UNIT-V

ELECTRICAL
INSTALLATIONS
Learning Outcomes
 After reading this chapter, the reader will be able
to:
 Classify the cables
 Illustrate first aid for electric shock
 Explain the necessity of earthing
 Illustrate various methods of earthing
 Illustrate the components of LT switchgear
 Differentiate fuse and circuit breaker
 Outline the energy consumption calculations
 Difference between a wire and cable
Wire: A bare conductor provided with insulation is called
a wire.

Cable: A cable consists of two or more conductors

covered with suitable insulation and surrounded by a
protecting cover.
A cable essentially consists of three parts:
 Conductor or core - the metal wire or strand of wires
 Insulation or dielectric - a covering insulating material
to avoid leakage of current
 Protective cover - protection of insulation from
damages
 Classification of wires/cables
I. According to the conductor material used:
– Copper conductor cables
– Aluminum conductor cables

II. According to number of cores:

– Single core cables
– Double core cables
– Three core cables
– Four core cables
III. According to the type of insulation:
– Vulcanized Indian Rubber (VIR) cables
– Tough Rubber Sheathed(TRS) cables
– Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) cables
– Lead sheathed cables
– Weather proof cables
– Flexible cords and cables

IV. According to the voltage:

– Low Tension (LT) cables – up to 1 kV
– High Tension (HT) cables – up to 11 kV
– Super Tension (ST) cables – 22 to 33 kV
– Extra High Tension (EHT) cables – 33 to 66 kV
– Extra Super Voltage cables – beyond 132 kV
Safety precautions in handling Electrical
Appliances
1. Avoid water when working with electricity. Never touch
or try repairing any electrical equipment or circuits with
wet hands.
2. Never use equipment with frayed cords, damaged
insulation or broken plugs.
3. When working on any receptacle at your home, always
turn off the mains.
4. Always use insulated tools while working.
5. Do not overload the outlets by plugging too many devices
into it at once.
6. Always be observant of signs and follow the safety rules
established by the electrical code.
• Always use appropriate insulated rubber gloves and goggles while
working on any branch circuit or any other electrical circuit.
• Never try repairing energized equipment. Always check that it is
de-energized first by using a tester.
• Never use an aluminum or steel ladder if you are working on any
receptacle at height in your home. Use a bamboo or wooden
ladder instead.
• Always use a circuit breaker or fuse with the appropriate current
rating.
• Always put a cap on the hot/live wire while working on an
electric board or service panel
• Always take care while soldering your circuit boards. Wear
goggles and keep yourself away from the fumes.
• Danger boards should be displayed at the work place.
• Avoid the usage of flammable liquids.
• Avoid extension of cords as much as possible.
• Replace or repair damaged power cords.
 Electric Shock
 An electric shock is a dangerous and painful
physiological effect caused by the passage of
an electric current through the human body.

 When the current is conducted through the

body, the circuit is closed and an electric shock
occurs, due to which the lungs, heart and brain
are affected leading to death.
 Preventive methods to avoid Electric
Shock
1. Operation of electrical equipment must be known.
2. Damaged wires are not used for wiring works or
electrical connections.
3. The electrical instruments used for connections
should not have scratches or breaks.
4. The hand tools are insulated essentially.
5. Proper earthing is provided
6. Rated ampere fuses wire is used
7. Repair should be done after switching off the
supply.
 First aid for electric shock
When a person suffers an electrical shock, the electricity
source should be cut off immediately. Check the victim’s
breath and pulse. If the person is unconscious and breathing
normally, place him or her in a recovery position. If the victim
is not breathing and has no pulse, Cardio Pulmonary
Resuscitation (CPR) should be conducted.
The steps involved are as follows:
– Open the airway
– Check the breath
– Check the pulse
– Recovery Position
– Mouth to mouth air resuscitation
– External chest compression
 Earthing
The process of connecting the metallic frame
(non-current carrying part) of an electric
appliance or installation to the earth (ground) is
called Earthing or Grounding. This ensures
safe discharge of electric energy due to failure of
the insulation line coming in contact with the
casing. Earthing brings the potential of the body
of the equipment to zero i.e., to the earth’s
potential, thus protecting the operating personnel
against electric shock.
 Methods of Earthing
I. Plate earthing
II. Pipe earthing

A galvanized steel and a perforated pipe of approved length and diameter

is placed vertically in a wet soil in this kind of system of earthing.
It is the most common system of earthing.
III. Rod earthing
• It is the same method as pipe earthing. The
length of embedded electrodes in the soil
reduces earth resistance to a desired value.
 Strip or Wire earthing
• In this method of earthing, strip electrodes of
cross-section not less than 25mm x 1.6mm
(1in x 0.06in) is buried in a horizontal trenches
of a minimum depth of 0.5m. If copper with a
cross-section of 25mm x 4mm (1in x 0.15in) is
used and a dimension of 3.0mm2 if it is a
galvanized iron or steel.
 Components of LT Switchgear
The apparatus used for switching, controlling
and protecting the electrical circuits and
equipment is known as switchgear. The term
switchgear is a generic term that essentially
consists of switching and protecting devices
such as switches, fuses, isolators, circuit
breakers, protective relays, auto reclosures, etc.
I. Fuse
• A fuse is a short piece of metal, inserted in the
circuit, which melts when excessive current flows
through it and thus breaks the circuit.
– The desirable characteristics of a fuse element are:
– Low melting point
– High conductivity
– Free from deterioration due to oxidation

– Low cost

• The materials used for fuse are tin, lead or copper.

 Types of Fuses
a. Re-Wireable or Kit-Kat fuse
Re-wireable fuse is used where low values of
fault currents are to be interrupted. These fuses
are simple in construction, cheap and available
up to a current rating of 200 A. These types of
fuses include two essential parts such as a fuse
base, which has two terminals like in and out
and fuse carrier, which grips the fuse element.
b. High Rupturing Capacity (HRC) cartridge fuse

• In this type of fuse, the fuse wire

or element can carry short circuit
heavy current for a known time period.
• The enclosure of HRC fuse is either of glass or some other
chemical compound. This enclosure is sufficiently airtight
to avoid the effect of the atmosphere on the fuse materials.
• The ceramic enclosure having metal end cap at both heads,
to which fusible silver wire gets welded.
• The space within the enclosure, surrounding the fuse wire
or element, completely packed with a filling powder, such
 Circuit Breaker
• A circuit breaker is a switching device which can
be operated manually and automatically for
controlling and protecting an Electrical Power
System. A circuit breaker consists of fixed and
moving contacts, called electrodes. Under normal
operating conditions, these contacts remain closed
and will not open automatically until and unless the
system becomes faulty. When a fault occurs in any
part of the system, the trip coils of the breaker gets
energized and the moving contacts are pulled apart
by some mechanism, thus opening the circuit.
• The main types of circuit breakers are:
– Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
– Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker(ELCB)
– Molded Case Circuit Breaker (MCCB)
– Air blast Circuit Breaker
– Vacuum Circuit Breaker
– SF6 Circuit Breaker
I. Miniature Circuit Breaker (MCB)
• A miniature circuit breaker (MCB) automatically
switches off electrical circuit during an abnormal
condition of the network means in overload
condition as well as faulty condition.
• Whenever continuous over current flows through
MCB, the bimetallic strip is heated and deflects by
bending. This deflection of bimetallic strip
releases a mechanical latch.
• As this mechanical latch is attached with the
operating mechanism, it causes to open the
miniature circuit breaker contacts, and the MCB
turns off thereby stopping the current to flow in
the circuit.
II. Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker(ELCB)

• If any current leaks from any electrical

installation, there must be any insulation failure
in the electrical circuit and it must be properly
detected and prevented otherwise there may be a
high chance of electrical shock if-anyone
touches the installation.
• An earth leakage circuit breaker detects the earth
leakage current and makes the power supply off
by opening the associated circuit breaker. There
are two types of earth leakage circuit breaker;
voltage ELCB and current ELCB.
1. Voltage ELCB
 In voltage ELCB, one terminal of the
relay coil is connected to the metal body
of the equipment to be protected against earth leakage and other
terminal is connected to the earth directly.
If any insulation failure occurs or live phase wire touches the
metal body, of the equipment, there must be a voltage difference
appears across the terminal of the coil connected to the
equipment body and earth.
This voltage difference produces a current to flow the relay coil.
If the voltage difference crosses, a predetermined limit, the
current through the relay becomes sufficient to actuate the relay
for tripping the associated circuit breaker to disconnect the power
supply to the equipment.
2. Current ELCB
 Current ELCB consists of a 3-winding
transformer, which has two primary windings
and 1 secondary winding. Neutral and line
wires acts as the two primary windings and a
wire wound coil is he secondary winding.
 The current through the secondary winding is zero at the balanced
condition. At balanced condition, the flux due to the current
through the phase wire will be neutralized by the current through
the neutral wire, since the current which flows from the phase will
be returned back to the neutral.
 When a fault occurs, a small current will flow to the ground, which
makes an unbalance between the line and neutral currents and
creates an unbalanced magnetic field.
 This induces a current through the secondary winding, which is
III. Molded Case Circuit Breaker
(MCCB)
 Molded case circuit breakers are electromechanical
devices which protect a circuit form over current and short
circuit ranging from 63 A to 3000 A.
 Unlike a fuse, MCCB can be easily reset after a fault and
offers improved operational safety and convenience
without incurring operating cost.
 The MCCB is comprised of five major components:
molded case, operating mechanism, arc extinguishers,
contacts and trip bar. Overload protection is accomplished
by means of a thermal mechanism. MCCBs have a
bimetallic contact that expands and contracts in response
to changes in temperature.
 Under normal operating conditions, the contact allows
electric current through the MCCB. However, as soon as
the current exceeds the adjusted trip value, the contact will
start to heat and expand until the circuit is interrupted.
 On the other hand, fault protection is
accomplished with electromagnetic induction, and
the response is instant.
 Fault currents should be interrupted immediately,
no matter if their duration is short or long.
 Whenever a fault occurs, the extremely high
current induces a magnetic field in a solenoid coil
located inside the breaker - this magnetic induction
trips a contact and current is interrupted.
 As a complement to the magnetic protection
mechanism, MCCBs have internal arc dissipation
measures to facilitate interruption.
 Energy Consumption Calculations
The measurement of electrical energy is completely
dependent on power which is measured in watts,
Kilowatts, Megawatts, Gigawatts and time measured in
hours. Joule is the smallest unit of energy, but for some
bigger calculations, the unit used for electrical energy is
Watt-hour.
Energy = Power x Time
Energy in watt hours = Power in watts x Time in hours
Energy in kilowatt hours = Power in kilowatts x Time in
hours
 Example:
Q. A consumer uses a 10 kW geyser, 6 kW electric furnace
and five 100 watt bulbs for 15 hours. How many units
(kWh) of electrical energy have been used? Find the total
cost of energy consumption if the cost per unit is Rs. 2.5.
Sol: Total load = 10 kW + 6 kW + 0.5 kW = 16.5 kW
Time = 15 hours
Therefore, energy consumed = Power in kW x
Time in hours
= 16.5 x 15 = 247.5 kWh

Since 1 unit = 1 kWh, total cost of energy

consumption = 247.8 x 2.5 = Rs. 618.75/-
• 50 kw 2 hours
• 500 kw 3 hours
• 100 kw 10 hours
• 50*2+500*3+100*10=total energy
consumption in kwh.
• 10 rs
• 2600*10=26000 Rs.
• 50kw 2 hours
• 100kw 5 hours
• 20kw 10 hours
• 100kw 20 hours
• 5 rupees
• 50*2+100*10+20*2+100*5=1640 kwh
• 1640*5= 8200 Rs