Voltage

drop table bs7671

Voltage drop examples. Voltage drop standards. Voltage drop requirements.

Let’s take a look at what are possibly the three most used calculations within the 18th Edition Wiring Regulations for electrical installations. Calculation Voltage DropCalculating the cross-sectional area of protective conductorsTabulated current carrying capacity of conductors ‘It’ You won’t find this formula anywhere in BS7671:2018 as this is
another example of were they assume some prior electrical theory knowledge, but the formula is Voltage drop formula Voltage Drop = (mV/A/m) x Ib x L divided by 1000 Key…(mV/A/m): To find the value for (mV/A/m) we need to look in the current carry capacity and voltage drop tables within Appendix 4, and the fastest way to finding the table you
need is by using Table of Tables on page 522. Ib: is the design current which is usually just watts divided by voltage if you need to work it out. L: is just the length of the circuit in metres. We divide it all by 1000 to convert the figure from Millivolts into Volts Note: By finding the value for volt-drop (mV/A/m) within Appendix 4 we can calculate the
voltage drop for every type of cable we are likely to use. It’s worth remembering though that there are a couple of things that you cannot calculate voltage drop for using your copy of BS7671 and that is power track and lighting trunking systems etc because it doesn’t give any values for voltage drop for those systems anywhere in the book and you
would need to get the information from the manufacturer. Let’s have a look at a sample question… A multi-core 70 degrees C thermoplastic non-armoured cable with 2.5 mm conductors supplies a single-phase load of 20 amp at 230 volts over 22m. What is the voltage drop in the cable going to be? To work this our we firstly need to put these values
into the formula.
We can see that the load is 20 amp which is your design current (Ib) and the length is 22 m long. Next, we need to find the value of (mV/A/m) for a multi-core 70 degrees C thermoplastic non-armoured cable with 2.5 mm conductors. If you go to the table of tables on page 522 to start with and I’ll meet you there myself. Within Table of tables, just
towards the bottom of page 523 you’ll find current carrying capacities and voltage drop for cables and the table for we are looking for is for a multi-core 70 degrees C thermoplastic non-armoured cable is which is 4D2A with the voltage drop table for this cable being Table 4D2B on page 404 – see you there! Table 4D2A on page 404… It’s a 2.5 mm sq
conductor and we are looking for a single-phase so have a look in column 3 and we can see that it’s 18 mv/A/m. And now that we have all of the figures it’s time to work it out… 18 x 20 x 22 = 7920 divided by 1000 gives us 7.92V Which means that the voltage drop for a multi-core 70 degrees C thermoplastic non-armoured cable with 2.5 mm
conductors supplying a single-phase load of 20 amp at 230 volts over 22m is 7.92V Let’s look at the next question which concerns the cross-sectional area of earth / protective conductors. Remember that there are two ways you can have a do this. One, is by looking the size up using Table 54.7or you can use the calculation in regulation 543.1.3. The
calculation will give you a more precise earth or protective conductor size which is going to be smaller than just using Table 54.7 which can save a lot of money, especially on a large installation. So, let’s have a look the formula. Anything to do with earthing in its going to relate to Chapter 54 and this is formula for calculating the cross sectional area
(csa) is at regulation 543.1.3. The cross-sectional area, where calculated, shall be not less than the value determined by the following formula taken from BS7671:2018 Part 5, Chapter 54, Regulation 543.1.3 See Regulation 543.1.3 S = square root of I squared multiplied by t and then divided by k S: Cross sectional area of the conductor I: Fault
current t: Disconnection time in seconds k: Rating factor for protective conductors taken from Tables 54.2 to 54.6 The question… “A 16mm multi-core cable incorporating a copper protective conductor insulated with 90° c thermosetting insulation given a fault current of 500 amps and a disconnection time of 0.4 seconds minimum acceptable CPC
cross sectional area would be?” So, it’s asking you to use the calculation and calculate the minimum size of the earth conductor. Just like before, the first thing first thing we need to do is to throw some values, the ones that we know into the formula, and you can see we’ve got a current fault current 500 Amp and a disconnection time of 0.4 seconds
giving us so far… Fault current sq x disconnection time How do we find the value we need for k? The two most common tables used are 54.2 and 54.3. Using the information from the question “multi-core cable incorporating a protective conductor” you can see that we are going to be using Table 54.3 values of k for protective conductor incorporated
in a cable. Plus, a little more information from the question “90 degrees C thermosetting” and “copper” gives us the value for k of 143. Now we have… All values in place… Throw those numbers into a calculator and crunch away 500 squared if using a calculator, the easy way to do it is 500 x then press equals to give you 250000 and then multiply
that by 0.4 giving you 100000. Then hit your square root √ button = 316.22776 and then divide that by 143 and you should have an answer of 2.211 and it’s millimeters squared. As we know there’s no such size as 2.21mm² so we can round it up to the next available size which in this case is 2.5 mm² and that is your answer. Remember, what they are
doing in the exam is assessing whether you can find that value for k 143 but sometimes you may get this question simply as… t = 500 I = 0.4 k = 143 Voltage drop in a consumer’s installation can be a contentious issue. However, it is an important aspect of installation design since if it is too high some certain equipment will not function correctly or
will not function at all.Rules Applied: 525.1 In the absence of any other consideration, under normal service conditions the voltage at the terminals of any fixed current-using equipment shall be greater than the lower limit corresponding in the product standard relevant to the equipment.525.100 Where fixed current-using equipment is not the subject
of a product standard the voltage at the terminals shall be such as not to impair the safe functioning of that equipment.525.101 The above requirements are deemed to be satisfied if the voltage drop between the origin of the installation (usually the supply terminals) and a socket-outlet or the terminals of fixed current-using equipment, does not
exceed that stated in Appendix 4 Section 6.4When calculating voltage drop due consideration should be given to the following: motor starting currents; in-rush currentscontrol voltages (particularly those associated with computerized systems).Notes: Motor control contactors and relays can ‘drop out’ if the coil voltages fall towards 80% of the
operating voltage.The effects of harmonic currents may also need to be considered and included in the calculation.Voltage transients and voltage variations due to an abnormal operation can be ignored.Read: Earthing System According to BS 7671The maximum voltage drop values can be taken from the table shown below:For 230 Volts
NetworkAllowable Voltage Drop Based on BS 7671*The voltage drop within each final circuit on Private Networks, should not exceed the values given in (i) above for Public NetworksAllowable Voltage Drop Based on BS 7671*The voltage drop within each final circuit on Private Networks, should not exceed the values given in (i) above for Public
NetworksWhen calculating the voltage drop in a circuit, the design current can be taken as being either the equipment rated current or, where there are a number of loads, the total connected load multiplied by a diversity factor. Note: If the total circuit length exceeds 100 meters, the limits given in Table 4Ab may be increased by 0.005% per meter
up to a maximum of 0.5%.The voltage drop can be apportioned throughout the system circuits as the designer wishes, but the final circuit voltage drop is limited to the values given for Public Networks, regardless of whether it is a Public Network or a Private Network.In case that the supply voltage at the origin is lower than the nominal 230/400V,
the designer needs to consider the effect of the minimum permissible supply voltage. This is a maximum of 6% below the nominal supply voltage, which equates to 216.2V (for 230 V network ) and 376V (for 400 V network) respectively.Reference: Electrical Contractors Association Fact Sheet | Download