i:*g*n $ ;.irj: '-.") .'&. : -:ffiffiffiffi'" ffi#.ffi$. kffiffiffiffiffii::.
ffi1);':;sf-;1i
and €nclosu
djstriburion''boards -
prospectivefault current
Prospective Fault Current The$ymmetrica|curfentconsistsof.thesymrytrica|5hoii
The electricalequipmentused on an installationmust be capable cjrcuit current superimprrgedon or off$et by,a:dc eomponeni
of operatingsafelywnen carryinEboth normaland abnormal plaeljcatly:ie-frvnitfr.ina'f,ew.::,:'.
lhat decreasesexpongrrt:iallJi|to : :,
currents, The lai:9.€Ft{rrit€nfthht equipment mu$.be €b.le-to-- cyctes. The asymrnetrical'stiort-i: it Cuh;ht peat aetbrmines :r.i:ril
llrl
*itns.1a"o
is knoft.*$.prospectiuerur,,.rrrun* " mechanicalstresste whichthe equipmentmay be
..:.:i
E,, , :h:.,T::Tr*
subjected.
',ihe,Gv'et
of ,ftr.rlt
currentdepends ',
on thesizeof thesuppt3l:.'
riansfo.inie.r d anlf sg61B!mpedance between the transformer. r:., The maximumpeak currenliS about 1.75times the peak
,.ana'tni',cpn*,acteo tquipmenr.Themagnitud e of fauft clrrieiitis', symmetriiil.r.un.-e41:cr
putting ii anotherway 1.75i:{2, 1,e,2,5
:,large-f,t thc+rigin of an:instAllationand lowest at ttre engs-:of:= :ilm1s l1a'i !' ih; tymrnearjdb'flhart1|
rc$uireilt '
tne nnai ciiCuits.
.-fifcuption of Prb ective Short Giillit Gurrenll
The prospectivefault current can be either Severa|exce||entproprietarycomputeiprogram5arenoW
available theprospective
for calculatinq faultlevelBt anvpointin
, Short CircuitCurrent, the in$tallation.
Theyaie alsoableto selectthecorrectiize and
i e a fault betweenlive conduct.ors,
or p-r:ote=a$te==
lype of cableand matchthis with the correct,sirCuit
1t:Li
i;;larrh fauh current, device.Theformulafor calculatin$ttre manlmninproitiili;te'."t-=
:.',1'-ie
u tuultnfff,f!1! andearth= symrnetricalthree-phasefaultcurrentis...
iveconductors = .i:a
I tt ::::::t: t:: : :: :
The theoreticalmaximumfault conditionat any pointin a o ttortsformerkVA x 1000
'prospective
distributionsystemis termedthe fault cuffent'.
This is the rms value of the cunent that would flow !f a solidly
bolteddirectfault occursat that point and pre-supposesthai the ,l Io o4l$:0late::th9fPfd,atr var.io_u.s:i$.oonsjn the
voltagewitt remiin conitant and ihe ultimaiesupplysourcehas svstem the open circuit voltaqe ia dividad bv the Sum of the
limitlesscapacitr. Therefore,the prospectivefault current is impedanceexternalto the installation.andthe irnpedance.ofthe
':::.: =ti, i : : : cables up to that point. For symmetricalthree-phasecalculattons
limited.ly,-,. ,- only the impedanceof the phase conductorsbetween"the , -
" ff'ra impedanceof the high voltage netvvorkfeeding the traniformerandthepoint,atwhichitismeasuiedneedbe
suppiy iiansrormer r,a{lasidered;The bolte.clthree-phase fault d.orei ol use-:ih*:'::::t:i::::-:=
. neutrator earth path as a return and can be CompareCto a
the impedanceof the supplt franiformer.
blt a tnr*",nnase..lo,,..,E I
" ih; impedanceof the distributionNetwork from the suoolv
transformerto the point of fault, Single phase fault
; r'
Fauit lev:e1,:=.::::,.::: !al:r, r i: ::l
i:iili! :t: :l
In practicethe vottagedoes drop, the fault does havefrp-0."* I * 2409:n::{ZxA:;S$,8
' and the protectivedevices have finite impedance.Thereforethe X = ll 5 kAi..r;,::.r:':::::::::::::::::::=
,j:ti: r:. t!: : ..::::.:
prospectivecunent is theoreticaland cannotbe exceeded.The I :lr'i: :::::::::::::::::':::::=
severityof the short-circuitfault is also controlledbV tne 'Cower 0.008f1+ PhaseimPedah6e
Factor' which like the fault current. is determinedby the circuit
condi{.ionsup to the point of fault.However,the short-circuit
power factor is not to be confusedWith the load power factor
which is determinedby the characteristics of the load itself.
Power factor is effectivelya measuie of Storedenergy in the
system. Hence if the power factor is low, there is a considerable
amounlof storedenergyto be dissipateddurinqthe fault
clearance.Also there witt Oea degree of asymmetryof the
cunent wave due to the presenceof a dc component.
Asymmetrical Short Circuit Current N impedance
When a short-circuitoccurs in a circuit tne reiiitance of which is
negligiblecomparedwith the inductivereactance,the resulting Three phass fault
(2.00x single phase fault)
short-circuitcurrenthas a dc component.This dc component
has a maximumvaluewhen the short-circuitoccursat the Fauttlevel
instini it whichthe circuitvoltaoeis zero.Sincein a three ohase r = 240v / (1x0.008a) ,
systemthere are six voltage.eros pe, cycle,it is certainthat r = 30kA
therewill be considerabte asymmeiryinihe currentflowingin sl
leastone of the phases. lf the fault occursat any other point of Fhbsb
the voltagewave: the resultantshort-circuitis parriallyoffset,
that is to say,it containsa dc componentof reducedmagnitude.
supply
n€utralvoltage
45
. f r# # f l f f i f f i f f i f fi .,l {s$ -vl .,..,''.'ffi ffi ffiP.;..|wh- ,..' i;' T*],.
oiiiiinuti*nourou
ril I
"*6;;;;;:-
Estimation of Pro$pective Fault Current
Actuallycalculatingprospectiveshort-circuitcurrentis not in ffJ,X' ji: ;iT::;ffi":i:flJ* un'[
f"iJ;:i:ffJ't; il:i"n, i'a
itselfdifficultbut if does reouirebasicdata which is not always
::';:..."* ;;::,ff:::::,,ue ab.ve,
;: ;:::,:ff,",,"ffi":H:';'*,," es,imare
iIllil;1",
*,:ff: l'$,'"i J:*"
:Li5i$ffi:J; lf:;H"."Til
the prospectiveshortcircuitcurrent. This methodalwaysgives
a prosp€ctivefault level greaterthan that which would have been Wherethese lines cross witt give the approxirnatefault curr€nt
arrived at by calculationusing accurate basic data, Thereforeit
is.safeto use but sometimeshayresultin an over-engineered
rt',Jrrl"l.. canberepeated
rora 20merre
so.omm, from
cabre
J;"
A sySternis being supplied by an 800KVAtransformer,from table
this point,usingthe^20kA
l?I :r
currentat the linaldistribution
lsc,to€stirnatea fault
lh: to be 12.6kA.
board
,
it can be seen that this transformeris caDableof producino ;,;".;";.';;';;",;;;;.,'u..n"'o,,n,no,.n"
2 3 . 4 k A o f f a u | t c u r r e n t a t i t s L V t e r m i n a l s . A n m e i r e t e n g t h " oinstallation
f thanthe breaklngcapacitiesof all of the frotective . .:
ffi;"::;,HHff;; :'fiIiljffi ff.Jffi",:
twin 240mm'singlesfeed the main distributionpanelboird.The
impedanceof this cableis ignoredas it will have{ittleimpacton lJ;:::l;
"
r, ""**'
l""J,;i:;ximum
::::1
{#rlTffiHJil;S
..''' :
;::::i:
*uo lff, o',u I'o? o,u
289 27.8 'S0?7 5858
315 9512 vz26
5ng. l:2:? 6e6 15193 14644 I
6J0 909 876 19'144 18452 ..:li
i:'r,'r::
80{t 11 5 5 1113 24309 23431 !ii!\'i\
::+ 1000 1443 13 S l 30387 29289
12so '1804 1739 37984 36611
1500 ?165 45580 43933
r\ll:i
A 120mrn? sub distributioncircuitis to be taken from the main
Panelboardand runs for a distanceof 15 melres. To estimatethe
::l::!:i
tur', .ro"n, at the next distributionpanelboard .. ':it!:.:!ri
i lt:rli
,
:ij+
::::tli :rf
..
Fiospective Fault Gurrent in Ooiestic lnstallations .
On single-phax supplies up to 't00R the etectricirysuppjy I
companiesgenerallyrecommendthat any installationbe i :::::l
desionedto withstand the maximum system fault level of the .i: '
j
distributingmain. The declaredfault level of the LV disriburing .t
mainis16kA(0.55powerfactor},Somesupp|ycompanie5 .
accept that the irnpedanCeof the servicecable may be taken r.l
into account, as tfris is untifety to change'durlnEtni tifetimeof ....'''
the installation.The graphin fig t shoWsthe mlximum
prospectivefault current at the incomingterminalsof the
consumerunlt, for s standardservicearranqementusina a
25mmr servicecable. depending on the length of ttris caOte
from the point of connectionto the LV distributingmain. The
servicecablelengthfor domesticand similarinsGllationsmay
be taken as the distance.from the serviceposition in tl're'
consumer'spremisesto the boundaryof the plot, assumingthat
the distribiting mains cable is in the adjacentfootpatn, ' ,'
1 :10
ServiceCable Length (Metres) jt{:
Flg r := ''
!:Li\ L lt.;
4tt
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