to additional losses and premature
ageing.
Simulation by EMTP reveals that there are simple and
practical ways for cable layout, so that the multiple
parallel cables are evenly loaded. These cable
arrangements can be easily implemented even in retrofit,
while cable transposition cannot.
REFERENCES
[1] DIN VDE 0298-4 “Verwendung von Kabeln und
) R=
2
isolierten Leitungen für Starkstromanlagen. Teil 4:
Empfohlene Werte für die Strombelastbarkeit von Kabeln
und von flexiblen Leitungen“
[2] IEC 943: Guide for the specification of permissible
temperature and temperature rise for parts of electrical
equipment, on particular for terminals
W / 30m
1382,5 Kostas Gouramanis (M’ 2002) was born in Athens, Greece,
1994,8 on September 22, 1979. He received his diploma in Electrical
Engineering from the Department of Electrical and Computer
1420,7 Engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
in 2003. Since 2003 he is a Ph.D. student at the same University.
His research interests are in the fields of power electronics,
power system harmonics and power quality.
Mr. Gouramanis is a member of the Society of Professional
Engineers of Greece.
Charis Demoulias (M’1995) was born in Katerini, Greece, on
July 23, 1961. He received his Diploma in Electrical Engineering
from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki,
Greece, in 1984 and his Ph.D., degree from the same university
in 1991.
He worked as a consultant in the areas of industrial electrical
installations, electrical energy saving, and renewable energy
sources. He is currently lecturer with the Electrical Machines
Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
in the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His research interests
are in the fields of power electronics, harmonics, electric motion
systems and renewable energy sources.