Impact of Residual Harmonic Current

on Operation of Residual Current Devices

Yu Xiang, V. Cuk, J.F.G. Cobben
Eindhoven University of Technology, Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Eindhoven, Netherlands, y.xiang@student.tue.nl

Abstract—Residual current devices (RCDs) are most commonly

used as a part of the protection system in low voltage
installations. RCDs are supposed to disconnect the supply
whenever the imbalance current between the live conductor(s)
and the neutral conductor, i.e. residual current, exceeds the
predetermined value. Such an imbalance is sometimes caused by
current leakage through the body of a person who is grounded
and accidentally touching the energized part of the circuit, which
could result in a lethal shock. However, harmonic components in
ground fault current may influence the tripping sensitivity of
RCDs, and the protection against electrical shock may not be
effective. In the paper, results of theoretical analysis and
experiments are presented. Several mechanisms which could
influence the tripping sensitivity of RCDs are validated, and their
dominant conditions are identified.

Keywords-residual current device; tripping sensitivity; residual

harmonic current

I. INTRODUCTION
A. Working Principles of Residual Current Devices
RCDs can protect people effectively against electrical
shock, since they are designed to disconnect quickly enough to
mitigate the harm caused by such shocks. In certain conditions
using the RCDs is obligatory [1, 2].
A residual current device usually includes a residual current
transformer, where the primary windings consist of phase
(three-phase) and neutral line in opposite direction, as shown in
Fig. 1. The secondary circuit contains electromagnetic relay
with a permanent magnet. The permanent magnet keeps the
moving armature on the yoke and the spring pulls the moving
armature in the opposite directions. In normal conditions, when
the phase and the neutral current are balanced, no flux is
generated in the current transformer. Therefore the moving
armature is kept on the yoke and the main circuit is retained
closed. If a ground fault takes place, the imbalanced current
between the phase and the neutral (residual current) induces an
electromotive force in the secondary circuit. The transformed
residual current in secondary circuit, amplifies the magnetic
flux of the permanent magnet in one half-wave, but in the other
half-wave that flux is reduced. If the residual current reaches a
predetermined level, the magnetic flux derived from that
current is high enough to reduce the magnetic flux of the
permanent magnet to the level in which the spring is able to
pull out the moving armature of the electromechanical relay
and RCD opens the main circuit [3].
Figure 1. Residual current device: a) simplified diagram, b) equivalent
circuit: TR – current transformer, WS – electromechanical relay, N-S –
permanent magnet, T – test button, EC – additional electronic
components, Ip – primary (residual) current, Is – secondary current, Es –
induced secondary voltage, Us – electromechanical relay voltage [3]
B. Tripping Sensitivity and Classification
Basically the RCDs should not trip if the rms value of
residual current is equal to or less than 0.5I∆n, while they are
supposed to trip if the residual current equal to or greater than
I∆n, where I∆n is the rated tripping current [4].
There are three different types of RCDs with respect to the
sensitivity to the ground fault current waveform, according to
the standard [4]:
• AC – for alternating ground fault current (50/60Hz),
• A – for alternating and pulsating direct ground fault
current
• B – for alternating ground fault current, pulsating
direct ground fault current and smooth direct ground
fault current
Meanwhile, RCDs could be categorized as pure mechanical
and electronic. The former one operates purely based on an
electromechanical relay, while the latter one includes an
additional electronic circuit for compensation, as EC in Fig. 1.

978-1-4244-8782-0/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

In the paper both pure mechanical and electronic RCDs are
tested and compared.
II. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
The impact of harmonic residual currents on the tripping
characteristic of RCDs is extremely complicated, since a
number of mechanisms could apply and have even opposite
effect. Furthermore, in different situations different factors
dominate the influence of harmonic currents on tripping
sensitivity.
A. Residual Current Waveform
The waveform of the residual current with harmonics can
be represented as:
iΔ (t ) = 2 ⋅ I Δ1 ⋅ [sin(ωt + α1 ) + A2 sin(2ωt + α 2 ) + , (1)
A3 sin(3ωt + α 3 ) + ... + An sin(nωt + α n )]
where:
I∆1 – amplitude (effective value) of fundamental current,
A2, A3,…An – amplitude to fundamental of 2nd, 3rd, … nth
harmonic,
α2, α3,…αn – phase angle of 2nd, 3rd, … nth harmonic.
Crest factor of a waveform is defined as the ratio between
the maximum value and rms value, shown in (2). It is
introduced to describe whether a waveform is “peaky” or “flat”.
Obviously the crest factor of a pure sinusoidal waveform is
1.414. Furthermore, it is concluded from a series of numerical
calculation that phase angle of lower order harmonics (e.g. 3rd
and 5th) could influence the crest factor significantly, while
that of higher order harmonic (e.g. 23rd) is not important
anymore.
I (2)
CF = max
I rms
where Imax is the maximum value of a waveform and Irms is the
rms value.
B. Saturation Effect
The operation of RCDs relies on that the transformed
secondary residual current reduces the magnetic force of
permanent magnet to the critical value which is lower than the
elastic force of the string. Therefore, tripping is sensitive to the
maximum value of secondary current. A conclusion of [5]
suggests that when assuming the current transformer is ideal,
i.e. the primary residual current and secondary current have the
same waveform shape, RCDs will trip out for lower rms
residual current with higher crest factor.
However, the basic hypothesis of the ideal current
transformer is proved invalid. In Section III, experimental
results indicate that several typical characteristics of
transformer such as saturation and hysteresis loop could infect
the operation of RCDs considerably.
First of all, residual current with a higher crest factor is
more inclined to pull the core of the current transformer to the
saturation area. In this situation the peak part of the residual
current could not produce additional flux variation or
electromotive force anymore, as shown in Fig. 2. Thus this part
Φ Linear Area Saturation Area
iμ
iΔ
t
Residual Current with
Higher Crest Factor
Figure 2. Saturation curve of current transformer
of the primary residual current cannot be transformed to the
secondary circuit, which decreases the tripping sensitivity since
it needs a higher rms residual current to compensate the peak
part current lost in saturation area. This mechanism has a
negative effect on the tripping sensitivity, in contrast with the
conclusion of [5]. As long as the current transformer works in
saturated mode, increasing crest factor of residual current will
decrease tripping sensitivity, i.e. higher tripping current.
C. Magnetizing Effect
As shown in Fig. 1b, part of the primary residual current
flows into the magnetizing inductance, in order to produce flux
variation and electromotive force. According to the Faraday’s
Law, for higher frequency less magnetizing current Iμ is needed
to generate the same voltage level as the fundamental
frequency in the secondary side. Meanwhile, the impedance of
the electrometrical relay (Rw and Xw) does not change much
under a certain frequency limit (when still Rw>ωLw).
Consequently, the harmonic (higher frequency) component
of residual current tends to generate more secondary current
with less magnetizing current needed. Under this mechanism
the tripping sensitivity is increased when the residual current
comprises of some harmonic component.
D. Core Loss Effect
On the other hand, several experiments carried out in [5]
show that the hysteresis loop of the current transformer is
significantly wider for higher frequencies. In addition, the eddy
current loss will also increase for higher frequencies. As a
result, the core loss will increase for harmonic residual current,
i.e. RFe in Fig. 1b is reduced. Thus less residual current is
transformed to the secondary circuit due to the core loss, i.e.
more residual current is needed to achieve the secondary
current level at which the electromechanical relay will trip. The
tripping sensitivity is decreased under this mechanism, which
has an opposite effect compared with the magnetization effect.
E. Summary dominant in this situation. In contrast, the tripping current
Table I shows the influence factors for tripping sensitivity increases for high amplitude of 5th harmonic, where core loss
of RCDs and their possible dominant situations. The “positive” effect is dominant in this case.
effect in the table represents that the tripping sensitivity is
increased due to a certain factor. a)
Theoretically, the tripping sensitivity will decrease with the 30
10%

Tripping current (mA)

increase of the crest factor, as long as the current transformer
works already in saturation area. Meanwhile, with low order 25 25%

harmonics the hysteresis and eddy current loss does not 50%
increase significantly. Also for the residual current with a low 20 100%
value of a high order harmonic, when fundamental current is Sine 50Hz
still dominant, the hysteresis loop is not affected noticeably. In 15
above situation the magnetizing effect is inclined to be 0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360
dominant and the tripping sensitivity is increased. However, Phase angle of 3rd harmonic (°)
when encountering a high value of high order harmonics, the b)
core loss will increase considerably. Thus the core loss effect is 35
dominant and has a negative effect on the tripping sensitivity. 10%

Tripping current (mA)

30
25%
III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
25 50%
A number of experiments were carried out by the author, in 100%
order to verify the theoretical analysis. Several type A RCDs 20
Sine 50Hz
with different parameter are tested in the experiments. The
experiments concentrate on testing the residual current 15

waveforms of fundamental with a single harmonic, in order to 0 45 90 135 180 225 270
Phase angle of 5th harmonic (°)
315 360

test the influence of a certain harmonic frequency. For low c)

order harmonics the crest factor changes significantly with the
270
harmonic angle to fundamental, therefore the phase angle of
Tripping current (mA)

10%
low order harmonics varies with 45° step. The amplitudes to
240 25%
fundamental are the following: 0.10, 0.25, 0.50 and 1.00. In the
50%
meantime, for high order harmonics where the phase angle
does not influence the crest factor considerably, different 210 100%

amplitudes to fundamental from 0.00 to 1.00 with only phase Sine 50Hz

angle 0° are selected for testing waveforms. 180

0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360
A. Low Order Harmonics Phase angle of 3rd harmonic (°)

Fig. 3a and 3b show the tripping rms current of 30mA d)

mechanical RCD under fundamental residual current with a 270
10%
low order harmonic. When observing the influence of 3rd
Tripping current (mA)

240
harmonic, the tripping current could be higher or lower than 210
25%

that for the pure sinusoidal current, but varies remarkably for 50%
different the phase angle (Fig. 3a). The saturation effect is 180
100%
proved, since the maximum tripping currents take place at 150
Sine 50Hz
phase angle around 180°, where the crest factor is also the 120
greatest for 3rd harmonic. When it comes to the influence 5th 0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360
harmonic, it is impossible to achieve a consensus on the Phase angle of 5th harmonic (°)
relationship between tripping sensitivity and crest factor. Thus Figure 3. Tripping rms current of 30mA undelayed mechanical RCDs
the saturation effect does not dominate the influence on Fundamental residual current with a single harmonic,
tripping sensitivity anymore for 5th or higher order harmonic. amplitude to fundamental 10%, 25%, 50%, and 100%:
Meanwhile, for low amplitude (10% and 25%) of 5th harmonic, a) 1st + 3rd for 30mA RCD, b) 1st + 5th for 30mA RCD,
the tripping current is the same or even lower than that for pure c) 1st + 3rd for 300mA RCD, d) 1st+ 5th for 300mA RCD
sinusoidal current. Consequently, the magnetization effect is

TABLE I. INFLUENCE FACTORS FOR TRIPPING SENSITIVITY OF RCDS

Mechanism Factor
Saturation effect High crest factor
Magnetizing effect Harmonic order;
Amplitude to fundamental
Core loss effect Harmonic order;
Amplitude to fundamental
Effect Possible Dominant Situation
Negative Current transformer saturated; Low order harmonics
Positive Low order harmonics;
High order harmonics with low amplitude
Negative High order harmonics with high amplitude
 Similar conclusion could be achieved when testing the 35
300mA mechanical RCD, shown in Fig. 3c and 3d. However,

Tripping current (mA)

the tripping current decreases constantly with the increase of 30 23rd
harmonic amplitude for both 3rd and 5th harmonic. In this case
magnetizing effect is always dominant. The possible reason is 25
49th

that the current transformer core of 300mA RCD is better

designed so that core loss is irrelevant under low frequency. 20

B. High Order Harmonics 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Amplitude of harmonic to fundamental
Fig. 4 shows the tripping current of 30mA RCDs for
fundamental with 23rd or 49th harmonic residual current. Figure 4. Tripping rms current of 30mA undelayed mechanical RCDs.
Tripping current of mechanical RCDs decreases with low Fundamental residual current with a single harmonic:
amplitude of 23rd harmonic, but rises up with high amplitude. 1st + 23rd and 1st + 49th
Finally the tripping current exceeds 30mA to an unacceptable
value. In addition, similar features are obtained when applying a)
90
49th harmonic. Furthermore, the experiment for 300mA

Tripping current (mA)

10%
mechanical RCD gives the same results. Therefore, it is
85 25%
concluded that for high order harmonics the tripping sensitivity
is increased with low amplitude (up to approximately 20%) due 50%
80
to the magnetizing effect. However, the core loss effect 100%

becomes dominant for high amplitude, and thus the tripping Sine 50Hz

sensitivity is decreased. 75
0 45 90 135 180 225 270 315 360
Phase angle of 3rd harmonic (°)
C. Voltage Dependent Electronic Residual Current Devices
Finally, Fig. 5 shows the experimental results of a 100mA b)
84
voltage dependent electronic RCD. Obviously, compared with
Tripping current (mA)

the other RCDs, the tripping current of voltage dependent 82 23rd

electronic RCD does not change much with the angle or
amplitude of harmonic (less than 5% to the rated tripping
current). It is noticeable that the tripping sensitivity of voltage
dependent RCD is far more robust than that of normal voltage
independent RCDs. Even no single nuisance tripping or
ineffective protection is observed by the author in the whole
experiment for voltage dependent electronic RCD. Therefore
voltage dependent electronic RCD can provide much more
reliable protection against electrical shock, but on the other
hand, with higher cost.
IV. CONCLUSION
Residual current device is essential for protection against
electrical shock in low voltage installations. In certain
conditions using RCDs is obligatory. However the presented
results of theoretical analysis and experiments indicate that
harmonic components in ground fault current may change the
tripping sensitivity of RCDs, and the protection against
electrical shock may not be effective.
The impact of harmonic residual currents on the tripping
characteristic of RCDs is extremely complicated, since a
number of mechanisms could apply and have even opposite
effect. Furthermore, in different situations different factors
dominate the influence of harmonic currents on tripping
sensitivity.
Basically when residual current comprises low order
harmonics, the tripping current of voltage independent RCDs
increases with the increase of crest factor of residual current
waveform due to the saturation effect. The tripping current is
49th
80
78
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Amplitude of harmonic to fundamental
Figure 5. Tripping rms current of 100mA voltage dependent electronic
RCD. Fundamental residual current with a single harmonic:
a) 1st + 3rd, b) 1st + 23rd and 1st + 49th
slightly decreased for residual current with low amplitude of
high order harmonics, where the magnetizing effect is
dominant. However, for residual current with high amplitude of
high order harmonics, the tripping current is increased to an
unacceptable level and the protection against electrical shock is
not effective. Meanwhile, the voltage dependent RCD has a
more reliable tripping performance.
REFERENCES
[1] IEC 60364-4-41, “Low-voltage electrical installations”, Part 4-41:
Protection for safety – Protection against electric shock
[2] IEC 60364-7-7xx “Electrical installations of buildings. Requirements for
special installation or locations”
[3] Stanislaw Czapp, “The impact of higher-order harmonics on tripping of
residual current devices”, Power Electronics and Motion Control
Conference, 2008, pp. 2059-5065
[4] IEC 61008-1-2006b, “Residual current operated circuit breakers without
integral overcurrent protection for household and similar uses
(RCCB’s)”, Part 1: General rules
[5] Stanislaw Czapp, “The effect of earth fault current harmonics on
tripping of residual current device”, International School on Non-
sinusoidal Currents and Compensation, 2008, pp. 1-6