otrgVotge coin Panerai Syne za asm Faaes Power ask lectrus S Generation! Paty q Powered by cuckabalty (Biciek to Print) SAVE TS] AL TH Calculating Voltage Drop in Power Distribution Systems un 52005 12:09 Pu By Soanmga 8. Papcan, SOFCON ‘Do you know what you need know to correctly sie conductors for vltage drop? sear) [BiLsogia] Qum nen you determine conductor sims for low-oliage feeder or branch ccs, do you account fr vltage drop? Some people believe tis unnecessary, and some baieve that doing sols Code requirement. The fst belles false, butne second s nly partytue, Farsenetine electronic quipment branch routs cant have more than a 7.5% yolage drop, andthe combined voltage drop offender and branch-iculteonductrs cant exceod 2.5% {647 4(0)}. Fora oer circuits, he 2008 NEC morlyracommends 3% or 5%, depending on the creult ype (eeder or branch) and load type [210-18(1) FPN No.4 and 215 2(AN3) FPN No.2} Enginoering and design standards, ‘coupled with specie user requirements, determine the allowable walage drop fr faosars and branch suis, Equipment manufatirorshpically recommend o equi a minimum creutltage of poroentage ofthe equipment lage rating, For ‘vampie, one manufacturer may state tat otage athe devee must be between 4G6V and 494V. Another mayroquire tat he wlage drop noterceed 3% of he nameplate volage. Low wage ona system increases maintenance costs and decrease safely and performance. Operating electical equipment below is Acceptable vellage rating can lead to premature faire and nazardous Siuatons. Induct loads, such as motors and ballasts can overheat, Shorening equipmentife ang inreasing energy consumption. operated below tar rated voltage, esiste loads, suchas beaters, simply wont rove the desired output A 10% reducion a eliage reduces the power Dutputby 19%, because power ouputreduces as te square of wage. Reduced circultvoltage can cause lights ticker when ater appliances ‘orequipmenteye on String the clrult conductor To correct determine the minimum conductor siz fora gven ampaciy, you frst must determine he voiage {rp fr hat ert. You can do his byoneof several methods. For ‘ample, you can caleulate the voltage drop ofthe simple two-wiroAC Ceutin ite Figure byusing the fllowing equation, ‘Tip simple Grou ls usehl or opaining wollage Gop selcjlatons 2xKxQxEt ve cM where Ws vllage drop, Ks the resist constant of conductor metal (Sreularmil-ohm per fo!) Qs the atomating curant adjustment factor or skin ofc, Lis the longth occu (nfo) isthe lead (curent daw in amps), and CMs the cross secional area efconductor fn ‘rular mis). CMmay also be denoted 28D. Fora single-phase AC drcult when onlyone-way conductor longth needs tobe considered (as in abelanced,$-phase,4-re cout with mo current owing trough te neal) te wolage crop is halo he drop caeslatod bye preceding equation. Fora balanced S-phase, ‘Stuie rut he waltage drop Between any wo phase conducors is 0866 mes the vlage drop calculated byte preceding equation. [Note hat he calculation requras you to detormine some facia about ambient condion and ta load, wirsleable, and raceway characterises. yu find the calculations tious, you can refer the vltage drop tables offen found in handbooks and design guides; the values oblained are usually suficientfor design purposes. Sofware can also proce an ecient maans of calculating veliage crop. pen sei sabe camigraenacsAie Catan VO sheen ago ans voles SopIFhaMRAERDMEEET age La3onttrg Votge coin Panerai Syne za asm Ifyou use me previous equation as I, you can plugin fe values onthe ight sie ofthe equation and determine the vltage drop on he let ie as the result he answer you gets toe high you could try changing fe conductor tothe next higher size and ty the equaion again Your answer's stl'oo high, you can Keep increasing the conductor sas unt yur ealeulted wolage top Is aczepiable, However, his ‘mathod can quicklybecome tresome—especiallyonalarge project. ‘Amor efcion approach iso frst determine what lage drop is accoptabe. Then use a form ofthe equation that ets you determine the requfed conductor sts. For example, you know thal yourmasimum vtage drop Is gong ® be 14V (8% of 480V} you can determina the Concuctor size with te following equation, whichis a rworked version ofthe frst equation. 2XxKXQXLXL Ve Circuit parameters. Rogarcless ofhow you determine vllage drop. ou must always know certain things about te crutin question, ‘Those are caled “orc parameters" Geting these cuit parameters coet wil require some eialuadon ana perhaps some ac aiggng a \Wna do these parameter include? While you nee t account fr some factors to adjuster accuracy, you need to know conductor resietviyand length plus the curont draw justo‘ the math’ of the equations. Conductor resistivity. Conductor resistance increases wit temperature. Honce, the esistviy constant employed inthe caloulaton should be to valu coresponaing otha aperaing tomperatur of fe conductors. The resist constant fr copper conductor vltage drop Caleulaons is 128 ohms a1 90°C and 1038 ohms at 60°C. The resistly constant for aluminum is 212 ohms at 80°C and 17 ohms at bore, Adjustment tor skin fect For smal wires, up 0 3 ANG, resistance i the same for 60 HzAC and DC. But abore 3 ANG, AC resistance is larger due to skin fect, which causes the curentiofow Bough the peripheryol he conducor, thus reducing its eflectie cross secional area. The adjustment facor for skin eflectis denied by aking AC resisiance value and dhédingitby DC resistance value. The DC and AC Fealstance values can be cbtaines fom NEC Chapler9 abies 8 and. Consider the following example. Fora 410 AWG coppor conductor: (C resietance=0.0608 chmst,000 for uncoated conductor Table 8) ‘AC resetanco=0.068 ohmsit,000 for uncostd conductor in soe conduit (Table 9) ‘This means that the AC resistance 1.0962 mes the DC resistance. doses load the Cirsuit conductor ong. The long of the crultcondctorissimplytne distanoa from souroa to he load. Buti i farthos! load, or some loadin the midele? The answer none o he above. Using he entre longi of creul conductor to the farthest oad means you'lcaleulate erroneously high wltage crop values and thus may needlessiyoversiae he cuit conducters. The ules of seres-parallel cults come int play hare. Whan a foader (or branch conduc) Feaches the frstload, fs canyng te fl curent Butitéoesriteary he full curent io each subsequent load; current dudes proportonaie © ‘he impedance ofeach load. This reveals the following wo facts ‘+ you use tne lengh ofthe crultio the cosest load, you neglectio account for ha par ofthe crcul past he frstioad. The called soltage drop would be ess than he acual ‘+ you use the ctl length ofthe eeu tom source othe farthest load — he caleulated voltage drop wou be greater than the ctu ‘You need detemine what conductor lengh would be equialent a hein all loads concenaed atone pon — the “oad news" ofthe Creu nthe aimplestofstuatone,n which the loads ae equal and spaced evenly eiong tha cout the load! nexus is obvously halfway belveen tne fst andlastload. te loads ere unequal andor spaced unequally, you'll need to apply series-paralil calculations to Accurately determine where the loac nes is. However, ese calculatons are Beyond te scope ofthis article, Cireuitcurent Use he epecte steady state load demand current eacute the wollage top, But dotjust add up ll the loads and call ‘at your tial oad, Determine te total oad byconsidenng the maximum load occuring at any tme due simultaneous operation. Us this domané load fr ealeulatng the vltage drop. You mayneed Wo alow for tutu demand as wel yeu sim your conducor jst barely ‘aocommadats he presentioad, adding oad lars gong o be expenshe. fs much less costo instal sigh oversizd wie now han © "ip toutand install a new conduit iater. Pay special ateton lighting and appliance cruls and to mains tate several loads. Load power factor You should adjust he expected cult curento account for power factor (PF). How do you determine the PF ofloads when one fooder supplies several loads? Ms a three stop process: ‘+ Mutsy ne tvAoeach ons by ts operaing PF. 1 Aaa mese products forall loads. “+ Divde te sum obisined byte tla VA connected tthe cru pee sei sabe camigracenaciARie Catan VO shen RTF mage an vOage SopAIFhGMIRACRD MEST age 263onttrg Votge coin Panerai Syne za asm ‘Though approximate tis method allows you to adequately aust for PF. Roactanco, Chapter 3 wiing methods adress the Iesuo of reactance by raguring yu to run al roe phase conductors ofa ghen croutin the same racewayityeu use forous raceways [300.38]. you use nonfrous racowaye, you can use an "isclated phase” arrangement [3003(8X') Es FyoUr instalation doesn olow these requrements, all ets are of ‘You can see thatyou may have todo more han simply plugin whatever numbers you have on hand ifyou wantto perform accurate voltage ropcaloulatons. The accuracyof these calculatons will determine how accurately ou size your crt conductors. CCorecty sizing our cut conductors allows you to pride the most cost-effective instalation andthe most eficient operation But Incowect astmatione may cause you to overs or undersizn your creutconductrs, Crersiaing tho circuit conductors loads o adelional cost intarms of racoways, supports, ings, encosures, and installason labor. Undersizing leads to operating ineficioncies, cverheaing, and premature oquipmentalure. yeu corocty determine th volage drop caleulaton parameters — especially conductor lengit—betore making he calculation, youl voi Boh ofthese prabiems. Pandian is aprojectmanager wih A. Al-Saiat, A. Fattan!& 0. l-Othman Consuting Enginearing Co. (SOFCON) in Al-Khobar, Sous ‘arabe, Find this article at: rapt ecrwed comimglaecie eating votoge_stoninden nt BGiek to Print SAVETHS| BML THS Cone ‘Check he bore cae teint of ke referenced he ar Copyright© Suc inatinkMadl, A ght sone, epee sei Sahn camigraenaiAie Catan VO sheng ans vag SopAIFhGMIBACRD MEST age 303